I)i;( r.MiiKU SO, isy? 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



241 



Mr. W. L. Hucke, of Belleville, 111., 

 will, on January, I, 1S9S, open his retail 

 lloral estalilishnient in St. Louis, at the 

 corner of Grand avenue and Shenandoah 

 street. Mr. Hucke reports that he will 

 also later on move his i;reenhouses to 

 this city. 



Bowling Notes. 



The Bowliui; Club rolled its regular 

 three games on Monday with a full 

 attendance and all were feeliug good as 

 all reported a good Christnuis. Emil 

 Schray was high man w'ilh 544, C. A. 

 Kui-hn, second, with 519 and C. Beyer, 

 third, with 503. The high single score 

 fell to E. Schray. also, with 214; Frank 

 Fillmore, second, ■with 199. and Kuehn, 

 third, with iSq. Mr. Einil Schray, the 

 only single member of uur club, was 

 .gii-en six months more time to find 

 a bride. Don't forget ne.xt Monday as 

 we are going to have a "hot old time." 



J.,1.B. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Perfect Christmas Weather. 



"If you live to lie a huncU'ed years old 

 you will never see a nore perfect Christ- 

 mas than to-day," a railroad president said 

 this morning. He merely voiced the 

 .general sentiment. The so-called peo- 

 ple's indoor holiday was so attractive out- 

 doors that the day quile lost its charac- 

 ter. Everybody wai out for a part of the 

 (lay at least, which brought the happv 

 Christmas feeling even into the air of the 

 streets where kindliness and good fellow- 

 ship prevailed. 



General Impressions. 



It is not possible, today, for me to give 

 a thoroughly reliable account of the cut 

 flower trade. I will give general impres- 

 sions with a more exact account next 

 week. The weather was exceedingly 

 cold and stormy on the 23rd and 24th, 

 which shortened the supply considerably 

 and probably slightly reduced the de- 

 mand on those days. Tlie tendencv of 

 t'lese weather conditions and the more 

 hopeful feeling in general Ijusiness this 

 u inter was toward higher prices. The 

 market is hoviever getting much more 

 critical than it was a few years ago and 

 high prices are not paid for anything 

 that is not first class. Despite the dark 

 cold weather some magnificent stock is 

 .=een, perfect in color and form. This 

 class, especially in tea roses is not nearly 

 so large as the next, a medium grade 

 which is comprised of fair sized, fair 

 stemmed blooms that were formerly 

 c lunted in with the first. Then there is 

 the third or cull class, probably the 

 smallest of all, which is fortunate for it 

 it is most unsatisfactory to everybody. 



The store men were rather apprehen- 

 sive on the 23rd and bought freely of both 

 first and second stock, but there was none 

 too much around until late in the day. 

 The morning of the 24th found a change 

 in the conditions. The stock which the 

 growers had been holding back was on 

 the markets and the store men as a rule 

 were anxious for the first class, 

 knowing they could get plenty of the sec- 



ond when the\- ran short. The fine 

 weather of this morning was a great help 

 to business and nearly everything fresh 

 was eagerly bought. The weather which 

 so helped the euL flower market was 

 against plant trade. The store men had 

 bought rather more freely than usual of 

 both foliage and flowering plants and 

 their labor was vastly increased by the 

 cold spell. Careful wrapping is no joke 

 at sucii a time. 



The trade in all kiuils of greens was 

 very large. The most popular novelty 

 noticed was the parlor box from the 

 south, v'hich included a general assort- 

 ment; holly branches, wild smilax, mag- 

 nolia foliage, palm leaves, etc., and sold 

 readily at f2o a dozen l)Oxes of fifteen 

 pounds each. 



Christmas Cut Flower Prices. 



Beauties sold at |6, fg and 5i- with a 

 few extras at J15 a dozen; Meteors, Brides 

 and Maids J15 to 520 per 100; Perles, ;fio 

 tojtij; carnations, f3 to |5, a few extra 

 fine bringing f.6\ cypripediums#i.s; valley 

 $4; Romans J4, douVile violets f2. 



A happv and prosperous New Year to 

 you all. " J \V. V, 



BOSTON. 



Trade Unusually Active. 



The Christmas trade here has been the 

 best fur the last three or four vears, both 

 wholesale and retail. In the wholesale 

 markets everything in the shape of a 

 flower was gobbled up almost before the 

 employes could open the boxes from the 

 growers, as they were brought in by the 

 different express companies. It may be 

 noted that there was a great scarcity of 

 colored flowers, and the latter was in 

 more demand and brought almost what- 

 ever prices were asked, but when the 

 colored ones had gone then the white 

 went, and it .seemed to be a race of who 

 should be first. Everything in the wdiole- 

 sale markets was cleared out bv 6 p. m. 

 on briday evening. 



Holly and other evergreens were also 

 in good demand, and some houses who 

 had doubled up on their orders were sur- 

 prised to hear from their shipping clerks, 

 "No more Holly." Laurel nearly all 

 gone b)- last Thursday night. This great 

 and increased demand over the last three 

 or four years, let us hope, will be a 

 leader to a continued successful increase 

 of business, then we may, perhaps, hear 

 a different cry from many of our flower- 

 growing politicians who are always crv- 

 ing hard times. 



Advice to Growers. 



It may be well to note that it would be 

 advisable to growers to divide more 

 equally their stock of carnations for 

 another year, and grow more varietv of 

 color, such as Scolts, Daybreak, Bon 

 Ton, etc., as these colors were always in 

 demand and realized top prices. The 

 same remark applies to roses, all the 

 colors w-ere sold out long before the 

 whites. The supply of Beauties, 

 Bridesmaids, Meteors, Morgans, etc., was 

 at no time snfficieutlv plentiful. 



The Retail Trade. 



The retail trade was also a great jump 

 from moderate bus ness to an immensely 

 overwhelming supply of orders, some 

 firms, in fact never getting any rest being 

 at their post night and day .since Wednes- 

 day last, until the evening of Christmas 

 Da}-, anrl then leaving a good order sheet 

 to commence the ensuing week with. The 

 following is about a corrci't list of prices 

 for Christmas week: 



.Amerif.in BiiUUie-. pt-r ilcz . fr.im W 01) to Jl.'.ilil 



lir iU!sma;a-' 1 er ID" K(iiit.> Ifi.iw 



Urides ■ S.llll to UVm) 



Mflcors - ■■ li.ddto -'.Tim 



Pi'i-le and other MH-it ties ■' .. li.iKi to ITW) 



Carnations " i (10 10 4 00 



Hiirrisii ■ . lii.oo to l(i.oo 



Narcissus, pa'ier whiles. 



etc- ■■ - 00 to 4 110 



Roman bvaciiUllK " . J.O" to loo 



Stevia pe^ Iim Ijiini-hcs. 1, 00 10 s .lO 



Viotf Is met a \ cry r.-ail,v sale at <:oo(l prict^s. 



F. R. Pierson Co. Open a Store. 



It is currently reported here this morn- 

 ing that F. R. 1.S: P. M, Pierson, of Tarry- 

 town. N Y , have taken the store at iS 

 Chapman Place, Boston, (lately occupied 

 by Mr. Geo. Sutherland for the ssle of 

 Chri.stmas evergreens) and will open a 

 wholesale flower store for handling all 

 their choice roses etc.. grown at Tarrv- 

 town. ' C. H. J.' 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



Satisfactory Holiday Trade. 



Most all of our dow-n-town florists can 

 report very satisfactor\' Christmas sales. 

 Tlie trend of business was in the direc- 

 tion of plants, perhaps more so than ever, 

 but cut flowers sold well, and good, fair 

 prices were realized, no real oversupply 

 being in the market, excepting in Bride 

 roses and in white carnations. Carlledge 

 and all kinds of scarlet carnations were 

 in excellent demand, so were violets; both 

 were rather scarce by Friday evening. 

 Mignonette of fairly g' 0(l quality was 

 plentiful; very little of this was left over. 

 .\sparagus and smilax were sold out clean 

 and apparentlv will hereafter be scarce 

 in this city for a while. Roses of best 

 quality were not overplenty; some buy- 

 ers had to be contented with an inferior 

 article. 1 



Plant Sales. 



Plant sales were far ahead of former 

 years. Bright colored Ijlooniing plants 

 had the preference. Cyclamens, azaleas 

 and begonias took the lead, but any well 

 grown and free flowering plant would 

 find ready sale. A few early Dendrobium 

 nobile in 6-incli pots with half dozen or 

 more flowering canes were disposed of 

 quickly at fancy prices and another year 

 more of them will be brought forwarci for 

 the holidays. Palms and ferns came next 

 in order, while araucarias and dracienas 

 moved slower than was expected. The 

 inclement weather caused great anxiety. 

 I"or the safe delivery of both plants and 

 flowers much extra latjor had to be per- 

 formed in the wrapping up with sheet 

 cotton between tissue paper and sev- 

 eral thicknesses of nianilla paper outside 

 of this. One of the leading firms refused 

 to guarantee safe delivery of plants on 

 account of the severe cold; others were 



