no8 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



April 14, 1904. 



Thomas Galvin, at his Tremont street 

 store, has a window entirely filled with 

 Carnation Mrs. M. A. Patten, one of 

 Peter Fisher's introductions. The 

 blooms were of superb quality and at- 

 tracted considerable attention. 



There will be quite a number of valu- 

 able special prizes offered at the meeting 

 of the American Kose Society here in 

 190.5, by residents of Boston and vicinity. 



Peter Ksher speaks before the Boston 

 Gardeners' and Florists' Club on April 

 20. on "The Carnation." He is sure 

 of a large and interested audience. It 

 will pay disseminators of novelties to 

 send a few blooms along for this meet- 

 ing. 



S. J. Goddard is busy on his new- 

 greenhouse plant at Framingham. He is 

 one of the most successful carnation 

 growers for our market and has one or 

 two seedlings which will be heard from 

 later. 



Dutch bulb travelers have been quite 

 mimerous of late and claim to have 

 booked very large orders. Some of them 

 are looking up private places and offer- 

 ing goods at the same rates as to market 

 growers, as well as making other ' ' special 

 inducements" to purchasers. 



The schedule for the JVIassaehusetts 

 Horticultural Society . has usually not 

 been issued before January 1, but this 

 year it is hoped to place it in the hands 

 of all would-be exhibitors not later than 

 September 1. An effort will be made 

 to considerably increase flower and plant 

 premiums. The question is sometimes 

 debated as to whether or not music pays 

 at flower shows. At the spring exhibition 

 in Boston in 1903 music was used at a 

 five-day show. This year it was dis- 

 pensed with entirely at the four-days ex- 

 hibition recently held. The results would 

 seem to justify the change, for John 

 Farquhar, chairman of the conunittee of 

 arrangements, states that the net profits 

 will be about $250 more than in 1903. 

 So far as can be learned, only two ladies 

 were found who wanted their money back 

 owing to the absence of music, and it 

 was cheerfully returned. 



The results of the late winter are be- 

 coming more evident as we get wanner 

 weather. Rhododendrons are badly killed 

 and where plants are spared flower buds 

 are killed, Bhododendron maximum suf- 

 fering even worse than the Catawbiense 

 hybrids. Kalmias and andromedas also 

 died out badly. Numerous other ever- 

 greens are badly scorched. Crimson 

 Rambler rose, which has also previously 

 proved ironclad, is entirely killed above 

 the snow line. That pretty Rosa nigosa 

 variety, Mme. Georges Bruaut, is killed 

 out entirely. Many other rose species 

 have suffered severely. Some of the 

 %-ibumums, forsytliias. weigelias, steph- 

 anandras, Kgustrimis and other deciduous 

 shrubs are badly killed and much plant- 

 ing will be needed to replace dead 

 stock. 



There will be a prize exhibition at 

 Horticultural Hall on May 7. Classes 

 are provided for Azalea indica, calceo- 

 larias, pelargoniums in variety, tulips, 

 narcissi, native plants and a variety of 

 vegetables. 



The energies of growers are now be- 

 ing bent on stock for the Decoration 

 day trade, which assumes immense pro- 

 portions in New England. Probabilities 

 are that more outdoor flowers than u.sual 

 will be in season tliis year, owing to the 

 lateness of the spring. 



W. X. Craig. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



The Market. 



The halcyon days of the cut flower 

 market are over for the season. Stock 

 is coining in freely and a marked de- 

 crease in the volume of business at the 

 close of last week caused a bad break 

 in prices. Some improvement was shown 

 this week, thanks to good local and ship- 

 ping orders, but there is not near enough 

 business to absorb the stock offered. 



Lilies are as was expected very plenti- 

 ful and can be had in quantity for a 

 mere song. Carnations have fallen oft' 

 considerably, especi^ly the fancy grades, 

 which have been so popular during the 

 season. Violets are also much lower in 

 price, but decrease in production pre- 

 vents their decline being so marked as 

 is that of other flowers. Sweet peas are 

 in good and valley in fair demand, with 

 some pretty nice stock offered. Beauty 

 and Edgely have fallen off about one- 

 half and are very much harder -to sell 

 than at last week 's quotations. Select 

 tea roses are fairly desirable, but sec- 

 onds and culls are a burden indeed. Daf- 

 fodils of every description are to be 

 had for the asking, or nearly so, and tu- 

 lips are little used. The bright particu- 

 lar spot on the list are the greens; smi- 

 lax, asparagus and hardy ferns are all 

 in active demand. 



Various Items. 



The April meeting of the Germantown 

 Horticultural Society was held on Mon- 

 day evening in Association Hall. There 

 was a good display of blooming plants. 

 "The Preparation of Soil," by Albert 

 Woltemate, and the "Harbingers of 

 Spring" were the subjects for discus- 

 iiion. 



' A Japanese catalogue just received in 

 this country closes with the following de- 

 lightful paragraph: "And I as well as 

 any Japanese, also beg to thank to the 

 kind sympathy expressed by the Ameri- 

 can and English frie.ids toward the 

 present hostilities against Russia." 



B. Eschner received a message from 

 M. Rice, on the Deutschland in mid- 

 ocean by Marconi vrireless telegraphy. 



Eugene Bernheimer is receiving fine 

 lavender sweet peas. 



The Florists' Club is considering a 

 May party in June at Essington. 



Wm. K. Harris had an unusually good 

 Easter. His stock was exceptionally 

 well grown. 



A. Leuthy, of Boston, was a visitor 

 lately. 



The street fakirs are in their glorv 

 now, offering quantities of flowers at 

 temnting prices. 



Edward Reid has the sympathy of his 

 friends in the loss of his father-in-law. 

 Mr. Anderson, of Garrettford. 



Albert Woltemate grew a very lar^e 

 stock of plants for Easter. His lilies 

 sold out cleanly. 



Charles F. Edgar & Co. have had some 

 good shipping orders this week. 



Tlie bulb growers' salesmen are not 

 meeting with a very good demand this 

 season from florists who force Dutch 

 bulbs for cut flowers. The demand for 

 bulbs for outdoor planting is increasing, 

 however. 



W. J. Baker still wears the satisfied 

 look of one conscious of hard work well 

 done despite the present quiet. 



W. P. Peacock, Atco, N. J., was in 

 town this week. Phil. 



PORTLAND, ORE. 



Easter Trade. 



The memory of the past few weeks has 

 been entirely supplanted by satisfaction 

 over the results of the Easter trade. Our 

 efforts were put to a great test in bring- 

 ing stock into bloom at the right time. 

 The pioneers of Oregon do not remember 

 such a wet season in twenty years. Dur- 

 ing February we had twelve inches of 

 rain and only ten hours of sunshine. 

 March treated us little better. April 

 brought the first real signs of spring. 

 The Saturday before Easter was fine 

 until 6 p. m., but from that time till 

 midnight it rained great guns. Sunday 

 was an ideal day. From reports to date 

 we are able to state that a 20 per cent 

 increase was realized over last year, all 

 good available stock being easily disposed 

 of and at a slight advance on regular 

 prices. We have learned that the public 

 will not stand high prices at Easter in 

 our temperate climate. Nothing new in 

 the way of novelties was introduced, but 

 all blooming plants were finely done and 

 trimmed to suit the most fastidious. 



The Easter lily again maintained its 

 popularity and there were none left un- 

 sold. Azaleas and spiraeas were also in 

 demand, but they sell better here in the 

 winter months. Potted hj'aeinths were 

 the finest seen here in years, single plants 

 retailing as high as 50 cents each. There 

 were enough plants to meet all demands, 

 as cut flowers are a more important fac- 

 tor in our city. 



Considering the early date of Easter and 

 the absence of sunshine, the quality of 

 home-grown stock was all that could be 

 expected; and liberal importations from 

 California enabled us to fill all orders in 

 the cut flower line. C'alla lilies were 

 more freely used in church decorations 

 than heretofore and there were plenty of 

 them. • We grow them here on five-foot 

 stems, as vigorous as Oregon timber. 

 Those shipped in from California are 

 too soft and poorly packed to be a profit- 

 able investment. The supply of roses 

 was limited, as there is never a surplus 

 here during the wet season. Prices 

 ranged from $1.50 to $4 per dozen. The 

 carnation might be styled the queen of 

 the flower market, as it seems to be a fa- 

 vorite with all and is more generally used 

 here than any other flower. Leading va- 

 rieties retailed from $1 to $2 per dozen. 

 Violets were seen at their best ami were 

 on in full crop. In quantity, bulbous 

 stock predominated and sold fairly well 

 at a moderate price. Most of it was 

 grown outside and that protected from 

 the heavy rain was par excellence in 

 quality. 



An item which helped to swell the re- 

 ceipts of the week was an unusually 

 large call for funeral work. All good 

 short-stemmed flowers were used to an 

 advantage. H. J. M. 



Lafayette, Colo. — F. Haenselman, 

 the landscape engineer, has removed here 

 from Denver. 



The Review is a ray of light, a morn- 

 ing sun to the progressive florist. — J. R. 

 Elder, Sioux City, Iowa. 



Harrisburg. Pa. — Charles Schmidt le- 

 ports big business at Easter. The cali.s 

 for violets were very large indeed. 



Hinsdale, Mass. — H. J. Smith reports 

 being still rushed with orders. Fern': 

 are getting scarce but he is still fillin;; 

 a good share of his orders. 



