668 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



April 



week was excellent and away ahead of 

 previous years, hyacinths, azaleas, Crim- 

 son Eamblers and hydrangeas selling 

 particularly well. Of lilies there . were 

 not enough to go around, though all the 

 local growers had a good percentage in 

 bloom. There were more lihes sold than 

 ever before. All the churches were deco- 

 rated more or less, which took lots of 

 palms, blooming plants and cut flowers 

 and kept all the florists busy. 



Batavia, III.— McAJlister & Co. say: 

 ' ' The bright weather the fore part of the 

 week brought out the people and trade 

 was very brisk. Friday's rain acted as 

 a check, but Saturday's bright sky 

 brought customers with a rush. The de- 

 mand far exceeded the supply and the 

 call was principally for good stock. Car- 

 nations were at a premium, and every 

 flower of fair quality was quickly snapped 

 up. Lilies sold rapidly and prices re- 

 mained higli. Our roses, which have 

 never been off crop since last October, 

 sojd to the very last of the cut. Gera- 

 niums and all potted plants sold quickly, 

 and the coming season promises to be a 

 record breaker for all kinds of outdoor 

 stock. ' ' 



Des Moines, Ia.— J. T. D. 1\ says 

 Easter trade was about 25 per cent 

 larger than last year, with prices rang- 

 ing from $1..50 to $2.50 per dozen for 

 roses, and 75 cents to .$1.50 for carna- 

 tions. Some report plants as selling better 

 than cut flowers, others the reverse be- 

 cause they did not have the plants. \V. 

 L. Morris made up some very handsome 

 baskets of plants that went at $5 to 

 $10 each. This is not a flower-buying 

 public, and while some are trying to 

 build up a creditable trade others are 

 inilling back and discouraging the pub- 

 lic by decorating churches for Easter 

 with plants in pots that have not been 

 washed since Xoah used them. Please 

 do not swear, Mr. Scott. 



St. Joseph, Mo.— L. J. Stuppy 

 says Easter business showed a good 

 increase over last year, the plant trade 

 expanding and cut flowers holding 

 their own. Some nicely arranged bas- 

 kets and fine azaleas brought fancy 

 prices, as did the better carnations. 

 BulD stock was cleaned out entirely, 

 mostly in pans, little being saved 

 for cut flowers, this demand being sup- 

 plied mostly with roses, carnations and 

 violets, the latter being short in sup- 

 ply. Very few customers were turned 

 away and nothing was left unsold. Porto 

 Eican mats easily led the way in pot 

 coverings. Plenty of good lilies and 

 more bad ones under the bench. 



FoxD DU Lac, Wis.— E. Haentze says 

 favorable weather during Easter week 

 not only resulted in large sales of plants 

 and flowers, but brought out the Harrisii 

 lilies in fine shape. The demand for the 

 lily keeps growing, and is far ahead of 

 that for the finest azaleas, rhododen- 

 drons or any fancier stock. Azaleas at 

 above $1 will stick while lilies at $1.50 

 go fast. Bulbous stock in pots or pans 

 goes slow, unless sold at Jlilwaukee 

 prices. Good hybrid ro.ses in bloom, if 

 not over $1.00, go fast. White stocks, 

 large plants full of bloom, also Empera- 

 trice Elizabeth stocks, meet with ready 

 sale. He thinks the last named will take 

 a place among the cheaper grade of Eas- 

 ter plants. In cut flowers nothing sells 

 better than good carnations if not over 

 75 cents a doz. Eoses next at $1.50 a 



doz. Violets sell rapidly at 25 cents a 

 bunch. Tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and 

 valley were in less demand than in for- 

 mer years. The demand for cut flowers, 

 and carnations especially, was larger and 

 the sale of medium priced Easter plants 

 double that of lormer years. But high 

 prices decrease trade rather than in- 

 crease it. 



Philadelphia; 



Easter. 



The business done at Easter was enor- 

 mous, aided by a week of balmy, spring- 

 like weather which brought out immense 

 crowds to the streets. Plants were in 

 brisk demand, the regular stores dispos- 

 ing of great numbers. Quite a number 

 of shops were opened just for Easter; 

 tuese were not so successful as their es- 

 tablished rivals. Azaleas were prime 

 favorites; one firm who flowered between 

 six and seven thousand had not a single 

 plant left. Lilies were in short supply 

 due to the disease; more good plants 

 and good cut blooms could have been 

 sold. Hydrangeas and rhododendrons 

 were in demand, no good plant being 

 left. Genistas, deutzias, spiraeas and 

 lilacs all went well. Japanese cherries 

 proved poor keepers. Bulbous stock was 

 the weakest feature of the list; immense 

 quantities were sold, but there were too 

 many grown. 



An excellent business was done in cut 

 flowers, fully ecpial, and in some cases 

 superior, to that of last year. Long 

 stemmed American Beauties were sur- 

 prisingly plentiful and there were almost 

 too many of them; $6 per doz. was the 

 to|) price. Tea roses were eagerly 

 sought, Brides being especially scarce. 

 Good stock brought $12 to $15 per 100 

 and even more. Carnations, always very 

 high at Easter, averaged a little lower 

 in price than usual; still they brought 

 pretty good figures, on ordinarv grade, 

 $3 to $4 per 100; fancies, $5, $6, $S and 

 a few $10. Violets sold well, doubles 

 bringing from 50 cents to $1 per 100. 

 One firm disposed of a hundred and fifty 

 thousand. Valley was another good sell- 

 er; $2, $3. .$4 and a few $5 per 100 were 

 the figures. Calla lilies were not very 

 popular. Single dalfodils arrived in 

 large quantities from the south towards 

 the end of the week; they were on the 

 street at 12 cents per doz. 



Carnations, 



The carnation market was liadly 

 spoiled by holding back the flowers too 

 long. The growers finding the demand 

 light toward the end of Lent shipped 

 few or no flowers from the 20th to the 

 25th of March, then dumped a lot of 

 poor trash on the market that nobody 

 wanted. Many orders booked at good 

 prices between these dates had to be 

 canceled for want of stock. The flowers 

 that ought to have filled them went to 

 the ash barrel and the faKlr. A grower 

 once caught in this way should never be 

 caught again. 



Notes. 



Eobert Scott &■ Son will build two new 

 houses this summer for roses. The single 

 span house with one bench and a walk, 

 erected over the ends of the other houses, 

 has given satisfaction economizing heat 

 and giving a covered way that prevents 

 dei>reciation in value of cut blooms on 

 the w.iy to the cooling room. 



Lilies at 12 to 15 cents were good 

 stock this year, if you did lose too many 



bulbs— it is a pretty big "if" though, 

 ihere was little time wasted in sleep- 

 ing toward the end of last week. 



Win. C. Smith reappeared as a florist, 

 renting the shop at 1227 Chestnut street 

 for jast week. 



Charles Thomas rented a shop close to 

 Pennock Bros, for the week. 



The Florists' Club met on Tuesday 

 evening. H. E. Ford gave further in- 

 formation about pipe. The Conard & 

 Jones Co. exhibited a sport from Crim- 

 son Eambler believed to be an improve- 

 ment on the older variety. 



Wilminglon. 



The country near Wilmington, Dela- 

 ware, is rapidly developing into a great 

 carnation growing district. The bulk of 

 the product comes to the Philadelphia 

 market. There are evidences of prosper- 

 ity on all sides that leaa to the belief 

 tiiat this section will soon equal Chester 

 county in the fame of its carnations. 



William H. Potter is a hustling grower 

 who has sent some fine carnations to this 

 city during the winter. Crane is grown 

 for red, McGowan and Hill are the 

 whites. He also grows some Easter stuff 

 for the local market and for later will 

 have some spring plants. He works a 

 large farm in addition to his florist busi- 

 ness. 



William H. Vance has a thrifty look- 

 ing lot of carnations that reflect credit 

 upon their owner and his foreman, Her- 

 man Wolf. A great number of varieties 

 are grown and nearly all are evidently 

 paying well. The young stock is gotten 

 up in pots in excellent sliape; it will then 

 be planted in flats till the set-out in the 

 field. Those intended for summer bloom- 

 ing are in 3-inch and will be shifted 

 into 4-inch before being planted out 

 in about a month. Mrs. Fisher is grown 

 for white and William Scott for pink 

 for this purpose; a few Ethel Crocker 

 will be tried also. Tliis latter variety, 

 unsatisfactory as a forcing sort in colcf 

 weather, will, it is hoped, be a good 

 thing for summer flowers. Mrs. Lippin- 

 cott had been tried and will be grown 

 more largely; Joost does well. Hybrid- 

 izing is giving some interesting results. 

 A very even lot of lilies were flowered 

 for the local market at Easter; also some 

 bulbous stock. These will be followed 

 by pot roses and then chrysanthemums. 

 The young carnations, nearly 100,000 in 

 number, will be followed by asters. This 

 place will be moved this summer to a 

 new piece of ground nearby and another 

 house added. 



Simon Brothers have a fine, large farm 

 formerly devoted entirely to growing 

 truck, some of the gl.ass having been 

 put up for forcing vegetables, Charles 

 Simon has in the past five years 

 branched out as a very successful car- 

 nation grower. The firm has probably 

 the largest plant near Wilmington and 

 they are now erecting, at some distance 

 from the present establishment, two- 

 houses 175x20 feet each ana one house 

 220x16 feet to be operated by Mr. 

 Simon's son. Their carnations are in 

 fine shape. Joost has given splendid re- 

 sults; Maceo is well liked; Hill seems the 

 best white; Lorna looked well. A store 

 was taken for the week before Easter 

 and an immense quantity of stock, chief- 

 ly lilies, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, 

 daisies, geraniums and begonias, were 

 grown to sell through this medium. Large 

 plants are not grown, the demand be- 

 ing for small plants of moderate price. 

 A small house of calla lilies was in 



