352 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



FEBRUARY 22, 1900. 



Mr. Wm. Craig spoke most sensibly 

 and feelingly of the good work of the 

 society, and as the toastmaster took 

 the liberty of remarking, when this 

 young man has the blessings of experi- 

 ence he will be a rival to his illu.s- 

 trious father in oratory, and that is 

 saying an awful lot, for llr. Robert 

 Craig is undoubtedly the orator in 

 every sense of the word of the horti- 

 cultural world of North America. 



Mr. Wm. Weber, of Maryland, prom- 

 ised a hearty w-elcome for the society 

 at Baltimore. Mr. Weber is too well 

 known and such a sterling man that no 

 words of mine can add luster to his 

 good name. 



John May responded for the S. A. F. 

 and found plenty to say for our parent, 

 and, as usual, said it well. 



Mr. E. G. Hill spoke of America and 

 particularly that part that produces 

 Hoosiers. E. G. seemed in unusually 

 good spirits and kept all laughing. The 

 portly duchess had Just previously 

 sung; that accounted for his lightness 

 of spirits. 



C. W. Ward was to answer to 

 "Greenhouse Odors," but wandered off 

 into the Empire State and spoke of 

 Governor Roosevelt and things in gen- 

 eral. He, like the others, was at his 

 very best key. 



The toast assigned to Mr. Rudd failed 

 to reach his ears, and after ten min- 

 utes of very lively talk he to'.d the 

 chairman to call his speech "Ventila- 

 tion or Wind." 



Our Mr. C. Keitsch spoke ably of 

 exhibition management. Mr. Gam- 

 mage, of Xx)ndon, Ont, responded fine- 

 ly and eloquently for our neighbors 

 across the Niagara. Then Mr, Mar- 

 quisee, who is quite a gifted talker, re- 

 sponded to "The Mascot." He knows 

 that the Marquis is a mascot and told 

 several capital stories. 



The grand Lawson medal and the 

 Chicago Carnation Co. cup were pre- 

 sented to Mr. Dailledouze, who, among 

 other things, said he intended to do it. 

 Mr. Wittei-staetter said he was no hog 

 if he had taken two medals, and the 

 applause that the presentation brought 

 out shows how popular Richard is. 



(Jeorge E. Fancourt announced that 

 he had some highly interesting tele- 

 grams to read, which he did in effective 

 style. They were all from most promi- 

 nent people and all in sympathy with 

 the carnation. ,loseph Chamberlain 

 stated his intention to give up orchids 

 and go into carnations. Lord Roberts 

 meant to encourage their cultivation in 

 South Africa. Oom Paul was fusciuat- 

 ed with carnations, but could not em- 

 bark in their cultivation till his place 

 of residence was fixed permanently; 

 and several others quite ;is good. 



The temperature of Mr. Miller, of 

 Toronto, has risen several degrees by 

 the influence of what occurred on the 

 stage. We thought he was ready for a 

 speech, and to miss him would have 

 been a great misfortune. The senti- 

 ments he expressed in regard to our 

 country and his were truly eloquent 

 and rendered in his polished Oxfordian 

 diction; he'a a little dandy and every- 

 bodv said so. 



Now, you must not think that all 

 this oratoiy was kept up in a steady 

 stream. There was any amount of 

 local talent, most of it very good. 

 There was a song or sketch between 

 every speech and more often, two. 



We must not forget to mention Mr. 

 Dumont, the commission man, of Phil- 

 adelphia, and sparring partner of Billy 

 Craig. He is a singer worth listening 

 to. 



There w-ere no accidents and few re- 

 grets: among the latter was that all 

 could not see it out. Another was that 

 Robert Craig did not feel well and had 

 to decline giving us his welcome pres- 

 ence. We regret very much that our 

 worthy W. J. Palmer, Sr., also was not 

 with us. 



We have no regi-ets for those young 

 society florists who absented them- 

 selves. They ought to know better. 

 For the half dozen florists who stayed 

 away for no possible excuse except that 

 it would be late, possibly, or Sarah 

 thought I better not, we have only 

 pity. We regret that after the first 

 appearance of Lady Fitzwilliam, the 

 Italian countess, Billy Kasting and 

 Phil Scott couldn't keep their seats for 

 thirtj' seconds at a time. It is also 

 lamentable that elderly men like Dil- 

 lon of Bloomsburg, Mansfield of Lock- 

 port, and Miller and Dunlop, of Toron- 

 to, must always think it proper to take 

 seats very near the footlights when 

 petticoats occupied the stage. 



Now. reader, don't think from what 

 I have said that there was anything the 

 least improper during all that evening, 

 for there was not. It was four or five 

 hours of good fun and no dull mo- 

 ments, and if our friends went away 

 with pleasant memories, we are more 

 than delighted. W. S. 



ST. LOUIS. 



The Market. 



St. Valentine's day was exceptional- 

 ly good. Most of the florists report 

 good trade and the commission men 

 say the same. The only drawback was 

 that stock of all kinds was very scarce 

 and good choice stock was away up in 

 price. Shipping trade was good, with 

 plenty of orders turned down for want 

 of flowers. Never before has stock 

 been so scarce and prices so high at 

 this season, and certainly the grower 

 will have nothing to complain of as Vj 

 price. 



The weather has been very cold the 

 past week and Saturday was our cold- 

 est day of the year. The automatic 

 register at Shaw's Garden showed 3 

 degrees below. Quite a lot of flowers 

 came in to the commission houses 

 frozen. Large quantities of violets are 

 coming up from the South, and by next 

 week, should we have bright weather, 

 the violet market will go busted and 

 the retailer will be ab'.e to buy them 

 at about ?3 per 1,000. 



The West End florists report that 

 this week quite a lot of weddings and 

 social events will take place, owing to 



the approach of lent, which begins 

 March 1; after that business will be, 

 rather dull with them until Easter. 



Prices on choice roses the past week 

 were: American Beauties, from $3 to 

 $t) per dozen and very scarce at that: a 

 few short-stemmed ones could be had 

 at $2, but only the first-class ones 

 have any call. Other roses have im- 

 proved in quality. Brides and Maids 

 sell from $5 to $12; Woottons and 

 Perles, $4 and $6; Meteors are much 

 better in color and choice blooms find 

 ready sale from $5 to $12. Carnations 

 are coming in better than ever, but 

 only in small quantities. The fancies 

 and all the better grades of the com- 

 mons are finding a ready market. 

 There has been no overstock of this 

 flower for some time and the prices 

 have held up better than ever before. 

 Whites have the call and Daybreak 

 and Scott are decidedly the best. Henry 

 Aue, at Lindenwood, is sending in 

 some fine Eldorados. The fancy gi-ades 

 bring as high as $4 per lOO, but the 

 bulk is sold at from $2 to $3. As stock 

 is very scarce, any color sells, and 

 none are left after the morning's sale^ 

 are over. Bulb stock is not over-plen- 

 tiful, as it usually is at this time of 

 the year, and Romans, paper whites. 

 Dutch hyacinths, valley, daftodl'.s and 

 tulips have a good demand and bring 

 from $3 to $5 per 100; Harrisii are in 

 good demand and bring $12.50; callas, 

 $10 and $12.50; southern violets sell 

 for 10 cents per 100, home grown for 

 25 cents: Californias are coming in 

 fine and are plentiful at 40 cents per 

 100, doubles at the same price. Plenty 

 of smilax to be had at $12.50, but the 

 demand the past week was slow. 



The weather has opened up this 

 week bright and warm, and if it keeps 

 up stock of all kinds will be more 

 plentiful by the end of the present 

 week. The early spring glut is bound 

 to come, and by the end of the month 

 we will see it at its height. A glut is 

 a bad thing in one sense of the word: 

 flowers of all kinds are bought at your 

 own price and some of the large stores 

 down town put signs in their windows 

 and sell fiowers at starvation i)rice3. 

 This cannot be said of the West End 

 florists. They keep up the price, glut 

 or no glut. This could lie done down 

 town. too. and they could sell just as 

 many flowers at the regular price as 

 the flower-buying -public will buy (if 

 they really want them) at the regular 

 price, as they know nothing of a glut 

 and should not know. 



Notes. 



Visitors in town this week were; A. 

 L. Vaughan. the popu ar western rep- 

 resentative (with headquarters in Chi- 

 cago) of Hagemann & Meyer. New 

 York. Mr. Vaughan reports that never 

 has he sold so many bulbs as this year. 

 Mr. Vaughan has a good word for the 

 Review. It is read by all and is con- 

 sidered the best trade paper published. 

 W. Rolker, of New York, was also a 

 visitor. 



