February 19, 1920 



The Florists^ Review 



25 



Edward W. Habermelil. 



Just one week ago Ed Habermehl 

 was talking of the bright prospects for 

 next season. Full of life and vigor, he 

 pictured what a wonderful season it 

 will be in floral decorations. Today he 

 lies quietly at rest, his work here fin- 

 ished. It is so sudden. It seems past 

 belief. Taken from our midst at a 

 moment's notice in the prime of man- 

 hood, the intense sadness of it all is 

 well-nigh overpowering. God's will be 

 done. 



Edward W. Habermehl died Wednes- 

 day, February 11, at his home, 2105 

 Diamond street, Philadelphia, of double 

 pneumonia, after a few days' illness. 

 The street was profoundly moved by 

 the death of Mr. Habermehl. Mark P. 

 Mills said: "He was our best decora- 

 tor and the best judge of plants among 

 our retailers." Edwin J. Fancourt said: 

 "I have seen many decorations outside 

 of Philadelphia. None could equal 

 those put up here by the Habermehls." 

 Hajry Bayersdorfer said: "He did 

 his share of the big things done by his 

 firm." Edward Reid said: "I have 

 known him for thirty years and I con- 

 sider it an honor to belong to the pro- 

 fession to which he belonged." Alvah 

 R. Jones said: "In his business deal- 

 ings he' was always a courteous gentle- 

 man. ' ' 



The firm of J. J. Habermehl 's Sons 

 consisted of two brothers, John P. and 

 Edward W. Habermehl. The present 

 generation first knew them when they 

 were on the south side of Diamond street. 

 This ground was sold to William M. 

 Singerly and a fine store and green- 

 houses were built on their present lot 

 at the northeast corner of Twenty- 

 second and Diamond streets. Here they 

 conducted a general retail florists' busi- 

 ness and were recognized as the leading 

 uptown florists in Philadelphia. Grad- 

 ually the firm went more and more into 

 decorations, adding one after another 

 the accessories now considered indis- 

 pensable by the first-class decorator. 

 They could successfully handle ex- 

 tremely large decorations. This class 

 of work narrowed down to two firms, 

 the Grahams and the Habermehls. To 

 enlarge their field the Habermehls, 

 who were in search of a downtown 

 store, leased the flower shop in the 

 Bellevue-Stratford hotel before it was 

 completed. This business stroke was 

 most successful. Founders ' week fol- 

 lowed, when the Habermehls took the 

 entire contract for decorations for the 

 city, a gigantic undertaking requiring 

 six months' preparation with a small 

 army of assistants. This work won their 

 fame. 



After the withdrawal of the Gra- 

 liams from the field of decorations. 

 William Graham became decorator foT 

 the Habermehls and on his departure 

 for Chicago Edward Habermehl under- 

 took the work himself. It was in this 

 branch of his firm's business that he 

 made his mark. He was a hard 

 worker, with a vast capacity for detail. 

 The things he undertook he carried 

 out thoroughly, always aiming that his 

 work excel. It has been my privilege 

 to see eight or ten of Ed Habermehl 's 

 best decorations. I have marveled at 



the rapid advance made in the art. The 

 material used was always first-class. It 

 was selected with judgment and with 

 taste. It was extremely well put to- 

 gether. The effect was always finished 

 to the smallest detail. The work was 

 never late. Just think what that means, 

 the careful preparation, the early hours 

 and the late hours, the self-denial, the 

 resourcefulness. There is one other 

 factor in the success of the brothers 

 Habermehl that has an especial bearing 

 on the business life of Edward Haber- 

 mehl; that is the demonstrating de- 

 partment. When a ball was to be given 

 the host usually named the place where 

 it was to be given, the amount to be 

 spent and what was expected. From 

 this often hazy outline a plan in water 

 colors was prepared, showing exactly 

 what could be done for the amount pro- 

 posed. Another plan was also pre- 

 pared showing how this plan might be 

 improved upon and what it would cost. 

 This always resulted in a better under- 

 standing and frequently in much finer 

 decorations than were originally in- 

 tended. 



Ed Habermehl was laid at rest Sat- 

 urday morning, February 14. He was 

 52 years of age. Phil. 



Edward Lennon. 



Edward Lennon died suddenly at his 

 home, 38 Weaver avenue, Newport, B. 

 I., Monday, February 9. He was one 

 of the best known of the old-time gar- 

 deners in Newport and was employed 

 for a number of years by the late Com- 

 modore William Edgar on his estate 

 on, the Old Beach road, now occupied 

 by his daughter. Miss Lucille Edgar. 

 He was a devout churchman at St. 

 Mary's parish. He is survived by two 

 sons, of Newport, and a daughter, in 

 Boston. 



Willard L. Wyckoff. 



Willard L. Wyckoff, of Chagrin Falls, 

 O., died Friday, February 13, of influ- 

 enza. The funeral was held the follow- 

 ing Sunday at the residence. His widow 

 was well known to the trade, before 

 her marriage, as Miss Grace Hunt. 



INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 



The Market. 



The business on St. Valentine's day 

 was unusually heavy this year, floral 

 valentines being more in demand than 

 ever. The only drawback was the acute 

 scarcity of stock. Sweet peas, the 

 usual leaders at this time, were limited 

 and the supply was soon exhausted. 

 Freesias, violets and other small flowers 

 were rapid sellers. Roses were espe- 

 cially scarce and high in price. Carna- 

 tions were in good demand. Baskets, 

 with both cut flowers and plants, sold 

 well. Plants were particularly good 

 property. Cyclamens and primroses 

 were leaders in this line, although be- 

 ijonias, daffodils, hyacinths and ferns 

 were also shown. 



The market continues extremely tight. 

 A few new varieties are seen, but these 

 are just beginning to come in and, as 

 yet, are meager. This is particularly 

 true of hyacinths, jonquils and daffo- 

 dils; the latter are bringing $10 per 

 hundred wholesale and $2.50 per dozen 

 retail, perhaps the highest price ever 

 obtained for them in this vicinity. 



Roses are available in limited supply, 

 bringing from $12 to $50 per hundred. 

 Carnations are selling at $12 and $15 



per hundred. Sweet peas and freesias 

 are especially popular and high-priced; 

 the former bring $3 per hundred stems, 

 while the latter vary in price according 

 to quality. 



The demand has been strong; there 

 has been a great deal of sickness and 

 the death rate has been unusually 

 heavy. Funeral work has been so 

 rushing that some of the stores had only 

 enough flowers to fill these orders and 

 were forced to disappoint many who 

 wished flowers for other purposes. 



Various Notes. 



While driving the delivery car of 

 Clarence R. Greene recently, the chauf- 

 feur narrowly escaped injury in an ac- 

 cident, in which the car was ditched 

 and almost demolished. 



D. L. Fern, representing the A. L. 

 Randall Co., Chicago, and J. J. Karins, 

 with Henry A. Dreer, Inc., Philadel- 

 phia, called on the trade last week. 



E. E. T. 



OHIOAOO. 



The Market. 



Conditions remain practically un- 

 changed; the market is not yet able to 

 fill all orders, although no regular buyer 

 goes without part of his needs. 



Last week proved another record- 

 breaker for the Chicago market. There 

 are wholesale houses reporting a larger 

 week's business than at Christmas, un- 

 believable as it may seem. The ex- 

 planation lies in the fact that the mar- 

 ket was extremely active and exceed- 

 ingly strong all through the week, with 

 two remarkably heavy days just before 

 St. Valentine's. The Thursday and 

 Friday business not only exceeded 

 everything heretofore known for St. 

 Valentine's day, but not so long ago 

 would have constituted a good Christ- 

 mas or Easter business. Prices ad- 

 vanced slightly as St. Valentine's day 

 approached. Everything cleaned up 

 with the exception of violets. There 

 was a shortage of roses and carnations, 

 just as there has been for weeks, and 

 some increase in sweet peas and bulbous 

 stock did not serve to ease the situa- 

 tion. There was an abundance of free- 

 sia, so that any florist who could use 

 this flower got all he wanted. Cattleyas 

 also were equal to the demand. The 

 only surplus was of violets. There was 

 a bad smash in this department. Early 

 last week growers in Rhinebeck tele- 

 graphed that the storms had interfered 

 with their shipments and some of them 

 added that there would not be many 

 violets for Chicago for St. Valentine's 

 day. The result was that the Chicago 

 wholesalers either declined violet orders 

 or put the price so high that the orders 

 were small. Then the Rhinebeck grow- 

 ers shipped practically their whole 

 week's pick to this market! The reason 

 assigned is that the great snow storm 

 had resulted in an embargo on New 

 York city; being shut out, or practi- 

 cally shut out from that market, most 

 of the week's pick, instead of only a 

 small part of it, was sent to Chicago. 

 It took this market unawares. No doubt 

 the violets could have been sold at 

 fair prices if there had been advance 

 information of their coming, but all the 

 advance information was the other 

 way. The result was that the buyers 

 made their own prices and it was not 

 possible to sell all the stock at any price. 

 [Continued on page 30. J 



