704 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



April. 19. 1902. 



THE EASTER TRADE. 



Late Reports. 



ToPEKA, Kaxs. — James Hayes says 

 Easter trade Tras very good. Satur- 

 day's snow storm hurt business to some 

 extent but not seriousl.y. He found 

 blooming plants a better sale than cut 

 flowers. 



Raleigh, N. C. — H. Steinmetz reports 

 Easter trade as fully 25 per cent, better 

 than last year, -s-iolets, lily of the valley 

 and Beauties leading among cut flowers. 

 Not many pot plants called for. A de- 

 cline in lilies. 



Augusta, Me. — G. P. Sanborn reports 

 Easter trade for Augusta as probably 

 safely one-third larger than last year. A 

 hea^y rain on Saturday cut oflf a good 

 many sales, but the orders in hand were 

 above the average. 



Davenport, Ia. — Otto KlingbeU re- 

 ports Easter trade as excellent and in- 

 creasing every year. Stock was plentiful 

 and sold at good prices. The weather 

 was favorable, making delivery very easy. 

 All the florists seem to be satisfied with 

 this year 's Easter business. 



Needham, Mass. — Denys Zirngiebel 

 says the market for plants and cut 

 flowers is in Boston and Needmam's 

 trade is of no consequence. Trade was 

 fair, but on Sunday, on account of 

 stormy weather there was a slump in all 

 lines. More violets were sold than any- 

 thing else. 



Council Bluffs, Ia. — J. F. Wilcox 

 says Easter trade was fully up to that 

 of last year. The demand for lilies and 

 other blooming plants was much heavier 

 and there was not enough to suppl.v the 

 demand. In our retail trade the people 

 wanted blooming plants in preference to 

 cut flowers. 



Ogdensburg, N. Y. — Mrs. Thomas 

 Liawrence reports Easter trade as very 

 good. Cut flowers about the same as last 

 year, roses and carnations selling well. 

 Plant trade was 50 per cent, better than 

 last year, the usual stock of bulbous 

 plants, cinerarias, azaleas. Rambler roses, 

 hydrangeas, etc., in small and medium 

 sizes, selling best. 



Elgin, III.— B. O'Neil says the vol- 

 ume of Easter trade was somewhat small- 

 er than last year. He says the retail 

 trade cannot sell cheaper than- the whole- 

 sale price and the wholesale price was 

 like the horse trader's price. 'When 

 flowers are sold at a reasonable price the 

 people will buy them. 



Helena, Mont. — The State Nursery 

 Co. report Easter business as ahead of 

 that of a year ago. Pot plants were in 

 good demand and bulb stufif sold well. 

 As usual at such seasons there were not 

 enough cut flowers to fully supply the 

 extra demand. Small pot plants for 

 Sunday schools were extensively used and 

 business on the whole was entirely satis- 

 factory. 



Winona, ilixx. — John Wunder reports 

 Easter trade as more than 25 per cent, 

 larger than any previous year. There 

 were more calls for plants than for 

 flowers. The weather was fine and spring- 

 like and ever.vone wanted to take a plant 

 home. Easter lilies were a failure here 

 and the demand could not be supplied. 

 There were more calls for carnations than 

 for roses. Roses sold at $1.00 a dozen 

 and carnations at 60 cents a dozen. 



Terre Haute, Ind. — John G. Heinl & 

 Co. report Easter trade as the best they 

 ever had, notwithstanding the bad weath- 

 er before Easter and the cold on Sun- 

 day. In cut flowers, roses and carnations 

 are the old reliables. Next came lilacs 

 and bulb stock. Baskets of plants tied 

 with riDbon and arrangements of mat- 

 ting also sold well. 



Dayton, O. — H. H. Bitter says Easter 

 trade was all that could be expected. 

 Everything good in cut flowers and pot 

 plants sold out and good prices were 

 obtained. Liilies and all seasonable 

 flowers were in good supply. The weath- 

 er was fine on Saturday but on Sunday 

 snow, hail, thunder and lightning made 

 it the worst da.y of the year. 



Petoskey, Mich. — S. J. Long says his 

 Easter trade far exceeded that of an.y 

 previous Easter. Carnations, lilies and 

 violets sold well. Also fern pans fiUed 

 with fine greens and paper and ribbon 

 trimmed, and violet pans trimmed up. 

 Roses were not in it. He contemplates 

 tearing down and rebuilding part of his 

 plant and replacing old boiler with a 

 new one. 



Auburn, N. Y. — Geo. Dobbs & Son 

 sa.v Easter trade was a great deal better 

 than last year in cut flowers, carnations 

 being the favorite. As to the plant 

 trade they are unable to say definitely as 

 they are mainly in cut flowers, but from 

 what the.v saw the.v doubt if it was as 

 good as last year. But taking it alto- 

 gether they think all will say it was a 

 very prosperous Easter. 



Pawtucket, R. I. — James Hockey re- 

 ports Easter trade as never better. It 

 was first rate in ever.v branch. Pot plants 

 sold well. There was also a heavy de- 

 mand for violets and piuks. Stock about 

 equal to demand. In some cases sister 

 cities were called upon. Prices were 

 good all around. Monday morning found 

 empty greenhouses and stores and the 

 florists with bright faces. 



New Orleans, La. — U. J. Virgin re- 

 ports Easter trade as 15 per cent better 

 than last year. Harrisii sold out and 

 could have sold a few hundred more. 

 Roses had the same call as usual. Car- 

 nations were a glut and there were few 

 calls. American Beauties were about a 

 fair average. No call for palms or ferns 

 and few calls for azaleas and spiraeas. 

 Harrisii plants sold out. 



Colorado Springs, Colo. — Wm. Clark 

 says Easter trade opened strong during 

 the first of the week and held up well till 

 Friday when this city had the heaviest 

 snow of the season, which lasted over 

 part of Saturday and put a damper on 

 trade, orders from the mountain towns 

 being greatly reduced. Stock was of the 

 finest with a good supply of Harrisii, 

 spiraeas, hydrangeas, hvacinths, etc., as 

 well as cut flowers which were on hand in 

 great abundance. This is usually the 

 case when a snow storm is due. 



Savannah, Ga. — A. C. Oelschig re- 

 ports Easter trade as the best this city 

 ever had. Everv' one of the florists sold 

 out clean and at good prices. Any white 

 flowering plant (the only color we can 

 sell in our cit.v for Easter) went well. 

 The continuous cold weather and earli- 

 ness of Easter made outside flowers 

 scarce and the church members had to 

 come to the poor florists for their deco- 

 rations, for which the.v generally re- 

 ceived payment in prayer. 



PiTTSFiELD. Mass. — John White says 

 that good bright weather Saturday and 

 Sunday helped the Easter business great- 

 ly. Carnations were in great demand 

 and the supply insufficient. Pot lilies 

 sold well, and in fact any well grown 

 stuff could be sold at good prices. Busi- 

 ness in general was much better than 

 last year, the amount of money spent 

 being a quarter more than last year. 



Fremont, Neb. — C. H. Green reports 

 the Easter just past as the most satisfac- 

 tory he ever experienced. Prices were 

 good, people had money and were willing 

 to let go of it. He had an abundance of 

 A 1 stock of his own production and 

 every order was filled and every cus- 

 tomer pleased. The total sales ran about 

 25 per cent, ahead of last year in mone.v 

 value. The only shortage was in Easter 

 lilies, but an abundance of good callas in 

 bloom helped out so that there was 

 enough to go around. Fanc.y carnations 

 sold a little better than anything else. 



Wichita, Kans.— W. H, Gulp & Co. 

 say that an inquiry among the florists 

 shows a satisfactory Easter trade at 

 about the same prices as last year, with 

 sales in most cases 10 to 39 per cent. 

 larger. Supply about equal to demand 

 but most report cut flowers sold out 

 clean, Lily plants sold out and not 

 enough for demand. Owing to dis- 

 ease and slow stock many of these missed 

 Easter, though Culp & Co, had a fine 

 lot just right for the holiday. Other 

 blooming plants sold well. Bulb stock 

 was in fine shape and sold fairly well. In 

 cut flowers, roses, carnations, lilies and 

 valley were most in demand with bulb 

 stuff going mostly into assorted box or- 

 ders, 



Youngstown, O, — Walker & McLean 

 say: "In comparison with last season 

 our Easter trade this year was about 25 

 per cent, better. Prices were about the 

 same as last year. But we noticed a de- 

 cided increase in the demand for plants, 

 especially lilies ; next in demand were hy- 

 drangeas. Ramblers, azaleas, pan hya- 

 cinths an<l tulips, rhododendrons, lilacs, 

 pot narcissus, tulips, hyacinths, cinerarias, 

 spireas, genistas and bougainvilleas. 

 There was very good sale for large lilies 

 in pans with from 20 to 35 flowers each. 

 In cut flowers, carnations were in great- 

 est demand, followed by violets, lilies. 

 Maids, Brides, Am, Beaut.y, different va- 

 rieties of narcissus, tulips, valley, etc. 

 With us it was decidedl.y a plant Easter, 

 and we were fortunate in having everj-- 

 thing just right." 



Bangor, Me. — Adam Sekenger reports 

 trade for Easter week as immense, being 

 iull.y 50 per cent, larger than for the 

 same week of 1901. Lilies sold at 25 

 cents a bloom and all the good stock was 

 sold out clean. He sold 2,500 pots, with 

 4 to 9 blooms to a pot, Easter week, Sat- 

 urda.y it rained and there was a lot of 

 poor lilies left. He did not advance the 

 price on cut flowers and sold out, but 

 some of the dealers who tried for fancy 

 prices on roses and pinks had some stock 

 lelt. For potted stuff', such as azaleas, 

 heaths, Crimson Ramblers, spiraeas, tulips, 

 etc, the demand was immense and the.v 

 brought prices ranging from $1,00 to 

 $3,00, In our section it is getting to be 

 an Easter week instead of Easter da}'. 

 All the churches decorated finely. On the 

 whole it was the best Easter we ever had 

 in this section. The violet was the onl.y 

 thing that called for a high price. Bunch- 

 es of 25 brought a dollar. 



