May 2, 1908 



HORTICULTURE 



60& 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS 



Things are pretty dull in 

 BOSTON this market just now; in 



fact, it may be truthful- 

 ly said that the grower and whole- 

 salje dlealeo' are up' agjainst the 

 worst kind of a problem — that of find- 

 ing an outlet for the tremendous out- 

 put. The situation looks gloomy 

 from the viewpoint of these people, 

 but from the position of the retail 

 florist it is not so bad, for they can 

 dictate prices on both sides. In 

 other words, they buy at their own 

 price and sell at their own price. 

 And this is the ideal existence for an 

 American tradesman, is it not? 



Business showed little ac- 

 BUFFALO tivity at end of last week 

 and stock accuniuiatert 

 with prices verj' much on the decline. 

 A \asit amount of material was carried 

 over Sunday in wholesalers' hands. 

 Lily of the valley and greens were the 

 only exception. The.se cleaned up all 

 right. At present the market is in 

 bad shape, especially on roses and car- 

 nations, both of which are coming in 

 faster than they can be handled and 

 bargain signs are again due. 



The usual lull succeed- 

 CHICAGO ing theEasterholidayhas 



struck Chicago with un- 

 usual force. While Easter trade as a 

 ■whole, both in plants and cut flowers, 

 exceeded the most sanguine expecta- 

 tions, it was followed by a week of the 

 greatest supply and the biggest slump 

 the market has known for years. 

 Everything that was not quite ready 

 for Easter, especially Easter lilies and 

 bulbous stock, opened up with the 

 warm weather of Easter day and the 

 first part of the week continuing warm 

 the market was overstocked. Outside 

 flowers came pouring in and did their 

 share in demoralizing trade. A wave 

 of cold weather is following and Chi- 

 cago market will soon be normal again. 



Flowers of all kinds are 

 DETROIT more than can be used 



and we all have time to 

 turn them into money at the slightest 

 provocation of the purchaser. An un- 

 prejudiced perusal of general market 

 conditions ought to satisfy all that 

 nothing is wrong with the flower busi- 

 ness although roses, carnations and 

 every other plant cultivated for cut 

 flowers are in full production, while 

 the demand is naturally less than in 

 midwinter. A very encouraging report 

 comes fi"om the real as well as the 

 would-be nurserymen, all of whom 

 report plenty of good orders and are 

 hustling to fill them promptly. A 

 great boom is given this branch of our 

 business through the recently inau- 

 gurated civil service league of which 

 I wrote in my last letter. Wm. Dilger is 

 furnishing plans for laying out home 

 gardens, while Frank Danzer treats 

 the same subject in a series of plans 

 showing the same lot as improved with 

 an expenditure of $2.00. $.'^.00, $Hj.OO and 

 so on up to $50.00. Follow this up in 

 your city; it all helps. The people 

 have the money arid are willing to 

 spend It. Show them how. 



Our price quotations 



NEW YORK will, upon peiiisal, tell 



the story of market 



conditions as fully as we can in words 



describe it. The tendency of every- 



thing is downward in price and up- 

 wai'd in accumulation. There is far 

 more of all kinds of stock than the 

 market can possibly make any use of. 

 Appearances are that the season is 

 over so far as any standard of value 

 for cut flowers is concerned. 



Some business last 

 PHILADELPHIA week but prices 



were 'way, 'way 

 down. Left-over plants of all kinds 

 in hands of retailers had to be pushed 

 wherever possible. Naturally such 

 conditions had their effect on the cut 

 flower business. American Beauty 

 roses cleaned up well but the prices 

 were scandalous. Quality on all roses 

 remains at high water mark — cut 

 heavy. Carnations very satisfactory 

 although some begin to show some 

 stress under the warm weather and 

 prices have dropped. Double violets 

 are still a factor and lily of the val- 

 ley moves a little better. Far too much 

 of all small stock, such as mignonette, 

 daffodils, daisies. Cattleyas scarce 

 and in good demand. Outdoor shrub 

 bloom sells freely. Good gardenias are 

 in demand but much of the cut is not 

 up to standard. Greens in fair de- 

 exception of bunch 



the 



mand with 

 plumosa. 



Easter is gone, but 

 TWIN CITIES most growers areas 

 busy now as they 

 were during or before Easter, 

 for with a very few exception? 

 they cleaned out ever5'thing and 

 are filling up the space again with 

 bedding and spring plants for Decora- 

 tion Day. All stock grown here was 

 of the very best and plants as well as 

 cut flowers sold at good prices, which 

 did not vary much from last year's 

 figures. Cut flowers brought in from 

 Milwaukee and Chicago were all No. 1 

 stock. In St. Paul there were a few 

 lilies left over, but Minneapolis made 

 a clean sweep. While there were 

 plenty of roses and carnations, etc., to 

 supply the market, there was a short- 

 age on violets. The beautiful weather, 

 which commenced about ten days be- 

 fore Easter, did its share in the produc- 

 tion of perfect stoclc 



In spite of the bad 

 TOLEDO weather on Saturday be- 

 fore Easter, the business 

 was very satisfactory to everyone. It 

 nil came in a rush in the afternoon 

 and continued uninterrupted until Sun- 

 day morning. It was a "plant Easter"; 

 everything sold which had a blossom. 

 Salvia Zarich proved a fine thing for 

 Easter, several hundred being disposed 

 of. Prices ruled about the same as 

 last year. 



NEWS OF TWENTY-EIGHTH ST. 



Wes' Twenty-eight street. New York, 

 the centre of the greatest of all whole- 

 sale Bower districts In the world, is 



undergoing a number of changes this 

 spring. It is especially worthy of note 

 that the theatrical and musical in- 

 terests which have long made this 

 block between Broadway and Sixth, 

 avenue a centre for their business are 

 abandoning the locality and moving up- 

 town. This leaves the wholesale florist 

 trade in almost complete possessioa 

 and the number of vacant premises at 

 present would seem to indicate that the 

 gradual ad\ancement in rents whictu 

 has been going on for some years has 

 now reached its limit. 



From the florists' standpoint the- 

 most notable movement is the acquir- 

 ing of the lease of the large new store 

 at No. 34 and removal thereto by Alex. 



Alex. J. Glttman 



J. Guttman. It has been said by a 

 sagacious business man that the real 

 conservative dealer is he who knows 

 when it is time to adopt a new method 

 or take hold and push a new line ot 

 goods. Since his advent on 28th street 

 Mr. Guttman has in various ways dem- 

 onstrated his abilities in this direction 

 and we doubt not his present line of 

 action will be equally successful. 



F. S. Hicks & Co. are also making ai 

 move from No. 52 to the "parlor floor" 

 at No. ;-!9, following the example of 

 A. H. Langjahr, W. S. Allen, James 

 McManus and others, who have suc- 

 ceeded in drawing business satisfac- 

 torily up a flight of steps. The street 

 floor establishments have 'one great 

 advantage in the open areas in front 

 and in some cases in the rear, hut- 

 there are now very few street floor 

 stores available and new comers will 

 soon be obliged to go above or else 

 locate in the block west of Sixth ave- 

 nue where J. K. Allen, Jos. Fenrlch 

 and a number of others are already 

 prospering. 



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