616 



HORTICULTURE 



April 29, 1916 



Flower Market Reports 



prlrf for thiH, also. t'iiitl"ya8 piT- 

 roniioil II biK altint. kIkuk rcucbinc; 

 ♦2.0U per flower nnil SrliriKlcnio fl.iri 

 at wholesale. Some wlioU-salers re- 

 fused to 'kite" and hIopiumI at tlio 

 $1.00 limit. The oiil.v vloli'ts In mar- 

 ket worth mentioning were of the Gov. 

 Herrick variety. Tlie.v were very 

 Kood In nil resiwctg and nirely clinched 

 their place as the best violet for late 

 season. 



The plant trade repented Its great 

 success of past years. All the promi- 

 nent KPowers sold ont completely a 

 KOod while ahead and retailers found 

 dllllculty In K<?tting addllional mate- 

 rial afterwards. There was very lit- 

 tle left In the stores by Kaster morn- 

 ing that did not have a "sold" tag at- 

 tached. After the lilies the rambler 

 roses must be given next place In Im- 

 portance and popularity this year. 

 They were superb in every i)arti(iilar 

 and well deserved their position as did 

 also the FYench hydrangeas which 

 made a whirlwind success, actually 

 driving the old Otaksa out of the mar- 

 ket. Some of the azaleas were un- 

 evenly flowered, showing the results 

 of long confinement in transit from 

 Europe. Pink Pearl was the leader 

 among the rhododendrons. Compara- 

 tively little of the bulbous material 

 was in evidence. 



Sweet peas were 



PHILADELPHIA the feature of 

 the Easter mar- 

 ket here this year. Notwithstanding 

 the enormous quantity in sight they 

 all went — and at good prices. Cat- 

 tieyas were very siarce and it seems 

 that a customer who couldn't get a 

 nice orchid for a dollar was willing 

 to take a bunch of orchid-flowered 

 sweet peas for the same money. There 

 were enough gardenias to go around. 

 American Beauty held her own as a 

 leader in the rose world, closely fol- 

 lowed by Russell. Both realized good 

 prices but nothing out of the way. 

 Pink roses also went well. The only 

 sluggish item was in white but for- 

 tunately there was no great supply of 

 these. Carnations moved well at mod- 

 erate figures. High grrade lily of the 

 valley was rather scarce and more 

 could have been sold even at the ad- 

 vance prices. No fancy prices this 

 year on cut Easter lilies. Twelve for 

 the fancies to ten for flrst-dass and 

 eight or less for shorts. Callas 

 seemed to be a bit on the "taboo" 

 list. The same with daisies — and the 

 latter has heretofore generally been 

 in fair demand as an Easter subject 

 Gladioli made their appearance on 

 Friday, and today, Monday, comes the 

 first shipment of peonies. The latter 

 are from South Carolina and consist 

 of Maxima, Queen Victoria and Edulis 

 Superba — nice stock and quickly picked 

 up. 



The plant men from all accounts, 

 have done equally as well as the cut 

 flower growers; and everybody seems 

 to be satisfied and fairly well cleaned 

 out of all that was fit to sell. 



Notwithstanding the 



PITTSBURGH lateness of Easter, 

 with the parks and 

 private grounds aglow with genista, 

 magnolias, forsythia and bulbous blos- 

 soms, three public flower shows and 

 gloomy skies and rain, commercially 

 the season was without exception the 



host In 111' "-al trade dr- 



i-les. There were plenty of flowers of 

 practically all kinds, and pli-nty of 

 money to buy them, than which there 

 could be no better coiiibliiatloii. IMants, 

 particularly, sold well in greater quan- 

 tities than ever before. On the whole, 

 cut flowers brought about the regular 

 prices, sweet peas and good carna- 

 tions, only, showing a little Increase. 

 Unfortunately. the Hudson Itlver 

 Americ-aii Beauties and violets arrived 

 about twelve hours late, those due l'"rl- 

 day morning not reaching the whole- 

 sale bouses until seven o'clock that 

 evening. As might be expected, they 

 were by no means up to "concert 

 pitch." 



I'rom reports gathered 



ST. LOUIS Ibis early the 1916 

 Easter, coming late as 

 it did, was the largest And best the 

 St. Louis florists have ever had. The 

 weather was (Ine on Saturday and Sun- 

 day, which made deliveries pleasant 

 for all. Tlie leading retailers say that 

 it was distinctly a "plant Easter" and 

 never before were there so many sold. 

 The big department stores cut heav- 

 ily into the plant trade, selling at ex- 

 tremely low prices. Lilies were of ex- 

 ceptionally fine quality both in cut 

 flower and pot plants and this was the 

 leading flower. Next in demand were 

 azaleas, hydrangeas and rhododendrons. 

 Following these were Tausendschoen 

 and Perkins rambler roses. Plans of 

 tulips, Dutch hycinths and lily of the 

 valley also came in for a big demand. 

 The wholesale flower market was 

 greatly supplied with all seasonable 

 stock and it was a hard matter for the 

 commission men to clean up on any 

 one flower. Roses came in large quan- 

 tities and at very reasonable prices, 

 exce|)t extra fancies. Beauties were 

 in good supply, also Mrs. Russell, and 

 the Killarneys. There was a grand cut 

 of carnations and many more than the 

 demand called for. There were no vio- 

 lets this Kaster. but sweet peas were 

 a big glut and sold for very low prices. 

 Orchids demanded a high price owing 

 to the shortage. The wholesalers 

 state that shipping orders were larger 

 than ever before. The local retailers 

 had to purchase all their supply on 

 Saturday as the wholesalers would not 

 open their places on Easter Sunday 

 for business. 



The local retailers 



WASHINGTON have just passed 

 through a most 

 successful Easter business and are 

 very well pleased with results. There 

 was a marked shortage in several lines, 

 but on the whole there was a sufficient 

 quantity of all varieties to fill the de- 

 mand. The greatest trouble was with 

 respect to orchids which were practi- 

 cally unobtainable the latter part of 

 the week and many of the storemen 

 who had promised them for Easter de- 

 livery could not fulfill their promises 

 The heavy demand from out<jf-town 

 places for lily of the valley sent the 

 price on this up to $8 per hundred. 

 The price is now down to normal at 

 $6. Roses sold better this year than 

 ever before. Carnations sold out at 

 very good prices and the present week 

 finds a shortage in the carnation mar- 

 ket. Sweet peas were in high favor 

 and brought very good prices. Large 

 quantities of violets were sold, al- 

 though it was estimated that twice as 

 many could have been moved had the 

 retailers pushed their sale and had 



not boon afraid that thejr would be 

 off the market boforo Sunday. Plants 

 brought good prices and the number 

 sold Is said to have exceeded last year. 

 Snilhix and aspanigus are scarce. 



Obituary 



Jamei MacMachan. 

 Jiimes MaiMachaii. for seventeen 

 years superinli-ndent for Oeorge F. 

 Baker, al Tuxedo Park. N. Y.. passed 

 away suddenly on Tuesday morning. 

 April nth. in the .'".llnd year of his oge. 

 .Mr .MacMachan was born In Dundee, 

 Scotland, but at an early age moved to 

 Blairgowrie and while very young be- 

 gan serving his time at Halleburton 

 House. In the years following or until 

 he came to this country bo pursued his 

 labors and studied in gardening In 

 some of the best estates in Scotland 

 and Ireland. On arriving in this <oun- 

 try .Mr. MacMachan took charge of the 

 estate of Geo. K. Maker which in a few 

 years he transformed what was 

 little more than rocky bills and 

 swampy hollows into what has been 

 for many years conceded to be one of 

 the most beautiful and interesting 

 spots in this section. .Mr. Mac.Maban 

 was passionately devoted to his pro- 

 fession; every inch of him was a gar- 

 dener and everything tlie ground pro- 

 duced appealed to him. He always 

 took a leading part in all the work 

 connected with the Tuxedo Horticul- 

 tural Society, having held several 

 oHices including that of president. He 

 was also a direitor for several years 

 of the National .Association of Garden- 

 ers. The funeral which took place on 

 Friday afternoon, April 14. from St. 

 Mary's church was largely attended by 

 men prominent in the trade in New 

 York and elsewhere, and by the public, 

 and every gardener in this section. 

 Mr. MacMachan is survived by his wife 

 and two daughters. He had many 

 friends here and elsewhere and the 

 sincerest sympathy of all of them goes 

 now to those- who are most sadly 

 stricken. 



Thomas Wilson. 



Frederick Bolze. 

 Frederick Bolze, a florist in New York 

 as early as ISG'i, died last week at his 

 home in Pleasantville, N. Y., in his 

 70th year. He was active in business 

 until his death. Mr. Bolze was born 

 in Hanover, and was educated at the 

 Royal College of King George of Han- 

 over, receiving a special degree of 

 merit, and soon after coming to this 

 country. He became associated with 

 the florist Buchanan of Astoria, one 

 of the first florists of Long Island. For 

 many years he had a shop in Fifth 

 avenue at 42nd street, and later at Lex- 

 ington avenue and 54th street. He 

 went to Pleasantville 20 years ago. 



Andrew McKnight. 

 .Andrew McKnight. a well-known 

 market gardener of the past genera- 

 tion died in Communipaw. N. J., on 

 April 20. aged 92 years. Mr. McKnight 

 was a contemporary of Peter Hender- 

 son and J. Stevens and did a large 

 business in celery and cabbage. Later 

 he built up quite a reputation as a 

 pansy grower. He retired about five 

 years ago, his eypsinlit having almost 

 gone. 



