HORTICULTURE 



Vol XXXI 



JUNE 5, 1920 



No. 23 



THE TALK OF THE TRADE 



1 think 1 am sale in saying Uiat 

 there never lias been a time in I lie 

 history of the florist liusiness when 

 flowers received such a boost as dur- 

 iug this memorial season just passed. 

 The press, governors of states, mayors 

 of cities and others in the public eye 

 liave shown plainly their appreciation 

 of flowers and in many ways have 

 urged their use and done a great deal 

 to strengthen the appreciation of flow- 

 ers by the public and to show their ap- 

 propriateness at this season especially. 

 Reports from all sections indicate 

 that the Memorial Day just passed 

 was the largest ever. While many 

 were very optimistic, still there was 

 an undercurrent of feeling that loo 

 many artificial flowers would be used 

 and that this woulil work against 

 natural stock. There is no question 

 that artificial stock was used in great- 

 er quantities than ever, but the natural 

 flowers certainly held their place and 

 the markets in general showed a good 

 clean-up and at good prices. True it 

 is that Monday morning cut stock 

 lagged below the prices of Saturday, 

 but even so, the average selling figures 

 were good, and I can't see where there 

 can be any complaint from anyone as 

 to Memorial Day business. 



I am not able to say anything about 

 the market on Monday in other cities 

 outside of Boston, hut I must say that 

 I was very much surprised at the quan- 

 tity of stock which came in MDuday 

 morning, and further than that 1 am 

 more surprised to flnd that there are 

 still some florists who will hold hack 

 stock until the very last minute and 

 then expect to make a fine clean-up at 

 big prices. 1 know of one salesman in 

 particular who tried to find out from 

 his growers as early as Wednesday in 

 the week what was left at the green- 

 houses to come in for Thursday, Fri- 

 day and Saturday. He was led to ex- 

 pect only a small quantity of stock, but 

 when Saturday come along there was 

 more than he expected, and Monday a 

 big shipment came along, and what 

 was worse, a lot of this stock was in 

 poor condition. This stock had been 



hold bad; and It made a lot of trouble 

 for the salesman and resulted in low- 

 sales, and as a matter of fact a lot of 

 held-over stock for Tuesday morning. 

 Take for instance gladiolus, not only 

 the large-flowered varieties but the 

 Colvelli type; this stock would all have 

 cleaned up fine, but to hold It until 

 .Monday morning was simply wasting 

 it. There may be some explanations 

 for shipments increasing at the last 

 minute, but it is hard to explain, par- 

 ticularly" when you find stock held over 

 and in poor condition. We have been 

 waiting a long, long while for this con- 

 dition to be overcome. l)ut it doesn't 

 seem possible to get away from it en- 

 tirely. 



In speaking of Primula nialaxioides in 

 a previous Issue, I mentioned Mala- 

 coides Townsendi as a particularly 

 valuable sort, but this has been im- 

 pressed more forcibly upon my mind 

 during the past week as 1 have learned 

 that this variety is being grown in 

 rrreater quantities this season than be- 

 fore. To my mind, it is the best of 



ili>' inalacoides, and growers handling 

 this type of primula should see to It 

 that they have good stock. President 

 Miller of the S. A. F. la certainly a 

 good judge of pot plants, particularly 

 those that are in favor In the New 

 York market, and 1 reraeml)er last 

 year how well he spoke of Towns6ndl 

 and marveled that even with the 

 quantities grown there were not great- 

 er numbers handled 



A subscription dinner is to be given 

 in honor of Charles H. Totty of Madi- 

 son, N. J., at Mouquin's restaurant. 

 New York City, on Saturday evening, 

 .Tune .ith, when his friends will wish 

 him Godspeed on his trip to Europe 

 .Mr. Totty is planning quite an extend- 

 ed trip abroad and his many friends 

 In the trade await with Interest his re- 

 port of conditions and of the new 

 things he is sure to dig up while he is 

 over there. We all wish him a pleas- 

 ant and prosperous trip, and await the 

 time when we may welcome him back 

 with us. 



I have mentioned before, but I think 

 it will hear repeating that in planting 



Chrysolora, a Popular ".Mum" 



