January 9, 1915 



HORTICULTURE 



53 



Flower Market Reports 



Thirty per cent, below 

 BOSTON normal— that briefly and 



and very lucidly express- 

 es the situation of the wholesale flow- 

 er trade at this writing. Business 

 generally was disappointing before 

 Christmas and now — well, it has pret- 

 ty nearly disappeared altogether. 

 Plenty of stock and few buyers is one 

 phase of the condition in the markets. 

 The weather is warming up and it 

 looks as if our annual January thaw 

 was due. The retail stores generally 

 report fair trade, but the market sales- 

 men and big wholesalers are inclined 

 to be pessimistic, at least just now. 

 Canadian shipping has fallen off con- 

 siderably and its decrease is being 

 keenly felt by the wholesalers. Roses 

 are selling fairly well, also violets; 

 but carnations seem to have lost their 

 popularity with the buying public and 

 are being balanced by the increasing 

 sale of marguerites, which several 

 prominent retailers claim to be the 

 coming flower for the average buyer. 

 There are some beautiful English 

 primroses coming in and we have 

 noticed some excellent myosotis in 

 spots. Calendulas are now in the reg- 

 ular class judging from their appear- 

 ance generally in the florists' windows. 



The effect of the holi- 

 CHICAGO days still lingers in the 



market, making trade a 

 little slow. The vast quantity of 

 stock which came into the stores of 

 the wholesalers during a period of ten 

 days has had a tendency to keep 

 prices down, and this, with a rather 

 light demand, has made local sales 

 foot up small. Outside trade has fared 

 better and most wholesalers report 

 shipping trade very good. Quite a lit- 

 tle stock was used up locally in re- 

 filling orders which had been frozen 

 in delivery. This loss is the retailers' 

 mostly and the heaviest loss was in 

 plants. New Year's day and the day 

 following were fairly good, but the 

 opening of the next week found busi- 

 ness very dull. The big crop of Amer- 

 ican Beauties is now going off and a 

 more normal supply is coming. Sun- 

 burst and Ward are also in diminished 

 quantity but these are plenty to meet 

 the demand. Mrs. Russell is shorten- 

 ing for wood is being cut for propagat- 

 ing. Nothing very encouraging can 

 be said of the carnation situation. The 

 market is overfilled and special prices 

 are made on all large orders to move 

 stock. Oncidiums are now out of the 

 market but there is a good crop of 

 cattleyas coming in. Sweet peas arc 

 almost out of the question. The buds 

 are forming and it will be the last of 

 the month before there will be a good 

 supply. 



New Year's business, 

 CINCINNATI to a certain extent, 



was rather disap- 

 pointing. At best it amounted only 

 to an ordinarily good day. The supply 

 since Christmas has been very heavy 

 and appears to be increasing day by 

 day. The call is steady but not very 

 active. Roses, including American 

 Beauties, continue in over large excel- 

 lent supply. Carnations are very 

 plentiful but the general run is not 

 of the best quality. A few poinsettias 

 that come in have a fair sale. Lilies 

 are plentiful. Violets, both double and 

 single, lily of the valley, orchids and 

 the better grade of sweet peas do tol- 



9^ SPRING 

 SUGGESTIONS 



A few of those soft, furry, 

 tufted sprays of 



PUSSY WILLOW 



with every box of flowers 

 gives it just that touch of in- 

 dividuality that every florist is 

 trying to attain. 



50c and 75c per bunch 



.SI.NOLE I>.\1 I OUILS. S.-..(IU lirr IIICI. 



350 for $10.00. 

 P.VPER WHITE.S, ¥.S.O(l per 100. 

 SWEET PE.4S, pink, wliite, lavender, 



cerise, Jfl.OO anil Sl.W per 100; 



Spencers $3.00 per 100. 

 EVERYTHING IX RIBBONS .\XI) 



FLORISTS' SIPPMES. Sen<1 for 



our catalogue. 



S. S. PENNOCK-MEEHAN CO. 



The Wholesale Florists of PMIadelphia 



NEW lORR 

 117 W. 2gil. Si 



PBILADELPBIA 

 1608-1620 ladlon Si. 



BALTIMORB 



FraokliD anil St. Paul Sta. 



WASBINGTON 

 1216H$i.,N.W. 



WHOLESALE FLOWER MARKETS 



TRADE PRICES -P«r 100 



TO DEALERS ONLY 



Roses 



Am. Beauify, Special 



*' " Fancy and Extra 



No. I 



Killarney, Richmond, Extra 



" " Ordinary.... 



Hillingdon, Ward, Sunburst, Extra 



" " " Ordinary 



Maryland, Shawyer, Taft, Extra .... 

 " *' " Ordinary . 



Russell, Hadley, Ophelia 

 Carnations, Fancy . . 

 " Ordinary 



Cattleyas 



Cypripediums 

 Lilies, Longiflorum 

 Lily of the Valley 



Violets 



Snapdragon 



Narcisus. Paper White 



Com Hower 



Freezia ■ 



Daffodils 



Stevi 



Sweet Peas 



Gardenias 



Adtantum 



Smilax 



Asparagus Plumosus, Strings ^loo) 

 & Spren. ( i - 1 



erably well. Narci-.u.. .unl lioman 

 hyacinths sell only at the lowest price. 

 Callas are fine. 



The old-time New 

 NEW YORK Years no longer e.\- 



ists in New York, so 

 far as the flower demand is concerned. 

 There is, of course, some increased ac- 

 tivity in the retail stores and a good 

 many sifts of plants and flowers are 

 sent out, but so vast is the wholesale 

 tloner trade now that this makes only 

 the faintest ripple on the surface, 

 where the great product of the pro- 

 ducers is concentrated for wholesale 

 distribution. There is no necessity 

 for the retailer to display any eager- 

 ness for stock as he knows that, with 

 only rare exceptions, the wholesale 

 market is carrying far more than is 

 likely to be needed. It is only on 



some spasmodic transient movement, 

 where one or another variety happens 

 to be in reduced supply, that the 

 wholesale district experiences any flur- 

 ry. So all we can say of the present 

 conditions is that, since Christmas, 

 all values have been tending down- 

 ward and the salubrious weather pre- 

 vailing at the present time will have 

 a tendency to hasten the decline. Noth- 

 ing is scarce and many things are 

 over-plentiful in a very sluggish mar- 

 ket. Quality is high, especially on 

 roses. Carnations are perhaps, the 

 most disappointing item on the list, 

 but cattleyas arc not far removed 

 from the same pew. 



New Year's week 



PHILADELPHIA here, while fairly 



satisfactory, was 



