274 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Decbmbkr .'il, 11)03. 



necessary iu most houses to mark them 

 twenty to tneuty-five per cent under 

 Maids to keep them going. Carnot, 

 Chatenay and Sunrise were all short of 

 the call. 



On carnations the market held up bet- 

 ter than could be anticipated on Tues- 

 day evening, when such large stocks 

 were on hand. Fresh goods in the col- 

 ors brought fine prices right through, 

 but the unexpectedly large receipts had 

 the effect of causing the wholesalers to 

 put the knife deep into everything that 

 bore the marks of age. ^\1lite is not the 

 Christmas color, and the Hills and all 

 but the very fanciest whites suffered for 

 the absence of color. One wholesaler, 

 who probably handled as many carna- 

 tions as any house, says he thinks, with- 

 out having figured it up, that hn made 

 an average better than 5 cents on every 

 colored carnation received during the 

 week and hardly more than 3 cents on 

 the whites. Several commission houses 

 adopted the expedient of reporting sales 

 separately on white and colored carna- 

 tions. 



"When one gets around to the violets, 

 it is a sad story to tell. There is very 

 little shipping trade on violets, and by 

 the i>me local buying began the accumu- 

 lation was something tremendous. One 

 house had not less than 50,000 on hand 

 Thursday afternoon, practically all 

 Campbell. Every large violet handler 

 was choked up with them. Singles son. 

 on account of tneir color. Considerable 

 quantities of eastern violets, all Marie 

 Louise, were received, fifty in a bunch, 

 liberal count, and magnificent stock as 

 compared with even the best Campbell. 

 But even some of this was left over. 



Cut poinsettias did not clean up. 

 Valley was in large supply and so were 

 Romans and Paper Wliites. Sweet peas 

 found little favor, and tulips on three- 

 inch stems did not have great popular- 

 ity. Large quantities of Sprengeri and 

 asparagus sprays were sold. 



Since Christmas. 



All day Saturday the temperature was 

 eight degrees below zero, which isn 't 

 good for business, but the market held 

 firm. Eeeeipts were light, although 

 some of the violet growers had evidently 

 spent their holiday picking to replace 

 the stocks which went into the barrel. 

 White has moved up into line with 

 other stock. Beauties have eased off 

 fully as much as anything, but all crops 

 were cut close and New Year finds tne 

 market active. Local trade has im- 

 proved, and out-of-town business is al- 

 ways brisk in holiday week, for so many 

 young people are at home from school 

 that it is a period of much social life. 

 The cold weather stilJ makes heavy 

 wrapping necessary. 



Various Notes. 



Announcement is made that Charles 

 W. McKellar will again engage in the 

 trade on January 1, having jought the 

 selling end of the business of John 

 Mvmo. He has rented the room on the 

 fifth floor of the Atlas block, where the 

 recent flower shows were held and will 

 carry a full line of florists' supplies, in 

 addition to doing a commission business 

 in cut flowers. H. J. iluno, who has 

 had charge for his father, will remain 

 %vith Mr. McKellar. Mr. iluno is con- 

 sidering several changes at his green- 

 houses for next year. He may plant it 

 all to carnations or may put half in 

 lettuce. 



It behooves those who are known as 



the local violet growers, which includes 

 those at Grand Eapids and other Michi- 

 gan points, to go out in one corner of 

 a cool greenhouse and take a serious 

 think. Lady Campbell is grown by 

 nearly all, but with very few is the 

 quality sufiiciently good to sell when 

 there are even indifferent grades of 

 Marie Louise to be had, or singles. The 

 very large supplies of Louise in the New 

 York market has led a number of the 

 Hudson river growers to either take con- 

 tracts to supply Chicago retailers for the 

 season or to send consignments to com- 

 mission houses. E. E. Pieser says, and 

 he is in a position where he ought to 

 know, that if our growers cannot do 

 Louise as it is done in New York, they 

 had better get out of the violet business, 

 for eastern violets will soon drive Camp- 

 bell clear off this market. But even the 

 fancy eastern stock is not selling this 

 week. 



Peter Eeinberg says he doesn't expect 

 to add to his glass this year, but that 

 he will rebuild a large section on the 

 lines of the high houses put up last 

 spring, where the stand of Beauties is 

 now, he says, the best he ever had. The 

 narrow pattern of Garland's iron gutter 

 will be used again, on the high posts. 

 Mr. Eeinberg says Chatenay has been 

 his money-maker this year. He is so 

 well satisfied with uis experience with 

 Liberty that He will cut down his plant- 

 ing one-half next year. 



E. C. Amling gives it as his opinion 

 that as many carnations were handled 

 at Christmas as in any previous year. 

 Oue of his growers sent 17,000 blooms 

 in good order. 



The George Wittbold Company has 

 an order for a decoration at Manclel's 

 next month, for which they have bought 

 350 strings of asparagus." This ought 

 to attract the attention of other State 

 street decorators to this green. 



C. L. Washburn says that the man who 

 spends all his time in town may know 

 that the lake breeze is chilly, but that he 

 has no adequate conception of what an 

 old-fashioned winter we are having. Out 

 at the greenhouses all efforts are bent 

 on keeping things warm. Five teams 

 are hauling coal seven days a week at 

 Bassett & AVashburn 's and Peter Eein- 

 berg says that forty-five tons a day are 

 burned at his place even when the sun 

 shines. 



Some of the wholesalers had a pleasant 

 holiday experience with a house in Texas 

 wliich refused C. O. D.'s. But exchanges 

 of confidences are steadily closing this 

 market to those who do not deal squarely. 



George Eeinberg has 40,000 carnation 

 cuttings ready to ship. He is going in 

 strong on Lawson, not haWng been able 

 to supply the demand last season. 



The McCormick estate is adding about 

 $10 a month to the rent of each of the 

 wholesalers in the Atlas block, and there 

 is debate as to whether or not cheaper 

 quarters around on Lake street would not 

 give just as much business. 



Wietor Bros, are cutting a splendid, 

 steady crop of carnations. They find 

 Norway the most satisfactory of the 

 whites, because of its superior keeping 

 quality. 



A. B. Everett suffered verv heavy loss 

 through the giving out of a boiler on the 

 night of December 21. 



Mr. McGill, of Barnard's, is suffering 

 from the prevailing complaint of too 

 much weather. 



The West Park Commissioners an- 

 nounce that $150,000 has been appropri- 



ated for building a conservatory in Gar- 

 field park. The work will begin iu early 

 spring. 



The society weddings are numerous and 

 the fashionable retailers are having a 

 good week. 



The E. F. Winterson Co. is still hand- 

 ling quantities of very fine poinsettias. 



The next meeting of the Florists ' Club 

 will be held on January 6, when the 

 holiday trade will be the subject up for 

 discussion. 



ST. LOUIS. 



The Market. 



Everybody in the trade reports satis- 

 factory Christmas business. Some of the 

 larger West End establishment 's reports 

 were above expectations and we can 

 safely say from all reports that this was 

 the best Christmas in years in both cut 

 flowers and plants. The wholesalers were 

 busy all week with shipping orders and 

 attending to the wants of the local flor- 

 ists 



The weather for delivering cut flowers 

 and plants could not have been improved 

 upon. The big snow storm and blizzard 

 that came all of a sudden on Cliristmas 

 afternoon found the florists all smiling, 

 as everything was delivered and the 

 empty wagons returning home. Most of 

 the West End florists started the de- 

 livery of plants on Wednesday, which 

 was a great advantage to both buyer and 

 dealer. The demand for plants favored 

 the bright colors. Poinsettias, Gloire de 

 Ivorraine begonias, colored primulas and 

 dwarf holly trees sold well. Of these a 

 fine lot were seen in the show houses of 

 Weber, Waldbart and Ayers. The green 

 trade was big, ground pine being very 

 scarce. Holly was plentiful and mistle- 

 toe very fine. The demand for wreaths 

 and wreathing was the best in years 

 and almost everybody reports having sold 

 out early. 



In cut flowers there was a lively de- 

 mand for almost anything of good qual- 

 ity and especially for roses and carna- 

 tions. These were cleaned up early at 

 exceptionally good prices and many more 

 carnations could have been disposed of. 

 for the supply was not near enough for 

 the demand. Special Beauties were lim- 

 ited and commanded $12 per dozen at 

 the wholesale houses. The $8 and $10 

 per dozen sorts were more plentiful than 

 the specials and shorts at $2 to $4 per 

 dozen sold out clean. Fancy Bride. 

 Maid. Meteor and Gate brought from 

 $12 to $15 per 100; Carnot $18: Perle 

 $S and $10. Of these 'Brides and Maids 

 were most plentiful. The demand for 

 white roses ran far below that for the 

 colored roses. Carnations were fine in 

 quality and fancy sorts commanded $12 

 per 100. The varieties that brought this 

 price were Enchantress, Prosperity, Law- 

 son, Gov. Wolcott, Queen Louise and Es^ 

 telle. Good common stock went for .$5 

 and $6 per 100 Very few were sold for 

 less than $4; the supply was large but 

 not near enough to go around. California 

 violets were also limited and of very 

 fine quality; $2.50 and $3 per 100 was 

 asked for these, with clean sales all 

 around. 



Bulbous stock, as usual, sold some- 

 what slow, with plenty of it in the mar- 

 ket for all demands, with no advance in 

 prices. Eomans and Paper Whites were 

 .$4 and $5 per 100 for choice stock, but 

 the bulk went at $3 and $4. Valley, too, 

 sold slowly at $4 and $5 and not of extra 

 1 good quality. Choice mignonette sold at 



