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The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



I'KBUUAIIY 5, 1903. 



Qub Meeting* 



The flub meeting next Thursday aft<'r- 

 noon will Ix; a banner one. A iiue lot 

 of carnation blooms is promised from 

 the growers in the East, who will send 

 1903 introductions, and the local grow- 

 ers will show their standard varieties 

 of all kinds. The trustees have every- 

 thing in readiness to stage the blooms. 

 All blooms will be judged as to quality. 



News Notes. 



Mr. J. W. Pileher, of Kirkwood. one 

 of our best violet growers, has i-eturned 

 from a week's st.ay in Chicago in the 

 interest of the chicken show held in that 

 city. Pileher visited .some of the lar'- 

 plants around Chicago and is well 

 pleased with his trip. 



Hon. A. S. Halstedt. of Helleville, 

 leaves Tuesday night for Chicago with 

 a party of Belleville city ofTicials. Mr. 

 Halste<lt will visit all the large Moral 

 establishments in Chicago. 



J. W. Dunford, of the St. l.ouis Car- 

 nation Co.. and president of the Florists' 

 Club, accompanied by his wife, will leave 

 this week for a two weeks' trip to Flor- 

 ida, to visit Mrs. Diinford's father, who 

 has a large orange grove there. 



The Ellison Floral Company incorpo 

 rated last week with a cajjital of .$2.(l()(). 

 The incorporators are: Claude P. Ber- 

 ry, Harry Y. Ellison and Alice Y. Elli- 

 son. J. J. B. 



Seed Trade News. 



PHiL.\nELPniA. — Business is open- 

 ing up well. Tlie demand for to- 

 mato seed is unprecedenlcMl, not 

 only from the dealer, but especially 

 so from the planter. Veiv little seed 

 was saved last year by the planter. 

 Tomatoes sold well and at good prices 

 throughout the season, which led many 

 to sell the fruit and depend >ipon buy 

 ing their seed. One very uolaljle thing 

 about orders coming in is that buyers 

 are .selecting the new. iin])roved and 

 higher priced varieties of all kinds. The 

 demand for tlie cheap and low priced 

 varieties is about nil. This is a very 

 encotiraaing state of aff.iirs and shows 

 that the buying public not only has 

 money to spend, but thai it prefers to 

 ri.sk it on the higher priced varieties 

 rather than on the low. The intelligent 

 buyer usually associat<s high prices 

 with high quality and vice versa. Take 

 cabbage seed for instance. Five times 

 more seed is sold at retail of varieties 

 listed at .'}i3 and $4 per iir.und than of 

 sorts listed at $I..)0 and $2 ]ier pound. 

 Tliis is true throughout Ihe entire line 

 or l)otli flower and vegetable seeds. 



Pini-ADELPHIA. — Henry F. JHichcll 

 states that the business done in flower 

 seeds so far this season shows an im- 

 provement over that of last season that 

 is very marked. The supply has been 

 suflicient to fill orders plnceil with the 

 growers. The demand is starting strong- 

 ly. Sweet peas and asters are especial 

 favorites, ]\fany growers of these two 

 varieties for cutting have doubled their 

 orders. This does tiot apply to special- 

 ists who supply the wholesale market, 

 but to the growers who do a local busi- 

 ness. ^Iv. IMiehell notices that there are 

 not nearly so many novelties as in the 

 past seasons. The difficulty is to raise 

 anything that is really an improvement 

 over C-xistins sorts, and the critical iiiMr 



ket which justly scorns humbugs is re- 

 sponsible for this condition. He consid- 

 ers Howard's Star petunia of such un- 

 usual merit as to deserve special men- 

 tion. Those who grew it last season are 

 ii>creasing their sowing now. There are 

 several other seeds of unusual merit not 

 in general cultivation, including a very 

 fine daisy of the chrysanthemum family 

 and a gaillardia. Phil. 



Toledo, 0. — '\'^egetabjle growing, through- 

 out this section, has grown greatly the 

 past two years. Most all gardeners have 

 greenhouses, cold frames and hotbeds 

 which give this market a continuous 

 supply of fresh produce, l^iis hurts 

 the commercial growers of the south, 

 for now the winter supply of cucimibers, 

 tomatoes, cauliflower, beans, radish and 

 lettuce is grown here. The farmers and 

 truck growers all over the country made 

 money in 1902 — so this year we will see 

 an increase of sowing, although the short- 

 age of seed will be quite a problem to 

 them. Peas, cucumbers and some varie- 

 ties of be.ans will be very scarce. 



Post Huron, Mifii. — Tlic McMorran- 

 Gray Co., Limited, is a new firm of seed 

 growers with headquarters in this city. 

 They announce that they have purchased 

 the entire stock of peas and beans from 

 the Cape \"iiiccnt Seed Co., Ltd., and 

 are now prepared to take contracts for 

 gro\nng same. Their Mr. M. B. Gray 

 had charge of the seed department for 

 the C. V. Seed Co. for 12 years and he 

 will manage the same department for 

 the new firm. 



The dema.ni) for pickling cucumber 

 seed seems to be many times larger than 

 the available stocks. One local dealer 

 in South Carolina writes to send him 

 seventy-live pounds of cucumber seed, of 

 any strain, no matter what, as he has 

 a large lU'gio trade that buys in one 

 and live-pound lots. It may be unncces- 

 saiy to say he was supplied. 



I'lH.Ms that import seeds are now hav- 

 ing their I roubles. On account of the 

 season f(Ucign seed dealers weri' very 

 late in making shipment and after the 

 seed arrives in this country it is held 

 up in the custom hon>e from ten days lo 

 two weeks or more, and abou. the only 

 sati^faitioii the importer i-in get is thai 

 Ihe >hipnients will be pa>-i'd ihroULdi as 

 soon as possible. 



The bemaxi) for Alaska |Ra-. i> un- 

 usually brisk at satisfactory prices. 

 This is no doubt due to the great scarc- 

 ity of e.\lra earlics. It now seems quite 

 certain that all Alaskas will be well 

 ( leaneil up Ix'fore the end of the season. 



Ma.ioii Chas. P. Hraslan, the well- 

 known seed grower of .San Jose. Cal.. has 

 about closed up his annual contract busi- 

 ness in the east preparatory to an early 

 re. urn to the Pacific coast. He reports 

 business very encouraging. 



Tue demand for field corn in the 

 eastern states is exceptionallv good this 

 year. One Arm reports having already 

 booked orders for nearly 1 11.0110 liusliels, 

 and the corn selling season liii~ only just 

 begun. 



Wa.siiixgtox, D. C. — The House ha- 

 passed the agricultural a])])ropriation 

 bill, after amending it so as to increase 

 the appropriation for free seeds from 

 .$270,000 to .$300,000. 



The .Jerome B. Rice Co., Cambridge, 

 X. Y.. reports increased business over 

 any former year. dem;uid in many lines 

 liciu'j far in excess of supply. 



NEW YORK. 



The Club's Annual Dinner. 



Over fifty members of the New York 

 Florists' Club enjoyed their annual fc> 

 tivity at the St. Denis banquet cham- 

 bers on .Saturday evening. Some of the 

 familiar faces of the old days were not 

 in evidence. Sickness claimed man}' of 

 the shining lights, and a few since the 

 last jubilations in these rooms have 

 joined the great majority. But many 

 of the l)est known horticulturists of the 

 east attended and the spirit of frater- 

 nity and good fellowship abounded. The 

 dinner itself was up to the high stand- 

 ard of the hostelry and the little ad 

 denda "on the side" foamed and spark 

 led in sympathy with the eloquence and 

 wit of the occasion. The Sunday mid 

 night bells rang out their message as the 

 jolly company united in the good bvi' 

 song of "Auld T^ing Syne." Everybody 

 voted the evening one of the most de- 

 lightfully informal .and fraternal in thi' 

 club's history. 



President Troy demonstrated his 

 abilit}' as a toastmaster and his radiant 

 smile kept the room warm and bright. 

 John H. Taylor was called upon to '"set 

 the ball rolling"' when the "feast of 

 the reason" began. Mr. Taylor was in 

 exceptionally good humor and waxed 

 eloquent in" his toasts to the presidcTil 

 and the young element of the club. Jlr. 

 Taylors eloquence was "on tap " 

 throughout the evening and in a speech 

 later he paid an eloquent tribute to 

 the carnation and to the Madison Squari' 

 Garden exhibition. 



John G. E.sler followed in a prac 

 tieal address to the toast "Our Sistci 

 Societies." in which he dwelt happily 

 on the value of co-operation and loyalty, 

 not only to the New York Florists' Club 

 but to the Society of American Florist^, 

 cxjjressing the hope that an attendance 

 of 10.000 florists might crown the record 

 of the great convention at Milwaukee. 



ifr. Chas. Weathered spoke of the 

 missionary work done by the New York 

 club educating the "depraved taste of 

 New Y'ork society." the labor and brain- 

 and money given to the cause of llori 

 culture, especially during the past two 

 years, and the proud position it has at- 

 tained. 



Mr. Wallace, of the Exchange, re 

 sponded to the toast "The Horticultural 

 Press.' in a happy address, interspersed 

 with stories of the aborigines and the 

 (iarden of Eden that were appropriate. 

 He told of the wonderful progress of 

 the trade ])apers, their power for good, 

 their educational and inspirational 

 achievements and their clear instruc 

 tions on "How to catch the mightv dol 

 lar." 



The committee's skill in providing en 

 tertainment was in evidence during the 

 entire evening. A splendid orchestra, 

 a fine singer and an expert elocutionist 

 adding spice and variety constantly to 

 the program so that every moment wa- 

 "crowded with thi' good things." 



The event of the evening was the 

 piesentation of a handsome rnbv and 

 diamond pin to the retiring president. 

 Walter Sheridan, whose services during 

 the past two years have been univer 

 sally appreciated. ^Ir. C. Weathered 

 made the presentation speech. dwellinL' 

 on Mr. Sheridan's afl'ection for the clul> 

 and personal sacrifices, (m the strength 

 he had imparled to others, his pati- 

 ence and integrity and the esteem and 

 honor and love with which he was re- 

 gardcil by all lii~ associates. 



