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Decehbkr 12, 1918. 



The Rorists"^ Review 



29 



KNOXVILLE, TENN. 



ks as if it 



est of this 



more plen- 



ctually beg- 



The "shop- 



The Market. 



Flowers are less plentiful as Christ- 

 mas approaches and, if the present de- 

 mand keeps up, we shall have no Christ- 

 mas stock at all. But Christmas prices 

 are prevailing now, as follows: Carna- 

 tions, from $2 to $2.50 per dozen; roses, 

 from $2 to $8 per dozen; ehrysanthe- 

 mus, $6 to $8 per dozen; orchids, $2 

 each; Easter lilies, $4 to $5 per dozen; 

 sweet peas, $3 to $5 per hundred. Some 

 beautiful cyclamen plants are being dis- 

 played and sell at $1.50 to $10 each. 



Weather conditions have been ideal 

 for the last ten days, but there is a 

 100 per cent demaiid a||unst a fifty 

 per cent supply, and it 

 would continue so for 

 season. Coal has never 

 tiful. The dealers are 

 ging the trade to buy. 

 early" spirit has had its effect on the 

 trade, as a great many people are plac- 

 ing their orders and magiiolia and im- 

 mortelle wreaths are moving rapidly. 

 It is hoped they will be all sold before 

 the cut flower rush. 



All firms here have been handicapped 

 considerably for the last few days on 

 account of not being able to secure 

 any stock from out of town, and it is 

 really astonishing to see the variety 

 of plant baskets that are used for 

 funerals. This is the only way the 

 florists have been able to get orders 

 out. Bulbs have sold unusually well 

 this year, but the season is over. The 

 growers are expecting to bring in a 

 bumper crop of Paper Whites in the 

 next three weeks. 



Various Notes. 



The Howell Nursery Co. reports busi- 

 ness extra heavy. This firm has or- 

 ders booked that it will be impossible 

 to fill until next season. Messrs. Dick 

 and Bruce Howell are doing most of the 

 work themselves, with only a few help- 

 ers, which makes it hard to get orders 

 filled and delivered on time. 



A. H. Bailey is showing some choice 

 primroses and cyclamens and cutting 

 nice roses. 



A. J. McNutt is cutting splendid 

 <->pheha and Russell rosea, which find 

 ready sale. 



Mrs. S. C. Custer continues busy and 

 says prospects are good for Christmas. 



A. A. Newson, of the Marble Citv 

 ^ursery Co., reports business good. This 

 nrm has a large stock of Amoor River 

 privet. 



Baum's Home of Flowers, Inc., is 

 snowing exceptionally fine carnations, 

 ^tock of all kinds is looking well, but 

 ousiness is so good that it is impossible 

 to accumulate any stock at all, every- 

 tning cleaning up each night. The con- 

 cern has been turning out an unusual 

 amount of funeral work, using a great 

 many made-up plant baskets. Roy and 

 f' ioyd Baum have been discharged from 

 ine army and reported for duty at 

 tne greenhouses December 9. They say 



Roh f^ ?^'"S *° ™^^^ things hum. 

 •n'ooen K Mapes, who was secretary of 



the Knoxville Florists' Society before 

 going into the army, is hoping to secure 

 his discharge in the next few days. If 

 he gets back, Baum's will have a full 

 force on for the holidays, of experienced 

 help. K. P. B. 



MEMPHIS, TENK. 



The days of window decorations with 

 real cut flowers seem to be gone for a 

 while at least. It has been impossible 

 of late to obtain enough flowers to sup- 

 ply the sale demand. 



Mr. Englard, of the Idlewild Green- 

 houses, leaves for Chicago this week to 

 buy Christmas stock for the store. The 

 large range at Columbus, Miss., does not 

 supply the normal demand of this firm 

 and, with the extra holiday trade, it is 

 swamped with orders. 



Miss Harris, of the Flower Shop, has 

 been in Chicago for some time buying 

 for the shop and shipping daily. Miss 

 Erby says the only way they can get 

 choice stock is to keep a buyer in Chi- 

 cago all the time. 



The force of the Memphis Floral Co., 

 Inc., is on the "flu" list, including the 

 foreman, E. C. Rolf, as well as his as- 

 sistant, C. Conklin. 0. R. H. 



BALTIMORE. 



The Market. 



The market is short of stock of every 

 sort this week and the wholesale houses 

 clean up daily. The little that was 

 left of the chrysanthemum crop was 

 cleaned up Thanksgiving. 



Roses coming to the market are of 

 good quality and bring good prices. Some 

 Russells sold for 18 cents, but 12 to 15 

 cents is the usual price. There seems 

 to be little complaint in the trade about 

 high prices. The florists must have the 

 stock and are willing to pay for it. 

 Carnations are still scarce and, like 

 roses, are of good quality. Sweet peas 

 are getting more plentiful and are of 

 good quality. Violets are still scarce 

 and few are received, as yet, from out 

 of town. All miscellaneous stock, such 

 as mignonette, is still scarce; in fact, 

 there is no line of stock just now equal 

 to the demand. 



From present indications it looks as 

 though this shortage might continue 

 through the holidays. This applies not 

 only to cut stock, but blooming plants 

 of all sorts. The outlook for this sort 

 of stock has never been so unpromising 

 as it is this season. In some places 

 where good blooming plants were always 

 to be had, there is nothing to offer. 

 It seems to me the only salvation for 

 the retail people this Christmas will 

 be in made-up baskets of foliage plants. 

 There are plenty of these to be had. 

 It looks like "Hobson's choice" this 

 year for the public, which will have to 

 take what it can get. 



This year, above every other, when it 

 seems more than certain that the flower- 

 buying public will be disappointed in 

 its purchases of flowers for Christmas, 

 it behooves the retailers to bend every 

 energy to provide something attractive, 



something that will catch the eye, so 

 that they may still satisfy requirements 

 with flowers and not resort to substi- 

 tutes. It would seem that the florists 

 have a much harder proposition to face 

 this Christmas in getting the sort of 

 stock the public has been accustomed 

 to, which it will be sure to want this 

 season, than they have ever had before. 

 Yet I have never known them to fail 

 in any emergency, and feel sure they 

 will meet this one. 



Various Notes. 



On a recent trip out to Govanstown I 

 stopped to see Andrew Anderson. His 

 roses, while off crop, are certainly in 

 fine condition and it will not be long 

 until he will be having a fine cut. He 

 has a fine batch of poinsettias, which 

 will be right for Christmas. 



Out at Erdman & Ulrich's, the first 

 thing that strikes one is the scarcity 

 of blooming plants. This firm has 

 been hard hit by the labor question. It 

 is a most pathetic sight to see one whole 

 range of ten houses standing idle. This 

 range was cut out on account of the 

 fuel restrictions, but Mr. Erdman as- 

 sured me he was glad it was closed, for 

 it was impossible to get sufficient labor 

 to run the rest of the range. Someone 

 must be putting in some hard licks, for, 

 aside from the question of blooming 

 plants, I have never seen their stock in 

 better shape. The ferns especially are 

 looking fine, as are the crotons. Mr. 

 Erdman said if the labor question did 

 not improve, they were thinking seri- 

 ously of turning the entire place into 

 ferns, and using women. 



An instance which will illustrate the 

 labor situation was related by Isaac H. 

 Moss recently to a little party of flo- 

 rists. A stranger applied to him for 

 work. Mr. Moss asked him the usual 

 question, if he had had any experience 

 in greenhouse work. His reply was, no, 

 but some years ago he had had some 

 experience in growing vegetables. He 

 was a likely-looking chap, so Mr. Moss 

 told him he would give him $3 per day. 

 He replied he could not think of work- 

 ing for any such wages as that, so Mr. 

 Moss told him he would be obliged to 

 get along without his services. One of 

 the hardest things the growers hava 

 to contend with is getting a reliable 

 fireman. In many cases they are obliged 

 to look after the fires themselves. 



There are located around Baltimore 

 more war industries than near " any 

 other large city in the east and, while 

 these are still running full time, it 

 should not be long before some of them 

 will shut down — the ammunition fac- 

 tories, at any rate. This would release 

 a good amount of labor and help the 

 situation. Tate. 



Brady, Tex. — Mrs. E. R. Behrens, on 

 rural route No. 1, has three greenhouses 

 and has steadily increased her business 

 until now it occupies all her energies. 



Dayton, O.— Rolf Zetlitz, of Lima, O., 

 has purchased the property of the Miami 

 Floral Co., of R. G. Corwin, receiver 

 for the company. Mr. " Zetlitz takes 

 possession immediately and will over- 

 haul and replant the place to roses. The 

 planting will include the new Hill va- 

 rieties, Premier and Columbia. The 

 range will be known as the Rolf Zetlitz 

 Greenhouses. Mr. Zetlitz now operates 

 establishments at Lima and Ada, O. 



