APKii- 19, vm. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



633 



fully up to our expectations; cvi-y- 

 lliiiig on hand sold well. 



The North St. Louis florists. Koenig 

 & Sons, Meinhardt and .lulius Koe- 

 nig: Had all we could attend to dur- 

 ing the Easter rush. 



Hrix. Rotter. .\ug. Kunz and Mrs 

 I'effer; Well satisliod with our Easter 

 trade. 



Our wholesale men. Kuehn. Beruins 

 and Hudson: Orders were never so 

 heavy as they were this Easter; roses 

 were scarce and could have sold as 

 many more; stock this year was of 

 better quality than any Raster yet. 



Bowling. 



The bowling dub had no rolling on 

 Mondav. as all the members were too 

 tired after the Easter rush to bowl. 

 President Kunz states that the trip to 

 Chicago will be postponed one or two 

 weeks, as we have a tew bowlers on 

 the sick list, whom we must take with 

 us. so April 2!)th or May 6th will be 

 the date set tor the trip. J. J- B. 



BUFFALO. 



The Easter Trade. 



First of all. the elements might have 

 treated us worse. Although flakes of 

 snow fell within twenty-four hours of 

 Easter Sunday, there was no day of 

 the week that we could not deliver 

 plants without covering, and Saturday 

 was fine, but with a nasty, cutting 

 {•ool wind. 



Sunday was the first spring day of 

 the year, bright and balmy, and never 

 in the history of our growing city was 

 there such an array of new hats and 

 bonnets, light pant^ and neckties, vio- 

 lets pinned on pretty girls, liutton 

 holes on men. and in the wiudow.s of 

 houses lilies, azaleas or some gay 

 plant. Everybody wanted to be out of 

 doors and thousands visited the ceme- 

 teries and the now busy grounds of the 

 Pan-American. 



Your readers are supposed to look in 

 your columns for florists' trade reports 

 only and Bradstreefs or Dun's tor gen- 

 eral trade, but it is worth mentioning 

 that on all sides you hear merchants of 

 all classes say that they never reaU?ed 

 such an awakening of business. This 

 is of the greatest importance to flor- 

 ists, because we all depend on each 

 other's prosperity. After a long win- 

 ter's hibernating, people awakened 

 with the generous impulse to open 

 their pocketbooks. and in our line it is 

 no longer confined to one class, but 

 people of very moderate means want a 

 plant or a liouquet. 



It is difficult to say just now how 

 everybody feels, but the few I have in- 

 terviewed are well pleased. All made 

 fine displays of plants, and the quan- 

 tity sold must have exceeded any for- 

 mer year by at least 20 per cent. Kast- 

 ing says he never handled so many 

 flowers by one-third, and that is a good 

 indication of the trade. And in plants 

 he went ahead ten fold. 



.•\lthough some stores doubtless sold 



many cut flowers, yet plants were the 

 great feature, as they have been tor 

 ihe past several years. Lilies general- 

 ly were not of as good quality as they 

 might be and there wore many scraggy 

 Crimson Ramlilers and some good ones, 

 and those that did not see the good 

 ones thought the others all right and 

 bought them. 



It would be a little diflii'ult to say 

 which plants had the preference, but 

 the flrst two it is easy to mention. I 

 would place this year the azalea first 

 with those who wanted to buy a fine 

 plant for a iiresent. 'I'he lily is the 

 standard, and all good ones sold clean 

 out. Crimson Ramblers sold well at 

 good prices, but we had no Philadel- 

 phia giants here; $3 to $5 was the 

 price. Rhododendrons did not sell as 

 well as azaleas and I may add here 

 that there was an unusually good de- 

 mand for $4 and $5 jilants of the latter. 

 White lilac solii well at $1.50 to $2. 

 American Beauty and hybrid roses 

 went off good at $1 to $2. 



Nine and ten-inch pans of Murillo 

 tulips and Dutch hyacinths sold well 

 at $1.50 to $2. Small pans of well 

 flowered pansies went off quickly. The 

 single pot of Dutch hyacinth is always 

 a good seller, because it suits the very 

 moderate purse. There were grown 

 here a number of excellent mignonette, 

 compact, well flowered plants, and al- 

 though many sold, you do not want a 

 large quantity; they only appeal to the 

 very refined. The spiraea and cytisus 

 are no longer important Easter plants, 

 but the spiraea is so useful for cutting 

 that we can't do without it. 



We were disappointed in the sale of 

 Acacia armata and the bottle brush 

 plant, and have concluded that we had 

 better occupy the space with azaleas. 

 A moderate sized acacia covered with 

 bloom aud its rarity and beauty ex- 

 tolled by the grower, only produced a 

 shrug aiid the remark: "I don't fancy 

 it." Rubbers, palms, and ferns were 

 asked for only occasionally. It is evi- 

 dent and worth remembering that a 

 gay plant is wanted for Easter. 



•To finish my remarks on plants: I 

 could say you cannot satisfy all par- 

 ties, and while we are more than satis- 

 fied with the sale of $2. $15 and $4 

 plants, we seemed largely without a 50- 

 cent plant, and must be better pre- 

 pared another year. Three hyacinths 

 in a 0-inch pot, a 5-inch pan of tulips, 

 a late 4-inch pot of cyclamen, or a 

 small begonia, or even a well flowered 

 zonal geranium, would fill the bill. 



Flowers, except American Beauty, 

 were all cleaned up. The ordinary run 

 of good roses sold well at $3 per dozen. 

 Carnations brought $1 and no kick 

 where quality was good. There were 

 not many fancy varieties handled. Ex- 

 cepting some few shipments of carna- 

 tions, we did not hear of much em- 

 balmed stock. Violets were in excel- 

 lent demand at $1.5(( to $3. according 

 to quality. Mignonette sold well at $1 

 a dozen. Valley moderately at 75 

 cents. Tulips and daffodils at 50 to 60 

 cents. There is really little demand 

 for this bulbous stuff, but it fills in. 



and those people doing a cemetery bus- 

 iness can not do without them, for 

 nothing makes so good a show for the 

 price. We seemed to get along entire- 

 ly this year without running to the 

 smilax bed. but cut sprays of Aspara- 

 gus plumosus and Sprengerii were in 

 constant demand to accompany boxes 

 of flowers. 



Florists' wagcnis were on every street 

 till a late hour on Saturday, but only 

 one automobile, and that was hired for 

 the day by W. .L Palmer & Son — a good 

 "adv.," for we heard of it early in the 

 day. Even if the vehicle contained 

 nothing more substantial than the 

 contents of the wheels, it was a good 

 move. 



People did not ask you to "fix up" 

 the plants with crepe; it was taken for 

 granted that you would, and few plants 

 were sent out without being trimmed. 

 In the rush of business on Friday we 

 received an order from one of the rural 

 counties of western Pennsylvania for 

 10 cents' worth of smilax. to be sent by 

 express. That broke us up more than 

 a big church decoration, and in the 

 hurry I am afraid it was neglected. 

 Everybody was tired out and. Brother 

 Florists, it is a hard and tough three 

 or four days. We ought to make some 

 money for such high pressure work. 

 It is not work — it is a jumping slavery 

 for forty-eight hours. There is no 

 business more difficult to handle, no 

 goods so perishable, the anxiety and 

 strain on your nerves is great, and we 

 ought to reap a good reward, unless 

 Easter could keep up all the year 

 round, when we would be equipped for 

 it.' I am glad it only comes once a 

 year. W. S. 



BALTIMORE. 



Easter Trade. 



The weather for the week preceding 

 Easter 'comprised much rain, clouds 

 and low temperature, but the day it- ' 

 self was ideal, whilst Friday and Sat- 

 urday were clear and bright, with vivid 

 suggestions of spring in the air. Were 

 the daily press to be credited, the em- 

 ployment of plants and flowers for the 

 decoration of church, home and ceme- 

 tery was never more general, and the 

 supply of materials never more abun- 

 dant. It would seem that the sun- 

 shine and calmer atmosphere gave im- 

 petus and opportunity for buying, the 

 dealers making the best of their 

 chances for attractive displays of the 

 streets, in the stores and at the mar- 

 kets, and the desire to have living and 

 fragrant decorations for the vernal 

 holiday became infectious with all 

 classes. 



The growers had felt the untoward 

 influences of dull skies, but almost all 

 kinds of stuff were in full supply, and 

 prices were satisfactory generally to 

 buyer and seller. 



"The embellishment of the windows 

 of the florists themselves advances 

 with the growing fondness for floral 

 decoration, and nearly all the stores 

 showed imposing and tasteful arrange- 

 ments of choice material. Large plants 



