49C. 



II RT I CU LTU RK 



May IS. 1918 



It is a Question if carnations at ten 

 cents wholesale, and often of an infe- 

 rior Rrade. Is not a menace to Ilie cut 

 flower business not onl.v on special 

 days like Mothers' Day, but in its after 

 effects upon the buyers who naturally 

 resent the prices the retailers must 

 asli if they get back the money they 

 pay out for their stock What started 

 to be a carnation day has fortunately 

 been diverted to the wliole range of 

 floral offerinKS. and In the big down- 

 town stores, plants, baskets and boxes 

 of (lowers, generally of good medium 

 price, took the place of the smaller 

 offerings of the first Mother's Days. 

 The single flower no longer is popular 

 except as it is worn by the purchaser, 

 and it Is a fact worthy of notice that 

 the larger stores sold for each carna- 

 tion, a thousand or more other flowers. 

 For this the growers are largely to 

 blame, for the good keeping quality 

 of the carnation was sacrificed by be- 

 ing held back too long. As some of 

 the wholesalers remarked, "this has 

 become a habit hard to break." 



The public Is frequently blamed for 

 not having a correct idea of tlie value 

 of cut flowers, especially at a holiday. 

 In times like last week, those inside 

 as well as outside the trade, might be 

 pardoned for questioning the policy of 

 turning lOO.noi) carnations over to a 

 department store, to sell for 8 cts. per 

 doz. on Saturday. May 11th. when 

 the retail florist could not sell for less 

 than $1.00 and $1.50 per dozen. Even 

 though the stock were better, such a 

 difference in prices makes the public 

 lose confidence. 



Among the downtown florists, the 

 opinion prevails that there was more 

 business done than at any previous 

 Mothers' Day. A. Lange says his 

 store was unprepared to handle the 

 throngs that filled It at times. Geo. 

 Wienhoeber found It less of a day for 

 the wealthy and more of a day for the 

 smaller buyer. In commercial impor- 

 tance this year he says It ranked with 

 St. Valentine's Day. He deplored the 

 prices placed upon flowers, often of an 

 inferior quality. Schiller's West Side 

 Store was not able to close the store 

 till six-thirty and the sales when to- 

 talled are expected to show a gain 

 over last year. A big canvas sign 

 across the front of the store read 

 "Mothers' Day is May 12th, Remem- 

 ber her with flowers." The telegrams 

 were still coming on Monday from 

 those who had forgotten the day, 



Wm. .1, Smythe, 31st and Michigan 

 .Ave., had a good trade and sold out 

 completely. At Chas, Samuelson's the 

 business done nearly equaled that of 

 Easter, and the demand was mostly 

 for cut flowers in boxes and baskets. 

 Mrs, J, Simpson found the demand 

 very good. This store was repre- 

 sented in the Sunday thrift stamp 

 parade by a handsomely decorated 

 car. At A, Frauenfelder's the busi- 

 ness is reported as large as that of 

 Easter, The store was open on Sun- 

 day from 4 a. m, till 6 p, m. and then 

 orders were refused for lack of flow- 

 ers to fill them. The Alpha Floral Co, 

 is sure it surpassed any other Moth- 

 ers' Day, The Central Floral Co, had 



the best Mothers' Day window, a 

 matronly figure knitting for the sol- 

 dier boys which attracted crowds, 



O. W. Freese, sales manager of 

 I'oehlmann llros., states that his 

 house sold out completely and refused 

 many orders for lack of stock. He es- 

 timates .'{0,000 as the probable number 

 of carnations sold and that it would 

 take at least 10,000 more to fill the 

 orders they were obliged to refuse. 



NEW FLOWER STORES. 



Hartford, Ct. Win. .Scrivener. 



Monticello, III. N. Swenson, suc- 

 ceeding It. .1. IJills. 



Brooklyn. N. Y. James Shackron. 

 '■'•'■'A Klatbiish avenue, .lohn Collins. 

 70 Fifth avenue. 



NEWS NOTES. 



Auburndale, Mass. — Louis Nelson 

 and .Morris Kolin, formerly employed 

 by the W, W, Edgar Company, have 

 leased the greenhouses of the late Wil- 

 liam Capstick and will grow a general 

 line of stock. 



VIneland, N. J. -The new proprietor 

 of the greenhouses formerly conduct- 

 ed by Mr. and Mrs. K". M. Lyona, at 

 02,'> Peach street, is Charles Vondra. 

 Mr Vondra is a hustler and gives 

 Iiromise of a successful conduct of the 

 liiisiness. 



Cincinnati — The May meeting of the 

 Cincinnati Florists' Society was held 

 last Monday evening in the club 

 rooms in the flower market. 



Mrs. Elsie Bolison has returned to 

 her desk at the Cincinnati Cut Flower 

 Exchange after a week spent at Chil- 

 licothe. 



Cleveland, O. — The following sug- 

 gestive advertisement appeared in the 

 local newspapers last week: 



TO OIK C IISTO.'VIKRS 



In orilcr that .Sfvi'ral thousand Cleveland 

 solditTs at Camp Slicrman may have a 

 wlilte or red carnation for Motliors' Day 

 (Sunday. May 12) 



We Are GivinK Onr Kntire 

 (Vllotment to the fSoldiers 

 We are gladly making this patriotic gift 

 llironch the Red Cross and the Y, M, C. A,, 

 who will see that the several thousand 

 llowers we contriliute are distributed as far 

 .■IS they will go anM)ng Cleveland hoys at 

 Camp Sherman. 



No CarnatlonH to Sell 

 Carnations are scarce this year. It Is im- 

 possible for us to obtain more than a few 

 thousand and as we are giving the soldiers 

 all we can get. we hope that our customers 

 will accept other flowers than carnations 

 for .Mothers' Day. We believe that every- 

 one will he willing to make this small sac- 

 rifice under the circumstances. 



The Jones-KuHsell Co. 

 1284 Enclld Avenue. 



Joseph J, Lane, connected with the 

 Garden Ma.gazine, Garden City, N, Y,, 

 as advertising manager for the past 

 five years, has left his position to join 

 the Army, Mr, Lane has many good 

 friends in the horticultural field who 

 will all be glad to extend to him their 

 good wishes that he may win much 

 honor in the service of his country 

 and return in safety, Mr. Lane is at 

 present taking a short rest at his old 

 home in Cambridge, Mass., prepara^ 

 tory to taking his place in the ranks. 



Visitors* Rgeistcr 



Hoston — Charles Schwake, New 

 York; Wni. P. Ford. New York 



llochester, .\. Y, — E, J, Murphy, 

 repr. N, P. McCarthy & Co,, Hoston; 

 \V. H. Kurth, repr. Reed & Keller. 

 New York, 



Washington Julius DlllofT, New 

 York; Newell J, Hayman, Clarksburg, 

 W, Va.; P. C. Uarron, New York; Sid- 

 ney H, Bayersdorfer, Philadelphia; 

 Adolph E, Gude, Jr., Callfield. Texas, 



New York— Robert Kift, I'hlladel- 

 plila. Pa,; Wallace R, Pierson, Crom- 

 well, Conn,; David 1, Fairchlld, Wash- 

 ington, D. ('.; W. H. Elliott, .Madbury, 

 .\. H.; Kenneth Gillett, South wick, 

 -Mass. 



Philadelphia — Miss Jennie Refow- 

 ich, Mahanoy City, Pa.; James A. 

 lirown. Coatesville, Pa.; N. J. Hay- 

 man. Clarksburg, W. Va. ; Albert M. 

 Herr, Lancaster. Pa.; Alfred Cart- 

 ledge. Wilmington. Del. 



Cincinnati — I. M. Bayersdorfer of H. 

 IJayersdorfer & Co.. Philadelphia; 

 .Mrs. J. J, Lampert, Xenia, Ohio; Mr, 

 and .Mrs, .Martin Weber, Brookville, 

 Ind,; Mr, and Mrs, G. A, Beckmann, 

 .Middletown. Ohio; .Mrs. G. W. Frlsch, 

 Dayton. Ohio. 



CHICAGO FLORISTS' CLUB. 



The May meeting of the Chicago 

 Florists' Club was held at the Bis- 

 marck on the 9th, The evening was 

 practically devoted to the all-Impor- 

 tant coal question. Two representa- 

 tives of the coal dealers were present 

 and each talked of the situation and 

 gave the members some valuable 

 hints, A picnic to be held in July was 

 decided upon, with T, Waters as man- 

 ager, F. Lautenschlager made a re- 

 liort for the publicity committee, 

 showing the sum collected for that 

 purpose to be only $81,64, The atten- 

 tion of the members was called by Mr, 

 Stoeh of the Lhiiverslty of Illinois to 

 a book called "Hand Firing Soft Coal 

 and Power Plant Boilers," which will 

 be mailed upon application and ten 

 cents. 



ROSA HUGONIS. 



If you pass Samuel S. Pennock's 

 home in Lansdowne these days be 

 sure you will be invited in to see his 

 new pet rose, Hugonis, in bloom. The 

 lirst bud opened May 10th, which is a 

 week ahead of his last year's record — 

 May 17th, as reported by the editor 

 of the Rose Annual for 1918 (page 

 102), That means that spring is 

 earlier this year, Hugonis is said to 

 lie the veo' earliest rose to bloom, 

 and if we are not mistaken, is one of 

 the wonders for which we are indebt- 

 ed to Mr, Wilson, resultant from his 

 ardous travels in Northern China 

 about which Hokticcltukk was the 

 first to tell the world years ago. 



