January 2. 190: 



TheWeekly Florists' Review* 



189 



House of the'White Carnation Bon HommeRichard at the Establisfcment of the Chicago Carnation Co., Joliet, 111. 



office, 20x60, with workroom in the 

 rear and cellar under, both con- 

 taining boilers and other accoutre- 

 ments, great ingenuity being dis- 

 played in methwds by which evei}' inch 

 of space is made to count, and in cold 

 storage arrangements. Another notice- 

 able feature is the generous allotment 

 of electrical lighting apparatus about 

 the whole place, which he pronounces 

 good. 



Finding horses more available than 

 the proper kind of wheeled vehicles at 

 busy periods, he keeps only one horse, 

 but four nice carriages, in a nearby 

 stable. 



Himself, a younger brother, a compe- 

 tent lady Ixiokkeeper and a lad make 

 the distributing force. He is his own 

 buyer and, like others of the name, is 

 known as a shrewd and careful, but 

 fair-minded and generous purchaser. He 

 will beat last year's record this year 

 and keep right on with a yearly increase. 



Quite a bit of comment is being made 

 concerning the wholesale changes in help 

 among the city stores, caused primarily 

 by that at Galvin's Back Bay place. 



J. S. Makter. 



CARNATION BON HOMME 

 RICHARD. 



We present herewith an engraving 

 from a photograph of a house of the 

 white carnation Bon Homme Richard at 

 the establishment of the Chicago Carna- 

 tion Co.. Joliet, 111., taken shortly be- 

 fore Christmas. The house is ?2'x200. 

 and beginning Friday before Christmas 

 over 4.000 blooms were cut for the holi- 

 day trade and they netted the company 

 nhout .$275.00. 



This variety originated on this place 

 and was disseminated last year. It is 

 certainly a very free bloomer here, and 

 we hear good reports from it elsewhere 

 also. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



BATJtoNn, N. H.— J. A. Littlefield has 

 sold out what plants he could and has 

 closed his greenhouse. 



The Holiday Trade. 



Two weeks full to overflowing with 

 business activity have come and gone 

 since the last report in this column. 

 Now as the old year closes it is pos- 

 sible to give an accurate account of the 

 holiday business. 



The general feeling is that Christmas 

 business was the very best we ever had, 

 away ahead of last year. The draw- 

 backs to general satisfaction were the 

 high prices of cut flowers and certain 

 express shipments delayed or frozen. 



The novelties on the market were a 

 very eft'ective ball-like basket of Lor- 

 raine begonias, designed and executed 

 by William Tricker, of Henry A. Dreer. 

 A ten inch wire frame was filled with 

 some half dozen five-inch, fifteen or 

 eighteen four-inch and a few three-inch 

 Lorraine begonias in such a way as to 

 make a perfect ball of pink flowers. 

 These baskets were very beautiful sus- 

 pended in a window. They brought $5 

 wholesale (not enough) and $15 retail. 

 A New York florist when he saw them 

 admitted that he sometimes did get ideas 

 from Philadelphia. 



Another novelty was a glass-covered 

 fern dish, with slate bottom and nickel 

 plated edges, made by John C. Gracey. 

 These are most ingenious, the lids work- 

 ing on hinges and are of various sizes. 

 They seem ju.st the thing for delicate 

 adiantums, such as Farleyense, when 

 grown in the house. Another novelty 

 was some nicely berried English holly 

 in pots. 



A very serious question to the plant 

 growers has been the number of ship- 

 ments delayed or frozen in transit dur- 

 ing the severe weather just before Christ- 

 mas. The plantsmen guarantee safe 

 delivery when shipping by express, but 

 the experience of this season has con- 

 vinced tliem that they cannot do so in 

 fiiture. The combination of extremely 

 severe weather and the heavy holiday 

 business caused loss of nearly all sbip- 

 nients that went beyond a radius of one 



hundred miles. It is hoped that the 

 buyers will meet the sellers half way 

 on this point by ordering their plants 

 early enough to admit of their being 

 shipi)ed during a mild spell, and not so 

 late that they must go with the ther- 

 mometer near zero or miss Christmas. 



Cut flowers were practically cleared 

 up at Christmas despite the high prices. 

 Beauties brought all the way from $3 

 to $15 a dozen. Brides and Maids 

 brought 20 cents for specials, the Maids 

 of this grade t)eing extremely scarce. 

 Ordinary grade 12 cents to 15 cents, with 

 seconds 5 cents to 8 cents. Carnations 

 were more plentiful than expected, many 

 coming in at the last moment. Prices 

 ranged from $3 to $8 a hundred. Specials 

 $10 to $12. Single violets brought $1 

 a hundred; doubles $1.50 to $2 a hun- 

 dred. 



H. H. Battles experienced his best 

 Christmas. He had the courage to back 

 his convictions, buying heavily of all 

 kinds of cut flowers of choicest quality 

 and selling out cleanly. He handled 

 many blooms of Mrs. Oliver Ames and 

 the Queen of Edgely roses. 



Pennock Bros, boycotted fancy grades 

 of cut flott'ers, believing the prices ex- 

 orbitant. Their sales of plants were 

 very heavy, specimen palms being recom- 

 mended to their customers in preference 

 to fancy Beauties. They also sold many 

 made up baskets of plants. 



Joseph Kift & Son were exceedingly 

 well pleased with Christmas, both in 

 plants and cut flowers. Their handle 

 baskets filled with plants and decorated 

 with ribbo7i were tastefully gotten up 

 and proved popular. Azaleas and palms 

 in medium sizes proved good sellers. 



Knbert Crawford, Jr., considered the 

 price of Beauties too high and pushed 

 choice plants instead. He found Lor- 

 raine begonias splendid for table deco- 

 ration, using them extensively. His 

 business both in plants and cut flowers 

 increased largely. 



George Craig was greatly pleased with 

 Christmas, regretting only the scarcity 

 of choice Maids. 



J. J. Habermehl's Sons noticed a de- 



