The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Mat 29, 1902. 



in her varietal mood and put a new set 

 of features upon the offspring, plus a 

 new set of potencies in their systems, 

 which utterly upset and vitiate his calcu- 

 lations, while affording no clue whatever 

 to the reason. — Chas. T. Druery, F. L. S., 

 V. M. H., in Gardener's Magazine. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



At the time these notes are written 

 the early shipping for the Decoration 

 Day trade is being done. Tha early 

 orders vrill probably be taken care of, 

 but it is not so certain about the later 

 ones. There is a lot of stock, such as 

 it is, but most of the roses coming in 

 are of very poor quality and it will 

 take close picking to get out enough 

 of shipping grade to meet demands. 

 Carnations are more plentiful and aver- 

 age better in quality than roses, but 

 the general average of stock generally 

 is poor. Anything different could hard- 

 ly be expected after the violent weather 

 changes we have had — from cold to hot 

 and then back to cold again. Any grow- 

 er who has failed to fire the past few 

 days is sure to have been decidedly out 

 of it. 



The cool weather has improved qual- 

 ity somewhat over last week, when the 

 plants were being roasted, but there has 

 not yet been time for the change to 

 have produced much effect. There seems 

 to be an abundance of good lilies and 

 outdoor valley, but hardly enough good 

 paeonies to meet the call. Orders have 

 come in freely and it is so far merely 

 a question of getting stock of good 

 enough grade to stand the shipping test. 



The supply of hardy ferns is unfor- 

 tunately short. The price is now $3.00 

 per 1,000 and there is a likelihood of 

 its going to $4.00 by the time this is 

 in print. 



At E. C. Amling's we noted some fine 

 white stocks that were very attractive 

 and meeting with good demand. 



Various Items. 



The regular meeting of the Florists' 

 Club was held Wednesday evening. 

 There was no regular program. Ar- 

 rangements for the annual summer out- 

 ing were discussed. 



The price of iron and steel pipe, etc., 

 has been given another boost. There 

 was an advance of 10 per cent in the 

 price of boiler tubes this week and 

 further advances are predicted. Any 

 one about to buy pipe or tubular boil- 

 ers had better get quick action. 



Peter Eeinberg celebrated his 19th 

 wedding anniversary last Thursday. 



Mrs. P. J. Hauswirth has been very 

 seriously ill and last Saturday was dan- 

 gerously so. She is now improving. 



The S. A. F. rate from Chicago to 

 Asheville, N. C, has now been definitely 

 settled and it amounts to $24.80 for the 

 round trip. Special round trip tickets 

 will be issued, good going Aug. 16, 17 

 and 18 and with a return limit up to 

 Aug. 25. The sleeping car rate is $5.00 

 each way. Special cars will no doubt be 

 arranged for by the local club which 

 will insure against any change of cars. 



A committee composed of wholesal- 

 ers and retailers called on the school 

 management committee of the board of 

 education last Thursday and petitioned 

 for a reversal of the rule prohibiting the 

 presentation of flowers to graduates at 

 the annual commencement exercises in 



the public schools. They did not suc- 

 ceed in securing a reversal of the rule, 

 but it developed that the pupils could 

 use flowers as freely as they wished 

 in the decoration of the room. What is 

 forbidden is the passing of flowers up 

 to graduates on the platform. 



Bedding out is going forward at Lin- 

 coln Park. The geraniums were put out 

 last Saturday, and being in full bloom, 

 made a fine showing Sunday. Head- 

 gardener Stromback tried the ' ' Califor- 

 nia Giant" pansies this year and was 

 much disappointed in them. The blooms 

 are not remarkable for size and the col- 

 ors average much below present-day 

 standards. In the hardy garden the 

 German irises are beginning to bloom, 

 the dodecatheons are at their best, the 

 pffionies are in bud though none are 

 showing color except the early red. 

 The aquilegias are beginning to make 

 a brave show, the double flowering crab 

 is in fine bloom and Spirea Van Houttei 

 is at its best. The heavy rains have, 

 however, injured the blooms of this 

 shrub, causing the flowers to drop much 

 quicker than usual. 



We have had a great deal of rain 

 during the past month, in fact, more 

 than was needed. And last Saturday 

 evening this was supplemented by a 

 terrific downpour for several hours that 

 left the ground in the condition of a 

 thoroughly soaked sponge. This was 

 followed by a marked lowering of the 

 temperature, Monday and Tuesday being 

 quite chilly, though there was a fair 

 amount of sunshine. 



Mrs. John Eichter, Duluth, Minn., 

 was a visitor this week. 



.Tohn Degnan has returned from his 

 eastern trip. 



E. H. Hunt is showing some very at- 

 tractive new figures in crepe paper, a 

 very timely one being that with an 

 American 'flag printed on it. 



BOSTON. 



May J8-24. 



Our retailers complained some of slack 

 business but I will give you the quiet 

 tip that a whole lot of all sorts of 

 goods came into the different wholesale 

 marts and Saturday eve found their ice 

 chests fairly well emptied. Where it 

 all went to I would not care to hazard 

 a guess. But it nearly all goes out by 

 regular channels of traffic, the street not 

 being over-stocked and our now quite 

 well organized hospital department hard- 

 ly got remembered at all. Somebody is 

 surely doing something. I presume it 

 may be best not to brag much about 

 prices, but there is no proof that any 

 one is getting any more than he asks. 

 And it is also one of those times when 

 the support of the fairminded buyer who 

 has been fairly used all winter is worth 

 something in repayment for past favors, 

 as well as one of the times when the 

 irregular buyer gets hold of the light 

 end- of the log. 



Chaff and Wheat. 



A noticeable feature just now is the 

 fact that the wholesale business lasts 

 all day better than in cooler weather. 

 Small dealers do not buy so much on 

 speculation in the morning as usual but 

 run in and purchase a few dollars' worth 

 whenever they catch an order. You see 

 goods do not keep so well this kind of 

 weather. The next noticeable change 

 will be when these small dealers stop 

 getting orders to a great extent. 



' ' Middlesex ' ' wrote, some few weeks 

 since, rather a plaintive dirge to the 

 passing of the suburban florist. I hard- 

 ly agree with him and will take the 

 ground that there never was a better 

 time than this to start a suburban busi- 

 ness. But it nowadays takes a florist 

 to run a florist business anywhere! The 

 day is past when a man can be a carpen- 

 ter, a shoemaker or a stonemason with 

 one hand and a florist with the other. 

 The Jack-at-all-trades is becoming ex- 

 tinct anyway isn't he! Competition 

 now makes a man know his biz too well 

 to be able to know too many of them. 

 He must compete with experts and must 

 be an expert himself to do so. 



The "Old Guard" held a very satis- 

 factory session a few nights since at 

 which the chief function was extended 

 hospitality to a few guests from a few 

 states away. It strikes me it might 

 seem pretty nice to be one of those 

 guests at such times. It would take a 

 lot of ink or same other fluid to de- 

 scribe a good old fashioned soiree of the 

 O. 6. J. S. Mantek. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



The Market. 



The cut flower market was quiet last 

 week and early this week. Indications 

 point to lively business from Wednesday 

 on, there having been several school 

 commencements on that day which to- 

 gether mth the advanced Decoration Day 

 shipping moved considerable stock. The 

 heat has railroaded immense quantities 

 of poor bloom on the market, giving a 

 great deal of work to those who handle 

 it, both growers and sellers. Outdoor 

 stock for Decoration Day is good and 

 very plentiful, pasonies, Japanese snow- 

 balls, cornflowers and a few early sweet 

 peas being the principal factors. The 

 first named is, of course, far and away 

 the most important and can be had in 

 all shades and colors. The indoor peas 

 are still with us. Gardenias, fine flow- 

 ers on long stems, are a pleasing addi- 

 tion. Outdoor valley is poor and doesn't 

 sell, 10 cents per bunch of 25 being the 

 price on the street. 



Plants. 



When the advance made by the horti- 

 cultural press reaches the point where 

 the market notes are written by some- 

 one whose whole time is devoted to the 

 work instead of by a florist, then, and 

 only then, will it be possible to give 

 an accurate idea of the conditions of 

 our widely scattered plant market. 

 Speaking in a general way this season 

 shows a wonderfully active demand for 

 all bedding stock at fair prices. Good 

 judges say that there will not be enough 

 of many kinds to fill the orders. Some 

 large roses in pots and geraniums in 

 bloom are now diffilcuU to obtain. The 

 principal wholesale growers are already 

 pretty well cleaned up. There is a great 

 deal of stock still in the hands of the 

 retailers. 



Notes. 



Henry F. Michell will sail for Europe 

 next week. He expects to spend two 

 months among the seed and bulb grow- 

 ers, visiting England, France, Germany, 

 Switzerland, Holland and Austria. 



The Henry A. Dreer Co. is sending 

 heavy consignments of pEeonies to S. S. 

 Pennock daily. Its van contained 3,500 

 blooms one morning this week. 



