Mat 20, 1920. 



The Florists^ Review 



27 



Herman Niessner. 



Herman Niessner died at his home in 

 Johnstown, Pa., April 28, after a ten 

 (lays' illness. He was 68 years of age. 

 itr. Neissner was born in Austria, 

 came to this country in 1876 and was a 

 resident of Johnstown for more than 

 forty-two years. His wife died in 1917. 

 He leaves four children. 



NEW YORK. 



The Market. 



The market last week was fairly sat- 

 isfactory; supply and demand were 

 nearly equal, making clearances easy 

 except in one or two lines. Some heavy 

 arrivals of outdoor lilacs are responsi- 

 ble for a little disturbance among some 

 lines, which is not an unusual thing at 

 this time of year. Peonies from the 

 south are arriving, but do not seem to 

 excite much interest, the tight condi- 

 tion of the flower heads not making 

 them particularly attractive. Large 

 quantities of tulips and daffodils con- 

 tinue to arrive, but move fairly well. 

 Much of this stock is from frames. 



At the beginning of the week arrivals 

 were not particularly heavy and the 

 demand was nothing to boast about. 

 Roses are not overplentiful, but sales 

 are light. American Beauty specials 

 hang fire at $50 per hundred, the ask- 

 ing price for the best. Hybrid teas 

 are not particularly active in move- 

 ment, but prices remain about the same 

 as in the previous week, except in the 

 top grades, which are slightly lower for 

 some varieties. 



Carnations are abundant and are not 

 in great demand. Prices obtained are 

 scarcely normal under the new condi- 

 tions, the range being $3 to $5 per hun- 

 dred for the general run of stock. A 

 few days of bright, almost warm 

 weather have seemed to bring on crops. 



Cattleyas are not quite so plentiful 

 as they have been, and the demand is 

 rather weak. A few of the gigas va- 

 riety bring as much as $100 per hun- 

 dred, but the general run, which is 

 largely made up of Mossise, moves at 

 $25 to $50 per hundred. Gardenias are 

 plentiful, most arrivals being of poor 

 quality. Selected flowers bring $2 per 

 dozen; the rest go at any price obtain- 

 able. 



Frame stock adds considerably to 

 lily of the valley arrivals and move- 

 ment is slow at $1.50 to $6 per hun- 

 dred sprays. Easter lilies are in good 

 supply and move within a range of $8 

 1o $12 per hundred. Callas are bring- 

 "ig 75 cents to $2 per dozen. 



Sweet peas are abundant, although 

 the fine stock seen two or three weeks 

 ^^0 is no longer in evidence. Short- 

 stemmed stock clears at 35 cents to 50 

 '^ents per bunch, with the best grades 

 it $1 to $2. 



Miscellaneous stock is in heavy sup- 

 T'ly and much is sacrificed to effect 

 (^earances. Antirrhinum is particularly 

 •'bundant and fine stock clears at as 

 1 'W as 50 cents per bunch, poorer grades 

 "fling at prices down to 20 cents. Irises, 

 ^-ignonette, white and yellow daisies, 

 ^■Tlendulas, pansies, myosotis, del- 

 Ihiniums, ranunculuses, candytuft, 

 ''ontaureas and cornflowers are promi- 



nent among the offerings. Fruit tree 

 sprays and sprays from flowering 

 shrubs help to swell the list of ar- 

 rivals. 



Various Notes. 



The subcommittee on the schedule 

 for the 1921 flower show met Friday 

 evening. May 14, and settled upon a 

 preliminary schedule which will go out 

 in a few days. The premiums offered 

 cover plants only; cut flower classes 

 are to be arranged for later. 



Louis Eaptis, the retailer at One 

 Hundred and Forty-ninth street and 

 Third avenue, sailed April 12 for 

 Greece, to visit his parents, and will 

 be gone some time. 



E. J. Fancourt, of the S. S. Pennock 

 Co., Philadelphia, was a recent visitor. 



J. H. P. 



HARTFORD, CONN. 



The Market. 



The weather cc^nditions for this part 

 of the country are unseasonable. We 

 have had rain almost continually and 

 the temperature has been below normal, 

 causing a scarcity of flowers. The de- 

 mand holds up well. Spring weddings 

 are taking place in rapid succession and 

 keep the florists busy most of the time. 

 Sweet peas, iris, calendulas, snap- 

 dragons and roses are the main items at 

 present. Carnations are unusually good 

 in both stem and color for this season 

 of the year. 



Mothers' day was a great success in 

 Hartford. The demand was the great- 

 est we ever had. The Florists' Club of 

 Hartford placed advertisements in the 

 newspapers calling attention to the 

 facts that prices would be about normal 

 and that other flowers besides carna- 

 tions were just as appropriate. This en- 

 abled us to sell all kinds of flowers 

 and not only the usual white carnation. 

 Saturday, May 8, was stormy, but the 

 demand was good in spite of the 

 weather. 



Club Meeting. 



The Florists' Club of Hartford held 

 its regular meeting at the City club 

 Tuesday evening. May 11. After a 

 steak dinner the business meeting was 

 held. It was decided to spend about 

 $300 for newspaper advertising for 

 Memorial day. The work of placing the 

 annual assessments for the coming year 

 was left unfinished until the next meet- 

 ing. The entertainment committee was 

 instructed to proceed with the plans for 

 the annual club picnic. It reported that 

 ladies' night was a success financially 

 and otherwise. 



The club had the great pleasure of 

 having Max Schling, of New York, as 

 its guest. Mr. Schling came prepared 

 to talk on the uses of flowers. He 

 brought a large box of flowers, baskets 

 and ribbons and proceeded to show that 

 he could work and talk at the same 

 time, for he explained clearly each part 

 of the work as he did it. He said that 

 the foundation of good business might 

 be placed in three divisions, service, 

 salesmanship and advertising. He told 

 of some of his experiences when he first 

 started to build his business, which were 

 amusing. The methods he used and the 

 baskets created were unusual and beau- 

 tiful. Mr. Schling 's talk was in- 

 structive and was much appreciated by 

 the club. 



Wallace Pierson, a member of the 

 club, gave a talk on the National Flower 



Growers' Association. He told of its 

 start, its work and its object. 



Various Notes. 



George Lane said that if Saturday, 

 May 8, had been a good day he would 

 have had to sell the signs off the front 

 of the store. 



At John Coombs' stores business was 

 the best ever. The stores looked like 

 brokers' offices by the way telegrams 

 were being received. 



George G. McClunie did a big tele- 

 graph business and his regular trade 

 was the largest he has ever experienced. 

 He was sold out. 



The Volz Floral Co. did not open at 

 all Sunday, May 9, having cleaned out 

 Saturday. 



Andrews Bros., of Bristol, had to lock 

 the doors at 11 o'clock Sunday morning 

 to keep the crowd out. 



Robert Marchant & Sons report the 

 best business they ever had for Moth- 

 ers' day. Business has been excellent 

 all the season. 



Edmund Pehl has moved into a new 

 store. It is much larger than his old 

 one and will enable him to care for his 

 increased business. 



The bedding stock at Mrs. Newton's 

 greenhouses is in excellent shape. 



Mr. Ruddle has been unusually suc- 

 cessful with his carnations this year. 



The McManus Posey Shop reports 

 that business is good. A fountain in 

 the window is attractive. G. B. M. 



CHICAaO. 



The Market. 



May thus far has been possibly the 

 best business month in the history of 

 the Chicago market. Not only did 

 Mothers' day business make a splendid 

 new record, eclipsing Easter and equal- 

 ing Christmas for many, but the week 

 following Mothers' day was unexpect- 

 edly good. There was a brisk demand 

 throughout and the supply of stock was 

 unusually small for this season of the 

 year, with the result that prices were 

 excellent and the week proved one of 

 the best ever recorded in May. The 

 present week opened with bad weather 

 and there was some accumulation of 

 stock, but it is thought we are now 

 too near to Memorial day for any break 

 to occur. Indeed, the market is rising, 

 for the orders coming in for May 30 are 

 larger and more numerous than ever. 



There is no real shortage of flowers 

 unless it is of valley. Everything else 

 is in supply adequate to the demand, 

 but not in such oversupply as is usual 

 at the middle of May. The three prin- 

 cipal items are roses, carnations and 

 sweet peas. The peony has not yet 

 assumed its usual commanding position 

 in May. The weather has been too cold 

 for any of the outdoor flowers and has 

 been of great influence in holding back 

 the crops of indoor stock. In the rose 

 section it is noted that there are in- 

 creased supplies of short-stemmed 

 flowers, some of which are of such low 

 grade that they are scarcely salable 

 even on so good a market as we have 

 been having. This is particularly true 

 of Milady, a rose which does extremely 

 well in the hands of a few growers and 

 extremely poorly in the hands of the 

 majority. The leaders are Russell, 

 Premier, Columbia and Ophelia; the 

 rest are insignificant by comparison. 



The carnation growers are not cut- 



[Contlnucd on page 32.1 



