Decembek 31, 1903. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



273 



NEW YORK. 



The Christmas Market. 



Estimates are sometimes accurate, but 

 iu the cut flower wholesale market "no 

 one can tell what a day may bring 

 forth. ' ' So the estimates of a week ago, 

 founded on the opinions of the leading 

 wholesalers, the promise of good weather 

 and the excellent prices of the first of the 

 week, proved to be above the actual facts. 

 On Christmas eve there was a consider- 

 able slump. American Beauty specials, 

 which started out boldly early in the 

 week with a demand for $1.50 each went 

 at $1, which was high water mark for 

 about every first-class Beauty that was 

 sold. Thousands of fine Beauties went 

 at 75 cents and 50 cents. Values all 

 along the line fell to about the averages 

 of an ordinary winter Saturday. 



Tho best Maids brought 15 to 25 

 cents, but the quantity commanding the 

 top prices was limited, and the flood of 

 pickled goods that did much to swamp 

 the market was never more in evidence. 

 Year after year the same old story is 

 repeated. Experience seems useless as 

 a teacher. Heinz, the pickle man, with 

 his ''57 varieties" never made a better 

 record in a day. The result of it all is 

 the dumping of thousands of dollars' 

 worth of unsalable roses in the ash bar- 

 rels, a fitting end to a system that is ut- 

 terly without excuse, and that must be 

 ■ended in some way, if the confidence of 

 the wholesalers and the buying public is 

 to be maintained. 



Carnation novelties which were held for 

 25 cents were left till Christmas eve, 

 when the bottom fell out of everything. 

 The days of extravagantly high holiday 

 prices are over. The sooner the growers 

 realize this, the better for all concerned. 

 The geese have all about been killed that 

 laid the golden eggs. The retailers and 

 the public have grown ' ' foxy. ' ' The 

 blooming plants have done the business. 

 Hardly a plant, where the price was at 

 all fair and right, was left iu any store 

 in the city. Even the little stores on the 

 side streets shared in the demand for 

 tliose and holly and Christmas greens. 



The quality of the carnation sliipments 

 was superb; a finer lot of specials and 

 novelties never came to the market, but 

 tho demand was below expectations and 

 many were unsold. Lilies which were 

 held" at 20 cents fell rapidly to 12 cents 

 and even then were uncalled for, as white 

 goods were a drug. Stevia and mignon- 

 ctUs were here in unlimited quantities, 

 and they are here yet. Boxes of the lat- 

 ter in the cellars remain unopened. Even 

 poinsettias are left over and unsalable. 



But the greatest uepression of all was 

 in the violet market. The cause may 

 be summed up in the one fact, as stated 

 by one of the largest wholesale houses, 

 ' ' Three times as manj- as usual were 

 sent and there was not one-half the reg- 

 ular demand." On Wednesday and 

 Thursday alone, it is estimated, 

 over two million violets were de- 

 livered to the ?s'ew York wholesale 

 trade. Nearly 400 boxes arrived on one 

 train on Wednesday evening. At this 

 writing, Monday evening, nearly, if not 

 fully half a million are stiU in the boxes 

 in which they arrived, unsold and unsal- 

 able. 



To add to the trials and tribulations of 

 the men who have built up a wholesale 

 cut flower business, the weather on the 

 <lay before Christmas and on Christmas, 

 as well, was damp, disagreeable and dis- 

 <"ouraging. and its influence was depress- 



ing. The street merchants, the only pos- 

 sible outlet for the immense accumula- 

 tions, were knocked out by the cold wave, 

 which made outdoor vending impossible. 

 New Year's prices will not be above the 

 usual Saturday average. 



In encouraging contrast to all this, the 

 holly, wild smilax, green goods and plant 

 men are jubilant. Everything went at 

 good prices, nothing left over that will 

 not go for New Year's. The clean sweep 

 included the Christmas trees, so that the 

 retailer at least finds compensation and 

 cause for thankfulness. The bulb and 

 seedsmen, too, have all made merry and 

 in a wonderfully prosperous season find 

 reason to rejoice and to look forward 

 hopefully and in a conservatively optimis- 

 tic mood to a Happy New Year. 



Various Items. 



Notwithstanding that it was nearly zero 

 weather another new park was opened in 

 New York on Monday, the Eobert Morris 

 I)roperty, and a tablet giving a history 

 of the ground and mansion unveiled. It 

 is on this property the celebrated Jumel 

 mansion stands, which was used by Geo. 

 Washington as headquarters in the camp- 

 aign of 1776. 



At the New Y'ork Botanical Garden 

 the contract for the completion of tho 

 range of propagating houses has been 

 awarded to Hitchings & Co., the amount 

 appropriated being over $7,500. The 

 work will be finished in the early spring. 



C. W. Ward, of the Cottage Gardens, 

 has been on the sick list for a week, one 

 of many suffering from severe colds, the 

 result of the sudden cold snap, which 

 ]iulled the temperature down to only 3 

 degrees above zero on Saturday morn- 

 ing. 



Fortunately for the plantsmen and the 

 retailers Old Boreas withheld his chUling 

 blasts till every plant had been sold and 

 delivered. In nearly every retail store 

 not enough blooming plants ftere left 

 to make a respectable window decoration 

 for Sunday. 



S. .Jacobs & Sons, of Brooklyn, won 

 their suit against Otto Grundemann, of 

 Seeaucus, for the erection of greenhouses, 

 receiving a verdict for nearly the full 

 amount of their claim of over .$2,300. 



'The sympathy of the trade is extended 

 to Charles Smith, of Woodside, in the 

 loss of his mother, who died in England 

 December 7, aged 78 years. 



James T. Scott, formerly instructor at 

 the House of Refuge on Kandall's Island, 

 will go on the road for the F. R. Pierson 

 Co.. Tarrytown. 



The 'Weathered Co., of New York, hor- 

 ticultural builders, has been incorporated 

 iu New Jersev, with capital stock of 

 $12.5,000. 



Martin Dengler, a gardener at the Fail 

 estate. Hunt 's Point, was run down by 

 a railroad train and almost instantly 

 killed. J. AusTix Shaw. 



BUFFALO. 



Christmas Tra<ie. 



The great day and the business it 

 brings is once more past. We hope sin- 

 cerely that the all-important factor, the 

 weather, was more auspicious in most lo- 

 calities than it was here. There are a 

 great many of our customers, perhaps 

 the majority, who do their important and 

 heavy Christmas purchasing several days 

 ahead. Alfonso buys the seal-skin jacket 

 for Darling weeks ahead, and Gladys 

 buys the smoking jacket or box of per- 

 fectoB and has them hid awav for several 



days, but trifles like a pretty plant or 

 box of flowers are often left till the last 

 day and the last day with us was a 

 sloppy, slippery, drizzling, wet and mel- 

 ancholy day, such a daj' as was ad- 

 mirably suited for stopping indoors. 



The bulk of business done may foot 

 up equal to last year. We shall be sur- 

 prised if it exceeds it, and we expected 

 more, for there are more people in the 

 city to sell to. When I can get time to 

 interview my brother florists I shall know 

 more definitely. We already know that 

 there are plenty of good begonias, aza- 

 leas, poinsettias and other flowering 

 plants left for future sales. However, 

 business for holiday festivities is by no 

 means over yet and by the middle of 

 January all these things may be disposed 

 of. 



In cut flowers there was a scarcity of 

 nothing but good carnations. More of 

 these could have been sold. The divine 

 flower is taking its correct place and 

 value and there is no fear of its toppling 

 otf the pinnacle it has reached. If it 

 does not occupy the apex, it's very close 

 to it. There were plenty of fine violets. 

 On the whole, cut flowers were in rather 

 better demand, compared with plants, 

 than has been the case for the past few 

 years. Of volume of business and prices 

 i would rather have another week to re- 

 port. Yet from the few heard of, and 

 a feeling that we can 't shake off, we are 

 inclined to say it was rather a disap- 

 pointing Christmas. The day itself 

 turned out fine and pleasant and some- 

 what made up for the miserable condi- 

 tion of the elements on Christmas eve. 



A Carnation Night. 



At the February session of our club 

 we are to have a carnation meeting, with 

 an exhibition, essay by some expert, and 

 discussion. We hope that some of those 

 having varieties they wish to bring to 

 notice or, what is of equal value, good 

 standard varieties, will favor us with a 

 few blooms "• ''• 



CHICAGO. 



The Chiismas Market. 



Luck is with us, all right, for Old 

 Boreas held his icy breath until the 

 Christmas shipments were all under 

 cover, although the cold wave overtook 

 the local retailers before deliveries 

 were out of the way. Zero does not 

 facilitate handling flowering plants. In 

 general, the retailers had a very good 

 trade. Some did not do quite so much 

 as last year, but others report larger 

 sales and the total is probably not far 

 away. They all had enough to keep 

 going about all night on Christmas eve, 

 putting up orders. 



In the wholesale district things sim- 

 mered down to an average in all the 

 houses. It developed that long Beauties, 

 which were expected to be among the 

 most plentiful of items, became one of 

 the scarcest. The market stiffened 

 steadily, and on Thursday evening $15 

 per dozen was asked, if seldom paid, for 

 the best stock. Liberty was far short 

 of orders, and high prices were paid for 

 stock which was really not in a condi- 

 tion to be worth the money. 



Maids sold splendidly; that is, the 

 better grades, 25 cents being obtained for 

 some, but the small roses of whatever 

 variety were very slow sale and the large 

 proportion of tliis stock in nearly every 

 shipment sensed to pull averages away 

 down. Brides moved slowly, and it was 



