sa 



HORTICULTURE 



January 1, 1910 



THE "CHRISTMAS FOLLY" IN 

 PHILADELPHIA 



An esteemed member of the retail 

 trade In Philadelphia gave a lecture 

 recently at the Florists' Club on the 

 "Follies of 190S-9." He was quite se- 

 vere on the growers and commission 

 men, blaming them not only tor boost- 

 ing prices, but for holding back stock. 



If boosting prices is folly there was 

 as much of it as ever. If holding back 

 stock is folly there was plenty of evi- 

 dence to show that the same old fool- 

 ishness still prevails. At least this 

 is true of cut flowers. For instance, 

 violets quoted in the regular schedule 

 at ?1.25 to $2.50 — these were going at 

 the wind-up at $5.00 a thousand. Sim- 

 ilarly with American Beauties, which, 

 while they enjoyed a good run, could 

 ibe had at half and less before the 

 market closed. Many other items 

 were in the same boat. In short, 

 there was no trouble for any retailer 

 to get all the flowers he wanted at 

 moderate rates at the end, although 

 the commission men and growers kept 

 up a bold front to the last. Plants, 

 on the other hand, cleaned up splen- 

 didly at regular prices and more could 

 have been sold, notwithstanding the 

 cold weather from the 18th to 22nd, 

 ' which handicapped out-of-town plant 

 shipments. 



Nevertheless and notwithstanding 

 these slight drawbacks, it was a great 

 Christmas. Bigger than 1908 without 

 any doubt whatever — follies or no fol- 

 lies! Anyone who went into the whole- 

 sale market two days before Christ- 

 mas expecting to see the usual polite 

 salesman rushing up to him with 

 salaams and greetings, bowing and 

 smiling and washing his hands in in- 

 visible water, got a rude shock and 

 had to hunt around in his turn and 

 do the salaaming. Perhaps a retailer 

 would class that as another of the 1909 

 follies. But what could one do! One 

 regular was glued to the long-distance 

 'phone at one side; another boss on 

 the opposite, while all the local lines 

 had their quota. A corrugated brow 

 was busy sorting out gardenias; an- 

 other expert had cattleyas on the 

 brain. Orders for Baltimore, Wash- 

 ington, Pittsburg and Cleveland had 

 to go out, and occupied a dozen of the 

 crew with eyes and ears for nothing 

 else. In another section the incoming 

 goods were being hustled in, grabbed, 

 opened, and sorted with busy fingers — 

 while some on the floor were anxiously 

 saving sweet peas and poinsettias from 

 the greedy maws of the hungry outly- 

 ing occasionals for their pet and regu- 

 lar customers in the central districts. 



Extra boys for the delivery service 

 were at a premium. Autos were every- 

 where, but anything on wheels came 

 in very welcome. The only calm and 

 collected person up and down the whole 

 Rialto seemed to be Ed. Pancourt just 

 in from a six weeks' trip. He stood 

 around like a high priest supernumer- 

 ary "first aid to the wounded" smok- 

 ing a big black cigar. He wasn't really 

 working. He only thought he was. At 

 least he seemed to pay no attention to 

 the wandering customers who ambled 

 in looking for carloads of American 

 Beauties and other little Items like that 

 at a dollar apiece. Leo was in an un- 

 usually genial mood; while all his 

 forces from Clarence down were hust- 

 ling with no eyes or ears for anything 

 or anybody, but getting out the orders. 



A MESSAGE FROM MARS. 



Toll us Mr. Martian what thosp dark liiips are that we see on your planet. 

 Tmise are the ditches we have dug to plant with the wdnderlieriy. I have heeii 

 sent for some seed. 



Chonis — You eah have it all. 



When Richmonds and Killarneys are 

 selling at fifty they have to be care- 

 fully packed. Arthur in his brown 

 duck uniform showed himself a good 

 man-at-arms when emergency calls as 

 well as a good financier at regular 

 times. Edward had no "kicks" com- 

 ing, which spoke well for the fine busi- 

 ness his house enjoyed. He took no 

 stock in the five-dollar violet story. 

 All he said was, "Did they buy the 

 trash?" 



Captain Crawford agrees with Chas. 

 Henry, that high prices at Christmas 

 are a mistake. Commodore's genial 

 notion that people don't appreciate 

 things unless they pay a good price 

 finds no favor with Robert. George 

 Craig was quite willing to admit that 

 all this Christmas fuss was foolish, 

 "but if people are willing to waste 

 their money, what's the difference?" 

 Let them go ahead. One retailer sold 

 eightly-two dozen snapdragon and the 

 "foolish" price at wholesale on this 

 very minor item was two dollars a 

 dozen. Frank Polites had not much 

 to say on being asked if he had had 

 a good Christmas. All he said was, 

 "Yep." On being asked if it was bet- 

 ter than last year — all he said was 

 "Yep." On being asked "How much 

 better?" he said: "Three hundred dol- 

 lars better." That sounded good and 

 genuine. We all love a plain unvar- 

 nished tale. Glittering generalities are 

 so unsatisfactory in this foolish old 

 world. A thrilling feature of the folly 

 week was the rescue of a consignment 

 of carnations lost in the wilderness of 

 the West Philadelphia freight yards by 

 Sherlock Holmes Stroud and his satel- 

 lite Dr. Watson Cook. The express 

 people hadn't even sense enough to be 

 sorry. All they said was, "Gwan and 

 don't bother us! Don't you see we're 

 busy?" So Stroud held up his liands, 

 said Mary Ann! and went home. 



As for the Christmas blizzard and 

 its two feet of snow, which has tied 

 up everything the past three days, all 

 that can be said is, it might have been 



worse. Suppose it had come on Wed- 

 nesday instead of Saturday night! The 

 Christmas trade was practically over 

 before it struck in all its fury and 

 buried us out of sight. The weather 

 for the week up to Saturday was fine, 

 and the fakirs and Christmas tree peo- 

 ple had a harvest. 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



It is reported that Chas. Henry Fox, 

 in company with a local confectioner, 

 has iHirchased the Natatorium build- 

 ing, Broad and Locust, for $110,000. 

 The intention is said to be to erect a 

 new building with double stores for 

 the two businesses. 



Two of the old Dietsch greenhouses 

 of the H. A. Dreer Co. caved in from 

 weight of the Christmas snow storm. 

 There was no great damage as they 

 were used for cold storage of roses, 

 and weie readily propped up for re- 

 pairs. 



Thf Plorex Gardens at Lonsdale, 

 had a gang of workmen at work re- 

 moving the snow from their big to- 

 mato house, 175x1000 feet, and took no 

 chances, although no undue strain 

 was apparent. 



A. M. Campbell, at Collingdale, suf- 

 fered a loss in the collapse of two 

 houses. His crops are mostly aspara- 

 gus plumosus and Sjn'engeri, at this 

 season. 



Habermehl's at 22nd and Diamond, 

 one side of a lean-to — damage limited. 



Jno. Burton and J. W. Colflesh also 

 had some trouble. 



Jno. Westcott suffered a small loss 

 from a cave in of a house 15x25 feet. 



Official record at Philadelphia of the 



three great snowstorms of the past 20 



vears : 



1SS8, 10 5-10 Inches 



1899, IS 



1909. 23 8- 10 



