344 



The Weekly Florists* Review. 



Jantahv -20, 1898, 



their fragrance. They should then have 

 a little wet tissue paper on the stems and 

 each bunch be wrapped in soft waxed 

 paper. This will liest preserve the fra- 

 grance. Market as soon as possible. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Many Flowers Used at Assembly Ball. 



The first assembly ball, held in the 

 Academy of Music, on Friday eve- 

 ning January 14th. was a most 

 l)ririiant affair. '1 he supper tables 

 were formerly laid in the lower hallway, 

 which is bounded on each side by broad 

 staircases ascending to the foyer on the 

 second floor, where the dancing takes 

 place. This screen-formed supper room 

 has alwavs been one of the chief beauties 

 of the assemblies. The ladies in full even- 

 ing dress seated on the stairs with bou- 

 <|uets of hand.some flowers banked on the 

 balusters beside them, forming a beauti- 

 ful setting to the animated scene below. 



This vear's managers, however, decided 

 to turn tlie lower hallway into a parlor, 

 transferring the supper room to the 

 Academy proper. The stage curtain was 

 lowered and the parquet floored over. 

 The balconies were then hidden by alter- 

 nate rows of green and white cheese 

 cloth, stretching entirely around the 

 house. In front of these draperies were 

 used evergreen trees and a great number 

 of incandescent bglits, the idea being to 

 turn the parquet into one large room, 

 plants and flowers being used freely all 

 around the sides of this room, the boxes 

 being especially pretty. 



The idea was an excellent one, the 

 difficulty being that the space to be dec- 

 orated above was so vast that it was al- 

 most impossible to prevent it from seem- 

 ing bare despite the quantity of material 

 used. The dancing took place in the 

 foyer, which was beautifullv decorated. 

 There was decidedly more bouquets car- 

 ried than last season, a very encouraging 

 .sign. 



The Market. 



The market has been in bad shape; 

 flowers are too plentiful. The dull, ex- 

 tremeU- mild weather has told on the 

 quality of the stock and worse still, several 

 stormy days kept shoppers indoors. Tlie 

 Assembly brightened things up decidedly 

 as far as choice stock was concerned, es- 

 pecially roses, but the next day being 

 very wet, prices broke badly on second 

 <juality stock. Carnations have suffered 

 considerably; the best now bring |2. so, 

 while very good flowers can be bought 

 for I1.50. Good roses bring excellent 

 prices, about the same as last week, but 

 medium and poor blooms bring prices 

 which I hesitate to name. 



State Board of Agriculture. 



An institute meeting of the State 

 Board of Agriculture was held in Horti- 

 cultural Hall on Saturday, January 15. 

 There were a number of interesting 

 papers read both in the afternoon and 

 evening sessions and the "question box" 

 proved of great interest. The meeting 

 was well attended, not perhaps by ex- 

 actly the farmer class but the gentlemen 

 farmers came and lots of florists and ama- 



teur gardeners, which will do just as 

 much good or more, as a meeting of this 

 kind attended by farmers only would not 

 be nearly so interesting. , The average 

 farmer gets up too early and works too 

 hard to think of questions when in a 

 meeting. He would prot)ably take forty- 

 winks while there, and think of the ques- 

 tion he meant to ask on the way hotne. 



Should More Beauties Be Grown? 



Thereisave:y interesting letter from 

 this citv in the Aiiiiriiyin Florist of the 

 8th inst., signed "K." I am a great ad- 

 mirer of Mr. K. and his writings; in fact, 

 there have been times when 1 have waited 

 with painful suspense for his judgment 

 on some plant or tiower. The letter in 

 question gives an account of the increase 

 in the quantity of glass devoted to forcing 

 American Beauty roses for this market, 

 and goes on to say that the demand still 

 keeps ahead of the supply. The natural 

 inference is that the growers hereabouts 

 should devote more glass to Beauties next 

 season. 



Now I am not at all sure that the facts 

 justify such a conclusion. Here are the 

 facts: The Beauty is a crop rose; every 

 grower tries to get a good crop for Christ- 

 mas; verv many of our growers succeeded 

 this season. Naturally, A-hen this letter 

 was written, on or about Tuesday, Janu- 

 ary 4, the best long-stemmed flowers were 

 scarce. Immediately after the holidays, 

 for about two weeks, this market is likely 

 to be dull, and a quantity of any fancy- 

 flower is apt to bring prices down. 



It is this desire to produce enough for 

 every emergency which has caused the 

 tremendous over production from which 

 the New York cut tiower market has 

 suffered in the past few years. It will 

 take close watch on the account books 

 ne.xt summer to decide whether or not 

 more glass can be profitably devoted to 

 this popular rose. 



Notes. 



S. S. Pennock is receiving some excep- 

 tionally fine mignonette which brings 



JlO to il2. 



Madame Chatenay rose continues to be 

 greatly admired by the ladies. It seems like 

 a good rose for the florist who retails his 

 own flowers, from first appearance. (Will 

 not some one who has grown it tell us 

 about it ?) 



The Florist Bowling Team were not so 

 successful in their second match as in 

 their first. Our men led until the third 

 game was begun when somehow the pins 

 didn't fall our way. Mr. J. K. 

 Starr has been elected manager and bet- 

 ter things are expected. J. W, Y. 



BALTIMORE. 



Business Continues Dull. 



Although an improvement over last 

 week, business has not as yet come up to 

 expectations. In fact, the unceremonious 

 drop things took after New Years has 

 caused a general distrust all around, both 

 wholesale and retail, and one now 

 hesitates to prophesy. Shall conse- 

 quentl)' confine myself to facts and the 

 sayings of others. 



Some of the retailers are complaining 



very much, others are reticent or re- 

 signed (it is hard to say which), while 

 a very few reported "trade greatly im- 

 proved." To the uninitiated, one would 

 think we were a set of "croakers," but to 

 the florist, who can appreciate our pre- 

 dicament, it is quite plainly depicted 

 that something else is wrong, for it is an 

 old failing of the craft never to discuss 

 business unless it really is dull. 



At the commission houses the sales are 

 both light and unstable, while the con- 

 signments have in their turn increased in 

 contrasting proportions. Flowers of all 

 kinds are plentiful now, and prices have 

 taken a tumble. The best roses only 

 bringing $6 and ;^7 per hundred. Beauties 

 I3 and 14 per dozen. Carnations are 

 getting qinte plentiful and are back to |i 

 and jL.'io, while violets also are more 

 than ei|ual to the demand, at the rate of 

 50 cents per hundred. 



Baltimore Florists' Exchange. 



The stockholders of the Baltimore 

 Florists' Exchange held their annual 

 meeting at the Exchange rooms. No. 229 

 Park avenue, Monday the 10 inst at 6 p. 

 m. Our aide manager, ]\Ir. Alex. Scott, 

 submitted a very favorable financial re- 

 port, which was accepted. A new board 

 of directors for the coming year was then 

 elected as follows: I. H. Moss, E. A. 

 Seidewitz, Wm. Eraser, A. Repp, J. M. 

 Rider, Ed. Kress and C. F. Feast. The 

 board then elected the following officers: 

 I. H. Moss, president; Wm. Eraser, vice- 

 president; Edwin .A. Seidewitz, secretary; 

 Chas. F". Feast, treasurer. 



No Show Next Fall. 



The regular meeting of the Gardeners' 

 Club at the Roj'al Arcanum Building, 

 Monday, January lo, was quite well at- 

 tended owing perhaps to the fact that a 

 question of vital importance to the club 

 was to be discussed and decided. The 

 secretary, Mr. N. F. Flitton, read for a 

 second time the executive conmiittee's re- 

 port on the question of holding a show 

 next fall, and after a somewhat lively 

 discussion it was placed before the house 

 and voted down. The general sentiment 

 being that at the present another attempt 

 would only add another financial failure 

 to our list. 



Question Box. 



The question box as usual contained a 

 miscellaneous collection of subjects which 

 were of more or less interest. One ques- 

 tion was asked, "What caused violets to 

 have green centers?" The answer "over 

 feeding and not enough light" was given. 

 Also, "What are the best new carna- 

 tions?" Mr. Fischer thought Flora Hill, 

 Victor, Lily Dean, Mrs. Chas. Duhme 

 and Jubilee. "What eflect has nitrate of 

 soda upon carnations?" Jlr. Seidewitz 

 answered that it gave a dark green lustre 

 to the foliage. 



Upon motion the first meeting in Feb- 

 ruary has been appointed carnation 

 night, all members being invited to con- 

 tribute an exhibit, a certificate of merit 

 to be awarded to the best vase of pink, 

 one variety. 



Mr. Charles M. Wagner gave an im- 

 promptu exhibit of a well-grown and 

 beautiful white cyclamen, which caused 



