16 



The Florists^ Review 



Jandabt 9. 1919. 



for many years superintendent of the 

 George W. Vanderbilt estate, Bar Har- 

 bor, and now owns and operates the 

 North East Harbor Nurseries, on Mount 

 Desert Island. Besides his parents. 

 Captain Kirk is survived by two sisters, 

 a brother in the U. S. Navy and a 

 brother in New York city, for all of 

 whom much sympathy is felt. W. N. C. 



NEW YORK. 



The Market. 



The New Year's holiday market was 

 practically identical with that of Christ- 

 mas, conditions being precisely the 

 same. Stock was woefully short, and 

 prices, as a consequence, at high levels. 

 A retailer thus described the situation: 

 "Of ten people who came in to buy, 

 eight left without doing business, owing 

 to the tall prices we had to ask." This 

 experience was general, yet it has not 

 been learned that retailers have any 

 stock left over. If all sales prospects 

 had bought, orders could not have been 

 filled. Wholesalers cleaned up as fast 

 as shipments came in. It was a matter 

 of equitable distribution rather than 

 salesmanship. 



The market continues on the short 

 side, and, so far as can be seen, there is 

 little chance for relief in the near fu- 

 ture. The business being done is not 

 really heavy, in point of the number 

 of transactions; in fact, it is a long way 

 from normal. 



A good deal of flipping business has 

 been done of late. In the last few years 

 this has been an unimportant feature 

 of the New York market, and its re- 

 sumption at this time is evidence of the 

 great curtailment of production prac- 

 ticed in consequence of fuel restrictions. 



Bulbous stock is late this year. Usu- 

 ally a heavy unloading of narcissi and 

 other items is looked for to check ad- 

 vances in more staple lines, but even 

 Paper Whites are in evidence only in 

 small quantities. 



Boses are coming in even supply, 

 hardly more one day than another, and 

 in quantity barely sufficient to meet 

 the call. All grades move quickly, the 

 short grades especially so, as, if they 

 are not secured at the opening of the 

 market, they must be eliminated from 

 the day's prospects. 



Carnations are in good demand, and 

 12 cents appears to be the top price, 

 except for good Benora and one or two 

 other varieties, for which 15 cents is 

 asked and frequently obtained. 



The supply of orchids has lessened, 

 but there is plenty to go around. Oncid- 

 ium splendidum is bringing as high as 

 10 cents per flower for the best, but 

 held-over stock is closed out at as low 

 as 6 cents. The same is true of 

 Phalsenopsis amabilis, which is now 

 coming in freely. Cattleyas have now 

 a range of 25 cents to 75 cents, the lat- 

 ter figure including the comparatively 

 new Brasso-cattleyas and some of the 

 hybrids. 



Sweet peas are not in good supply, 

 the warm, muggy weather lately experi- 

 enced having caused a general dropping 

 of buds. 



Lilies are plentiful, but the prices re- 

 main high, on account of the demand 

 for these flowers for funeral work. 

 Freesias have made an appearance and 

 bring from 75 cents to $1 per bunch; 

 and there is a small showing of tulips, 

 at $1 to $2 per bunch. 



The supply of violets has increased 



and prices have fallen to figures nearer 

 normal. There is a good supply of 

 stevia, which moves readily at three 

 bunches for $1, Jfor the best. Daisies, 

 calendulas, snapdragon, pansies, forget- 

 me-nots and bouvardias all clean up 

 well at good prices. 



Various Notes. 



The case of the park department, 

 looking to the ousting of the Interna- 

 tijipal Garden Club from its occupancy 

 or the old Barbour mansion, Pelham 

 Bay park, was dismissed when called 

 up for trial. It is understood that the 

 club is to stay in possession of the build- 

 ing and grounds without further moles- 

 tation. 



The new rose, Columbia, was promi- 

 nent among the holiday offerings, and 

 was a worthy addition to the supply of 

 "big" roses. 



G. Ruff and Grover Asmus are to put 

 into operation next spring the old Ernst 

 Asmus greenhouse range, at West Ho- 

 boken, N. J., which has been closed since 

 last November. 



Treasurer E. Davey, of the Stamford, 

 Conn., Horticultural Society, died Janu- 

 ary 1. He was gardener for G. G. 

 Dominick, of Stamford. His wife died 

 a few days previously. 



The firm of Goldstein & Futterman, 

 102 West Twenty-eighth street, has 

 been dissolved, and the business is be- 

 ing continued by Futterman Bros. I. 

 Goldstein, of the old firm, has started 

 in the wholesale business at 114 West 

 Twenty-eighth street. 



Lieutenant Commander A. M. Hen- 

 shaw, of the Naval Reserves, was a visi- 

 tor in the market January 4. He has 

 reached the top of the ladder in his 

 branch of the service, and expects short- 

 ly to be retired to civilian life. During 

 his naval career he had many experi- 

 ences, but says that his view, at short 

 range, of the grand fleet in the Firth 

 of Forth was worth all of them. 



The sympathy of the trade is ex- 

 tended to J. K. Allen, the veteran whole- 

 saler at 118 West Twenty-eighth street, 

 in the death of his son, George James 

 Allen, which is reported in another 

 column of this issue. 



Edward Eccles, son-in-law of Thomas 

 Jones, the well known orchid grower, 

 of Short Hills, N. J., died suddenly 

 Christmas day. The account of his 

 death will be found in another column 

 of this issue. 



The next meeting of the New York 

 Florists' Club will be held January 13, 

 at the elub's quarters in the Grand 

 Opera House building, Twenty-third 

 street and Eighth avenue. At this meet- 

 ing the new officers will be inducted 

 into office. 



Henry Weston, of Hempstead, L. I., 

 has been experimenting with a new oil- 

 burning device, and is so well satisfied 

 with it that he will install an equipment 

 of it under his greenhouse boilers. He 

 is satisfied that its great service in heat- 

 ing his houses in the late spring and 

 early fall, or at any time when quick 

 heat for a short period is desired, would 

 justify the installation. 



Jasper B. Lewis, of Ralph M. Ward 

 & Co., received a Christmas present in 

 the shape of a little daughter, who has 

 been named Carol, in honor of the sea- 

 son of her birth. 



Steamer business for retail florists is 

 resumed. Considerable business was 

 done in connection with recent sailings. 

 It is expected that it will not be long 



before steamer trade will reach pre-war 

 volumes. 



Emil Sehloss, of Schloss Bros., Rib- 

 bons, Inc., has entered upon his duties 

 as state vice-presidept of the S. A. P. 

 for eastern New York. With his lovable 

 personality and wide acquaintance, es- 

 pecially in retail circles, there should 

 be a notable increase in the member- 

 ship of the society in his territory. 



The National League for Woman's 

 Service has a project well under way 

 for the erection of a number of elec- 

 trically-lighted signs along our water 

 fronts, in which the trade slogan, "Say 

 It with Flowers," is to predominate. 



Sergeant Coon, son of Elmer Coon, 

 the violet grower of Rhinebeck, N. Y., 

 who, as a member of a surgical unit, 

 has just returned from overseas, was in 

 town last week, calling upon the trade. 



Courtland C. Earle and Robert M. 

 Lament, of the Quidnick Greenhouses, 

 Quidnick, R. I., were visitors during the 

 holidays. 



Other visitors were J. N. Champion, 

 of New Haven, and Carl Reck, of 

 Bridgeport, Conn. J. H. P. 



Wertheimer Bros., in order to accom- 

 modate their increasing business, have 

 erected a building adjoining their prem- 

 ises, which will be connected with their 

 present quarters by archways.^ When 

 completed, the additional quartets will 

 afford more than double the floor space 

 now occupied. 



NEWPORT, R. I. 



Samuel Preston, for many years a gar- 

 dener on various estates in this city, 

 died December 30 at his home, 42 Edgar 

 court, after a long illness. He was born 

 in the south, but removed to Newport 

 a number of years ago, while still a 

 young man, secured employment on one 

 of the summer estates as gardener and 

 followed that occupation until his death. 

 An injury to his left hand several 

 months ago made it necessary to ampu- 

 tate the member, and since that time 

 Mr. Preston had been in poor health. 

 He is survived by his wife and daugh- 

 ter. He was reliable and well thought of. 



Daniel Murphy has returned from 

 New York, where he witnessed the big 

 naval review. 



John H. Allan, son of John T. Allan, 

 who is a gunner's mate in the navy, has 

 returned to duty following a holiday 

 visit at home. 



Oscar Schultz donated palms and ferns 

 for the decoration of the rooms of the 

 Army and Navy Y. M. C. A. for the New 

 Year's celebration. Gibson Bros, also 

 gave palms and ferns and Stewart 

 Ritchie furnished cut flowers. 



Andrew Ramsay is moving his green- 

 house to a new site on Harrison avenue. 



Mrs. Fred P. Webber was pianist for 

 the evening at the recent installation 

 ceremonies at the meeting of Aquidneck 

 Grange, P. of H., at Middletown. 



Hugh S. Meikle, gardener for Dr. Rod- 

 erick Terry, was elected Tanist of Clan 

 MacLeod, Order of Scottish Clans, last 

 week. w. H. M. 



Anderson, S. C— J. K. Postma, who 

 came here from Evans City, Tenn., has 

 completely recovered from an attack of 

 the "flu" and has entered the employ- 

 ment of the Anderson Floral Co. Mr. 

 Postma formerly was in business for 

 himself in the central west and is well 

 known in the trade. He has been a 

 reader of The Review for twenty years. 



