264 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[September, 



Greenhouse and House Gardening. 



COMMUNICA riONS. 



CUT TEA ROSE TRADE-Safrano, Bon 

 Silene, Isabella Sprunt. 



BY W. E. MEEHAN, PHILADELPHIA. 



Of the roses that are forced for the cut flower 

 market,Teas,Safrano, Bon Silene, Isabella Sprunt, 

 Cornelia Cook, Douglas and Niphetos ; Noisette, 

 Marechal Neil ; Hybrid Perpetual Jacqueminot; 

 Hybrid Tea, Perle des Jardins, are the principal. 

 Others, like Mad. Capricine, Malmaison, La 

 France and Paul Neron, either have not paid the 

 grower for forcing, or for some other cause, had, or 

 will have but a brief existence in the flower market. 

 The others, it is safe to say, will always be 

 forced, especially the first mentioned, viz. : Sa- 

 frano, Isabella Sprunt and Bon Silene, the subjects 

 of the present articles. Safrano a deep saffron 

 color. Sprunt a pale sulphur yellow and Bon Si- 

 lene a deep pink. 



These three have become a necessity to the flor- 

 ist and cannot well be done without; Safrano 

 and Sprunt being used for all and every kind of 

 work; in funeral pieces, especially, Safrano be- 

 ing in demand ; its rich saffron hue giving a 

 clear relief to the othewise dead white of the 

 design. In Philadelphia, not less than fifteen 

 thousand of these three roses are used daily; in 

 New York and Boston the amount consumed is 

 probably nearly double that quantity, so that in 

 the three cities there can hardly be less than 

 seventy thousand roses used daily. Indeed, it 

 is more than probable that these figures, if an 

 accurate count could be had, would be found to 

 be far below the actual number consumed. 



Except, perhaps, Jacqueminot, no rose is 

 "bulled " and "beared" to such an extent as are 

 these three. In New York, during the busy sea- 

 son when the price is naturally high, the writer 

 has known it to vary two and three dollars a 

 hundred inside of twenty-four hours. On one 

 occasion, especially, when a great scarcity and 

 demand was expected, the growers by storage 

 bulled the roses to fifteen dollars a hundred, 

 when, in consequence of an overload and an un- 

 expected stand against the price, made by the 

 retail men, the figure broke and the roses sold 

 in the afternoon at all figures, varying from six 

 to eight. This, of course, caused considerable loss 



and sickness among the growers, who could before 

 the break, readily have disposed of their stock 

 at a slight advance on eight. Such a bulling trans- 

 action is not expected again soon. Only once 

 since that did these roses reach fifteen, and that 

 was bj' a natural rise in the market, the crop 

 having for a long time been short and the de- 

 mand heavy. 



As the prices of these three teas vary so 

 much, rarely being steady for more than two or 

 three days, of course nothing more than a 

 doubtful monthly average can be made. The 

 following table will give it as nearly accurate as 

 it is possible for the writer to make it : — 



November, First half, per 100 Sl-50 



Second half, " 2.50 



December, First •' " 5.00 



Second " " $8 00 to 12 00 



January 6.00 



February 6.00 



March* 3.00 



Aprilf 3 00 



May 2.00 



June 2 00 



July, First half 1.50 



" Second half 100 



August 1.00 



September, 1.00 



October 1 00 



*If Easter, higher. \\i Easter, higher. 



Contracts for the whole or certain quantity 

 of the stock are made for the season, viz. : from 

 November to May, at three dollars per 100. 



The Boston growers have another system of con- 

 tracts which is about as follows : Nov. $2, Dec. $5, 

 Jan. $5, Feb. $4, March $3, April $3. The grower 

 in three cases out of four has the best end of the 

 horn on either contract, and retail men are rap- 

 idly finding this out and less contracts are made. 

 The best Safrano, Bon Silene and Sprunt roses 

 taking the number of growers, are raised in 

 Boston. The best individual grower in the 

 country is among a community of florists on 

 Union Hill near Jersey City. 



Three out of every four buds raised for the 

 Boston market are Bon Silenes, the city from 

 which it had its first vigorous send-off. In fact, 

 Bon Silene is known to-day as the " Boston bud." 

 In Philadelphia, people asking for Tea Roses, 

 generally mean Safrano or Sprunt. The writer 

 has more than once got himself in hot water in 

 the first year of his business career, by sending 

 Bon Silenes with Safranos, when " Teas" were or- 

 dered. 



