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January 1, 1920. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



John Beck, who has had a long period 

 of service overseas, is returning to this 

 country on the President Grant. 



At the Park Gardens, although sales 

 were fine, the fact that it rained on the 

 day before Christmas injured counter 

 trade to a great extent. They were 

 short of red carnations and holly was 

 all gone the day before Christmas. 



James Horan & Son report that they 

 paid a higher price for roses than ever 

 before. On account of the high prices 

 of cut flowers, more plants were dis- 

 posed of. 



John Eeck & Son say that on account 

 of the high prices, few corsage bouquets 

 were called for. They sold fewer cut 

 flowers than at any previous Christmas 

 and more plants. Combination baskets 

 and boxes met with a ready sale. 



I. L. B. 



mage & Sons' greenhouses was kept 

 busy filling plant baskets, nearly 1,400 

 being disposed of. F. J. Gammage is 

 home on vacation from the University 

 of Illinois, where he is taking a 4-year 

 course in horticulture. W. W. 6. 



LOKDON, ONT. 



Christmas Business. 



The total sales of the Christmas busi- 

 ness were larger than ever before; 

 whether or not the net results will cor- 

 respond with the volume of business 

 done has yet to be found in the final 

 analysis. 



There was a considerable falling off 

 in the wholesale plant shipping trade, 

 but this is not to be wondered at when 

 weather conditions are taken into con- 

 sideration. With the thermometer 

 registering in the 10s and 20s below 

 zero in the best two plant markets of 

 the eastern and western provinces, 

 plant shipments with any degree of 

 safety were next to impossible and many 

 orders had to be refused where they re- 

 quired more than one transfer. As it 

 was, there were many complaints of 

 frozen shipments, although every pre- 

 caution possible in packing, and in for- 

 warding arrangements was taken. 



It is agreed by all the retail stores 

 that the high price of cut flowers turned 

 the tide decidedly in favor of plants. 

 Never before was there such a demand 

 for basket arrangements of plants. 

 There is no doubt that these led in 

 popularity, followed by cyclamens and 

 azaleas. There was also a surprising 

 demand for ferns of good quality. 

 When $10, $12 or $15 was asked for a 

 dozen roses many would-be customers of 

 moderate means turned to something 

 else. 



A pleasant feature of this Christmas 

 business was the constant flow of incom- 

 ing and outgoing F. T. D. orders, which 

 alone would have been considered a 

 good day's business not so many years 

 ago. 



Various Notes. 



The Dicks Flower Shop made a spe- 

 cial feature of baskets of artificial 

 flowers. 



E. B. Hamilton, of the West Floral 

 Co., said that never before had this firm 

 had so good a quality or handled so 

 many plants. This firm had the mis- 

 fortune to have one of its delivery cars 

 stalled in an outlying district late 

 Wednesday night and before assistance 

 could be got nearly the whole load was 

 frozen. 



Gammage & Sons found it necessary 

 to bring nearly the whole of their green- 

 house staff in to help out with the de- 

 livery on the last day, and while their 

 regular staff was busy with funeral 

 work the extra help made some record- 

 br(*aking sales. The staff left at Gam- 



UTIOA, N. Y. 



The Market. 



Christmas business was the best ever, 

 is the report of everyone connected with 

 the trade in this city. That business 

 would have been much greater had the 

 price of flowers been within reach of 

 everyone is realized by all. People out- 

 side of the trade cannot understand 

 why, for instance, a dozen carnations 

 can be purchased at $1.50 a week or two 

 before Christmas, and yet at the holi- 

 day season $3 or $4 is asked for the 

 same article. There is no doubt that this 

 practice hurts the business, particularly 



MAKE RESERVATIONS NOW. 

 For Carnation Meeting. 



Members and friends of tbe 

 American Carnation Society and 

 the Illinois State Florists' Asso- 

 ciation intending to attend the 

 annual meeting and exhibition to 

 be held at the Hotel LaSalle, Chi- 

 cago; January 21 and 22, should 

 make their reservations at once. 

 The hotels are filled all the time 

 and unless reservations are made 

 early visitors are likely to be dis- 

 appointed in securing the accom- 

 modations they want. 



i&ates are as follows: 



One person Per day 



Room with detached bath.$ 2.00 to $ 4.00 

 Room with private bath. 3.50 to 7.00 



Two persons Per day 



Room with detached bath.$ 3.50 to $ 6.00 

 Room with private bath. 5.00 to 10.00 



Two connecting rooms with 



bath Per day 



Two persons $ 6.50 to $10.00 



Three persons 8.50 to 16.00 



Four persons 10.50 to 19.00 



1,026 rooms — 834 with private bath. 



Make your reservations direct 

 to the Hotel LaSalle, Chicago, HI. 



Ohas. W. Johnson, 

 Chairman Local Committee of Ar- 

 rangements. 



when one takes into consideration the 

 fact that even at the high prices asked 

 by the wholesalers, the flowers are often 

 not up to standard; many blooms 

 shipped to this city from out of town 

 were "pickled" and half asleep. StiU, 

 with prices the highest yet known, 

 more people bought flowers than ever 

 before. 



Plants were in good supply and these 

 were pushed in preference to cut flow- 

 ers. A $5 bill could buy a decidedly 

 good-looking plant, but that could not 

 be said as to cut flowers. 



d^K^^if J®**^^ P"ce8 0^ most roses were 

 $5, $6, $8 and $10 per dozen; Hadley and 

 Russell sold at $9, $10 and $12. Carna- 

 tions were held by most of the retailers 

 at $3, while at some stores in the out- 

 skirts they could be bought at $2 per 

 r^'Jl ^io\e*8 sold well at $2 per bunch 

 Of litty; they were the only available 

 corsage flowers. Sweet peas were scarce 

 and did not cut much figure. Orchids 

 were also scarce and sold at $4 per 

 bloom In potted plants cyclamens 

 were the most popular with the buyers 



while begonias, poinsettias, cherries and 

 heather also sold well. There was no 

 novelty in the plant line. Boston ferns 

 had A big call. 



That the F. T. D. business is increas- 

 ing by leaps and bounds was proven 

 by the numerous orders received and 

 sent out. The amount of each order was 

 also greater than at any other holiday. 



The Christmas greens had a fair call, 

 though possibly not so much of this 

 material was sold, as formerly. Mistle- 

 toe and holly were poor; the latter was 

 extremely high-priced. 



The weather was favorable for the 

 last feif days before the big rush and 

 this helped a great deal with the de- 

 livery end, as not so much wrapping 

 was required. 



Various Notes. 



The Utica Daily Press in its comment 

 on Christmas flowers started it^ story 

 with this caption, "You Can Say It 

 With Flowers next Thursday," which 

 goes to show that what is conceded to 

 be the best trade slogan ever introduced 

 18 used beyond the florists' circle- yet 

 there are many florists in this city who 

 do not use these magic words in any 

 ^f7- ■^^ fact, there is but one store 

 which promotes or uses our trade slogan 



Brant Bros., Inc., had a good cut of 

 roses and carnations and sold out clean- 

 in tact, much more stock could have been 

 disposed of if they could have filled all 

 orders, is the report of Harry Brant. 

 The firm 's cut of Ophelias is especially 

 noteworthy, while its carnations are up 

 ?• i?^ "sual high standard. It grows 

 chiefly Enchantress and White En- 

 chantress. 



The Utica Floral Co. had the largest 

 business m the firm's history. Both Bet- 

 ted plants and cut flowers sold well and 

 there was little left of anything the 

 day after Christmas. Extra deliver? cars 

 were engaged to take care of the de- 

 livery end. The "Say It with Flowers" 

 Slogan was conspicuously posted on all 

 the extra delivery cars. Miss Caroline 

 H A'^Y' ^^""Shter of the former flo- 

 ?llL fi. o^^^-"? °^'"®' assisted in han- 

 ?ni ^A^^ Christmas rush. Miss Joseph- 



thfs firm. ^"^'^ " "^" '"^^'^y^^ V 

 Jess Williams specialized in Christ- 

 mas green goods and had most of the 

 downtown store decorations. 

 V ^\. Y' ??^l^d8, of Whitesboro, N. 

 C'\a *n^J^ '''■"P ^^ carnations for the 

 holiday. That he has the best Laddie 

 carnations in the Mohawk valley is the 

 '^Cm 't^ ^lV^"«« ^^« h«^« see^n them 

 hoi t^^^^""^' ""^ Williams & Kalk- 

 Chri«f,^o . *r""^' '■^P°'"*« **»at their 

 years Thi'^i^ surpassed all ' former 



fongite^Si?, sltet pTa^ ^^^"Z 



^oodTgu^jfr' -^^^^ -'^ - «^'^* - 



lanTS ^yj«' "a^ager of the Hol- 

 and Gardens, had some well grown cyc- 

 lamens, which he sold at g!odpTiIes 

 Ivar Eingdahl, of Borne, N.YfoJ: 

 merly with Thomas Roland^ at NahS 



JiSrb'r"'^ *'^?°'=?^ '^^^^ -it hso^e' 

 and^h^nfK^ °i^ Cincinnati, cyclamens 

 and heather. A visit to his range finds 

 everything in fine condition. HeTe 



i an':^^. F°"'^ P^*^*«> °^ -WchTe 

 18 an expert grower. 



A fire of unknown oriirin wan flia 

 Bleecker street, and before the Snes 



B, B. 



