January 4, 1908 



HOKTICULTURU 



IX 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS 



Reports of business 

 BOSTON throughout New England 

 are generally favorable 

 and indicate that normal conditions 

 prevail in this section. Although the 

 weather has been conducive to a heavy 

 crop of flowers the demand from out- 

 side points has been very brisk and 

 Boston houses doing a shipping trade 

 have been very fortunate as the call 

 has been very steady ever since Christ- 

 mas. Locally the business has not been 

 so satisfactory, possibly owing to the 

 fact that the retail trade in the city Is 

 pretty well loaded up with plants, 

 which are naturally given first chance 

 at a sale. At present writing cut 

 flower prices are advancing slightly 

 over the rates prevailing in the early 

 part of the week. Lily of the valley, 

 hyacinths and narcissi are the most 

 sluggish stock at present. This hulb 

 forcing seems to be overdone. 



The holiday trade tor 

 BUFFALO 1907 was a hummer, If 

 not a record breaker. 

 The balance (jf the old year was carried 

 out with a good volume of business 

 and as large, if not larger, than pre- 

 vious yeais, in spite of the so-called 

 hard times. Holly and other festoon- 

 ing in the decorating line was well 

 cleaned up, save Xmas trees, of which 

 there were a few left for souvenirs. 

 The shipping trade was excellent, 

 trains runing fairly well on time and 

 there was not so much worry as in 

 previous years. In the plant line Lor- 

 raine begonias sold well and primulas 

 and other flowering plants exceeded 

 last year's sales. Azaleas were not 

 plentiful and poinsettias were rather 

 short. The cut flower stock was in 

 good supply; Beauties in excellent 

 quality and plenty to be had; Rich- 

 mond of select quality were short in 

 supply and prices ruled high; Killar- 

 ney and other roses sold exceptionally 

 well; violets were plentiful enough and 

 cleaned up better than previous years; 

 lily of the valley, peas, orchids and 

 gardenias were in good demand, while 

 narcissi were a "flood" and prices 

 dropped exceedingly low. As usual on 

 holidays, the carnation is in most de- 

 mand, especially red; the latter were 

 short in supply and red Lawson held 

 out to good advantage. Other varieties 

 were a trifle scarce at the beginning of 

 each holiday week, but all orders were 

 completely filled and a good cleaning 

 up was had. There was an enormous 

 supply of greens, especially smilax, 

 though other greens, especially ferns, 

 were well in demand. 



Evei y florist regrets hav- 

 DETROIT ing built his calculations 

 on newspaper items yell- 

 ing panic, and finding himself there- 

 fore not sufficiently prepared for the 

 Christmas trade. Such was the pre- 

 dicament of a great majority. Every- 

 thing sold at the same good prices of 

 last year and a good deal more would 

 have been turned into dollars if the 

 goods had been here. But even with 

 our scarcity of flowers, especially in 

 carnations, we noticed with great sat- 

 isfaction a lot of about 2,O(J0 Lawson 

 and Enchantress which must have 

 been held back at least ten days go to 

 the dump. May that be a lesson not 

 only for this grower but for all others 

 who believe in crowding the holiday 



market with iiickled stock. Some 

 large decorations are booked for the 

 New Year's ball, making business in 

 geueral satisfactory. 



The reports of the 

 INDIANAPOLIS different retailers 



vai-y as to Christ- 

 mas trade. Some claim that business 

 was away ahead of last year, others 

 about 15 per cent, less, but as a whole 

 everybody seems well satisfied. Des- 

 pite the cry of scarcity of flowers there 

 appeared to be a large quantity. A 

 big supply of flowering plants was on 

 hand and relieved the market to a 

 great extent. The principal scarcity 

 was in large and medium azaleas. 

 Great quantities of Lorraine begonias 

 were sold but they don't bring the 

 prices and have the run that they used 

 to. The general impression was that 

 prices of flowers would surely weaken, 

 but orchids, lily of the valley, violets 

 and fancy grades of Beauties and teas 

 brought prices fully up to those of a 

 year ago. Holly was a gi'eat disap- 

 pointment; little or no fancy holly 

 was to be seen and it was not equal 

 to the demand. There was nothing in 

 the way of a novelty. The absence of 

 freezing weather was a great advan- 

 tage in the delivery of flowers and 

 plants. Christmas greens of all kinds 

 were among the best selling articles 

 and helped considerably to swell the 

 receipts of many of the i-etailers. 



The prices obtained for 

 NEWPORT plants and flowers at 

 Christmas equalled 

 those ruling on former occasions with 

 perhaps a trifle higher figure for some 

 things. There were good supplies of 

 all salable material and there was 

 nothing of any account left over. 

 Cyclamens, Lorraine begonias, poin- 

 settias and ardisias sold well. Ferns 

 went quickly in small and medium 

 sizes. Holly was a profitable item 

 from the start. Cut flowers were in 

 most all lines in supply about equal 

 to the demand. There was a big de- 

 mand for American Beauty roses to- 

 wards the close, and it could hardly 

 be met for immediate delivery. Every 

 man in the busines had all the work 

 he could attend to for two days and 

 when it came to the end there was 

 but very little left unsold. 



It is now several 

 NEW YORK years since most of 

 the glory of New 

 Year's Day as an occasion of great 

 floral importance in New Y'ork depart- 

 ed. This season's event was, there- 

 fore, not expected to make any sensa- 

 tional record and the fact is that it 

 did not. Still there is a very evident 

 feeling of satisfaction with the results 

 generally of the New Year's business. 

 This is particularly true of the retail 

 dealers, who are naturally pleased with 

 the moderate wholesale prices at which 

 choice material has been obtainable all 

 through the holiday season as com- 

 pared with former years. Never be- 

 fore has it been possible .to obtain 

 holiday gardenias, cattleyas and spe- 

 cial American Beauty roses at the fig- 

 ures prevalent since Christmas. Cat- 

 tleyas are in very heavy supply at the 

 present time in this market. Violets 

 are plentiful but of excellent quality 

 and have maintained value unusually 

 well, there being, however, a good 



many stale bunches from some ship- 

 pere. Lily of the valley is probably 

 the most unfortunate flower on the 

 whole list, the receipts in wholesale 

 market far exceeding the requirements, 

 necessitating the calling in of the fakir 

 to help unload at "bai^gain counter" 

 prices. Much of the lily of the valley 

 is below standard of quality. Roman 

 hyacinths and paper-white narcissi 

 have been hard to more. Carnations 

 have done well. Plants such as Lor- 

 raine begonias, poinsettias, heaths and 

 azaleas figured largely in the window 

 displays and general stock of the re- 

 tail florists, the inference bein.g that 

 this class of material was not fully 

 sold out at Christmas. 



While the inevl- 

 PHILADELPHIA table easing up of 

 prices took place 

 after the Christmas rush business was 

 fairly satisfactory last week, and 

 aided |)y a good out-of-town demand 

 kept the distributers on the jump- 

 even on Sunday. At this writing 

 (Monday) prospects for the new year 

 trade are good, and if the weather is 

 anything like propitious very little 

 will go to waste. American Beauty 

 roses continue of splendid quality and 

 dominate the market. Brides and 

 Bridesmaids have improved consider- 

 ably as to color and hold firm as to 

 prices. Richmonds are in good de- 

 mand. Chatenay and Wellesley are in 

 evidence, but these do not cut a vvide 

 swath in this market. Killarney is 

 very good at present. The carnation 

 market holds its own nicely as to 

 prices, and quantity and quality is all 

 that could be wished. Lily of the val- 

 ley is still rather too plentiful for the 

 demand. Violets, while good stock, do 

 not go with quite the usual snap. Or- 

 chids are plentiful with healthy de- 

 mand. Romans and narcissi are in 

 over-supply, yet there is usually found 

 a place for them somewhere. Mignon- 

 ette continues very good stock — one 

 of the most satisfactory on the mar- 

 ket. Poinsettias are very fine as to 

 quality, with values much in buyers' 

 favor. 



The phenomenally 

 WASHINGTON beautiful weather 

 that has lasted 

 through almost the entire Christmas 

 holidays has proved a boon to the 

 florists generally. All retailers ex- 

 press themselves as more than pleased 

 with the outcome. Small potted plants 

 sold unusually well. Richmond and 

 Killarney roses are more in demand 

 than others, but Beauty is about the 

 only rose that keeps up in price. The 

 large retailers have their hands prtty 

 full with the New Year decorating. 

 It is feared that the continued warm 

 weather will be a great menace to 

 hardy plants and climbers. Nearly 

 everything is coming into good bud. 



Business was good 

 TWIN CITIES and the outlook for 

 this week is bright. 

 Prices are steady, retailers complaining 

 they are too high to make a fair profit. 

 Roses and carnations are shipped in 

 from Illinois as well as from Iowa iu 

 large numbers. 



The KERVAN CO. 



113 W. 28th ST. 

 New York 



WHOLESALE DEALERS 



Fresh cut Palmetto & Cycas Palm Leaves, Galax, Leu- 

 cothoe. Ferns and Mosses. All Decorating Evergreen. 



