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June 3, 1920. 



The Florists' Review 



23 



TOBONTO, ONT. 



The Market. 



Business is keeping up wonderfully 

 well for this time of the year. Usually 

 when the garden flowers appear there 

 is a slackening of the sale of greenhouse 

 stock. This year there has been no such 

 let-up. Growers state that they are 

 having fine cuts, but that they are un- 

 able to fill the demands. This is partly 

 accounted for by the demand for flowers 

 for the races, there being a profusion 

 of flowers among the ladies in attend- 

 ance. One firm had the order for keep- 

 ing the Jockey Club decorated and the 

 flowers were replaced each day. Most 

 of the florists benefited to a consider- 

 able extent by the demand for corsages. 



There has also been a big demand for 

 design work for funerals, although there 

 appears to be little sickness in the city. 



Florists handling bedding plants and 

 rose bushes are doing a good trade at a 

 fair figure. 



Various Notes. 



An order-in-eouncil has been passed 

 by the Dominion government prohibit- 

 ing the importation of corn and corn 

 broom and many kinds of flowers from 

 certain eastern states, to prevent the 

 introduction into Canada of the Euro- 

 pean corn-borer. 



Arrangements are being made for the 

 usual big retail picnic at Center island 

 July 14. The many friends of the re- 

 tailers are invited to be the guests of 

 the club at the picnic, including supply 

 men, growers, etc. 



The Hamilton convention committee, 

 under W. E. Groves, has completed ar- 

 rangements for a most helpful and social 

 time at the C. H. A. convention, to be 

 held there August 10 to 13 inclusive. 

 Many friends from the United States 

 have signified their intention of being 

 present and it is hoped that the dele- 

 gation from south of the border will be 

 a big one. They are assured of a warm 

 welcome. 



Mr. and Mrs. James McBean have 

 gone to Scotland to spend the summer. 



Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Higgins have 

 moved to their summer home at Long 

 Branch. 



Mrs. S. A. Frost has been visiting at 

 Sanford. 



The school children celebrated Em- 

 pire day by decorating the monuments 

 and May 24 the veterans again deco- 

 rated them. Many florists had a large 

 number of designs made up for this 

 purpose. J. J. H. 



NEW YORK. 



The Market. 



After several days of rather dull trad- 

 ing last week, the market on Thursday 

 began to pick up a bit in anticipation 

 of Memorial day business. Immense 

 quantities of lilac, iris and sprays of 

 flowering shrubs have come into the city 

 in various ways, gifts of commuters to 

 their city friends, and the market felt 

 this influx considerably. The demand 

 faded away to the minimum and clear- 

 ances were made only at sacrifices, 

 much material being taken by the cheap 

 stores and the street men. Prices, natu- 

 rally, fell away considerably. Roses, 



, lilies, carnations and herbaceous flowers 



.^-xsuflfared. alike, .. ^_^ .. 



Friday, May 28, all waschanged, the 

 demand becoming good and movement 

 of. stock quite lively. The same condi- 



tions continued through Saturday, when 

 the demand for Memorial day require- 

 ments became quite active. One or two 

 of the wholesalers opened Sunday morn- 

 ing to receive shipments and fill orders, 

 and Monday considerable business was 

 done in the early morning hours. Alto- 

 gether the Memorial day demand was 

 quite satisfactory, and the supply was 

 ample. There were no peonies from 

 local growers, although many came from 

 the south, of rather indifferent quality, 

 and commanding a top price of $10 per 

 hundred for the best. 



Eoses were only in fair supply and 

 prices moved up a notch or two, the 

 range being $3 to $15, with $20 and $25 

 for extra fine stock of the better varie- 

 tiesi In some cases American Beauty 

 went beyond quoted prices, the supply 

 not being particularly heavy, but prices 

 Monday were as quoted, $50 top for spe- 

 cials. 



Carnations met a good demand, mov- 

 ing well at $6 to $8 for the best. Much 

 stock of the old white, Boston Market, 

 was noticed, moving at $3, with $4 for 

 selected stock. Clearances of all carna- 

 tions were effected without trouble. 

 Monday they were somewhat scarce. 



Cattleyas are not in heavy supply. 

 The best gigas commands as much as 

 $1.50 per flower, other grades and varie- 

 ties selling from 75 cents down to 35 

 cents. Gardenias are arriving in quan- 

 tity sufficient to meet the rather small 

 demand, but the quality is away off and 

 much stock goes to waste. 



Lily of the valley is plentiful, with 

 quantities of outdoor stock available. 

 Indoor-grown sprays move at $1.50 to 

 $5 per hundred, with $6 for selected 

 stock. Easter lilies are abundant, but 

 met a fair demand for the holiday at 

 $6 to $8 per hundred. Sweet peas are 

 plentiful and the quality is unusually 

 good for the time of year; the best 

 sprays move at $2 per hundred. 



There has been a fair supply of daffo- 

 dils for some days, despite the lateness 

 of the season, which have been moved 

 at 3.1 to 50 cents per bunch. A few 

 Darwin tulips continue to arrive, and 

 there are small shipments of gladioli 

 from the south, which move at $1.50 to 

 $3 per dozen. 



The supply of herbaceous flowers is 

 large. Lilac is in heavy supply and 

 much goes to waste. The best brings 

 25 to 50 cents per bunch, the latter cov- 

 ering the white variety, Marie Legraye. 

 Iris, daisies, calendulas, snapdragons, 

 lupines, stocks, delphiniums and pansies 

 arc chief among the offerings. 



Various Notes. 



The funeral of the late Patrick 

 O'Mara took place Friday morning, 

 May 28, services being held at the resi- 

 dence at Jersey City, N. J., at which 

 there were present from the trade: Rob- 

 ert Craig, Philadelphia; C. H. Totty, 

 Madison, N. J.; A. L. Miller, Paul and 

 Henry Dailledouze, John Leach. Robert 

 E. Berry, Walter Sheridan, A. T. De La 

 Marc, C. B. Weathered, A. F. Faulkner 

 and John Young. A solemn requiem 

 mass was held later at St. Patrick's 

 church, Jersey City. 



The trade was shocked Friday, Mav 

 28, by the news of the sudden death of 

 Maurice Fuld, the well known plants- 

 man and seedsman of 7 West Forty- 

 fifth street. He was found dead in his 

 lapartment Friday, fanj^ing^. Tie cause. . 

 of death is said to have been hardening 

 of the arteries. Fuller notice appears 

 in the obituary column. 



Anton Zvolanek, the sweet pea seed 

 grower, of Lompoc, Cal., was in the city 

 several days last week, calling upon his 

 many friends and business acquaint- 

 ances. He sailed Saturday, May 29, for 

 Europe, intending to visit his old home 

 in Bohemia and also to make a trip 

 through Russia if possible. He expects 

 to return by way of South America and 

 the Panama canal. 



Robert Craig, Philadelphia, arrived 

 in New York from Porto Rico Tuesday, 

 May 25, and called upon several of his 

 friends. He had been on the island since 

 early in February, his departure being 

 delayed a month owing to inability to 

 get a steamer. Kentias are being grown 

 there in great numbers for the Amer- 

 ican market, he said, the climate suiting 

 them admirably and Quarantine No. 37 

 not affecting their exportation. 



S. B. Wertheimer, who has made an 

 extended tour of Europe, arrived in 

 New York May 31, on the steamship 

 La Lorraine. 



Recent visitors were J. A. Peterson 

 and Mrs. Peterson, Cincinnati; Patrick 

 Welch, Boston; J. K. M. L. Farquhar, 

 Boston; Arthur Zirkman, of the M. Rice 

 Co., Philadelphia; I. Rosnosky, of the 

 American Bulb Co., Chicago. 



Charles Weber, of Lynbrook, L. I., is 

 building a bungalow at Long Beach, 

 with conservatory attached, which he 

 will use to house his retail store at that 

 resort. J. H. P. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



It is a safe assertion that never in 

 the history of the Chicago market were 

 such vast quantities of flowers moved 

 as in the final week of May. In the 

 matter of money value the Memorial 

 day trade did not equal Mothers' day 

 or Christmas, because of the much lower 

 average prices, but for bigness of vol- 

 ume nothing like last week's business 

 ever has been known. Prices were high 

 enough so that nearly all wholesalers 

 had sales exceeding those of Easter and 

 in some cases the prices put them up 

 with Mothers' day and Christmas. 



There was general surprise that the 

 quantity of stock was so large; the re- 

 ceipts of flowers not only were enor- 

 mous, but they exceeded practically 

 everyone 's expectations. Of course the 

 penultimate week of May had been 

 made memorable by a sudden increase 

 in supply, which had caused a sharp 

 fall in prices. This no doubt was the 

 reason why the market was so heavily 

 supplied for Memorial day; as the 

 spring weather, long overdue, brought 

 the flowers to the cutting point the 

 growers stored them up to meet the big 

 demand that was assured for the last 

 few days of the month. When stock is 

 stored up in considerable quantity it 

 always means a difficult market. It was 

 so last week. Before the Memorial day 

 demand began to be an influence in 

 clearing the market many iceboxes were 

 filled with soft, sleepy stock the grow- 

 ers had held to the limit of its endur- 

 ance. Such stock never has any other 

 effect than increasing work and decreas- 

 ing values. There were sleepy carna- 

 tions and soft roses that were unfit for 

 shipping, too poor to appeal to even 

 -tllQj-Owli^est_city storekeeper and which, 

 if sold at all, had to waat for tne 'pell-" 

 dlers who buy only after they see what 

 [Continued on page 28.] 



