April 6, 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



469 



rSOUTHERN WILD SMILAX 



I We are booking orders now Tor future delivery for Fancy Greens 

 land Beaven's Fadeless Sheet Moss. Wrlta for Sam/ties. 



E. A. BEAVEN, Evergreen, Ala. 



f 



CUT FLOWER MARKET REPORTS. 



Continiud frvm pa^i 4'''; . 

 fairly well, but there was evidence here 

 and there of holding until Thursday 

 and then overdoing the call. A more 

 gradual policy would have paid better. 

 Daisies, both yellow and white, much 

 overdone. Orchids scarce. 



THE PLANT TRADE. 



For both quantity and quality the 

 Easter plant stock put on the market 

 this year was fully equal to past sea- 

 sons. Some curtailment was noticeable 

 in a few items such as Crimson Ram- 

 blers and genistas. Azaleas were in 

 ample supply and very well done as a 

 rule. Lilies were many of them on 

 the dwarf side but otherwise fine and 

 well-flowered. The only striking nov- 

 elty this year was the new variegated 

 leaved Bougainvillea. It is doubtful 

 if this will make a place outside of an 

 ephemeral demand as a new thing. 

 The green-leaved variety suits the 

 buyers of Easter plants far better. 

 Rhododendrons are getting more popu- 

 lar. Spireas were among the biggest 

 sellers. In tulips the single white, 

 pink, and yellow, sold best. Daffodils 

 and hyacinths in pans are still popular. 

 Deutzias were a little draggy. A new 

 idea in displaying of cut flowers at 

 Battles' was a square basket, deep 

 like an umbrella stand, stained 

 brown and ornamented on one side 

 with pine cones. This looks very 

 rich and unique. There is of course 

 an inner vase for water. 



Robert Kift now inclines to the be- 

 lief that the lily trouble is the fault 

 of the grower rather than the bulbs 

 and that the best of bulbs will not do 

 well unless intelligently grown. 



In addition to the new variegated 

 Bougainvillea mentioned there was 

 aflother striking novelty on display at 

 Battles' — the Rhododendron Pink Pearl 

 — a pale blush with a large truss of 

 well-opened flowers freely produced. 

 This is really a beautiful thing and 

 will be in demand. We are informed 

 that Mr. Battles took the whole of 

 Dreer's importation of this variety, one 

 thousand plants. 



The street men had everything their 

 own way, bright sunshine and July 

 temperature every day. There has 

 never been such an Easter in history 

 for the out-door people. The supplies 

 of all kinds of stock seemed to be 

 unlimited and yet by Saturday night 

 everything that was salable found a 

 home and much that was pretty rocky 

 besides. It was indeed a jubilee for 

 the small grower who depends much 

 on his Easter trade to recoup for the 

 dullness and expense of a long hard 

 winter. 



An enormous quan- 

 NEW YORK tity of flowers was 

 distributed for Easter. 

 The cut of roses, carnations, violets, — 

 in fact almost everything in the cut 

 flower line — was heavy and pretty 

 much everything was disposed of with 

 the usual exceptions. The prices 

 realized were fair considering the large 



over-supply. Beauties were cheaper 

 than ever for a holiday, and averaged 

 just about half the price of Easter, 

 1906. Special grade of Richmond ex- 

 ceeded Beauty in price and sold well. 

 Jacques, always heretofore a good 

 Easter seller had little support from 

 the best trade and brought less than 

 usual. Brummers were also cheap, the 

 reasonable figures at which Brides, 

 Bridesmaids and other teas were 

 quoted made clearances possible except 

 in shorter grades which were hard to 

 move except at very low figures. Not- 

 withstanding the heavy supply of car- 

 nations, all mi.ght have sold were it 

 not that many were too ripe and went 

 to sleep while awaiting late buyers. 

 The warm weather affected their keep- 

 ing qualities also. Never were there 

 so many violets, and great was the 

 variation in price, starting from the 

 low level that prevailed during the 

 week in which there was little, if any, 

 demand for them, they finally cleared 

 out at fairly good figures. Hundreds 

 of thousands were disposed of through 

 the street people as a result of the 

 beautiful weather. Many of them, per- 

 haps half the supply, were of inferior 

 quality and were well-sold at any 

 price; odorless and with dropping 

 petals thousands wei'e sold on the 

 street which otherwise would have 

 been thrown away and there were 

 some even too poor to elicit an offer 

 of purchase from the smallest street 

 mechant. The grower who imagined 

 it good business policy to keep his 

 stock on the plant until it was no 

 longer a violet will now perhaps see 

 things in a different light. Orchids 

 were in good demand but there were 

 few in the market. Lily of the valley 

 was plentiful and chean and where it 

 was held at ri figure sales were almost 

 out of the question. Predictions as to 

 the scarcity of lilies were verified earlv 

 in the day and little stock was unsold 

 by evening. Prices ranged from 12 to 

 15 cents, the latter figure prevailing for 

 good stock at the finish. Yellow stock 

 — daffodils, tulips, .ionquils. etc. — was 

 a drag at prices that would not begin 

 1o pay for the bulbs. Much of it wsis 

 still unsold when Monday came. So 

 also was mignonette, stocks, and a 

 miscellaneous assortment of such odds 

 and ends as daisies, smilax. etc. Sweef 

 iieas — white particularly — cleared well 

 hut not at high figures. Altogether, 

 the great floral festival brought more 

 worry than elation to the hard worked 

 wholesale man. 



THE PLANT TR * DE. 



The plant trade did not differ mate- 

 rially from that of recent years. There 

 may have been a few mce camellias 

 used and a. few less genistas, a few 

 more baskets of one style and a few 

 less of another, but the favorites of 

 a year ago are still favorites and noth- 

 ing sensational was in evidence. Pussv 

 willow baskets in many forms were 

 arenerally popular. Ribbon was used 

 in less quantities and in many in- 

 stances was replaced by chiffon as a 

 decorative adjunct. Retailers had been 



apprehensive that the "Wall Street 

 fiurry would hurt their Easter trade. 

 They were agreeably disappointed and 

 had the best busine.ss of their lives. 

 Some complaint is heard as to lilies, 

 which were not only scarce but were 

 of unsatisfactory quality, showing evi- 

 dences of excessive forcing. As a rule, 

 large azaleas and large specimen 

 plants generally were not wanted. 



Another Easter has 

 TWIN CITIES gone and the trade 



in general are all 

 feeling good over the fine business 

 they had. About everything in plants 

 .sold well and at good price. It was 

 noticeable that the demand for high- 

 class stock was much better this 

 year than for some time past. Lilies 

 sold well; in some places not one was 

 left, while in others the stock was 

 well picked over and only a few infer- 

 iors left on hand. Azaleas sold bet- 

 ter than ever, the average price being 

 from $2.00 to $3.00 each. Specimen 

 Iilants brought as high as $20.00 and 

 $3.5.00, but the sale on that size was 

 not heavy. Other plants such as 

 spiraeas, deutzias and hydrangeas sold 

 well, the average being $1.00 and $1.50 

 for spiraeas and deutzias, and hydran- 

 geas fi-om $1.00 to $5.00 according to 

 size. Cut flowers moved rapidly on 

 Saturday and fair prices were obtained. 



T^otv/itlistan ding 

 WASHINGTON the torrid wave 

 that swept over 

 Washington during the past week and 

 sudden transition from winter to raid- 

 summer, causing injury to plants and 

 cut fiowers, the Easter season was 

 profitable to the trade generally. Tho 

 stores were most attractive with banks 

 of fiowers, both inside and out. and 

 ranging from the most magnificent 

 specimens of bougainvilleas to the tiny 

 Baby Rambler roses. The best plants 

 offered were azaleas, hydrangeas, and 

 rhododendrons, which sold readily at 

 satisfactory prices. The Easter ' lily 

 crop was a general failure, the pre- 

 ponderance of plants offered being 

 short in stature and of poor quality as 

 lompaied with former years. Growers 

 are complaining of the diseased con- 

 dition in which lily bulbs were re- 

 ceived, and further state that many 

 were not true to name. Prices were 

 in line with those of former years, and 

 there was a ready demand with both 

 grower and retailer. 



The old adage, "it's the little things 

 that count," was fully verified this 

 Easter season. While all fiowers sold 

 readily and well, for the smaller and 

 cheaper plants, it was a record breaker. 

 None were left to tell the tale. 



Owin.g to the absence from the city 

 of many of the wealthy class hand- 

 some specimen plants did not find as 

 ready sale as on previous seasons. For- 

 tunately for the grower, as well as the 

 retailer, the sudden drop in tempera- 

 ture did not occur until Sunday morn- 

 ing, the preceding days being ideally 

 beautiful, indeed, rather too warm for 

 comfort, 



