January ?, 1009 



HORTICULTURi: 



17 



THE FLORIST SUPPLY HOUSE OF AMERICA 



SPECIAL NOTICE 



During the monih of January Only 



A SPECIAL DISCOUNT OF 10 PER CENT 



on our Celebrated Standard Wheat Sheaves which every one knows are the best. Order now and get this liberal 



discount only for the month of January. 

 WE WISH ALL OUR FRIENDS A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 



H. BAYERSDORFER &. CO., 1 129 Arch St., Phila., Pa. 



Flower Market Reports. 



The Christmas trade 



CHICAGO with few exceptions was 

 highly satisfactory. Most 

 of the retailers as well as wtiolesalers 

 sold out. everything at their own price. 

 The only fault really to be found was 

 with the quality of the stock, some of 

 it having been kept too long, a con- 

 dition that comes as regularly as tlie 

 holidays themselves. Had a.U the stock 

 been first-class there would i)robably 

 have been enough for the demand but 

 after taking out the unsaleable there 

 was a shortage and many orders had 

 to be refused. The warm fall had 

 hurried the usual Christmas ror-e crop 

 through ahead of the season and 

 Beauty, Richmond and Killarney were 

 especially short. Carnations of the 

 host quality w'ould not go around and 

 all other stock was not in excess. 

 Plants. 



Chicago's Christmas plant trade was 

 the heaviest on record and exceeded 

 the most sanguine expectations. This 

 was due in part to the fine quality 

 offered, and in part to the sharp ad- 

 vance in price of flowers. In some of 

 the best retail stores the lielp worked 

 the entire night making up hampers of 

 plants ranging all the way up to thirty- 

 five dollars. 



Azalea .Madam C. Petrick made a 

 good impression for Christmas. Its 

 superior keeping qualities as com- 

 pared with Simon Mardner were par- 

 ticularly noted. 



Frank Oechslin, one of Chicago's 

 most successful plant growers is 

 working up stock of the double poin- 

 settia for another year when he will 

 grow it quite extensively. 



Christmas Greens. 



There was a great deal more Christ- 

 mas green shipped into the Chicago 

 market than could be disposed of. 

 Ten days before Christmas holly was 

 quoted at four and five dollars per case 

 respectively for southern and eastern 

 stock but the price dropped to one- 

 half that before Christmas day. 

 Saturday in the wholesale district 

 looked every bit "the day after" as the 

 huge loads were hauled away for 

 b.ircing. One hundred boxes of holly 

 ■were coinited in one block to oay 

 nothing of the immense lots consigned 

 to the produce commission merchants 

 on South ^^'ater St In car-load lots. 

 In short the green goods business was 

 badly overdone. 



Bells. 



A deluge of Christmas bells seemed 

 to have descended upon Chicago. What 

 at first seemed to be a valuable acqui- 

 sition in the way of decorative stock 



WHOLESALE FLOWER MARKETS.-to DE^A^^E^jroNLv. 



ROSES 



Am. Beauty, Fan. and Sp. s'.i 



** Extra 35.( 



Killarney, Fan. & Sp 



" Lower grades • . . . 



Richmond, Fancy & Special. 



Low 



Ci'^atenay. 



Golden Gate, Ivoiy, etc •-- 6.< 



My Maryland la.oo to 



Queen Beatrice to . 



Mrs. Mar. Field , to . 



CARNATIONS i 



Fancy and Novelties ' to 



Ordinary ..... a.oo to 



MISCECLANEOUS 



Cattieyas to 



Ulics. to 



Lily of the Vallev 5-oo to 



Narcis., Paper White 2.00 to 



Roman Hya 2.00 to 



Sweet Peas 75 00 to 



Gardenias 50.00 to 



Violets 75 to 



Adiantum '. 1.25 to 



Smilax to 



Asparagus Plumosus, strings to 



" *' & Spren- (loobchs.) to 



was sadly overdone. Red bells of 

 every size and of various materials 

 were offered in every store and met 

 with ready sale, but by the middle of 

 the week there began to appear white 

 bells, green bells, purple bells and all 

 sorts of combinations of these colors. 

 The effect was shocking to the point 

 of disgust How can the taste of the 

 public be cultivated when the trade 

 constantly offends in this way though 

 we are glad to say the worst offenders 

 were the street fakirs. 



On the whole the 

 PHILADELPHIA trade is well satis- 

 fled with the vol- 

 ume of Christmas business done and the 

 prices received. The clean-up in cut 

 flowers and idants was far better than 

 1S07, and while prices were a trifle 

 lower if anything, other features more 

 than made lip for that. The quantity of 

 stock received was about the same as 

 last year, and the quality never bet- 

 ter. One leading wholesaler declared 

 that there was no salted stock on the 

 market. We might say, in parenthesis, 

 that the lesson dinned into the grow- 



ers' ears for years by HORTICUL- 

 TURE and others, combined with dis- 

 astrous returns, seems to have at last 

 borne good fruit, and it looks as if 

 the growers had put that piece of 

 human folly behind them for good and 

 all. Plants, flowers, greens — every- 

 thing, were in brisk demand, and the 

 volume of business done, according to 

 those the writer has interviewed, the 

 largest on record. One leading retail 

 house stated that they ran short of 

 plants by the morning of Wednesday, 

 and were put to extraordinary shifts 

 to replenish. One result of this was 

 a crowdin.g of customers on to cut 

 flowers, .\nything presentable in the 

 shape of a flowering plant found a 

 ready market and towards the last 

 even palms were going. There was no 

 special run on any one thing and no 

 striking novelty developed. In cut 

 flowers the scarce items were cattieyas 

 and, in spots. American Beauty roses. 

 Cut poinsettias sold -well, especially 

 the smaller one.''. A. good many of the 

 large, high priced heads hung fire. 



{Conliniitd en page 2)) 



and Landscape 

 Gardening cannot be properly done without the aid of an accurate level- 



Bostrom's Improved Levels, No 2 at $15.00 and No. 3 at $25.00. 

 are conceded by all who KNOW to be the only Levels on the market 

 which meet all the requirements, at the price. 



Our guarantee back of every Level we sell, and satisfied users m 

 every State in the Union heartily endor.^e every claim we make. 



Shipping weight 12 lbs. Description on request. 

 BOSTROM-BRADV MFS. CO., 139 Madison Avenue . ATLANTA, GA. 



