Max 13, 1920. 



The Florists^ Review 



29 



Frank L. Gay. 



;'iank L, Gay, known throughout 

 HI .'do Island and New England as the 

 •'j^iadiolus king," died at his home in 

 Pr-vidcnce, E. I., May 4. He was 89 

 vf, IS of age. Mr. Gay was prominent 

 ;is ft judge and assistant at the exhibi- 

 {ioiis'of the Rhode Island Horticultural 

 Sfu ioty. He is survived by his wife and 

 ,iii.! son. At the funeral Friday, May 7, 

 tli( 'c were a number of the old-time flo- 

 rists, greenhouse men and members of 

 ]hi Ehode Island Horticultural Society. 



W. H. M. 



Charles Emil Frankenbach. 



( liarles Emil Frankenbach, of the 

 linn of C. E. Frankenbach & Son, South- 

 .iniplon, L. I., N. Y., died Sunday, April 

 •_'.', !it the age of 60 years. Before going 

 into the nursery business, he was for 

 twenty-one years the superintendent of 

 the Meadow Club at Southampton. 



INDIANAPOIilS, IND. 



Mothers' Day. 



Mothers' day business was splendid. 

 Flowers were by no means in the supply 

 That they were at Easter time, but the 

 trade did a wonderful business and prac- 

 tically everything was cleaned up. Car- 

 nations were scarce. Roses were in fair 

 supply, but because of the extremely 

 liigh price they were not in heavy de- 

 mand. 



As usual, carnations were in the 

 greatest demand. Plants sold readily, 

 hydrangeas and rose bushes being the 

 leaders in this line. Sweet peas were 

 good property and brought from $2 to 

 $.'! per hundred. However, these were 

 not to be had in any great number. 

 Gladioli, snapdragons, candytuft, pan- 

 sies and lilies were included in the offer- 

 ings. Lilies were in large supply, but 

 sold poorly. With the exception of 

 lilies, everything that was available was 

 utilized. 



The Market. 



Warm weather has finally come and 

 it IS certainly welcome. With the bright 

 'li'.VH has come a demand for bedding 

 ^t"ck, which is exceedingly late this 

 year. As yet, little planting out has 

 ''L'Pii done. 



Cut flowers are scarce. A few minia- 

 jure gladioli have put in an appearance, 

 "It the large varieties are arriving 

 ■Slowly. Early candytuft is pretty well 

 Iv f"^ Sweet peas are none too plen- 

 tiiui. Daisies are available and cut pan- 



r!? "i ^' ^^'^^-^ ^'■c i» large supply, but 

 '"ciKiu as are dwindling. Potted plants. 

 ^',^'ier than bedding stock, are scarce. 

 ^^1 on goods are scarce, high-priced and 

 '" "ifenor quality. 



Club Meeting. 



'< '.''%?^'y meeting of the Indiana 



•Vw '\,, ."^*^' Association was held at 



' liorists' Supply House Tuesdav 



-mng, May 4. In the absence of ail 



ofl.oers, Len Elder presided. 



T 'n p ^*^ ^as made of the death of 



'1..- fl^f '"O'i.v, of Evansville, who was 



T .^ L president of the association. 



^^^^ secretary was instructed to write a 



- or condolence to the relatives. 



•J'lne meeting is suspended, but 



there will be a meeting in July, prob- 

 ably out in the state. Little business 

 was transacted, other than a discussion 

 of the fall show. The meeting was well 

 attended and a splendid social evening 

 was enioyed, which was greatly aided 

 by a fine buffet luncheon. 



Various Notes. 



William Roepkc recently had his 

 pleasure car stolen and as yet has been 

 unable to locate it. 



Baur & Steinkamp have started to 

 build their new greenhouse. This firm 

 is cutting some fine Hallcy gladioli. 



Frank Liebking, recently of the A. 

 L. Randall Co., Onicago, is now in busi- 

 ness for himself in window decorations. 



E. E. T. 



Clarence R. Greene has sent out no- 

 tice that Greene's Flower Shop will bo 

 closed Sundaj's after June 1 except 

 when a holiday falls on that day. The 

 hours Saturday will be extended to 

 8:oU p. m. 



CINCINNATI. 



Mothers' Day. 



Perfect weather conditions made 

 Mothers' day business a record-breaker. 

 Newspaper dispatches from Washing- 

 ton, D. C, advocated refraining from 

 purchasing flowers of any sort on ac- 

 count of the high prices. One paper 

 even went so far as to enlist the Fed- 

 oration of Mothers in the antagonistic 

 agitation. H. W. Sheppard, president 

 of the Cincinnati Florists' Club, and 

 H. E. Klunder took it upon themselves 

 to answer for the florists of this city. 

 As fast as the statements appeared in 

 each of the papers, the articles were 

 answered without mincing of words. 

 All tlie answers were printed in their 

 entirety and, being the last word in the 

 matter, made an impression on the pub- 

 lic that acted more in the way of pub- 

 licity than any page advertisement pur- 

 chased at big outlay. Much comment 

 was heard everywhere. The sentiment 

 imbued in the holiday from its begin- 

 ning was enough to keep the public to 

 its original intention o^ using flowers 

 on Mothers ' day. 



The uncertainty brought about by 

 newspaper agitation caused the market 

 to waver the first few days of the week 

 and a sudden piling up of stock was im- 

 mediately attributed to this cause. Fri- 

 day and Saturday, however, saw a gen- 

 eral cleanup at the originally adver- 

 tised prices, and Sunday morning saw 

 carnations at a premium. Many orders 

 liad to be filled with other flowers of 

 equal value. The top price of $15 was 

 not asked in this market, and most re- 

 tailers were able to sell high-grade stock 

 at $2.50 to $3 per dozen. 



Roses were in big demand and ad- 

 vanced twenty-five per cent Saturday, 

 although earlier quotations had not 

 shown any inclination in that direction. 



Sweet peas were in big crop and the 

 demand still greater. Outdoor-grown 

 valley made its appearance just in time 

 to help out values in other lines. Extra 

 fine stock sold at $4 per hundred, while 

 good blooms could be had as low as $2 

 per hundred. Greenhouse-grown valley, 

 quoted at $6 to $8 per hundred in Moth- 

 ers' day price lists, invariably was 

 found to have been billed at $12 per 

 hundred when the boxes were opened. 

 For this reason the outdoor-grown val- 

 ley was a boon to retailers in corsage 



work and- helped to balance matters. 

 Snapdragon was never better and was 

 a great seller; $8 to $12 per hundred 

 was the prevailing quotation. Outdoor 

 lilac was only fair and in a great many 

 instances had been cut too green to be 

 of much value. 



The retailers nearly all state that 

 business was ahead of last year, but 

 assert that the greatly advanced prices 

 are unwarranted at this time of year. 



Various Notes. 



The Wm. Murphy Co. was heavily 

 supplied on all good lines of stock and 

 did a remarkable business. 



Julius Baer is one of the retailers who 

 believe there is a limit to price fixing. 

 "We must cater to the general public if 

 we want to grow," says Mr. Baer. 



Robert D. Ruttle, Covington, Ky., was 

 busy far into Saturday night and did a 

 business away b<iyond expectations. 



C. E. Critchell made extra prepara- 

 tiouj to handle the last-minute rush and 

 had all he could do to find sufficient 

 stock to satisfy all customers. 



Joseph Hill was a welcome visitor last 

 week from Richmond, Ind. 



H. W. Sheppard was fully prepared to 

 meet the rush, an extra office assistant 

 being necessary to handle the telegraph 

 and mail orders, which have reached 

 wonderful proportions with this house. 

 With the additional two delivery cars, 

 evervthing was sent out on time. 



H. E. K. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Mothers ' day made another wonder- 

 ful new record for the trade in Chicago. 

 It was the antithesis of Easter, opposite 

 in every essential feature. The demand, 

 if it did not exceed the supply, was suffi- 

 ciently strong to cause high prices to be 

 firmly maintained, the market for the 

 holiday closing higher than it started. 

 To the growers and wholesalers the re- 

 sults for Mothers' day were much more 

 satisfactory than at Easter. There was 

 not so much stock, but there was enough 

 so that with the higher average prices 

 it produced a greater money total. Not 

 all houses equaled Piaster in sales, be- 

 cause they lacked the lilies, but many 

 did so and some say Mothers' day even 

 readied a higher total than Christmas. 



Carnations were in chief request. The 

 supply, while called short, was just 

 about equal to the demand at the prices. 

 The week opened with carnations selling 

 at 10 cents and closed with the price 

 firm at 15 cents. A good many advance 

 orders had been taken at 12 cents. While 

 some orders were cut, the higher price 

 was a great factor in reducing the de- 

 mand. More carnations no doubt could 

 have been sold without affecting tne 

 price, but 15 cents was the limit; it was 

 not possible to get buyers to pay more 

 rind a moderate increase in the "supply 

 would have resulted in lower prices. 

 Most of the stock was fine and, unlike 

 the Easter experience, there were few 

 complaints. 



Roses, next to carnations, were in 

 chief request. There were not nearly 

 enough short roses to go around. The 

 supply of medium lengths also cleaned 

 up each day, but there were enough 

 of the long grades so that they were at 

 all times available. There were some 

 left, or else they were sold below their 

 anticipated value. The quality of most 

 [Continued on pago 34.1 



