June 1, 1907 



horticulture: 



729 



CUT FLOWER MARKET REPORTS 



Memorial Day, always 

 BOSTON the biggest day in tho 

 year for the Boston 

 wholesale flower trade, has far out- 

 stripped its record this yeai- and 

 reached a volume and value of goods 

 moved never approached by any holi- 

 day, under any circumstances, hereto- 

 fore. This, notwithstanding the un- 

 favorable conditions for securing 

 needed material which, if it could be 

 had. for all demands would swell the 

 total sales to a much greater extent. 

 The usual outdoor flowers of the sea- 

 sou are missing. Lilacs are the main 

 reliance in the outdoor class this 

 year: tulips of the late varieties are 

 eagerly bought up; poet's narcissus 

 is about the only other garden flower 

 available; these are in plentiful sup- 

 ply. Stocks and astilbe, especially 

 forced for the occasion, are in the 

 market but in so green a condition as 

 to be of little consequence. Pansies 

 at ^1.50 to $2.00 a thousand have 

 been disposed of in enormous quanti- 

 ties Carnations are in active de- 

 mand and have experienced a con- 

 siderable stiffening of values but roses 

 have not advanced to any extent and, 

 as might be expected, the lower grades 

 have found the best sale. Growers 

 and wholesalers have been working 

 early and late and Memorial Day, 

 1907, has certainly made a new high 

 record. People that are usually 

 wholesale sellers at Christmas and 

 other holidays are buyers now. 



Business the previous 

 BUFFALO week was good to a cer- 

 tain extent. Flowers 

 were not overplentiful. Beauties have 

 been in good supply together with 

 Richmond, Killarney, Chatenay, Lib- 

 erty. Bride and Bridesmaid, the lat- 

 ter showing much mildew but the col- 

 or has been superb. A good lot of or- 

 dinary stock was handled and sold 

 better than previous weeks. Carna- 

 tions of the colored line were a little 

 scarce at times but plenty of white 

 could be obtained. Outdoor stock has 

 not been plentiful. A good portion of 

 the tulips are of poor quality, short 

 stemmed and small flower and show 

 the effects of frost. It looks as if the 

 market will be short on outdoor stock 

 for' Memorial Day, as lilacs, deutzia, 

 lily of the valley, peonies, etc., will 

 not be in bloom. Callas and Harristi 

 are scarce and good demands have 

 been had on other flowers. Wood 

 ferns have not been too plentiful while 

 adiantum, Sprengeri and other greens 

 sold well. 



The weather has at 

 COLUMBUS last turned warm, and 

 it really seems as if 

 growing conditions were at hand. 

 Stock of all kinds is more plenty, es- 

 pecially carnations, which are al- 

 ways our main-stay. Roses are good, 

 also, and as everything can now be 

 sold at most reasonable rates, the over- 

 the-counter trade with all the craft has 

 bee"!! unusually good the past week. 

 There will be an especially large busi- 

 ness done for Memorial Day. as indi- 

 cated by the large number of advance 

 orders that have been placed. The 

 one drawback will be the lack of out- 

 door stock; the trade for this holiday 

 demands large bunches of flowers and 

 at reasonable rates: this will be diffi- 

 cult to do this year with so little hardy 



stock. The seedsmen are very busy 

 with retail counter trade and bed- 

 ding as well as vegetable plants. 

 Trade in every line is very satisfac- 

 tory. 



While business in gen- 

 DETROIT eral is not very brisk, 



the daily supply at our 

 wholesale houses cannot cope with the 

 demand. The extreme bashfulness of 

 gentle Spring is to be charged up with 

 this general lack of cut flowers. This 

 season just passing has been a great 

 trial for the old principle of supply 

 and demand as price regulators. The 

 growers had an extremely poor cut all 

 through the winter as far as quality 

 is concerned. In looking over their 

 financial harvest though, the result is 

 very gratifying because there never 

 was a glut, but always good prices 

 instead. Our cemeteries will look 

 rather desolate this Decoration Day. 

 The florists attending to this line of 

 work have not been able to do any- 

 thing worth speaking of on accouijt 

 of weather conditions. 



The long looked 

 INDIANAPOLIS for s e a s o n a b le 

 weather has at last 

 come and placed the market and trade 

 conditions on a better level. The 

 planting branch of the business is now 

 quite active. Trade from the retail- 

 er's view was never better at this sea- 

 son of the year. Beauties are fine but 

 not over plentiful. Teas still hold 

 their own as to quality and supply. 

 Carnations are more than plentiful, 

 the qtiality keeping up well. Abund- 

 ance of fine sweet peas are on the mar- 

 ket. Gladioli, lilacs, irises, and peonies 

 are to be had in limited quantities. 

 Very few out-door flowers can be 

 counted on for Decoration Day. The 

 market is short of good ferns, while 

 smilax and other greens &re equal to 

 demand. 



Weather conditions 

 NEW YORK for the past few days 



have been unprece- 

 dented for the season, and the result 

 has been a situation unparalleled in 

 the flower market of this city for Me- 

 morial Day. The outdoor material 

 usually so abundant as to spoil any 

 tendency to special activity in florists' 

 flowers is missing, and lilacs and out- 

 door lily of the valley, ordinarily past 

 and gone at this date, are just begin- 

 ning to come in. No extraordinary 

 preparations for a demand having 

 been made, this market actually finds 

 itself in worse shape than is the case 

 in other centres usually less favored, 

 but which have access to quantities of 

 stocks, astilbes and other, material 

 brought forward in heat for Memorial 

 Day exigencies. Consequently there 

 has been an onslaught on everything 

 from outdoor or indoor sources, and 

 the wholesalers have been cleaned out 

 with surprising rapidity, while orders 

 for thousands upon thousands of car- 

 nations have been turned down for 

 lack of goods with which to fill them. 

 Of course this condition cannot last 

 long, but it will require a series of 

 warm days to bring about any great 

 demoralization in the market. One 

 consequence of the cold spring has 

 been the continuance of society people 

 in town to a later date than usual, 

 and the retail business is reported as 



excellent all around. A few good vio- 

 lets are still being sent in and one 

 grower at least is cutting a nice crop 

 of chrysanthemums. 



Conditions here 

 PHILADELPHIA have greatly Im- 

 proved since last 

 report. Stock has shortened up on ac- 

 count of the dull weather with no dim- 

 inution in demand, the consequence 

 being a much healthier tone all round, 

 not so much in an increase of prices 

 as in a general cleaning up of arriving 

 shipments, there being no such tran- 

 sactions as twenty thousand Brides at 

 twenty cents a hundred as took place 

 last week. Beauty roses moved well, 

 the outside demand being brisk and 

 keeping the market in healthy con- 

 dition. Brides moved better, but out- 

 side of a clean-up little improvement 

 took place, prices remaining about 

 stationary. Bridesmaids were off both 

 in color and quality. Richmonds went 

 well especially in the shorter grades. 

 Killarneys were in fine shape and 

 among the best sellers in the market. 

 The carnation market is in a very 

 healthy condition and the outlook is 

 for shorter supplies. There will not 

 be nearly enough to go around tor 

 Decoration Day trade. Sweet peas are 

 in good demand, but the quality is 

 nothing extra. Lily of the valley is 

 fine and going much better. Garden- 

 ias are plentiful and cheap, a great 

 deal of southern stock arriving. The 

 iris market has also been spoiled by 

 southern arrivals. Cattleyas are about 

 the only orchids that cut any figure 

 at present. Peonies are late. Nothing 

 doing (his side of Washington. A big 

 loss to the peony men of Washington, 

 Baltimore and Philadelphia. All ou" 

 supplies that amount to anything are 

 coming from farther south. The com- 

 bination of dull weather and a late 

 season makes Decoration Week this 

 vear exceptional — with a scramble tor 

 stock all round both local and ship- 

 ping. 



There is very 

 SAN FRANCISCO little news ■ to 

 tell about San 

 Francisco, except that we are ret- 

 ting our calamities too close together. 

 We" were just getting our first breath 

 after the fire and were beginning to 

 settle down to business when the 

 street-car operators, telephore oper- 

 ators, iron workers — in fact, about 

 halt of the working classes go on 

 strike for higher wages and shorter 

 hours. Of course every tradesman, es- 

 pecially the florist, is doing very little 

 business Flowers are not plentiful 

 and would bring good prices if it was 

 net for above mentioned conditions. 



The cold, disagree- 

 TWIN CITIES able weather has af- 

 fected the retail 

 trade to a large extent. One or two 

 liright days during the week gives us 

 a good chance for comparison, but 

 trade this spring will undoubtedly fall 

 short of a year ago. from the retailer's 

 point of view, and what affects the 

 store man must also affect the grower 

 and wholesaler. Spring flowers ars 

 practically an unknown commodity. 

 The stock at the present time is about 

 the same we have had all winter. A 

 few early tulips are offered; the de- 

 Coiithiiifi/ oil fa^'e yjf'. 



