April 25, 190S 



HORTICULTURE 



olS- 



EASTER MARKET REPORTS 



While it is true that some 

 BOSTON gi'owers were badly left 



on lilies and rambler 

 roses and sgme retailers report a 

 heavy left-over accumulation of both 

 plants and flowers, and while it is also 

 a fact the enormous avalanche of ma- 

 terial brought to the wholesale mar- 

 kets on Saturday morning had, in 

 many instances, to be unloaded at 

 bargain-counter prices, yet our obser- 

 vation leads us to agree substantially 

 with those who say that, as a whole, 

 Boston's Easter was a satisfactory one. 

 Nobody claims that it exceeded or 

 equalled last year in amount of busi- 

 ness done, but the truth is that no- 

 body expected it would, and all were 

 agreeably disappointed in getting as 

 much as they did. The plants pre- 

 sented for the critical buyers of the 

 Hub were, as a rule, the best ever of- 

 fered in this market. They were of 

 the usual Raster varieties, the only 

 absolutely new subject coming to our 

 notice being some handsome pots of 

 crimson clover in bloom. In the 

 plants left over on the hands of retail- 

 ers, lilies, hydrangeas and azaleas pre- 

 dominated, yet the number of these 

 specialties sold was so enormous that 

 the unsold material was of compara- 

 tively little consequence, and the 

 record of recent years to the effect 

 that Easter is practically a plant holi- 

 day was hot disturbed. The receipts 

 of cut flowers were the largest ever. 

 No previous Easter could show any- 

 thing to compare with this, lender the 

 circunistances it is not surprising that 

 all kinds of expedients had to 

 be resorted to la the struggle to keep 

 the decks cleaied on Saturday as ship- 

 ment after shipment in inexhaustible 

 supply came to hand. The best sellers 

 were violets, red carnations and Rich- 

 mond roses; the worst sellers were 

 Bride and Bridesmaid roses, white 

 carnations, stocks and white material 

 generally and, worst of all, bulbous 

 stock. Killarney, Beauty and any 

 bright colored roses sold fairly well; 

 of these, however, and of lilies there 

 were considerable left in retailers' 

 hands, the wholesalers having succeed- 

 ed in unloading pretty clean on these 

 items. Lilies at wholesale held at top- 

 notch figures except where excessively 

 short-stemmed, in which c;ise they en- 

 countered trouble. There was less 

 complaint concerning stale flowers 

 than heretofore. The widespread con- 

 viction that prices would not advance 

 for Easter was undoubtedly responsible 

 for this pleasant experience. 



Ideal spring weather 

 BUFFALO opened up Easter week 

 and continued until 

 Thursday, giving all the plants in bud 

 ample time to open for the expected 

 rush, the real sale days being Friday 

 and Saturday. The market was well 

 supplied with plants as well as cut 

 flowers. In the plant line, azaleas. 

 Crimson and liaby Ramblers and lilies 

 were the main features, while other 

 stock also moved well. In the cut 

 flower line there is much to be said. 

 Violets had the best cleaning up in 

 some time, the quality being good. 

 All orders were filled complete, and in 

 other stock such as carnations, roses 



and bulbous llowers, there was plenty 

 to be had and all of good quality, bur 

 prices not up to previous years. Beau- 

 ties were in good supply, but demand 

 not heavy. Richmonds sold out clean. 

 Killarney, Kaiserin, Carnot and others 

 were seen in quantity and up to Sat- 

 urday were well moved. The man 

 growing bulbous stock got very little 

 in return; in this line there was no de- 

 mand whatevei'. As for the lily of the 

 valley it had the best cleanup in years 

 for the wholesaler, but good portions 

 of mignonette were unsold and caried 

 over. Sweet peas, gardenias, snap- 

 dragon, lilacs and orchids sold well. 

 Of carnations there were enough to be 

 distributed and all of good quality; on 

 this line the demand was good. The 

 shipping trade was excellent both in 

 cut stock and plants, but had not three 

 days of rain come at the end of the 

 week there would have been much less 

 stock to cary over. 



Wieland & Risch: 



CHICAGO "Trade fine; too tired 

 to even estimate it, but 

 know it was good. White flowers a 

 little slow." 



E. H. Hunt; "Trade even better 

 than we anticipated. Prices on cut 

 flowers not up to last year but totals 

 show up well." 



Bassett & Washburn: "Easter trade 

 in advance of last year. Demand for 

 pot plants growing." 



Poehlmann Bros. "Cleaned up on 

 flowers but prices lower than last 

 year." 



Lloyd Vaughan: "Perfectly satis- 

 fied with results. Demand for pot 

 plants growing." 



Mr. Kruchten: "Flower sales not up 

 to average. Pot plants sold well." 



Mrs. Frank Ben; "Plant trade grow- 

 ing. Sales of cut flowers will not 

 equal those of last year." 



Mr. Benthey; "Easter trade satis- 

 factory. Colored stock sold well but 

 white flowers were a drug. Beauties 

 scarce and in demand." 



Peter Reinberg: "Big demand for 

 Richmond roses. Could have sold 

 many more. Also unusual demand for 

 Beauties for Easter." 



Mr. Wei tor: "Up to my expecta- 

 tions. 



Chas. McKeilar: "Easter trade very 

 fair." 



J. A. Budlong: "Easter trade very 

 good." 



E. F. Winterson: "Carnations too 

 plentiful and made prices low but 

 trade on the whole was fair, and bet- 

 ter than anticipated." 



.T. B. Deamud: "Trade satisfactory. ' 

 tory." 



New York's Easter 

 NEW YORK was not much of a 



record breaker yet it 

 did well, everything considered. The 

 record breaking, such as it was, came 

 on the wrong side, unfortunately. 

 Never before has the Easter lily been 

 so thoroughly knocked out. There was 

 a slight apprehension in some quarters, 

 beforehand, that trouble was in store, 

 and that it would be the part of wis- 

 dom to unload stock as early as pos- 

 sible at moderate figures, but there 

 weie others, with equal opportunities 

 for scanning the field, who insisted 

 that lilies would make a good finish, in 

 time-honored style, and scouted the 

 idea of anything hut top prices. Those 

 growers and dealers who sold out early 

 had good cause to congratulate them- 

 selves, even though they had been ob- 

 liged to accept prices unprecedentedly 

 low for first-class lilies. Saturday had 

 not half gone when it became evident 

 that a lily slaughter was imminent, 

 and before night he who could get four 

 or five dollars a hundred had reason 

 to rejoice, while thousands of blooms 

 were left over, on plants or cut, to be 

 unloaded on- -Sunday and Monday for 

 two dollars a hundred. It was certain- 

 ly a great disappointment and also a 

 great surprise and its full significance 

 is not yet comprehended. The wonder- 

 ful recuperative power of the New York 

 flower market has often been com- 

 mented upon, but one never knows 

 what particular vein it will strike. 

 This time the violet was the lucky 

 item. After a month of degradation, 

 hardly worth a dollar a thousand ou 

 the street, the violet rebounded to old- 

 fashioned Easter values and, although 

 the shipments were heavy and the 

 weather rather unpropitious for violet 

 wearing, the prices held strong to ths 

 last and everything went. Roses were 

 In reduced suppb' and this helped the 

 rose market so that a reasonable 

 record was made. Carnations were, 

 perhaps, in lighter quantity than they 

 had been, but there were lots of them 

 and they cleaned up much better than 

 seemed probable. Bulbous stock has 

 a certain appropriateness for Easrer 

 and the sale of daffodils, tulips, hya- 

 cinths and lilv of the valley was fairly 

 good, but at low figures. There were 

 but few orchids in sight, gardenias 

 were also few in number, and among 

 The choicest things offered were the 

 crested dio.ss rcsebuds which brought 

 SL50 per bunch of six or eight sprays, 

 while the common moss buds went 

 slowly at half that figure. The variety 

 of unusual things— odds and ends, etc. 

 —was (ptite extensive and all the re- 



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