April 22, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



619 



Easter Market Reports 



{Coittitiiifd froitt pai^e bl^.) 



fairly well. Lily of the valley took a 

 wonderful sprint; everybody wanted 

 it. Orchids were in insufficient sup- 

 ply' and brought stiff prices. Among 

 the things that deserved a big sale 

 but were badly turned down were the 

 lancifolium lilies of which there was 

 a good supply of lovely blooms of the 

 magnificum and Melpomene type. The 

 retail dealers gave little attention to 

 the cut flower end of their business 

 until Saturday night and then they 

 bought only as required for immediate 

 use. The plant business kept them 

 hustling and everything was well 

 cleaned up in most stores. The most 

 noticeable increase seemed to be in 

 the way of Rambler roses, in many 

 varieties, which, with lilies and azal- 

 eas, had the lion's share of public 

 favor. The lilies suffered on account 

 of the prevalent short stems, many 

 being only a few inches in height. 

 Genistas, formerly a leading feature, 

 were only occasionally seen. Plants, 

 as a rule, were dressed with taste and 

 an improvement in the arrangement 

 of basket and jardiniere groups was 

 noted. The prevailing opinion among 

 wholesale and retail dealers is that 

 there was as much money spent in 

 New York this year as at any previ- 

 ous Easter for both flowers and plants 

 but it took a considerably larger 

 amount of goods in both cases to 

 make up the amount, because of lower 

 values all through the list. 



Easter week 

 PHILADELPHIA passed off satis- 

 factorily to all 

 concerned in the wholesale cut flower 

 markets of Philadelphia. A big busi- 

 ness was done and it would have been 

 even better except for the rainy Fri- 

 day and part of Saturday. But when 

 the sun came out at noon Saturday, 

 presto, what a business there was— 

 outdoors and indoors! That one little 

 glint of sunshine made all the dif- 

 ference in the world, and turned 

 gloom into glory and doughnuts into 

 dollars. There was for the week an 

 enormous volume of business (accord- 

 ing to all accounts, considerably larger 

 than last Easter) with plenty of 

 everything. There was no scarcity in 

 any line, and in one line in particular 

 — the carnation— there was too much. 

 The carnation growers "got it in the 

 neck," as they richly deserved, for 

 holding back and over-loading the 

 market with "bum" stock, when it 

 was not wanted. Not only did the 

 salted stock fail of a market, but its 

 mere presence and potentiality pulled 

 down the price of first class stock, 

 not only in carnations but good stock 

 in other lines. There never was such 

 a lilv of the valley market in our 

 history. Everything went and it was 

 all good stock, too. There never was 

 such a good sweet pea market in our 

 history. Fortunately these two items 

 were at their best and gave satisfac- 

 tion to all purchasers. These were 

 the two bright and particular spots in 

 the whole situation, and curiously 

 enough, the conditions seemed to take 

 the old timers by surprise. Things 

 had never got that way before in 

 their experience. Heretofore the 

 violets were the thing. As for orchids. 



they thought they had too many— but 

 by the wind-up everything in that con- 

 nection melted away. If the growers 

 had sized things up better, in advance, 

 for this market, better prices could 

 have been got. Roses were plentiful; 

 no shortage except on Richmond and 

 Liberty. In the American Beauty 

 class a good many more might have 

 been sold in the medium grades, but 

 specials and shorts were the order; 

 nothing else in sight. 



The Easter trade with 

 ST. LOUIS the St. Louis florists 



was phenomenally large 

 in the sale of plants and in cut flowers 

 it was as large as in any of the pre- 

 vious years. But it does seem as 

 though blooming plants are crowding 

 out the cut flowers at Easter time. Lil- 

 ies, of course, were the leaders and 

 there were plenty of them. A nice 

 line of Dutch bulb plants were seen 

 and they say they sold well, as did also 

 azaleas and hydrangeas. Most of the 

 West End show houses were cov- 

 ered with burlap and owing to the 

 broken glass from the hail storm a 

 good deal of their stock was damaged, 

 but was soon replaced from local 

 growers. The down-town florists who 

 do not carry so many plants made a 

 fine show of cut stock and say they 

 had a great business. Fortunately the 

 weather was with us and it was lucky 

 for the open-top houses. 



The wholesalers had an immense 

 stock of almost everything and at 

 reasonable prices were not near as 

 what the retailer expected to have to 

 pay. Top prices realized for the finest 

 grades were about as follows: Ameri- 

 can Beauty $40 to $50; other roses $8; 

 lilies $15; sweet peas $1; carnations 

 $5; violets $1; lily of the valley $4; 

 hyacinths and tulips $3. Anything 

 short of highest grade went far below 

 the above quoted figures. 



The Easter trade here 

 SYRACUSE was the largest ever; 



stock was very plenti- 

 ful and good and no advance in prices 

 on pot stuff which was preferred to 

 cut flowers. The most noticeable fea- 

 ture was the largely increased sale of 

 pot roses. Ramblers, and H. P's. Every 

 dealer was practically cleaned out of 

 them while bulb stock hung fire, es- 

 pecially daffodils and tulips, of which 

 large quantities remain unsold. Lilies 

 were in good demand, but the supply 

 was greater. Azaleas sold well, espe- 

 cially the smaller priced ones, those at 

 $1 to $2 each being much sought for. 

 Prettily aranged baskets of pansies 

 and ferns, hyacinths and ferns, as well 

 as the larger ones with roses and lilies 

 sold remarkably well. In cut flowers, 

 violets had the call; in roses, Rich- 

 mond led. There were no special nov- 

 elties. The trade was much cut up, by 

 fruit stands, department stores and 

 groceries. A great many hyacinths 

 were given away as premiums by rival 

 tea stores. 



Providence, R. I. reports a very fine 

 Easter trade, many of the florists de- 

 claring that it exceeded by a substan- 

 tial sum the record of any previous 

 year. 



CONNECTICUT HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



Our society has for several years 

 desired to hold an exhibition of bulb- 

 ous flowers, just before Easter, and 

 this year we made a good beginning. 

 At the meeting of April 11th, the spe- 

 cial feature was a fine display of tu- 

 lips, narcissus, daffodils, Easter lilies, 

 Dutch hyacinths, ets., mostly by How- 

 ard A. Pinney, from the greenhouse 

 plant of John Coombs, of which Mr. 

 Pinney is one of the foremen. He 

 won a diploma, and Alfred Cebelius a 

 certificate of merit for three splendid 

 plants of Calceolaria hybrida. Wil- 

 liam H. MacKenzie, of the Sessions 

 greenhouses at Bristol, also was 

 awarded a certificate of merit for his 

 exhibition of sweet peas, narcissus 

 and tulips. 



Mr. Pinney gave a talk on the cul- 

 ture of the various bulbous plants, 

 bringing out many facts of value to 

 greenhouse men. The judges for the 

 evening were J. A. Weber of Hart- 

 ford, George B. Baker of New Britain, 

 and W. H. Shumway of Berlin. 



Of great interest was the report of 

 various members concerning the Na- 

 tional Flower Show at Boston. James 

 M. Adams, President Huss, J. A. Web- 

 er, John Gerard and W. H. Shumway, 

 all described in glowing terms the 

 features of that wonderful exhibition 

 that most appealed to them. 



During the last month, we have lost 

 one of our oldest and most estimable 

 members, Mrs. Maria L. Barnes, who 

 was a life member, and Wm. W. My- 

 ers, of Hartford, an amateur horticul- 

 turist. 



On the 28th instant, our schedule 

 calls for "Hardy Primula Night," with 

 a paper by President Huss on Alpine 

 plants. The lateness of the season 

 may prevent the schedule being fol- 

 lowed. 



GEORGE W. SMITH, Sec. 



Melrose, Conn. 



GARDENERS' AND FLORISTS' CLUB 

 OF BOSTON. 



The next monthly meeting of the 

 club will be held at Horticultural Hall, 

 Boston, on Tuesday evening, April 25, 

 1911. The hall being rented on April 

 18, a postponement was necessary. B. 

 Hammond Tracy of Wenham, Mass., 

 will lecture on the Gladiolus and its 

 culture. The reports of the committee 

 on the S. A. P. National Show enter- 

 tainment will be given and should 

 prove interesting. There will be some 

 fine exhibits and something to please 

 and enthuse everyone who attends. 

 W. N. CRAIG, 



Secretary. 



Atlanta, Ga.— W. A. Hollingsworth, 

 florist, has moved to the corner of 

 Houston and North Pryor streets from 

 his former location at 89 Peachtree 

 street. 



DURING RECESS. 

 New York Bowlers. 

 The New York Florists' Bowling 

 Club meets every Friday evening at 

 Thumm's Alleys, 31st street and Broad- 

 way. Contests for the team member- 

 ship to represent New York at Balti- 

 more next August will begin May 6. 

 Matches with Tuxedo, Madison, N. J., 

 and other clubs are being arranged for. 



Cincinnati Bowlers. 

 The following were the scores 

 bowled Monday, April 17th: 

 SjKi'rbruch, 178 247 L. Fritz, 1-51 153 



lie. km.in, 172 20.5 T. .Tncksoo. 160 1S9 

 r ITffm'sfr, 155 169 O. H'ffnrsfr. 128 138 

 Hnrning, 176 1.87 



