102 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



DECEMBER 2S, 1S9!I. 



some of his houses at night and on 

 dark days. 



The house occupied by Burt Jackson 

 and A. V. Jackson, Jr., at Bowman- 

 ville, was destroyed by fire last Satur- 

 day noon. The house was owned by 

 the former. The loss is partly covered 

 by insurance. 



Charles Held, the well known florist, 

 died December 20 at his residence, 922 

 North Campbell avenue, aged 4.5 years. 

 He had been in poor health for several 

 years. He had many friends in the 

 trade who deeply regret his demise in 

 the prime of life. Interment was at 

 Waldheim last Sunday. He leaves a 

 widow and four children. Mr. Held 

 had accumulated some little property 

 and leaves his family in very fair cir- 

 cumstances. When he moved his es- 

 tablishment to North Campbell ave- 

 nue he was surrounded by open prai- 

 rie, but this section is now solidly 

 built up. 



Mr. O. P. Bassett has moved into his 

 handsome new residence at Hinsdale. 



BUFFALO. 



Now the hurly - burly's done, now 

 the battle's fought and won, we can 

 gasp and look over our profits, for 

 some profits there must be, even if in 

 some lines we were not successful. 



It was a misfortune that the 24th fell 

 on a Sunday, for we scarcely knew 

 ■'where we were at." It is very un- 

 likely that the same climatic condi- 

 tions prevailed throughout the north, 

 but locally we were much blessed. The 

 last three days of the week were bright 

 and even warm, the temperature going 

 up to 45 degrees every day. This was 

 an especial favor for Saturday, for then 

 was when the largest quantity of plants 

 were delivered. To many it was a great 

 saving of time and labor. In fact, if 

 Friday and Saturday had been as it is 

 at this moment, we could scarcely have 

 got the orders oft at all, and then the 

 scolding that would have followed! 

 Sunday was warm and wet and Christ- 

 mas day cold and clear. 



It was as we predicted — a great plant 

 time, and color was wanted. Palms 

 were asked for less than formerly. 

 Poinsettias took the lead, and in pans 

 of five or six dwarf plants they went 

 much faster than single plants, yet as 

 single plants at ?1 an immense quan- 

 tity was sold, as were five or six fine 

 ones in fancy baskets, with Boston 

 fern, which brought from $5 to $10. 

 Azaleas sold well, and if well flowered 

 would all have gone at a good, profit- 

 able price. There were not many cy- 

 clamen offered. Pans of Romans sold 

 very well. When a good .5-inch pot of 

 Gloire de Lorraine begonia can be re- 

 tailed for $1, it will be a fine Christmas 

 plant, although there are plenty of peo- 

 ple who rebel at its purplish pink col- 

 or. There were plenty of nice little 

 orange trees offered, but they seem to 

 have had their day. Medium sized 

 pots and pans of Boston fern sold re- 

 markably well; the public knows what 

 :in admirable house plant this Is. 



In the aggregate there was a large 



quantity of other stuff sold, including 

 Fri'nula obconica, Chinese primrose.^, 

 begonias, bottle brush. Altogether, 

 from personal observation would say 

 that there was 30 per cent more plants 

 handled than ever before. 



There is not so much congratulation 

 over the cut flower trade. There is 

 kicking in various quarters. There was 

 too much of the same old story: "Flow- 

 ers very scarce," and then they came 

 tumbling in by the barrelful on Sun- 

 day. Trade was quite brisk on Christ- 

 mas morning, but there was never 

 more than enough to supply it, and if 

 much is left over you lose all the profit 

 on what is sold. Several thousand vio- 

 lets will go to deodorize the perfume of 

 the garbage wagon. 



It is perhaps true, as someone said, 

 that whatever we get, we do not get 

 enough for our plants and flowers; but 

 the public don't philosophize that way, 

 and they shy at Beauties at $1.50 each, 

 violets at $4 per hundred and Brides- 

 maids and Meteors at $4 and $5 a 

 dozen. There are a few people who 

 will pay anything, the higher the priei' 

 the better they like it, but they are the 

 great exception, and our steady cus- 

 tomers revolt against what they con- 

 sider extortion. I want to tell some 

 commission men that "Ethel Crocker" 

 carnation may sell at $2 per dozen in 

 Philadelphia, but they won't here. All 

 we want is carnations that sell at $1 

 a dozen. 



When we consider the great quantity 

 of plants sold for gifts, how can we 

 expect the cut flower part of the busi- 

 ness to be what it was a few years 

 ago, and it is not. Ribbon was used 

 quite largel.v and few plants went out 

 without being trimmed with colored 

 paper. The bare pot was seldom seen, 

 and the paper is assuredly a great ad- 

 dition to the attractiveness of the 

 plant. 



Holly was cleaned up, but there was 

 less demand for ground pine. The 

 Christmas tree has grown in fashion 

 till now they come by carloads, and 

 the suppLv was sadly overdone. We 

 noticed in a New York paper a long 

 article on Christmas, the tree, its his- 

 tory, and the sources of supply, etc. 

 Maine, it appears, supplies largely New 

 York city. The author said: "The 

 Christmas tree was introduced to Brit- 

 ain by the Saxons, and from England 

 we got the Christmas tree with other 

 things." I think he or she is wrong; 

 the introduction of the Christmas tree 

 into England was not over fifty years 

 ago. It is to the Germans we owe the 

 Christmas tree. "Render unto Caesar 

 <he things which are Caesar's." The 

 weinerwurst and .saurkraut, the frag- 

 rant limburger, the sainted Santa 

 Claus and the beautiful Christmas tree 

 are di-stinctly German. The holly and 

 mistletoe are English and, although 

 their use here is not over twenty-five 

 years, and in general use much les.^. 

 the holly is now so imiversally used 

 that wo noticed sprays of it in the 

 humblest home. 



There has been and is still going n 

 continuous round of entertainments. 



which helps business in general. Al- 

 together we have reason to be thank- 

 ful. The aggregate of business done 

 must be an advance, and the elements 

 were with us — both for the grower and 

 retailer. 



I failed to mention that, with the 

 exception of Romans and paper whites, 

 of which there was plenty, we saw no 

 other bulbous stuff, and there was not 

 the slightest occasion for their appear- 

 ance. And I would add. in conclusion, 

 for the benefit of Mr. E. M. Wood, that 

 the finest Maids and Brides that came 

 to town were grown by Mr. Guenther, 

 of Hamburg, under butted glass. 



W. S. 



NEW YORK. 



The Christmas Trade. 



The greatest event of the year has 

 passed into history and it is difficult 

 to choose words to truthfully describe 

 its effect. Very few realize the fac*^, 

 that the position of New York corre- 

 spondent to any of the florists' trade 

 journals is a hard post to fill and 

 please everybody. It is in most cases 

 necessary to adopt the tactics of a 

 government diplomat, and in order to 

 get and give facts and authentic news 

 a vast amount of stuff has to be sifted. 

 This is particularly the case in regard 

 to Christmas prices. We go to several 

 dealers; they tell us that they had a 

 better business than ever and they 

 quote high prices for stock they do not 

 handle; others next door say it never 

 was worse, etc. Of course, there is 

 quite a lot of this true, and the only 

 sensible way to look at things is to see 

 and admit that the flower market is 

 but a flower show, where the best stock 

 wins every time. 



This Christmas will be memorable 

 for several things, principally the im- 

 mense plant trade, the enormous quan- 

 tity of very ordinary and iKX)r grade 

 flowers, a superfluity of white or sickly 

 colors, and, above all, low prices. We 

 ourselves have never seen much of the 

 stock sold so cheaply on a Christmas 

 before, but flne flowers brought the 

 usual big price;, the man who consid- 

 ered quality as much as quantity fared 

 pretty well. 



Very few orders were given for cut 

 flowers up to Saturday night and the 

 rain on Sunday morning cost the 

 flower trade many thousands of dol- 

 lar.s. Sunday coming in between made 

 it bad for the wholesalers. On the 

 whole, we think the vetailers had the 

 best of it this year, but many of them 

 had troubles of their own. 



It is useless to grumble and flnd 

 fault; we can look at the facts, and 

 even if they are unpleasant, be satis- 

 fied. The condition of the market is 

 the growth of faults to which all sec- 

 tions have contributed their share. 

 There was a large Christmas trade 

 done here; it is yearly increasing, and 

 will continue so, but the people will 

 not pay the prices some desire, and we 

 cannot prevent them from selecting the 

 plant or flower they prefer. With the 



