JANUARY 27, 1S9S. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



385 



Stock — Prices. 



Violets are now for the first time 

 in this season coming to market in 

 larger qnantities, and have declined in 

 price; only the best bring $1. Good tea 

 roses are not to be had for less than 

 $S to $10. while the poorer grades are 

 correspondingly high; Meteors bring 

 $10 to $15. Tulips in all colors are seen 

 now everywhere; $4 is their price. Pa- 

 per white narcissus of best quality are 

 bringing $3. Callas are scarce and 

 have been in good demand at $1.50 per 

 dozen. Stevia is nearly over, still some 

 of it is yet to be had at 20 cents per 

 bunch. Valley is now rather plentiful 

 at $4. and carnations sell at $1.50 to 

 $2 for ordinary and $3 for fancy. Mig- 

 nonette is $3. Smilax sells at all pri- 

 ces, generally bringing 15 cents, but 

 some shorter strings were disposed of 

 last week at 6 cents. 



Some remarkably fine heads of heli- 

 otrope, grown by Chas. Suhr. have sold 

 well all this winter. They remind us 

 of times gone by. when these sweet 

 ilowers were in greater demand and 

 grown more universally. Of late years 

 the inquiry for them has declined, and 

 but few were offered in the market: 

 now the public seems to again take a 

 fancy to them, and they sell at sight. 

 Though the market is now far better 

 supplied in all lines than at any time 

 since December, there is by no means 

 an over supply, nothing goes to waste 

 and the decided scarcity of best grade 

 roses is a constant source of annoy- 

 ance. K. 



TORONTO. 



Horticultural Meetings. 



This has been a month of horticult- 

 ural meetings, in fact, they are begin- 

 ning to get a little too numerous per- 

 haps. What, with annual meetings, 

 regular meetings, special committee 

 meetings, standing committee meet- 

 ings, directors' meetings, and other 

 kinds of meetings, one will soon lose 

 track of his family affairs altogether. 

 Are we not getting a little too much of 

 a good thing? Could not the Gardeners 

 and Florists' Association and the Hort- 

 icultural Society be rolled into one. 

 with a professional section to take the 

 place of the former? It seems to me 

 we are using altogether too much 

 steam for the work accomplished, and 

 that one strong society could do as 

 much work if not more than two weak 

 ones. 



The regular meeting of the Garden- 

 ers' and Florists' Association was held 

 last Tuesday and was fairly well at- 

 tended, and a good deal of business 

 was done. Mr. C. Tidy having resigned 

 the first vice presidentship. Mr. Geo. 

 Vair was elected in his place, and Mr. 

 Vair's place on the executive commit- 

 tee was filled by Mr. Fitzpatrick, gar- 

 dener to J. Long, Esq. The annual 

 dinner will be held on Thursday, Feb. 

 10, at Webb's rooms. It is hoped that 

 the Canadian Horticultural Association 

 may find it convenient to hold its first 

 meeting about that time. It would b? 



a gciiHl (iijportunity for meeting our 

 country brethern in a social way. A 

 motion was brought up to reduce the 

 annual fee of $2 to $1, but the ques- 

 tion was left for the executive commit- 

 tee to wrestle with, along with a 

 scheme which Mr. Ewing is incubat- 

 ing, the particulars of which were not 

 given to the meeting. 



Some Fine Orchids. 



There are some fine orchids in bloom 

 in this city now and lots of them. Most 

 of the public and private conservato- 

 ries have some fine specimens. Horti- 

 cultural Gardens, amongst others, 

 liave Angraecum sesquipedale,Dendro- 

 bium nobile, Lycaste aromatica. Coe- 

 logyne cristata, Odontoglossuni pul- 

 chellum, a very pretty pure white or- 

 chid, easily grown, and good for com- 

 mercial purposes. I liave seen it 

 knocking about here in various places 

 for 27 years. Mr. Langnell. at H. A. 

 Massey's place, has, amongst many 

 others, a Phalaenopsis Schilleriana 

 just opening, with S5 blooms, and there 

 is another at the Normal School in the 

 same state with 95 blooms. Mr. Cham- 

 bers, too, has a large collection at Ex- 

 hibition Park in the West End, but 

 it is too far off for a busy man to run 

 out there this time of year. Mr. Glith- 

 erson, with J. Hoskin, Esq.. has anoth- 

 er large collection and always has 

 some good things to show. This is the 

 place where Joe Spring, now foreman 

 of the big greenhouses at Pittsburg, 

 once grew a Phalaenopsis Schilleriana 

 with 164 blooms, the most, I believe. 

 ever recorded. Mr. Houston's large 

 collection at the Central prison was 

 unfortunately entirely destroyed by 

 fire there last fall. 



More Club Meetings 



At the annual meeting of the Electo- 

 ral District Society tlie ancient and or- 

 iginal board of directors were re-elect- 

 ed in about the time it takes to write 

 this paragraph. However, it being un- 

 derstood that the board intends to de- 

 vote more of its fundi to horticulture 

 and less to hogs, no objection was 

 raised, and the meeting was very short 

 and very sweet — quite a "love feast" in 

 fact. 



I hear now that the first meeting of 

 the Canadian Horticultural Association 

 will be held in St. George's Hall. Elm 

 street, on the 10th prox.. at 9:30 a. m.. 

 for the purpose of organization and 

 discussing futm'e proceedings. The 

 secretary (W. H. McLean, of St. 

 Thomas) will send out notices to as 

 many as possible shortly. It is desir- 

 able that every one who can make it 

 convenient to attend will do so in order 

 to make the association as geographic- 

 ally general as possible. 



The last few days here have been 

 dull, comparatively mild and rainy, 

 and there is now very little snow left 

 on the ground. Trade has been rather 

 slack, but prospects for brightening up 

 in two or three weeks are good. Prices 

 remain about the same, with perhaps 

 a tendency to descend in some lines. 



E. 



BUFFALO. 



A Fish Story. 



It is highly proper that ornamental 

 horticulturists should mention the 

 weather, the condition of which makes 

 so much difference to our crops au'l 

 peace of mind. To describe what wo 

 have had to endure and the variety 

 would occupy a column. I meant to tell 

 you of the floods that have visited 

 South P.uffalo. They are expected in 

 the springtime, but seldom in niid- 

 winter. Mr. Cowell had a steam tug to 

 convey him to distant parts of his 

 charge. However, "it's an ill wind that 

 blows nobody good." Through open 

 windows of several bowling alleys 

 floated in with the flood many fine 

 pickerel, and when the waters reced- 

 ed the fish forgot to float out. and a 

 fine haul was made. 



Supply Short. 



The long-continued dull days have 

 shortened up the supply of roses and 

 carnations and both are liolding their 

 own so far as prices are concerned. 

 Violets are getting very plentiful and 

 there are more on the market than can. 

 be profitably disposed of. A recent 

 visit to the busy mart of "Billy" Kas- 

 ting showed us large quantities of 

 these little beauties mostly from the 

 Hudson River Territory: not only vio- 

 lets, but anything else you want is 

 found there in quantity and quality to 

 suit any section of the city or weight 

 of your roll. If W. K. should not be 

 home you will get equally well served 

 by his manager, that much-traveled, 

 accomplished cosmopolitan gentleman. 

 Monsieur Stokes, late of Masholiland, 

 S. A. 



Florists Must Move. 



There are rumors on the street that 

 there will be an exodus of downtown 

 florists to regions farther north, or as 

 we would say, farther uptown. Some 

 of the rumors are well founded. This 

 is the inevitable and what has occurred 

 in every city. As fashionable dry goods 

 and other retail stores move up. and 

 carriages no longer have need to carry 

 their occupants into the congested part 

 of the city, the florist must follow. It 

 would not make any difference if all the 

 flower stores were in one block for 

 buyers of any consignor would all go 

 there and if "Messrs. Jones & Son" 

 were out of Beauties, "Brown the Flor- 

 ist" would be next door and, if disap- 

 pointed there, "Messrs. Thrip & 

 Spider" would be sure to have a fine 

 lot. 



A Rumor. 



There was a still, small voice whis- 

 pered but recently that there was a de- 

 sire on the part of the public that the 

 florists hold a flower show next fall, 

 and it was accompanied with promises 

 of patronage and support. I hope our 

 President. W. A. Anderson (perhaps he 

 has forgotten he is president), will call 

 an early meeting and sound the opin- 

 ion of all of us. Our citizens have had 



