264 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



December 31, 1903. 



prosperity, and however disastrous to 

 those immediately eoiieerued may be the 

 fall of the financial high \Tire walkers, 

 yet it can have no far-reaching effect in 

 the face of abundant crops. Chicago is 

 more interested in the movements of the 

 walking delegate of the teamsters' union 

 than in the gyrations of the stock 

 brokers. Pittsburg, the center of the 

 steel industry, about which so much de- 

 rogatory has been said, has been one of 

 the best markets this season. 



Great Crops the Panacea. 



In the great west business has scarce- 

 ly felt the stock value shrinkage, which 

 ten years ago would have caused a finan- 

 cial panic. Seven years of big crops 

 lias put the western farmer out of debt 

 and given him money in the bank. On 

 October 9 the banks of the state of 

 Kansas had in deposits over ninety-eight 

 million dollars, over $60 for every man, 

 woman and child in the state. This was 

 before any considerable part of a wheat 

 crop worth sixty millions had reached 

 market and while a corn crop worth even 

 more was standing still untouched in the 

 fields. All the other western states are 

 as strong financially. While not all had 

 Kansas' crop of wheat (the total crop 

 for the year was near eight hundred mil- 

 lion bushels), nearly all had corn, and 

 corn is really king in the west. With 

 these great crops the west has money to 

 buy manufactures of the east, both the 

 east and the west pay freight to the 

 railroads and the railroads pay divi- 

 dends to the wealthy patrons of the 

 fashionable metropolitan tlorists. Witli 

 more money in the couutrv, per capita, 

 than this or any other nation ever had 



Novelties are to be commended for at- 

 tention. Chatenay rose has been a boon 

 to at least two western growers. Sun- 

 rise has also served for several. La 

 Detroit will be widely distributed this 

 spring and the man who gets a good red 

 will win a fortune, for both ileteor and 

 Liberty arc unsatisfactory. 



Changing Trade Conditions. 



Confidence is such that much money 

 will go into buildings again this season. 

 Many large cut flower producers will add 

 more glass, believing that not one of the 

 large markets is over-supplied, with the 

 exception of the temporary overstock in 

 New York. At the same time many new 

 distributing points are springing up; 

 Utica, Brampton. Cleveland, ilinneapo- 

 lis, Memphis, Kansas City, Council 

 Bluffs, Denver and many smaller places 

 which formerly called on older markets 

 for stock, and do so yet for that matter. 

 Also the retailer is adding glass that he 

 may be more independent of the whole- 

 saler, although the slackening in demand 

 this fall has had a result in causing cut 

 flower prices to fluctuate less violently 

 and within narrower limits. 



It would seem that while 1904 is to be 

 expected to bring steady business it will 

 be necessary for success that the grower 

 put his plant in shape to produce a uni- 

 form grade of at least a fair quality of 

 stock and so order his affairs that the 

 cost of production shall leave him a 

 margin of profit under such conditions as 

 tliose of the past three months. Until 

 then he would best engage in no new 

 adventures. For the plantsnian he might 

 seek to improve the qualitv of his stock 

 without greatly increasing its cost, rath- 



New Place of John G. Heinl & Son, Terre Haute, Ind. 



before, with the greatest crops ever 

 known and Europe dependent upon us 

 for much of her food supply, our trade 

 is on solid industrial ground, well above 

 the turbulent waters of Wall street. 



The Prospect. 



The year 1904 holds out every prospect 

 of a long period of steady, prosperous 

 business. Boom times are neither to be 

 anticipated nor desired, but a chance for 

 every man conducting an honest busi- 

 ness to clear his legitimate percentage. 

 Such general conditions may not make 

 record prices in the florist trade, but 

 the.y will insure a reasonable profit to the 

 grower of good stock. It has already 

 been demonstrated that the producer of 

 goods of the best average quality is the 

 one who gets the money ; small roses, 

 short carnations, colorless violets are all 

 hard to sell. 



er than to increase its quantity faster 

 than the increase in population in liis 

 territory. The store man will find the 

 greatest profit in the end by seeking to 

 make quality, taste and good service, 

 rather than low prices the magnet which 

 draws people to his store. 



HEINL'S NEW STORE. 



The illu^tiatidii ini tlii.- I'Uge shows 

 the new store and conservatorv of John 

 G. Heinl & Son, at Terre Haute, Ind. 

 The pjpce is still run under the old name 

 by Fred G. Heinl, the founder of the 

 business, John G. Heinl. having retired 

 from the firm several years ago. The 

 store is up to date in every respect, 

 lighted by electricity, wood work finished 

 in white enamel and gold, with the show 

 window in white tile. Mr. Heinl has his 

 residence above the store. 



CHRISTMAS TRADE. 



Taking all things into consideration, it 

 is apparent that the Christmas trade was, 

 if not the best on record, certainly much 

 more satisfactory than the conditions 

 early in the month would have warranted 

 one in anticipating. Of course, there is, 

 here and there, an unfavorable report, 

 generally due to unfavorable weather or 

 occasionally to some other influence, but 

 on the whole business was very good. 



Practically all the wholesale cut flower 

 markets cleared up in good shape, but 

 rose prices did not average quite so high 

 as in previous years. The good stock 

 brought fine figures, but the small roses 

 were j)00r property. Beauties had been 

 expected to be very plentiful but proved 

 short of the demand. A noticeable fea- 

 ture was that in New York the price of 

 Beauties was started away up and came 

 down to the mark attained in Philadel- 

 phia and Chicago from .1 start consider- 

 ably lower. 



Carnations with color are alwajs short 

 for Christmas and an unprecedented scarc- 

 ity had been predicted, but the quantities 

 available proved a surprise in practically 

 every market in the country. However, it 

 was found profitable to maintain prices 

 on all fresh colored stock and, consider- 

 ing that receipts were so very large, it 

 should have been a Merry Christmas for 

 the growers, even if the blizzard did hit 

 them that night. 



The violet growers were the ones who 

 were disappointed. In many localities 

 December was a slow month for violets 

 and the producers hoarded up their cut 

 and fairly swamped the nmrkets the day 

 before Christmas. Tlie same story is told 

 in almost every large city. 

 "^Onc""pIeasing feature is the evidence 

 that growers generally are learning the 

 folly of salting their stock. The greater 

 the development of the flowering plant 

 trade the more suicidal this becomes and 

 pickling is no longer practiced save by 

 those growers who have not yet seen the 

 light. Unfortunately there arc said to 

 still be many such shipping into the New 

 York market. 



The plant men had a fine season. They 

 had big stocks in prime condition and 

 sold out at fair figures. The day is past 

 when the retailers in the big cities will 

 stock up with cut flowers. They provide 

 a good lot of plants, on which they can 

 make a nice profit, and let the wholesaler 

 take the risk of carrying the general run 

 of stock. Happily this year the retail de- 

 mand was so good that the wholesale 

 markets were mostly swept bare. But the 

 call came at the last moment and it is an 

 argument against excessively high prices 

 on items in which there is no scarcity. 



A BOSTON STORE. 



The illustration on page 263 shows 

 the store of S. Hoffman, 92.5 Boylston 

 street, Boston, as it appeared on the even- 

 ing of December 21. Mr. Hoffman is a 

 New Yorker who, for the past four years 

 has been with Julius Zinn, on Beacon 

 street, Boston. He opened on his own 

 account only two months ago and many 

 thought that, being so close to Thomas 

 F. Galvin 's Back Bay store, his location 

 was not .a favorable one. The photo- 

 graph shows that quite a stock was on 

 liand for the holiday trade, Irat Christmas 

 afternoon the store was all cleaned out 

 and more stock might have been sold, 

 Mr. Hoflfman is also getting quite a nice 

 rnn of decorating jobs. 



