14 



The Florists' Review 



Mat 20, 1919. 



sent a letter to the editor of the Sioux 

 City Tribune, the newspaper in which 

 the trade was attacked for overcharg- 

 ing on the holiday, presenting the flo- 

 rists' side of the case. This letter was 

 published by the editor, who captioned 

 it in such a manner as to indicate to the 

 public that he had made a mistake in 

 accusing the flower stores of robbing the 

 public. 



The letter follows: 



Editor The Tribune: In answer to the ar- 

 ticle printed In your paper about how we held 

 up prices on account of Mothers' day, wish to 

 state that in the first place we had carnations, 

 roses and other flowers up till 6 p. m. Sunday 

 and the highest price we received for oui; car- 

 nations was 25 cents apiece. We had some short 

 ones that we sold to children as low as 10 cents 

 and, in some cases, we gave to those that could 

 not afford to buy even at 10 cents. I wish to 

 state, for the benefit of the public, as well as 

 the party that came in to price our flowers, that 

 in the same Icebox we had a special variety of 

 carnation, the Laddie. It Is a special carna- 

 tion and could not be bought wholesale or grown 

 for less than $3 per dozen at ordinary times, but, 

 for the holidays, It Is worth a good deal more. 

 If there is anybody in Sioux City that paid us 

 more than 25 cents for carnations they must have 



been the Laddie carnations, a fancy variety that 

 even in ordinary times brings $4 to $5 per dozen. 



Just because they are carnations does not mean 

 that they all should sell at the same price. 

 Some roses were sold as low as $2 per dozen and 

 some roses as high as $8, yet they were roses. 

 Some flowers cost more- to raise than others. In 

 some other cities the Laddie carnation brought 

 as high as $7.50 per dozen, while common carna- 

 tions brought as high as $4 per dozen. 



For the benefit of all the fiorists in Sioux City, 

 I wish to state that flowers are sold cheaper 

 here than any other place in the country. While 

 we have been selling common carnations at $1, 

 other towns were selling at $2 for the same 

 grade. 



The florists in Sioux City should be congrat- 

 ulated for having nice up-to-date stores and em- 

 ploying almost 100 men and women, and paying 

 good salaries. They are all good citizens and 

 taxpayers. Now, for our own protection as to 

 prices asked for flowers, I wish to state that we 

 hold the record of being the only florists in Sioux 

 City that started advertising Mothers' day when 

 it was first originated and the only fiorists 

 that started the low prices here some years ago. 



Following the letter, the newspaper 



published an interview with another 



florist, who confirmed the assertion of 



Eocklin & Lehman that flowers sold at 



reasonable prices in Sioux City on 



Mothers' day. 



OJCN UEXTB^y^ BEADED^ 



AGAINST BAG DOOB PIECES. 



I would like to see something done to 

 discourage the practice of using rag- 

 flower door pieces and soiled crepe. It 

 certainly is a disgrace to the florists' 

 trade to have hung at the door of a 

 home, where a lovable and beautiful 

 child has died, a bunch of rags in the 

 shape of a bouquet such as women wore 

 in their old-fashioned bonnets. 



It must be most humiliating to have 

 a death in the family and to have, in- 

 stead of a bouquet of fresh flowers, these 

 rag flowers for friends to see as they 

 come and go. The undertaker is to 

 blame, for ij^ is he who persuades the 

 family to buy these rags, which are 

 placed on the grave after the burial, as 

 a "floral tribute." 



The writer thinks no stone should be 

 left unturned to make the use of these 

 cloth contraptions unpopular. If the 

 florists would persuade the editors of 

 their local newspapers to publish some- 

 thing to point out the inappropriateness 

 of anything but fresh flowers, I feel sure 

 it would do much for the trade. 



B. J. Passmore. 



A HABDY BEGONIA? 



I would like to ask, through The 

 Review, if any reader ever heard of a 

 hardy begonia. For four years I have 

 been watching one growing in a yard 

 here. Jt freezes down every winter 

 and comes up again in the spring, grow- 

 ing to a height of about eighteen to 

 twenty-four inches. The leaves are dark 

 blood-red underneath and the upper 

 side is pale green, with veins showing 

 through. They are shaped like the 

 leaves of the Rex, and are about two 

 and one-half inches wide and four 

 inches long. 



This plant forms a lot of bulb-like 

 growths at the leaf joints, these being 

 about the size of a sweet pea seed. The 

 growths drop off and come up all around 

 the old plant in the spring. 



Though the temperature here has gone 



as low as 15 degrees below zero, the 

 plant has not been killed. The owner 

 does not know the name of the supposed 

 hardy begonia, as she obtained it from 

 a friend, who found it growing in a 

 yard. I sent a plant to a botanical 

 society for identification and was told 

 that it was a species of Begonia tuber- 

 hybrida. The society informed me that 

 it had never heard of a hardy begonia. 

 If any of the readers of The Review 

 have ever heard of this plant and will 

 let me know its name, the information 

 will be greatly appreciated. 



H. W. Peterson. 



CALLOPISTBIA FLOBIDENSIS. 



In looking over The Review I saw an 

 inquiry from I. G., Tenn., in regard to 

 trouble with worms on his ferns. In my 

 opinion, his ferns have not been at- 

 tacked by cutworms, but by the Florida 

 moth, Callopistria floridensis. The worm 

 sleeps all day and eats all night. It 

 will be found underneath the fronds in 

 the daytime, unless the weather is cool; 

 then the pest will be found on the upper 

 side. If I. G. will get some pyrethrum 

 powder and sprinkle it on through 

 cheesecloth at night, he will find yellow 

 worms next morning instead of green 

 ones. Thomas Hopkinson. 



Callopistria floridensis is described In Bailey's 

 Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture as a vel- 

 vety black or apple-green caterpillar, one and 

 two-fifths inches in length wlien mature, feed- 

 ing on the fronds. The treatment prescribed is 

 poisoned baits. The common name of C. flori- 

 densis. according to Bailey, is the southern fern- 

 cutworm. 



THE I.AST CHANCE. 



Considerable quantities of Belgian 

 plants have arrived at New York in the 

 last few days, taking advantage of the 

 last opportunity to enter the United 

 States ahead of the quarantine, which 

 becomes effective June 1. 



The following entries appeared on the 

 manifest of the Westcape, May 20: 



Hnssa & Co. — 12 crts plants. 

 Wadley & Smythe — 496 tubs laurel trees, 14 

 crta plant*, 8 cs do. 



American Express Co. — 374 tubs laurel trees. 



These items were on the manifest of 



the Aledo, May 21: 



Wadley & Smythe — 30 cs plants. 

 Hampton, J. W., Jr., Co. — 36 tubs laurel trees. 

 Richard, C. B., & Co.— 20 cs plants, 36 tubs 

 laurel trees, 100 cs do. 

 Hussa & Co. — 48 tubs laurel trees. 

 Vaughan's Seed Store — 300 tubs laurel trees. 

 American Shipping Co. — 12 tubs laurel trees. 

 Downing, T. D., & Co. — 24 tubs laurel trees. 



These items were on the manifest of 



the Westpool, May 23: 



MeHutchison & Co. — 1,274 tubs laurel trees. 

 Richard, C. B., & Co. — 600 tubs laurel trees. 

 Maltus & Ware — 2 cs plants. 

 Schwake, C, & Co.— 23 cs plants, 16 tubs 

 laurel trees. 



Each of these steamers were from 



Antwerp, and these final shipments are 



almost the first direct from Belgium 



since the spring of 1914. The Germans 



held Ghent, and the autumn shipments 



of that year were via Rotterdam. 



ST. LOUIS. 



The Market. 



The wholesale cut flower markets dur- 

 ing the week ending May 24 were in 

 excellent condition to supply any of 

 the wants the retailers demanded, at 

 prices much lower than the week pre- 

 vious. There was plenty of everything 

 the season affords, but the retailers 

 bought sparingly owing to the daily 

 rains, which caused transient trade to 

 fall off, especially so with downtown flo- 

 rists. There were many weddings and 

 much society work for the west end 

 florists and they bought heavily of the 

 fancy stock which this class of trade 

 demands. There have been large quan- 

 tities of peonies in all colors, with prices 

 from 3 to 8 cents. Fancy cut gladiolus 

 spikes are coming in daily. The best 

 sellers are Schwaben, America, Pink 

 Beauty and Mrs. Francis King. Con- 

 signments in these have been large. 

 Roses have been selling well; that is, 

 the fancy grades in Russell, Ophelia, 

 Ward and Columbia. All Killarney vari- 

 eties are in big supply, but the demand 

 is not so large as for other varieties. 



Carnations have kept up well, owing 

 to the cool weather. Size and color are 

 about the same as in midseason, but 

 prices have been lowering from last 

 week's quotations and the demand 

 clears them daily. Sweet peas are again 

 in heavy supply and down to as low as 

 $1.50 per thousand, with extra fancy not 

 over $3. Cape jasmine buds are coming 

 heavily from Texas. There is a plentiful 

 supply of snapdragons, cornflowers, 

 irises, delphiniums, stocks, calendulas 

 and daisies, all of which should come in 

 for heavy demand for Memorial day, 

 which, as is predicted by all leading 

 florists here, will be better than in any 

 previous year. 



Various Noters. 



The florists' publicity committee at 

 a special meeting, over which Chairman 

 Bourdet presided, decided to feature 

 Memorial day with strong, attractive ad- 

 vertisements in the five daily papers at 

 a cost of nearly $300. A discussion that 

 followed resulted in a decision to in- 

 crease the number of the publicity com- 

 mittee to fifteen and Frank X. Qorly, 

 Martin Seeger and Oscar Ruff were made 

 members of this committee. The mem- 

 bers are enthused over the workings of 

 the new plan so far and predict that 

 before fall, 100 per cent of all retailers, 

 growers and wholesalers will contribute 

 to the fund. 



The Retail Florists' Association has 



