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The Weekly Florists' Review. 



MAY IS, 1S99. 



What has been said above as to gold 

 bedecked uniforms applies with equal 

 force to your store and your delivery 

 wagon. 



Have them as rich and handsome as 

 you can afford, but avoid what might 

 be termed "gorgeousness." Too many 

 mirrors and too much gilt is as offen- 

 sive to people of refined tastes as 

 slovenliness. It is better to err on the 

 side of simplicity than in the other 

 direction. A prominent factor in the 

 success of a retail florist must always 

 be his good taste. Let this be shown 

 in the fittings of your store and your 

 delivery service as well as in your dec- 

 jrations. 



NEW YORK. 



The country around New York City 

 at present is simply magnificent. Ev- 

 erywhere one goes the meadow; are 

 covered with wild violets, and wood- 

 lands abound with wild cherry and 

 dogwood, and the orchards are grand 

 masses of sweetest blossoms, telling 

 us there will be an abundance of fruit 

 this year if frost will only keep away, 

 and the chances are it will. The gen- 

 eral run of crops are a little backward 

 ■on account of dry weather, but the 

 indications are for an unprecedented 

 •crop of strawberries. We have some 

 very old gardens in our suburbs and 

 lovely ones they are, too. What is 

 grander than an old magnolia bend- 

 ing 'neath its weight of honeyed cups, 

 or the pink plumes of an old Prunus 

 triloba, a cloud of rosy magenta blos- 

 soms of the Judas tree, and the large 

 variety of early flowers to be seen just 

 at present! 



Ah. when one goes out into the coun- 

 try and sees nature weai'ing her most 

 sublime mantle, he hates to remem- 

 ber the city with its mountains of 

 troubles and discontent, the heaps of 

 unappreciated flowers that lie in the 

 iceboxes, the scheming wholesalers, 

 the distracted retailers, the exuberant 

 Greeks, the indifferent public, any- 

 thing and everything that goes to 

 make up this florist business of ours. 

 How nice it would be if we could put 

 our stock up on the shelf and wait, or 

 go out and drag the public in and com- 

 pel them to buy. Even then is it pos- 

 sible we would all be satisfied? 



We see that Chicago has driven the 

 Greeks off her streets. Splendid Chi- 

 cago, from the retailers' standpoint. 

 But the wholesaler loves the wily 

 Greek just now, and would hate to see 

 him go back to an Hellenic climate. 



Outdoor flowers are commencing to 

 come in. Narcissus, frame valley and 

 such stock are abundant. Don't men- 

 tion roses; most of them are of that 

 washed out appearance in which they 

 almost lose their identity. 



Many of the leading florists have 

 been busy on funeral work; there's 

 lots of money in "such a business" 

 now, if it could or would only keep up. 



Wm. Plumb, president of the New 

 York Florists' Club, returned from 

 Europe by the steamship Campania on 

 Saturday, May 13, looking extra fine. 



Anton Schultheis, College Point, L. 

 I., who is one of our most extenpive 

 and best erica growers, sails for Eu- 

 rope on Saturday, May 20. 



J. M. Hodges has moved into his 

 new store, corner of 56th street and 

 Fifth avenue. This will be one of the 

 finest florists' stores on the avenue. 



E. C. Horan has at last got around 

 the corner into a larger store at 47 

 West 28th street. Now if we could 

 only have a glass roof put across 28th 

 street what a splendid market it would 

 make. The Chinese restaurant and the 

 Greek Arcadia, yes, even Jake's and 

 the Black Cat, could be transformed to 

 suit the growers and slow buyers from 

 Philadelphia and Boston. We have 

 nine wholesale houses in 28th street 

 now, and we cannot see why the 23rd 

 street and side alley element don't 

 come up and make the 28th street 

 boys more contented. 



■The directors of the Cut Flower Ex- 

 change (which is our only cut flower 

 market in New York, and is held at 

 the East 34th street ferry), held a 

 meeting on Saturday, May 13th. Five 

 new trustees were elected. Wm. H. 

 Siebrecht, president, re-elected; Vic- 

 tor Dorval, Philip Miller, Fritz Kess- 

 ler and Geo. Goldsner. A. S. Burns, 

 who had one year more to serve, re- 

 signed in favor of August Schraeder. 

 The remaining trustees are Donald- 

 son, Duncan, Smith, Johnson, Schult- 

 heis, Matthews and Clarke. Wm. Dun- 

 can, Long Island City, was elected 

 treasurer, and John Donaldson, of 

 Newtown, L. I., as secretary. A divi- 

 dend of 10 per cent, was declared. The 

 lease of the market runs for three 

 years more. 



The New York Gardeners' Society 

 held their regular monthly meeting at 

 64 Madison avenue, Saturday evening, 

 May 13. Mr. James Scott read an in- 

 teresting paper on azaleas. A speci- 

 men of double lily of the valley was 

 shown by Mr. J. W. Withers. 



The society will hold a strawberry 

 show at the above address on Saturday 

 evening, June 10th. Messrs. W. E. 

 Marshall, J. W. Withers, W. Bartholo- 

 mae and J. I. Donlan were appointed 

 a committee of arrangements. As this 

 will be the last meeting" of this society 

 for the season, the committee were 

 instructed to provide materials for a 

 good old-fashioned potting shed smoke 

 and sociable time in general. 



Don't forget Monday, May 22nd, will 

 be a special ladies' night at the New 

 York Florists' Club. Prof. Elson, of 

 Boston, will tell you what the wild 

 waves say in his "Songs of the Sea." 



Andrew Tierney died here May 12th, 

 aged 55 years. He came from County 

 Meath, Ireland, thirty-flve years ago, 

 and first made his appearance in the 

 flower business in 1886. His humble 

 part it was to please everybody who 

 had flowers to ship by express, and it 

 can be truly said that no wagon in the 

 world ever carried as many flowers as 

 Tierney's. He and his horse and wag- 

 on were one of the most picturesque 

 landmarks, so to speak, of our busi- 



ness here. Every day in the year he 

 carted over the great bridge Brook- 

 lyn's supply of cut flowers. But it was 

 not only as the florists' expressman 

 that the trade knew Tierney. Every- 

 body loved him for his honesty. His 

 great big heart made him everyone's 

 friend. Many a bright ray his wit and 

 pleasantries threw into the gloom of 

 dull markets. The grasp of his hand 

 was an inspiriting installator of hope 

 and courage. 



The doctors said he died from can- 

 cer. The trade believes a broken heart 

 killed him, for some time ago a con- 

 siderable sum of money was stolen 

 from him in one of the wholesale 

 houses. He never recovered the money 

 nor his ambition since then, but faded 

 away and finally died. Heavy indeed 

 must be the conscience of those re- 

 sponsible for his death. He leaves four 

 orphans, three girls and a boy, who 

 will continue the business. The prin- 

 cipal wholesale florists remembered 

 the many services he rendered them 

 by sending many beautiful floral de- 

 signs. John Weir, Brooklyn, sent a 

 large pillow of pink and white roses, 

 also an immense standing wreath of 

 Bridesmaid roses; Thos. Young, a 5- 

 foot standing cross of white and pink 

 roses; Traendly & Schenck, a hand- 

 some flat bunch of lilies and roses; 

 John Young, a fine standing cross of 

 solid white roses, with cluster of 

 Jacques and valley at the base; J. K. 

 Allen, a flat cross of lilies and spring 

 flowers; Millang Bros., standing cross 

 of mixed flowers; Chas. Millang, a 

 pretty wreath of lilies and Brides- 

 maids; Jas. Hart, wreath of white 

 roses, and John I. Raynor, a choice 

 bunch of callas and white roses. It 

 would appear that every florist in 2Sth 

 street devoted Sunday to remember- 

 ing Tierney, and the splendid designs 

 they sent would do credit to any re- 

 tail store in the city. 



Bowlers were scarce at the alleys 

 May 15th. Following are the scores: 



Burns 165 141 146 136 



Schenck 137 131 174 162 



Traendly 156 173 150 153 



Hatner 124 133 158 145 



Donlan 118 132 



IVERA. 

 BOSTON. 



Review of the Market. 

 This week has been a record break- 

 er as a dull week in the flower trade; 

 stocks of all kinds are almost unquot- 

 able, no demand for anything, with 

 perhaps the exception of sweet peas, 

 which are not over plentiful. With 

 other stock it is a case of "Jew" — set 

 price high, then come down and sell 

 at the first offer. Roses are deteriorat- 

 ing in quality, more especially Brides 

 and Maids, and are sold all the way 

 from 25 cents to ?1 per dozen. There 

 are a few Kaiserins showing, but not 

 yet up to quality, $8 per 100 is the ask- 

 ing price; Beauties are plenty, qualit.v 

 good, ranging from $2 per 100 to $3 per 

 dozen. Elliott is showing some fine 

 Jacks, which average $1.50 to $2 per 



