April 19, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



385 



Flower Market Reports NEW YORK QUOTATIONS PER 100. To Dealers Only 



(Continual from i>ayc 383) 

 ful item and the great standby for the 

 festival. Carnations are still a little 

 oft crop and at the prices going, do not 

 help out much, where the retailer has 

 to make a good showing to his custom- 

 er, according to old time standards. 

 Orchids rather on the scarce side. The 

 sweet pea is the safety haven for those 

 who have to make a good show for 

 little money, as they are in excellent 

 crop and of fine quality. Delphinium 

 Belladona and Iris tingitana are also 

 a good help out when it comes to a 

 question of color and form in made up 

 pieces, baskets, and so forth. Callas 

 and lilies are going all right and it 

 looks as if the flowers would come out 

 all light on the rather nervy figure 

 they have started with. Snapdragon, 

 calendula and mignonette were in good 

 supply but were rather neglected and 

 prices did not go up any with the 

 Raster advent like most other things 

 did. There are some fine cuts of Em- 

 press daffodils to be seen around — 

 really very well done flowers and 

 readily being taken up. 



The flower market never 

 BOSTON looked brighter or more 



in readiness for a record 

 Easter business. There is an abund- 

 ance of first-class stock and everything 

 is moving rapidly, due in part possibly 

 to the fact that Saturday is a holiday 

 in Boston. Roses are plentiful in all 

 grades and varieties, especially Ameri- 

 can Beauties and Russells. There is a 

 good supply of excellent sweet peas 

 and pansies, also in good demand. 

 Carnations and callas are also plenti- 

 ful and the call is all that could be 

 expected. Potted plants are quite a 

 feature this week, and include well- 

 grown spiraea, rambler roses, hydran- 

 geas, rhododendrons, bougainvilleas 

 and bulbous stock. There are a few 

 potted lilies which sell on sight. 



The past week market 



ST. LOUIS crowded with prices 



low in all lines of- 



stock. Sweet peas are abundant and 



the outlook for Easter is plenty of 



stock at moderate prices. 



The market is im- 

 NEW YORK proving daily with 



the promise of a good 

 Easter trade. Roses are going well 

 and carnations in good demand Quo- 

 tations firm. Longiflorum lilies and 



MISCELLANEOUS 



Lilies, Longiflorum 



Lilies, Speciofcum 



Callas 



Iris 



Lily of the Valley 



Snapdragon 



Pansies 



Daffodils 



Calendula 



Stocks .... 



Wallflowers 



Mignonette 



Sweet Peas 



Violets- - 



Marguerites 



Gardenias 



Ad tan turn 



Gladioli 



Asparagus Plumosus, A Spren ( ioo bunches) . 



callas have had a good sale with prices 

 way ahead of any previous year. There 

 has been a good supply of callas, but 

 longiflorum are short of the demand. 

 The supply of snapdragon, daisies, 

 mignonette and asparagus is plentiful. 

 Lily of the valley, Victorias and good 

 tulips are on the light side and mov- 

 ing easily. Gardenias at present are 

 selling in limited quantities now while 

 cattleyas are at a premium. Smilax is 

 cleaning up at quoted prices. 



At this writing Easter 

 CHICAGO shipping is under way. 



All plant deliveries are 

 about finished and the supply is no- 

 where equal to the demand, growers 

 having their establishments filled to 

 the limit without being able to produce 

 an amount sufficient to keep up with 

 the growing demand for plants at 

 Easter and the other holidays. In cut 

 flowers it looks now as if there would 

 not be enough to go round, even when 

 customers are willing to take what 

 stock is offered and not what they pre- 

 fer. Easter week was ushered in with 

 a down pour of rain and a cold north- 

 east wind, which has not tended to 

 increase the output of the greenhouses 

 and at this date, April 15, the dark 

 clouds are still hanging low and a 

 steady rain is falling. The shortage 

 of cut lilies has led to thousands of 

 artificial ones being placed on the mar- 

 ket to satisfy the public, who crave 

 the usual Easter flower. Some of paper 

 are such poor substitutes that it is 

 hard to believe that those in the trade 

 would actually be the first to push 

 their sales, but it is so, and should the 

 people really accept the cloth ones, 

 some of which are very fair, it will be 

 another case of paving the way for the 

 public to do without natural flowers. 

 In one of the department stores a lily 

 plant with three buds, three blossoms, 

 with moss and crepe paper cover. 



three stalks, plenty of foliage, a pot 

 all for $3.30 and the sad part is that 

 it looks altogether too natural. 



EASTER PLANTS 



In Easter plants, the sales of which 

 have each year become a greater fac- 

 tor, Chicago florists faced three un- 

 usual conditions: 1st, the bulb stock 

 was all through with because of the 

 lateness of Easter, and the pots and 

 pans of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths 

 were sadly missed; 2nd, the azaleas, 

 so long queen of the Easter plants, 

 were missing, owing to the war, which 

 has devastated that Belgian industry; 

 and 3rd, the most serious to the 

 masses of the Easter celebrants, the 

 scarcity of the lilies. The loss of the 

 azaleas is partly overcome by the 

 splendid stock of hydrangeas, the fin- 

 est ever grown in Chicago, and which 

 includes the blue and pink as well as 

 the white, the spireas, the Easter 

 Greetings pelargoniums and the roses. 

 These last trained in the umbrella 

 shapes were different this year. In- 

 stead of using the standard rose with 

 the grafted top, the canes of the climb- 

 ing roses Lady Gay, Rambler and 

 Tausendschoen have been brought up 

 to the desired height and then trained 

 to form the rim top. The canes, cov- 

 ered with foliage and flowers, are 

 more attractive than the bare wood 

 as formerly used. The roses in bas- 

 kets were particularly graceful, the 

 plants being trained to form handles 

 to the baskets. In spireas some of 

 the new pink shades are a decided 

 improvement over the old kinds. Rho- 

 dodendrons, from California grown 

 stock, come in large sizes only and 

 are gorgeous in their beautiful color- 

 ings. A limited quantity of genistas 

 are to be had. The lily plants are 

 selling at the rate of 50c. per bud and 

 blossom, and there are not nearly 

 enough to go round 



