aMw M^Pii^iii 



I'm . <'H w.' I HP". i,iw wi.Jvr wiw|i^ij»ijt-!!l •!S,5J'". J'-ji ,'• W^ ■ 



The Florists^ Review 



Januabt 1, 1920. 



PennsylTania, west — B. J. McCallum, PltU- 

 burgb. 



Rhode Island — Bdmund Q. Brook, Jr., Provi- 

 dence. 



South Carolina — T. T. Bolger, Charleston. 



South Dakote— William Dethlefs. Mitchell. 



Tennessee — A. J. McNutt, KnoxviUe. 



Texas — Paul M. Carroll, Houston. 



Utah — Robert Miller, Farmington. 



Vermont — George A. Halladay, Bellows Falls. 



Virginia— J. W. Grandy, Jr., Norfolk. 



Washington — H. A. Crouch, Seattle. 



West Virginia — N. J. Hayman, Clarksburg. 



Wisconsin — Fred Rentscbler, Madison. 



Wyoming — Arthur A. Underwood, Cheyenne. 



Alberta — A. M. Terrill, Calgary. 



British Columbia — James Brand, Vancouver. 



Manitoba — A. R. King, Winnipeg. 



New Brunswick — K. Pedersen, St. John. 



Quebec — William Cotter, Montreal. 



Cuba — Antonio Martin, Havana. 



BOSTON. 



The Market. 



Everyone agrees that it was the big- 

 gest Christmas in Boston's record. 

 Flowers sold out clean in spite of the 

 high prices. Growers were cleaned out 

 of plants and retailers had only a small 

 number left on their hands. The general 

 complaint among retailers was of the 

 extreme high prices, but the buying 

 public seemed willing to pay bigger 

 prices than ever before. In cut flowers 

 roses were in greatest favor. The best 

 grade of American Beauties sold at $200 

 per hundred, with select Hadley, Bus- 

 sell, Ophelia and Crusader bringing 

 $100. For shorter-stemmed stock of 

 these varieties $50, $60 and $75 was 

 readily paid. Killarney, Stanley, Miller, 

 Maryland and other varieties made 

 from $12 to $60. Of whites there is 

 usually a surplus, but this year all 

 cleaned up easily. 



Some carnations sold as low as $8 and 

 $10, but the general run sold at $12 to 

 $15, with scarlets and fancies going at 

 $18 to $25. The highest price heard of 

 was $30 at wholesale. Many poor 

 flowers were offered. They had evi- 

 dently been on the plants or in cold 

 storage too long and those buying such 

 flowers at $5 to $8 per dozen have every 

 reason for fault finding. Violets made 

 $3 to $4 for singles. Of doubles a good 

 many thousands from Ehinebeck, N. Y., 

 made $30 per thousand. 



Sweet peas were not abundant at $3 

 to $6, a few selling higher. Marguerites 

 varied from $2 to $8. Bachelor's but- 

 tons were hard to move. There were no 

 longiflorum lilies, but callas made $5 

 to $6 per dozen, and the remnants of 

 the mum crop cleaned up at high prices. 

 Stevia was abundant. Everyone seems 

 to have stocked up on it this season, 

 owing to high prices a year ago. Such 

 flowers as calendula.s, marigolds, sweet 

 sultans, bouvardia, euphorbia and wall- 

 flowers cleaned up wpU. Cut poinsettias 

 dragged somewhat. 



Gardenias made $15 per dozen, the 

 best cattleyas $36 per dozen and poorer 

 grades $24 to $30, valley $25 per hun- 

 dred. There was a good call for aspar- 

 agus, while for evergreen wreathing, 

 holly, etc., the demand seemed insati- 

 able. 



Cyclamens were easily the leaders 

 among pot plants, with begonias and 

 poinsettias next in favor. Next were 

 fruited plants like ardisias, which were 

 less abundant this season, oranges and 

 solanums. The Cleveland form of the 

 latter sold well, but there were a good 

 many poorly fruited plants unsold. 

 Ericas, camellias, azaleas, cinerarias, 

 pans of narcissi and freesias and 

 primulas all sold extremely well and it 

 was certainly far and away the biggest 

 plant Christmas ever known here. 



Prices following Christmas remain 

 high. Carnations sell at $10 to $14 per 

 hundred, violets $3, Paper Whites $6, 

 roses from $10 to $75, with select Beau- 

 ties $18 to $24 per dozen. Cattleyas are , 

 $24 per dozen. Stevia is the only abun- 

 dant flower on sale. A little freesia is 

 coming in and sells at $12, although the 

 quality is not of tKe best. Growers are 

 sold so clean out of plants that retailers 

 have trouble in securing stock to make 

 a creditable store display. 



Christmas Notes. 



At Penn's the volume of business 

 broke all records. Cyclamens were lead- 

 ers among plants; begonias, poinsettias 

 and berried plants came next in popu- 

 larity. Koses, carnations, sweet peas 

 aiid violets were the leaders in cut 

 flowets, December 26 hardly a salable 

 plant was left on hand. 



The Welch Bros. Co. had the heaviest 

 Christmas business in its history. Pot 

 plants sold extremely well and it had a 

 big call for Crusader, Pilgrim, Hadley 

 and Beauty roses, also valley and cat- 

 tleyas. P. Welch is indisposed with a 

 touch of the grip, but he hopes to be 

 on deck again in a few days. 



The W. W. Edgar Co. had a splendid 

 holiday trade, everything salable going. 

 They had a grand lot of Euphorbia 

 jacquiniseflora and Purity freesia in ex- 

 cellent bloom. Hydrangeas, lilies and 

 roses are already occupying much of the 

 vacated space. 



Henry M. Robinson & Co. had large 

 sales of cut flowers, greenery, Christmas 

 baskets and sundries, clearing out of 

 about everything, and report a better 

 Christmas than ever before. 



Wax Bros, state that cyclamens and 

 poinsettias sold beat with them. Among 

 plants, begonias went more slowly. 

 Roses and carnations led among flowers. 

 They had a large Christmas trade and 

 one or two decorations came in at the 

 busiest time, but they managed to 

 handle them. 



The Boston Floral Supply Co. re- 

 ports a tremendous Christmas business 

 with specially heavy sales of Christmas 

 baskets, which it had made a special 

 feature of. 



John J. O'Brien, on Beacon street, 

 did a great business and his store 

 Christmas day had a depleted appear- 

 ance. His sales went far ahead of those 

 of a year ago. 



At Carboue's, on Boylston street, the 

 immense stock of choice holiday plants, 

 the finest procurable, sold out clean and 

 u great business was done in Italian and 

 other ware. 



At Hamlin the Florist's, in the Little 

 building, Boston's newest retail store, 

 the first Christmas business went far 

 ahead of expectations. Cyclamens, be- 

 gonias, roses and carnations were the 

 best sellers. 



At Thomas F. Galvin 's two large 

 stores, on Park street and Boylston 

 street, a record business was done and 

 sales went ahead of all former years. 



Christmas, 1919, established a record 

 in regard to prices, both wholesale and 

 retail, of plants. Large specimen cy- 

 clamens retailed at $30 to $50 each in 

 some cases, azaleas at $50, poinsettia 

 pans at $25 to $30, oranges and ardisias 

 at $25. These were, of course, top prices 

 and were only realized by choice speci- 

 mens, but prices were cheerfully paid 

 which would have appeared staggering 

 two or three years ago. 



Christmas weather proved ideal and 

 December 23 and 24 plants could be 



sent out safely with practically no cov- 

 ering, which made delivery much easier. 

 Sufficient snow fell on the evening of 

 December 24 to cover the ground and 



, the white covering and cloudless skies 

 made the holiday itself particularly 

 seasonable. 



Various Notes. 



The Gardeners' and Florists' Club 

 will next meet January 13. It will be 

 ladies' night and officers for the coming 

 year will be installed. There will be a 

 collation followed by dancing, A large 

 attendance is always assured at the first 

 meeting of the year. 



The inaugural meeting of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 will occur Saturday, January 10. There 

 will be an address by the president, re- 

 ports of committees will be read and 

 other business will be transacted. 



The Boston Florists' Association will 

 hold its next meeting at the Parker 

 House January 6. The report of the 

 committee of growers, of which Wil- 

 liam H. Elliott is chairman, will be 

 given and discussed. 



Frederick Cave, with his wife and 

 family, of Canton, sailed for England 

 on the S. S. Bohemian December 20 for 

 a three months' visit. 



The employees of the Boston Floral 

 Supply Co., 357 Cambridge street, pre- 

 sented S. Robinson, president and treas- 

 urer of the company, with a handsome 

 knife with the inscription, "To our be- 

 loved friend," and also a pair of cuff 

 links for Christmas. The company re- 

 gards this as evidence of the success of 

 their policy to maintain a feeling of 

 contentment in the employees. 



At Hoffman's, choice foreign and do- 

 mestic fruits in handsomely decorated 

 baskets formed a distinctive holiday 

 feature last week. W. N. C. 



Several hundred dollars' worth of 

 flowers, including a shipment of orchids, 

 were destroyed when the truck carrying 

 them from the greenhouses of Albert 

 Burrage, at Beverly Farms, to his home 

 caught fire December 20 at Beacon and 

 Bowdoin streets. A charcoal heater in 

 the vehicle started the blaze. E. E. R. 



NEW YORK. 



The Market. 



The Christmas market was character- 

 ized by a light supply of flowers, which 

 in variety was irregular, creating sur- 

 pluses in some stocks, movement of 

 which was prevented by adherence to 

 high prices until it was too late to clear. 

 Violets, a not unusual victim, were so 

 sacrificed. The asking price was $3 per 

 hundred. A few were sold at this price, 

 but the rest moved down as low as 50 

 cents on Christmas morning and much 

 stock was carried over to clear at 50 

 cents on the next day's market. Since 

 there is no particular sentiment at- 

 tached to violets at Christmas, the re- 

 tailers simply passed them up. Cattle- 

 yas, the price of which was boosted 

 to $3 per flower for the best, also came 

 down, only a few sales being made at 

 the $3 mark, the highest ever touched 

 in the New York market. Gardenia 

 prices also made a record at $2 per 

 flower, but scarcity held them up to this 

 figure pretty well, although there was 

 much grumbling. Cypripediums did well, 

 at $4 to $9, according to variety. Car- 

 nations brought $25 per hundred for 

 good reds, with $20 for Ward and 



t' 



