600 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



APRIL 12, 1900. 



near future it will be able to hold its 

 own with the Chinese primrose. It has 

 already the advantage over the latter 

 of being more healthful, more hardy 

 and fioriferous, carrying Us clusters of 

 bloom on longer stems, with the foli- 

 age better separated. 



FORCING ACACIAS. — The London 

 markets are liberally supplied with 

 flowering sprays of Acacia dealbata 

 and one or two other species that come 

 from the south of France two or three 

 months before the trees bloom natural- 

 ly in that section. Ot course, this 

 means that a forcing process has to be 

 resorted to. The method adopted is 

 extremely simple. Large casks are 

 provided, and each one is fitted with a 

 latticework stage fixed about midway 

 between the bottom and top. The 

 branches are cut from the trees and at 

 once placed in upright metal or earth- 

 enware vases filled with water, and 

 taken to the cask and arranged rather 

 close together in two tiers, one on the 

 bottom and the other on the stage. For 

 maintaining the requisite temperature 

 a boiler is provided very similar in 

 form to an ordinary still, and this is 

 heated by a petroleum stove. A pipe 

 is taken from the apex of the boiler to 

 the interior of the cask, which it en- 

 ters just below the middle stage, and 

 curves downwards until the end nearly 

 touches the bottom. It is said that by 

 this arrangement the steam from the 

 pipes does not condense upon the 

 branches, and a temperature ranging 

 from 75 to 85 degrees is readily main- 

 tained. In cutting the branches for 

 forcing care is taken to select those 

 bearing flowers in the most advanced 

 state of development. 



NEW YORK. 



It is diflicult at this writing to say 

 what Easter trade will be, but the 

 prospects are very good. Stock is plen- 

 tiful, prices promise to be fair, and all 

 seems ready for an unprecedented bus- 

 iness. Styles will not vary very much 

 from those of other years. All en- 

 deavor appears to be concentrated on 

 quality. Fine weather will surely cause 

 a greater use of cut flowers, and as for 

 plants, the sales will be enormous. At 

 present it looks as if there will be no 

 cause to grumble from those having 

 good fresh stock, but (and there the 

 shoe will always pinch) there are many 

 who are shipping "preserved" stock in- 

 to the market, and they will growl the 

 loudest. 



The general plant season is opening 

 up very good and we hear the best 

 kind of reports from seedsmen, nurs- 

 erymen and geranium growers. 



Cleary's auction of dormant Irish 

 rosies on Friday last was the greatest 

 on record. Talk about your sentiment! 

 Anything Irish, or, for that matter, 

 "green." goes well these times, because 

 Iri£.ti blood flows freely on both sides 

 at the Transvaal. 



We hear many funny stories here by 

 way of London, Canada, and the Lifty 

 anent the wearing of shamrocks on 

 "Paddy's Day"; yes, they're awful 



fuiiviy. We wore a bit ourselves, but 

 it was dipped in ink. 



But there, Cloary wants you to hurry 

 up for your space at tlie great conven- 

 tion show, and Charlie Weathered 

 wants yeur name in the gem of a sou- 

 V(!nir he is preparing, so write them 

 botli at once. And ye bowlers, oh! ye 

 sports of Flora's kingdom, why don't 

 you enter for the greatest ot bowling 

 tournaments? Chairman Roehrs is 

 anxious. Only four teams have so far 

 declared their intentions, and he ex- 

 'pects twelve more to do so; let them 

 do to at once. Alleys must be engaged 

 shortly, and the committee on sports 

 wants to have some idea of what will 

 be necessary. We see many large 

 scores reported from St. Louis, Denver 

 and other villages; why don't they en- 

 tei for the wagon-load of prizes which 

 will surely be offered on this great oc- 

 casion. 'The Hews Pottery Co. is the 

 latest to offer anything in their orna- 

 mental catalogue for a bowler's prize. 



The regular meeting of the Florists'- 

 Club was held on Monday night. Pres- 

 ident O'Mara presided. On account of 

 Easter the meeting was very large, but 

 it was fairly business-like, and many 

 impoitant matters were disposed of. It 

 was decided that instead of a trophy a 

 ?100 cash prize be given the society 

 whose members won the greatest num- 

 ber of prizes at the horticultural exhi- 

 bition next August. This, in addition 

 to Ex-President Plumb's prize of one 

 or two hundred dollars for the most 

 successful exhibitor, should bring out 

 some fine exhibits. On the other hand, 

 we hear that many prominent garden- 

 ers from distant points will not ex- 

 hibit their finest or largest plants, be- 

 cause medals, be they silver or gold, 

 will not pay the heavy expenses in- 

 curred in transporting plants from a 

 distance. There is much to reasonably 

 consider in this. The gardeners don't 

 like to run the risk of responsibility 

 in damaging their stock; if the gen- 

 tleman orders it, it is different; but 

 how many will? 



We were forgetting the club. Well, 

 the several committees ri'ported prog- 

 ress, that is, except the lethargic enter- 

 tainment committee; they Bad the us- 

 ual excuse to offer, and .that was all. 

 Several new members wei-e elected and 

 a committee was appointed to consider 

 the best means of inducing old mem- 

 bers who had left the club to rejoin it 

 once more. It is thought best to have 

 a good army here when the French 

 come from Milwaukee and the Dutcti 

 come from Huffalo in August next. 



The Koffman collection ot orchids at 

 Walden, N. Y., are to be sold to liqui- 

 date the business. J. B. Bloomingdal, 

 78 Fifth avenue, will give you par- 

 ticulars. 



Edws.rd Jansen, the well known bas- 

 ket manufacturer, reports splendid 

 Eastev business. On the occasion of 

 the Rapid Transit celebrations here he 

 made some very pretty favors, consist- 

 ing of small baskets, picks and shovels, 

 which were filled with flowers, for the 

 dinner of the Allegro Bowling Club, of 



v/hich he is a member. The affair was 

 given in one of the banquet halls of 

 the famous Liederkranz. 



The new set of balls won by the 

 florists' bowling team in the recent 

 tournament witli P'latbush and Hobo- 

 ken are very fine. The boys are going 

 to use them in all matches. The scores 

 made tonight were: 



Traendly 147 154 136 



Thielman 177 166 160 



Hafner 152 140 154 



Roehrs 152 142 133 



Small 135 153 145 



Manda 118 132 165 



Moody 122 115 



Butterfleld 89 107 



Atkins 147 128 122 



Wallace 85 97 



Herrington 110 81 72 



Burns 14S 159 



Shaw 103 115 



Donlan 185 US 



Stewart 9) 



J. I. D. 



BOSTON. 



The Market. 



No exciting developments along the 

 firing line during the past week. A 

 steady pull ot funeral work has carried 

 away everything in the cheaper lines 

 of stock, but there has been a ten- 

 dency to a surplus in better grades of 

 roses and all grades of red ones. My 

 prophecy concerning a fuller supply of 

 carnations was but partially fulfilled, 

 as the increase was very slight. Per- 

 haps it is so near Easter that the 

 growers are beginning to hold the cut 

 back a little. 



Prices on Beauties have rangea rrom 

 4 to 35 cents each; Brunners up to 

 about 25 cents, Jacks to lu cents, and 

 Meteors to 8 cents; Brides and Maids 

 from 4 to 16 cents; a few Perles at 

 4 and 6 cents; Gontlers at 'i and i 

 cents. Of course, there are always a. 

 few other kinds somewhere in the city, 

 the price being regulated by the laws 

 of supply and demand. Kaiserins are 

 beginning to come. 



Salesmen have had a firm hold of the 

 pink market all the week, talking 5 

 and 6 cents at times, but usually clos- 

 ing sales at 3 and 4, Many buyers 

 will go without rather than pay more, 



Violets became very independent at 

 the last of the week and speculated in 

 prices, juggling arithmetic all the way 

 from S5 to 75 cents on the closing day. 

 Lilies moving quite freely and prac- 

 tically the whole crop sold for near 

 delivery. Daffodils and poeticus quite 

 plentiful at 2 cents now; tulips, 3 and 

 4. Odds and ends ot everything come 

 into play well at fair prices. Some 

 good ten weeks' stocks coming in. 

 Hyacinths are being used more as a 

 potted plant now. A little stringency 

 in the supply of hardy ferns for cheap 

 green. Asparagus of two kinds seems 

 in good supply at regular rates. Smi- 

 lax climbing into favor at $2 and |3 per 

 dozen. 



Orders on everything are being tak- 

 en for end of next week at about a 50 

 per cent raise on late prices. Retail 

 stores are getting their feet placed for 



