128 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JANUARY 4. 1900. 



Turner; vice-president, William Stev- 

 enson; treasurer, E. W. Neubrand; 

 secretary, William McCord; executive 

 committee, F. Gibson, L. A. Martin, R. 

 Angus, M. J. Connellan, J. Egan, J. 

 Nicoll. W. Scott and J. Smitb, each of 

 whom assured the assemblage they 

 would do their utmost to advance the 

 interest of the society. It is intended 

 to hold one or two grand flower shows 

 during the year. J. I. D. 



BUFFALO. 



The glory of New Year's as a flower 

 day has departed. Yet there was a fair 

 business done. Few plants were asked 

 for, and it was roses, carnations and 

 violets that changed hands: Incoming 

 aldermen and city officials were the 

 recipients of baskets and bunches of 



kets devoted to flowers, the universal 



use, and extremely low prices, etc., and 

 then the correspondent asked why our 

 prices were out of the reach of the 

 masses. We happen to know one man 

 in Belgium growing carnations for the 

 Paris market, growing them in our 

 style, and he gets quite as good a price 

 for his product the year round as we 

 do in this country. Covent Garden also 

 gets quite as good prices for roses and 

 carnations as the grower gets in New- 

 York, and I think if London and Paris 

 had such Bridesmaids as New York 

 offers, or the carnations from DailJe- 

 douze Bros., that they would bring a 

 larger price than they bring here 

 Paris may and does get carloads of 

 cheap rubbish from Italy which doubt- 

 less sells at a very low figure, and that 

 is what the casual observer notices, 

 and then spins a yarn about. 



View in the wholesale store of Thos. Young, Jr. 

 NEW YORK STORES AT CHRISTMAS. 



roses. The big charity ball came off in 

 the evening and two buds emerged into 

 society during the afternoon, and, al- 

 together, there was an air of good feel- 

 ing and good business. The real air 

 was a few degi-ees above zero, with 

 plenty of snow, with the sun shining, 

 so from the native point of view it wa.s 

 an ideal New Year's. Prices ruled 

 about the same as at Christmas, with a 

 rather better opportunity for the re- 

 tailer to come out whole. 



All nature will feel the lengthening 

 days, even if they be at present but a 

 trifle longer, and we shall soon have 

 more flowers, a cheaper price and 

 more sales. It is pleasanter all round 

 to sell to more people at a reasonable 

 price than to the select few at what 

 seems an extortionate price, although 

 these holiday prices are no extortion, 

 neither the grower nor the retailer get- 

 ting more than a very moderate profit. 



I read in one of our best dailies a 

 few weeks ago an article on the flower 

 markets of Paris, the number of mar- 



If we had fuel for hauling, or at 

 George Fancourt's price, intelligent 

 slaves for help and a few other advan- 

 tages, we might produce flowers at le:^s 

 cost. But with present conditions and 

 prices the margin of profit is small, 

 even in the best managed establish- 

 ments. In sunny climes, where flow- 

 ers spring from Mother Earth the year 

 round, there are no florists; but where 

 blizzards prevail and flowers are a lux- 

 ur.v, florists exist, and till we can get 

 flowers from Porto Rico or Mexico 

 landed here as good as the homo prod- 

 uct twliicli they never can be), flowers 

 will cost money when produced under 

 glass and under such unfavorable con- 

 ditions. 



"W. S." received a terrible call-dov/n 

 from "W. N. R.," the sage of .Vlt. 

 Greenwood, 111. You would not think 

 that placid, smooth and lovable man 

 had so much venom or would attemi)t 

 to crush a "poor worm," but we know 

 him. Oh, yes, we know him. He is 

 not angry at the writer, but hates the 



noble society which he founded to be 

 called in question even in the slightest. 

 We freely acknowledge the Ananias 

 Society to be noble without any ques- 

 tion, but were not so sure that out- 

 side of its membership it was consid- 

 ered so noble. We made a mistake 

 and are sorry for it, and trust that 

 with this apology the noble founder 

 will not seek to deprive us of our of- 

 fices and emoluments. W. S. 



C. S. A. CUP CONTEST, 



The silver cup offered by the Chry- 

 ;anthemum Society of America for 

 [he seedling scoring the highest aver- 

 age before three or more committees 

 is awarded to Nathan Smith & Son, 

 .Adrian, Mich., for their new variety 

 Goldmine, which scored as follows: 



Commercial Exhibition 



scale. scale. 



At New York 95 95 



At Philadelphia 88 88 



At Chicago 92 i .. 



At Boston 97 1 97 



372 1 280 



Average Commercial scale 9,3, aver- 

 age Exhibition .scale 93.33. 'The two 

 scales give a total average of', 93.16. 



The variety Col. D. Appleton was a 

 close second in this contest, with a to- 

 tal average of 92.16. 



ELMER D. SMITH, Sec'y. 



^' BOSTON. 



Is it too late for a word about Christ- 

 mas? Well, we had one. There is no 

 doubt about that. The skies were blue 

 and balmy, the gentlest of zephyrs 

 wafted the odor of the growing grass, 

 the bii'ds twittered about their spring 

 costumes, and only a very few days 

 ago both pansies and dandelions were 

 to be had for the seeking in their nat- 

 ural haunts. 



Oh, it was Christmas all right. And 

 trade went funny. There was an al- 

 most standstill, with even a droop in 

 prices until Saturday morning, when 

 it burst upon the timid salesmen like 

 the attack of the Boers upon Bullcr's 

 relief column. Never was there a more 

 quick lunch made of a huge supply of 

 all kinds of bloom. Prices doubled up 

 like a jack-knife: roses 8 to 40 cents 

 each in pink, white and in Meteors, 

 and Beauties called for $1.50 each in 

 best grades. Pinks started out brave- 

 ly, but met with a slight rebuff, and 

 the always accommodating dealers 

 went down a peg on figures so that m 

 the aggregate they did not go so well 

 as the roses. And it was the same on 

 violets. Starting at $2..'')0 and $3 per 

 10(1 in the morning, they were obliged 

 to sell at less than half that before 

 night. But both pinks and violets were 

 scarce for a day or two afterwards and 

 sold for better prices. Since Christ- 

 mas, trade has been rather quiet, nat- 

 urally, but we are still throwing open 

 the boxes and looking around hope- 

 fully. 



The only driftwood that has tjoated 

 upon the beach within my reach is the 

 wreck of the Stearns Company down 

 on the reefs of Ordway Place. Cap- 

 tain Stearns and Sailing Master James 



