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20 



The Florists^ Review 



June 3, 1920 



be increased and our prestige aug- 

 mented. Clias. N. Cotter. 



BOSTON. 



The Market. 



Perfect weather greatly favored 

 Memorial day trade this year, cloudless 

 skies and temi)erature8 nearly normal 

 for the season prevailing for some days 

 before the great holiday. The season 

 here, as elsewhere, is quite late and out- 

 door supplies of flowers were small, 

 while a number of indoor crops failed 

 to flower on time. The week ending 

 May 22 saw the lowest prices of the 

 year, but an entire change occurred the 

 following week and flowers made excel- 

 lent prices all along the line. Fancy 

 flowers were not wanted. The demand, 

 however, for short and medium quality 

 stock seemed insatiable. Eoses were in 

 great demand. Short-stemmed flowers 

 made $6 to $8 per hundred and there 

 was an excellent demand for mediums 

 up to $12 to $14 per hundred, but long- 

 stemmed flowers made little, if any, 

 more. Colored varieties, as usual, sold 

 the best, whites dragging somewhat. 

 Carnations were off crop with many 

 growers; $10 per hundred seemed an 

 average price, but $12 was easily secured 

 for select flowers. There was an im- 

 mense supply of Matchless, which sold 

 as low as $6 in some cases. As usual, a 

 lot of pickled flowers appeared; many 

 which were sold were going to sleep at 

 the time. 



Yellow marguerites sold up to $8 for 

 the best and calendulas had a good sale. 

 Stocks were fewer than usual. The best 

 stalks sold at $10 to $15 per hundred; 

 short-stemmed and single-flowered ones 

 went cheaper. Candytuft realized $1 

 per bunch and double feverfew sold 

 quickly at 50 cents to $1 per bunch, as 

 (iid Gypsophila elegans,' Callas and 

 lilies, in common with other white flow- 

 ers, were not in good demand. Darwin 

 tulips were not abundant and were 

 eagerly bought at $S to $12 per hundred. 

 Poeticus was the only narcissus avail- 

 able. Snapdragon was abundant at $6 

 to $12 per hundred. Of the large-flow- 

 ered gladioli a big crop appeared and 

 sold at $2 to $4 per dozen. Other flow- 

 ers included bachelor's buttons, Span- 

 ish iris, lilac, mostly of the quite com- 

 mon varieties and not of good quality, 

 forget-me-nots and sweet peas. The last 

 named made up to $5 per hundred and 

 all flowers of good quality readily 

 cleaned up at $3 to $4. There was a 

 good call for asparagus and common 

 ferns. 



Sales of pansies, daisies and forget- 

 me-nots in l)askets were large ami the 

 warmer weather sent in a flood of or- 

 ders for geraniums and other bedding 

 plants. Hydrangeas and roses were the 

 two leaders among flowering plants. 



Sal«s of artificial wreaths and sjirays 

 were simply enormous, far exceeding 

 those of any former year, and their ag- 

 gregate value must have been several 

 times that of natural flowers. They are 

 becoming a recognized necessity at 

 Memorial day. Without them the cut 

 flowers would rise to unbcard.-of figures 

 and simply kill Memorial day business 

 for florists. 



June 1 saw a decided change in the 

 flower market. Supplies were not large, 

 as all country growers had heavy retail 

 home orders to fill. Eoses took the most 

 decided drop and carnations will go 



much lower as th-i week advances. 

 White is the ever predominant color. 

 Lilies, snapdragons, stocks and other 

 crops which failed to flower for 

 Memorial day are hard to move at any 

 price. Sweet peas continue in good de- 

 mand and for yellow and white mar- 

 guerites, Spanish iris and bouvardia 

 there is a good call. For cattleyas there 

 is little demand. Some gigas are now 

 seen, as well as Mossia?. Outdoor lily 

 of the valley is still fine and is much 

 superior to the forced article in flower 

 and foliage. 



Various Notes. 



There seemed to be a general agree- 

 ment among retailers that business for 

 Memorial day was better than ever be- 

 fore and the necessity of charging 

 higher prices turned an increased num^ 

 ber to artificial wreaths, many thou- 

 sands of which were sold. Weather con- 

 ditions were simply perfect and proved 

 a boon to everyone after our long spell 

 of cold, dark and rainy weather. 



Henry Penn has been elected presi- 

 dent of the Brotherhood of the Temple 

 Ohabed Shalon, of Boston, to lead a 

 good citizenship campaign throughout 

 the United States. Extensive plans are 

 being made to extend the organization 

 and build temples in every large com- 

 munity in the country. One of the first 

 will be built in Mr. Penn's home town, 

 Brookline. 



The board of directors of the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society at its last 

 meeting, held May 24, voted to hold a 

 great rose show in Boston, April 5, 1921, 

 with $6,000 in prizes. The first prize 

 for a rose garden will be $1,000. Other 

 seasonable plants, in addition to roses, 

 will be features, but it is planned to 

 have the best indoor exhibition of roses 

 ever seen in the United States. 



J. Eisemann, the Beacon Florist, re- 

 ports an extraordinary Memorial day 

 business. He sold thousands of artifi- 

 cial wreaths, these going to all parts of 

 New England. His designs were in 

 good taste, which could not be said of 

 all the others in the city. He also had 

 a heavy call for natural flowers. 



May 30 and 31 the lilacs were in mag- 

 nificent bloosn in the Arnold Arboretum 

 and many thousands of visitors enjoyed 

 them. All trees are profusely flowered 

 this year. Usually the large malus col- 

 lection has passed before the lilacs open, 

 but this year, on account of climatic 

 vagaries, the two flower together and 

 such ornamental apples as floribunda, 

 Toringo, Scheideckeri and spectabilis 

 were at their best on the same dates as 

 the lilacs. 



The Boston Floral Supply & Snyder 

 Co. had a bumper Memorial day busi- 

 ness and reports that sales of baskets, 

 artificial wreaths and natural flowers 

 broke all previous records. 



Wax Bros., for their first Memorial 

 day on Temple place, were almost over- 

 whelmed with business and found that 

 the removal from Tremont street did not 

 cripple their trade in the least. 



Local peonies will not appear in the 

 market for some days yet. Such as were 

 seen here for Memorial day came from 

 Philadelphia and sold at fancy prices. 

 The- local crop, thanks to abundant 

 rains, looks remarkably well and grow- 

 ers hope they will be available ere June 

 weddings pass. 



There will be a fine iris display at 

 Horticultural hall June 5 and 6. The 

 first flowers of germanica opened with 

 us May 28. Ehododendrons will not be 



open for June 5 and a- small number 

 only of hardy azaleas will be available. 



At Penn's the Memorial day trade 

 went far ahead of all former years, and 

 it was a case of night and day work for 

 a much increased staff for several days 

 to keep abreast of the orders. The spe- 

 cial Memorial day wreaths, extensively 

 advertised throughout New England, 

 met with a tremendous sale. 



For the field day of the Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Club in the Arnold Ar- 

 boretum, June 12, members and friends 

 are asked to be at the Forest Hills gate 

 on the arborway at 3 o'clock. This gate 

 is easily reached by steam, elevated and 

 surface railroads from Forest Hills, 

 from which it is only five minutes' walk, 

 There will be a wealth of interesting 

 and attractive trees and shrubs flower- 

 ing on the date named. Members are 

 buying tickets freely for the entertain- 

 ment, collation and dance to follow the 

 club meeting June 15. 



The annual peony show of the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society will be 

 held at Horticultural hall June 19 

 and 20. 



The Chestnut Hill Garden club held a 

 successful flower show May 25 at the 

 Chestnut Hill Country Club. Some of 

 the largest and most successful ex- 

 hibitors were Peter Arnott, gardener to 

 E. S. Webster; W. C. Bust, gardener to 

 Mrs. C. G. Weld, and Donald McKenzie, 

 gardener to E. B. Dane. 



May gave us an excess of precipita- 

 tion and deficiency of clear days, espe- 

 cially during the first half of the month. 

 The maximum temperature was 86 de- 

 grees, May 27, and the minimum 30 de- 

 grees. May 5. On only seven nights did 

 the minimum temperature exceed 50 de- 

 grees. 



W. G. Wyman, of the firm of Little- 

 field & Wyman, was elected president ol 

 the Abington Board of Trade at the an- 

 nual meeting, May 26. W. N. Craig ad- 

 dressed the members on * ' The Necessity 

 of Increased Food Production in New 

 f]ngland." W. N. C. 



THE RICH DADDY. 



It seems peculiar sometimes, when 

 you think of it, that those who have the 

 most money want to get the most for 

 it and are quite particular where it 

 goes. 



One of the wealthy men of our town 

 came into my store for some flowers to 

 take home to his wife, as it was their 

 wedding anniversary. I suggested some 

 nice Eussell roses, saying that it would 

 be nice to have one for each year they 

 had been married. 



He asked the price and I told him 

 that they were $6 per dozen. He 

 thought that was too high. So I said 

 that those were the kind that his son 

 always bought. 



"Well," he said, "my son has a. rich 

 daddy, but I haven 't. ' ' 



He then ordered half a dozen car- 

 nations of mixed colors and a quantity 

 of green in a box. 



Can you beat it? George Ecke. 



Muncie, Ind. — 0. H. Brown will open 

 a store in this city the latter jjart of 

 June. 



Orlando, Fla.— Fred W. FJ^qtcher, 

 whose letterhead says, "A florist for '*" 

 twenty-five years," reports: "Am hav- 

 ing a great season, working harder than 

 ever before in my life; no help to be had 

 at a price possible to pay in this bnsi- 

 ness." 



