22 



The Florists^ Review 



Mat 1, 1910. 



where the plants get little sunshine and 

 are kept too warm. Both the show 

 pelargoniums and the primulas should 

 be grown in a cool, airy and sunny house, 

 needing only a light shade from direct 

 sunshine in spring and none at all in 

 winter. C. W. 



BOSTON 



The Btarket. 



We are experiencing the usual after- 

 Easter reaction and values have taken 

 a decided drop.' The demand has been 

 somewhat limited and clearances are 

 only made with difficulty. This is the 

 inevitable result of the forcing up of 

 prices for special occasions. Roses are 

 in heavy supply and prices have come 

 down with a crash. Plenty of short- 

 stemmed flowers can now be had at $10 

 to $15 per thousand; good 12-inch stock, 

 at $2 per hundred. There is a moderate 

 supply of American Beauties, but only 

 a poor call for them. Francis Scott 

 ^y is now coming of extra good qual- 

 ity and sells well. Carnations have held 

 up better than roses and are making $3 

 to $5 per hundred. Continued cold 

 weather keeps their quality good. Vio- 

 lets, except a few doubles, are over. 

 Sweet peas are abundant and the bulk 

 of them sell at $1 and $2 per hundred. 

 Pansies and primroses are less abun- 

 dant. 



Callas and lilies have both taken a 

 decided drop. Narcissi keep up in price 

 and some were sold as high as $10 per 

 hundred a week ago, the highest ever 

 known here. Outdoor daffodils were 

 badly blistered by the cold wave last 

 week. Spanish irises are much more 

 abundant and snapdragqns are hard to 

 move. Quite a little Delphinium Bella- 

 donna is seen, but it does not sell par- 

 ticularly well. There is a good supply 

 of Cattleya Mossise. The call for aspara- 

 gus is rather light and trade in flower- 

 ing plants is quiet. 



The result of Easter, from latest re- 

 ports, seems to have been better for 

 wholesalers than for retailers. The lack 

 of telephone service hurt the latter and 

 there were more unsold flowering plants 

 than expected. 



Various Notes. 



Boston witnessed the greatest mili- 

 tary parade in its history April 25, 

 when the 26th, or Yankee Division, 

 marched through five miles of the prin- 

 cipal streets, cheered by 1,500,000 spec- 

 tators. Florists sold large quantities 

 of laurel wreathing for the triumphal 

 arches; but the use of flowers was mea- 

 ger, compared with what it should have 

 been on such an auspicious occasion. 

 The populace bombarded the troops with 

 candy and cigarettes, while in Paris, 

 London, Jerusalem, and other foreign 

 cities, we read that the people strew 

 flowers in the paths of the returning 

 soldiers and have floral bombardments. 



Boston and New England experienced 

 a disastrous cold wave April 24, 25 and 

 26. Temperatures in the city fell to 

 28 degrees and several degrees lower 

 outside. The ground was frozen hard 

 for two days and the bitter wind, added 

 to the frost, caused much damage to 

 vegetation, which had looked so prom- 

 ising. Tree peonies, magnolias and 

 other ■ early flowers are entirely de- 

 stroyed. Even larkspurs, phloxes and 

 other hardy perennials are, in most 

 cases, black and withered. A large part 



^ of the lilac trusses are ruined, while 

 peach, plum and other fruit blossoms, 

 just about to open, are almost hopeless. 

 Much damage was done to early vege- 

 table seeds. Vegetation was early and 

 it does not pay to have the months of 

 March and April reversed climatically. 

 On the morning of April 27 the writer 

 took ice half an inch thick from a tank 

 of water. How fortunate for florists 

 that they escaped this visitation for 

 Easter 1 



W. S. Phelps, of Lexington, had a 

 handsome lot of Delphinium Belladonna 

 for Easter. He forces quite a variety 

 of other hardy perennials and finds a 

 good demand for them. He also spe- 

 cializes in irises, anemones and ranun- 

 culi. 



S. J. Goddard states that he had by 

 far the largest Easter business in his 

 history and that lack of telephone serv- 

 ice greatly increased his sales, as cus- 

 tomers bought more after seeing plants 

 and flowers than they would have if 

 they used the telephone. 



The Boston Sunday Herald for April 

 27 contained a thrilling full-page, il- 

 lusttated article on E. H. Wilson's re- 

 cent trip to Formosa and Korea. The 

 Asiatic redwoods of the Formosan for- 

 ests, growing at elevations of 6,000 to 

 8,000 feet, attain a height of 200 or 

 300 feet, and many are of an estimated, 

 age of 3,000 to 4,000 years. Scattered 

 among them were retinisporas, or Asi- 

 atic white cedars, 200 feet high, with a 

 circumference of branches of as much 

 as 657 feet. 



Maurice H. Hambro, for seven years 

 salesman for H. M. Bobinson & Co., has 

 left their employ and now has a posi- 

 tion as salesman for N. F. Comley at 

 the Cooperative Market. 



Adolph E. E. Koch, of Nobscot, is 

 bringing in a handsome lot of white and 

 yellow marguerites. He obtained as 

 much as $6 per hundred for yellows 

 at Easter. 



The Boston Floral Supply Co. had a 

 banner Easter trade. The company is 

 receiving increasing shipments of cut 

 flowers and is preparing roomy ice 

 chests for future use. They are mak- 

 ing extended preparations for Memorial 

 day. 



Fred E. Palmer, oiF Brookline, will 

 lecture at the next meeting of the Gar- 

 deners' and Florists' Club, May 20. 

 His subject will be "Some Fundamen- 

 tals of Proper Accounting for Florists." 



W. N. C. 



BBIDGEPOBT, CONN. 



The Market. 



The local florists made great prepara- 

 tions for the Easter trade this year. 

 They anticipated a busy time and were 

 not disappointed. The volume of busi- 

 ness transacted was far in advance of 

 that of last year. There was never a 

 more beautiful showing than that on 

 hand this year. 



Bulbous stock, consisting of hya- 

 cinths, daffodils and tulips, was in larg- 

 est supply. In some cases hyacinths 

 were all sold out by Saturday noon. 

 Many people took these, as they were 

 less expensive than some of the other 

 varieties of plants. Few lilies were to 

 be had and the firms who did have them 

 say that people did not expect to be able 

 to get these flowers, and did not even 

 price them. The few that were dis- 

 played had unusually short stems. They 



brought 50 cents per bud and bloom. 

 The yellow and white callas that were 

 used to replace Easter lilies did not go 

 well. 



Outside of bulbous stock, rambler 

 roses were most plentiful and they sold 

 fairly well. The supply of bougain- 

 villeas was a close second. These were 

 extremely popular. Some of the larger 

 plants, which were grown in basket 

 shape and displayed in elaborate bas- 

 kets, made a splendid showing and were 

 snatched up eagerly. They appealed to 

 people as something new. Spiraeas and 

 hydrangeas were good sellers, while rho- 

 dodendrons, genistas, marguerites, ciner- 

 arias, begonias, heather, Martha Wash- 

 ingtons, primroses and pansies went 

 well. 



Corsage bouquets were especially 

 popular this year and the trade in them 

 was unprecedentedly heavy. Some mem- 

 bers of the trade report that viol«ts 

 were not good this year. They sold at 

 $3 to $4 per hundred. On account of the 

 poor quality of violets, sweet peas were 

 in exceptionally .great demand and a 

 shortage resulted. A bunch containing 

 twenty-five stems sold for $2. Boses 

 were plentiful and sold at $3 to $9 per 

 dozen, while American Beauties brought 

 $12 to $24 per dozen. From $1.50 to $5 

 per dozen was asked for carnations, the 

 supply of which was small. 



Considerable funeral work came in 

 with the Easter rush. 



Various Notes. 



Victor Carwedean reports that his 

 Easter business was splendid. He was 

 completely sold out of everything. 



Robert H. Hawkins featured a window 

 containing nothing but bougainvillea. 

 The baskets and pots were covered with 

 lavender and the handles with white 

 crepe paper. It made a beautiful show- 

 ing. These plants took the place of 

 azaleas and were in such demand that 

 every plant was sold. 



Julius Reck had some splendid ge- 

 nistas. His hyacinths and daffodils were 

 in fine shape. He was cleaned out of 

 everything. Mr. Reck says that on ac- 

 count of the late Easter, the work for 

 that holiday crowds on the spring work. 



The Park Garden & Flower Shop 

 had a great demand for corsage bou- 

 quets. Spiraeas and rambler roses were 

 featured in place of lilies. This con- 

 cern's hyacinths were completely sold 

 out the day before Easter. 



John Reck & Son say that business 

 was extremely satisfactory. The bulk 

 of sales ran to flowering plants, as cut 

 flowers were unreasonably high. The 

 firm specialized in plant baskets of va- 

 rious types and combinations. Easter 

 lilies were not missed here, as there 

 were few calls for them. Madonna lilies 

 and yellow and white callas, which were 

 featured to replace the Easter lily, did 

 not sell well. Azaleas were scarce. 

 Rhododendrons, roses, spirseas, hya- 

 cinths, daffodils and tulips were in most 

 plentiful supply. This firm reports that 

 violets were so poor as to make it un- 

 satisfactory to handle them. For this 

 reason, sweet peas were in great de- 

 mand. This brought about a shortage 

 and the prices of these flowers went 

 quite high. Customers did not object to 

 the prices of plants, but they did object 

 to the high prices of cut flowers. 



James Horan & Son had a number of 

 lilies, but say that people did not seem 

 to care for them. The public seemed 

 to have an idea that lilies could not be 

 obtained and did not bother to price 



