April 17, 1909 



HORTICULTURE 



568a 



more than could be found. The ap- 

 prehensions of two weeks back as to 

 the lily situation were fully justified. 



Azaleas and Rhododendrons. 



Azaleas were the mainstay of the 

 Easter plant market. They blazed up 

 in great masses everywhere, in stores 

 of high and low degree. They did not 

 strike us as being up to former quality, 

 foliage being scanty and flowers small 

 and soft. Rhododendrons were also in- 

 ferior, with flowers no larger than a 

 primrose in many cases and giving 

 evidence of overforcing or some other 

 mismanagement. An exception was 

 the variety Pink Pearl. This, as a 

 rule, was simply superb and it was 

 easily the best seller m its class. The 

 flowers were large and the trusses 

 enormous, and a particular quality 

 noted was the fact that the trusses do 

 not all come into bloom at the same 

 momeut but follow one another. 



Miscellaneous. 



Hydrangeas in several varieties were 

 abundant. Most of them well-flowered 

 but some insufficiently hardened off. 

 Daisies were never better. Ericas were 

 seen but sparingly, a few Porceliana, 

 regerminans and Cavendishii in the ex- 

 clusive stores being the main stock. 

 Metrosideros, snow balls, Japanese 

 cherries, almonds, boronias and a few 

 other things out of the common run 

 were occasionally seen. We almost 

 forgot to mention genistas; these were 

 used only iu small quantity and many 

 were left unsold. Acacias were con- 

 spicuously absent. Lilacs were very 

 handsome — the best ever, but they 

 were poor sellers. Dwarf bougainvil- 

 leas made a grand record. Of spiraeas, 

 the Gladstone type was seen in fair 

 quantity, but the old Japonioa seems 

 to have been abandoned entirely. 



PHILADELPHIA EASTER REPORT. 

 Cut Flowers. 



With the exception of Wednesday, 

 clear, cool weather prevailed, and a 

 very satisfactory business was had — 

 most of the dealers reporting an in- 

 crease over last year. Wednesday was 

 too warm, and had a bad effect on 

 flowers, especially roses, for the bal- 

 ance of the week. The amount of busi- 

 ness done was certainly enormous, and 

 by Friday and Saturday many items 

 were in short supply. This was 

 notably the case with gardenias, lily 

 of th.e valley, cattleyas and red roses. 

 By red roses we do not mean American 

 Beauties, as these were abundant, es- 

 pecially in the higher grades. Brides- 

 maids, .Jardines and Killarneys were in 

 splendid shape and equal to all require- 

 ments. White roses were a little drag- 

 gy, if anything. Carnations, although 

 good, were a little soft, but they sold 

 well and brought good prices. There 

 were enough violets to go around — 

 mostly doubles. Towards the end 

 orchids went up with a jump to seven- 

 ty-five, and those who had placed their 

 orders early around fifty were the wise 

 ones. Sohroderae continues the main 

 variety. A little too light-colored, but 

 the best to be had. Special lavender 

 sweet peas were in great demand, and 

 brought fancy prices. Other colors 

 were good seconds, and the sweet pea 

 men have nothing to complain about. 

 Contrarj' to expectation, lily of the 

 valley was one of the most called-for 



items, and got quite scarce towards 

 the last. Not a spray was to be had 

 in wholesale centers on Saturday eve- 

 ning and retailers were buying from 

 each other. Easter lilies cleaned out 

 wonderfully well, and prices stiffened 

 up considerably towards the last of the 

 week. The market started with 8, 9, 

 10, 12; but those who had sized up the 

 situation carefully, held out for 15 and 

 17 tor choice stock of the proper length 

 and got it. The calla men made the 

 mistake of holding up their crops too 

 long. They brought better prices early 

 in the game. Good gardenias were 

 very scarce. Fair stock went readily 

 and even rubbish found a market. 

 Snapdragons hung fire. Southern daff- 

 odils by the cart-load everywhere; 

 no money in them for anybody. The 

 street men fared well this year on ac- 

 count ol the good weather. The busi- 

 ness, on the whole, we think was fully 

 equal to previous years. The only 

 complaints we hear, come from the 

 mill sections, such as Kensington, 

 Frankford, Manayunk, etc. These are 

 of course, attributable to the manufac- 

 turing depression of the past year and 

 a half. 



Plants. 



Authorities agree, almost unani- 

 mously, that the plant trade this year 

 was the best ever. Clear, cool, sun- 

 shiny weather brought the people out, 

 and the attractive displays along the 

 highways and byways all over the city 

 were irresistible in charming the dol- 

 lars out of the public pocket. A little 

 hesitation was manifest around the 

 city hall plaza up to Thursday on ac- 

 count of the disastrous weather of 1908, 

 but after that a great transformation 

 took place and the courageous ones 

 reaped a great reward. In the stores, 

 selling commenced on Tuesday and 

 kept up unabated to the end. Every- 

 thing went, except a few very large 

 ramblers, azaleas and rhododendrons. 

 Medium to small plants had all the 

 call. Azaleas and lilies were the lead- 

 ers as usual. Spireas, genistas. Ram- 

 bler roses, deutzias, hydrangeas, dais- 

 ies, rhododendrons, bougainvilleas, 

 cinerarias, etc., were conspicuous as 

 usual — as were also the lower-priced 

 items, such as: hyacinths, tulips, daffo- 

 dils, primulas and geraniums. There 

 was nothing particularly new or strik- 

 ing, but most of the stock was well 

 done, excepting lilies — many of these 

 being on the pigmy order. The fault 

 of the bulbs of course. U is impossible 

 for any grower to fail in handling this 

 crop properly. The pigmys went to 

 the department stores and the street 

 men mostly. Houses like Craig were 

 sold out of lilies and azaleas very early 

 and were at their wits end to find stock 

 enough to satisfy their oldest and 

 most cherished customers. Could have 

 sold a great deal more if they had had 

 the goods. , 



Now that the Easter 



CHICAGO holiday is over the vex- 

 ed lily problem has be- 

 come a matter of history. Reports from 

 all parts of the city are verifying 

 our prediction that there would not 

 be an over supply of good lilies. No 

 good lilies were left over and they 

 brought better prices on Saturday than 

 earlier in the week. The market closed 

 strong and more could have been sold 

 had they been available. Very few 

 flowers were shipped into Chicago from 



the east. Quantities of out-door nar- 

 cissi were shipped from the south. This 

 did not affect the sales of good home 

 grown flowers, however. Violets were 

 a disappointment all around. Those ar- 

 riving from the east on Thursday and 

 Friday were worthless owing to the 

 warm weather, but on Saturday qual- 

 ity was better and brought returns. 



The Chicago market was at the mer- 

 cy of a record breaking spell of weath- 

 er; had the weather been favorable 

 Chicago would have done double the 

 business for Easter. During the week 

 the thermometer ranged from 78 de- 

 grees on Tuesday to 20 degrees on 

 Saturday, with a snow storm, a bail 

 storm and a gale. The only real 

 shortage was in Beauty roses. Long 

 ones were in demaud and not one halt 

 the orders could be filled. Killarney 

 kept up well in quality and many 

 wholesalers could have handled more 

 of these and Richmond had they had 

 them. Bride and Bridesmaid were 

 about equal to the demand. 



Owing to the weather and other lo- 

 cal conditions many retailers found it 

 unusually hard this year to foresee the 

 demand for Easter. Some laid in a 

 larger supply of cut flowers, especially 

 carnations, than they could dispose of 

 at the advanced price and this trade 

 turned to plants. Others bought 

 heavily of the large plants only to 

 find the demand seemed all for me- 

 dium. 



Boston, in common with 

 BOSTON most other floral centres, 

 experienced a very satis- 

 factory Easter. The severe weather 

 complained of elsewhere was not in 

 evidence in New England territory, ex- 

 cept for the two unseasonably hot 

 days at the beginning of the week and 

 things were generally favorable for 

 those who wished to sell or to buy 

 Easter plants or Easter flowers. The 

 early part of the week was the most 

 favorable as regards wholesale prices. 

 Following time honored custom, grow- 

 ers maintained an embargo on a good- 

 ly proportion of their product early in 

 the week, thus contributing to stable 

 values on most things, if fresh, and 

 then let everything loose on Saturday 

 and thus ruined the market on 

 that day by the over-crowding. 

 Prices on many things were con- 

 siderably lower than at any time dur- 

 ing the week. On violets particularly 

 there was abundant evidence of the 

 flowers having been kept too long on 

 the plants: many of them dropped to 

 pieces on being taken from the ship- 

 per's box. On lilies the demand far 

 exceeded the supply and they cleaned 

 up in quick order. The advertised 

 prices .were adhered to, but there was 

 plenty of opportunity to advance them 

 had the dealer been disposed to do so. 

 Killarney and Richmond were the best 

 sellers among the roses. Bride and 

 Bridesmaid fell a little behind. White 

 carnations made a good record, but 

 the colored ones were too abundant, 

 and of Enchantress there were many 

 more than the market had need for. 

 Sweet peas went off in very lively 

 fashion. 



All that can be. said advantageously 

 of the plant trade is that it was very 

 strong — in fact, a record-breaker. But 

 only the moderate-sized and moderate- 

 priced things were wanted. The 

 growers sold out clean, well in ad- 



