70 



The Florists^ Review 



Jandaby 2, 1919. 



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Pacific Coast Department 



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Capitola, Cal. — James A. Brown says 

 that orders for gladiolus bulbs and also 

 for Calla Elliottiana have been coming 

 rapidly. He considers trade conditions 

 excellent. 



LOS ANGELES. 



The Market. 



There never was a time in the history 

 of the business in this city when the 

 legitimate supply and demand were so 

 out of proportion for the Christmas holi- 

 day as this year. Two years ago, when 

 a "frost killed off everything locally, 

 there was a dearth of certain kinds of 

 local stock, but we were helped out by 

 shipments from other markets. The in- 

 door stock was good and the demand 

 was not so great. This year other towns 

 were short, likewise other sources of 

 supply, while the demand for moderate- 

 priced flowers and plants was never so 

 great. The result was foretold and the 

 prophecy was verified. Cut flowers 

 were at a premium long before half the 

 orders were filled and in some cases out- 

 door carnations of inferior quality were 

 sold as high as 10 cents each. Plants 

 of all kinds with the exception of poin- 

 settias and cyclamens were scarce and 

 nothing was left even of these two. 

 There was little of any quality left and 

 these could probably have been sold, 

 had not the prices been too high for 

 late comers. The demand for greens 

 for wreath-making, holly and Christmas 

 stock generally was brisk throughout. 

 Days and even weeks before the holi- 

 day, large shipments were made and re- 

 tailers reported big sales. Christmas 

 trees were among the short items, and 

 the supply of niedium-sizod tubs was 

 exhausted' long before dosing time. A 

 week of beautiful, crisp weather, with 

 cold mornings and bright days, gave a 

 Christmas feeling and opened the purses 

 of the people, so that altogether this 

 will go down as one of the best holi- 

 davs ever enjoyed by the trade. 



In order to get these notes on time, 

 it was impossible to visit the individual 

 retailers after the holiday, but the 

 appearance of the stores was sufficient 

 index of the business done. The deliv- 

 ery cars Christmas eve were going until 

 long after midnight and again Christ- 

 mas day everyone was busy until late 

 in the day. 



Various Notes. 



Albert Beverley, of Santa Barbara, 

 was in town late iast week and was last 

 seen leaving Los Angeles with his car 

 loaded to the gunwales with stock. 



S. Murata & Co. sold completely out 

 of everything perishable and report 

 the finest shipping business ever han- 

 dled. 



Fred Sperry, manager of the L. A. 

 Floral Co., is "congratulating himself on 

 the Christmas business of his firm, as 

 he was singularly fortunate in getting 

 hold of a quantity of fine stock. The 

 force was working day and night to get 

 the shipments off and the motto of 

 "Quality and Service" was well kept 



up. 



"W. Armac.ost & Co. had a wonderful 

 holiday business, the quality of the 



roses and plants coming iu from the 

 Sawtelle range being better than ever 

 before. H. E. Eichards. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



The Market. 



At this writing, Christmas eve, local 

 wholesalers and nurserymen in this vi- 

 cinity are in a position to state that 

 they have had a banner holiday busi- 

 ness, and the retailers are in the midst 

 of a rush which promises to clean up 

 their stocks closely. The only disap- 

 pointing feature is that there was not 

 enough stock to fill shipping orders in 

 full. In this regard the situation did 

 not turn out so badly, however, as was 

 anticipated a week or two ago, especially 

 where carnations and violets were con- 

 cerned. It seems the growers were hold- 

 ing back stock for holiday trade and 

 brought in heavy offerings at the last 

 minute. On cut flowers generally prices 

 ruled higher than ever before in this 

 market. Eoses brought double last 

 year's holiday prices, good stock clean- 

 ing up at the following quotations 

 wholesale: American Beauties, $10 per 

 dozen; Eussell, $6 per dozen; Ophelia, 

 $4 per dozen. Some of the finest Ophelia 

 brought $5 per dozen. Eed roses gener- 

 ally were strong, keeping pace with Eus- 



sell. The quality of the stock left noth- 

 ing to be desired, so the above prices 

 for first-class stock mean that a high 

 proportion of the offerings moved at 

 those figures. 



While higher prices were realized for 

 flowering plants than in former years, 

 the advances over the prices on holi- 

 day stock in 1917 were not so pronounced 

 as in the case of roses and other cut 

 flowers. There were few azaleas grown 

 for this market this year, but other sea- 

 sonable plants were in good supply, 

 particularly poinsettias and cyclamens. 

 Fancy combination plant and fern bas- 

 kets made a fine showing and sold well. 

 There were plenty of fine ferns for all 

 requirements. Other greens were scarce, 

 however, as well as California red ber- 

 ries and Oregon holly. Eedwood gar- 

 lands and red berries brought top-notch 

 prices and cleaned up early. 



The return of a good many florists 

 from army service in time to help with 

 the holiday rush, helped out to a con- 

 siderable extent. 



Various Notes. 



Pelicano, Eossi & Co. secured the 

 store adjoining their place in Kearny 

 street for displaying their large stock 

 of flowering plants. There they showed 

 a fine assortment of poinsettias, cycla- 

 mens, begonias, heather and other 



ASPARAGUS, SPRENGERI, SMILAX 



Place lyour orders where you are sure of a never-failing supply. We have 



8S» acres like this picture. 



WE HAVE THE CUT FLOWERS, TOO 



Rosea, ChryMuthemum*, Carnations, Adlantnm and Brake 



Also a full line of Florists' Supplies. Write for prices. 



WALTER ARMACOST & CO., 221 East 4th Street, LOS ANGELES, CALIF. 



— We Close Sundays — 



-WHOLESALE EVERGREENS- 



Garland Roping, HoUyberry. English Holly, Cal. Pepper Boughs, Desert Holly, Smilaz, 

 Asparagus plumosus. Huckleberry, Hard and Soft Brake, Maidenhair, Mexican Ivy and 

 all other classes of evergreens and similar stock. 



TASSANO BROS., 



For best prices, write 

 422 South Wall Street, 



Los Angeles, Cal. 



Mention The Beriew wben jrou write. 



