42 



The Florists^ Review 



December 11, 1919. 



stirred usually about once a week. 

 Nevertheless, they never seemed to get 

 hold of the soil and when lifted the 

 roots wouldn't have filled the 2i4-inch 

 pots they were taken from originally. 

 Fearing an acidity in the soil, we made 

 a litmus test, but found scarcely a trace. 

 Notwithstanding the test, we gave one 

 bench a good application of air-slaked 

 lime, with no results. One bench 

 seemed to start; so we pinched the tops 

 out about two weeks after setting and 

 these pretty nearly refused to break at 

 all. These were given a liquid applica- 

 tion of nitrate of soda, but we could 

 never see that it did any good. 



Our blooms, even on these mite-in- 

 fested plants, have been of good sub- 

 stance, form and color, but oh, so small; 

 a 4-inch or 5-inch bloom being a 

 whopper, while many we bunched and 

 sold like pompons. Our assortment, 

 picked up here and there as it was, pre- 

 sented a motley array in varieties and 

 it is a toss-up which did the best, or 

 the worst. And the fact that my pom- 

 pons, of a dozen varieties, both pot 

 and bench, did the same way and are 

 similarly affected and infected makes 

 it all the more puzzling, particularly as 

 vegetable plants set in this same soil 

 last spring did splendidly and my 

 cinerarias now growing in it are fine. 

 Any information, suggestions or advice 

 you can give will be gratefully re- 

 ceived. R. G. — HI. 



The chrysanthemum plants were bad- 

 ly infested with thrips, which I think 

 was the principal cause of the trouble. 

 The leaves also showed traces of red 

 spider. I am of the opinion that the 

 plants when received were too hard 

 and woody for you to be able to 

 make much out of them and accord- 

 ing to the method of culture followed 

 the plants did no* receive enough mois- 

 ture. During their growing season in 

 particular, chrysanthemums growing 

 under glass require a liberal amount of 

 moisture both at the roots and overhead 

 and if not given it they are bound to 

 become stunted and infested with thrips 

 and red spider. M. P. 



ST. Loms. 



The Market. 



Business during the last week has 

 been somewhat irregular, with a good 

 supply of seasonable stock at the whole- 

 sale markets. Calls from outside points 

 have been strong and good shipping or- 

 ders have been reported. All stock con- 

 signed to this market during the week 

 was of excellent quality. Prices were 

 high. There are still plenty of mums 

 coming in daily and they have the call 

 over any of the other seasonable cut 

 flowers. All the late varieties are in 

 and the fancy stock cleans up every day, 

 especially the Bonnaffons and Eatons. 

 All pompons sell well and the market 

 has ample supply in these. 



Boscs are coming along nicely and the 

 crop shortage was noticed all the week. 

 Premier, Bussell and Ophelia are of 

 excellent quality; extra fancies bring 

 as high as $30 per hundred. White 

 roses have had an exceptionally big call, 

 owing to the many weddings of late. 

 Carnations, too, are much short of the 

 demand and have been for the last two 

 weeks. A good crop is expected for 

 Christmas. The dark days last week did 

 not help the crop. Orchids have been 



in fair supply, but high in price. The 

 same may be said of lilies of the valley. 

 No lilies to be had in this market. Few 

 callas are coming in at present. 



Excellent stevia and fine calendulas 

 are in good supply. A fine cut of 

 bouvardia was in last week and sold 

 well. Sweet peas are not as many as the 

 trade would like and the few coming in 

 sell at sight. Paper White and yellow 

 narcissi are in plenty. White snap- 

 dragons are equal to the demand. The 

 sales of greens have been large, as the 

 demand for almost anything green has 

 been strong. Wild smilax and boxwood 

 had large demands all the week and will 

 have all this month. 



Various Notes 



The St. Louis County Growers' Asso- 

 ciation, at its regular monthly meeting 

 December 3, discussed some interesting 

 questions. Among them was that of the 

 coal situation, which brought out the 

 fact that the majority of the members 

 present had laid in a good supply dur- 

 ing the summer months. Discussion of 

 Thanksgiving business and the Christ- 

 mas crop brought out some interesting 

 points. The meeting was not so well 

 attended as was expected, but the few 

 present spent a most enjoyable evening. 

 At the first meeting in the new year, 

 January 7, the attendance should be 

 large. 



The St. Louis Association of Gar- 

 deners had a large attendance at the 

 meeting held December 3 at the 

 municipal greenhouses. President Jen- 

 sen presided over the meeting. The 

 discussion on park management, led by 

 Ernest Strehle, superintendent of parks, 

 was interesting throughout. This, with 

 a discussion of park floral displays led 

 by John Moritz, head of the municipal 

 greenhouses, held the members until 

 late, as both were interesting and edu- 

 cational. Secretary Schaff says meet- 

 ings of this kind bring out the mem- 

 bers. At the January meeting will be 

 other discussions which should bring a 

 good attendance for the first meeting 

 in the new year. 



The trade extended their sympathy to 

 Henry G. Berning last week in the loss 

 of his father, John Berning, whose death 

 is reported in the obituary column this 

 week. 



Frank X. Gorly, of Grimm & Gorly, 

 is spending a few days in Chicago this 

 week looking up stock for the coming 

 holidays. Business is reported excel- 

 lent at this store. 



Henry Ostertag, head of Ostertag 

 Bros., says he will take a trip to Cali- 

 fornia after the holidays for the benefit 

 of his health. His son, Charles, will be 

 in charge in his absence. They have 

 booked a number of good-sized deco- 

 rations for this month. 



Al Gumz and W. A. Rowe returned 

 from their hunting trip early the last 

 week and brought back 125 rabbits, so 

 many in the trade had rabbit dinners 

 during the week. 



Vandervoort's floral department has 

 a wonderful display of Christmas goods. 

 Mr. Schaeffer says they expect one of 

 the best Christmas businesses in years if 

 advance orders count for anything. 



The state fair premium committee 

 held a meeting at the board of educa- 

 tion December 4, which was presided 

 over by H. C. Irish, chairman. All were 

 in attendance and a large and attracti\ffe 

 premium list was prepared for floricul- 

 ture at next year's state fair. 



As Chairman Georgre Asmus, of the 



national flower show committee, will bo 

 in the city this week, Chairman Jules 

 Bourdet says the local national flower 

 show committee will meet with him and 

 transact such business as is laid out 

 for them. 



The local rose growers expect to be 

 in crop for Christmas. A. S. Cerny is 

 cutting some fine Premier, W. J. Pilcher 

 excellent Bussell, and John Steidle good 

 Ophelia. Otto Bruenig has a fine cut 

 of both Premier and Ophelia and 

 Werner Bros, good Ward, Killarney and 

 Columbia. 



Phil Goebel, Jr., of Webster Groves, 

 as usual, is in with a fine cut of Major 

 Bonnaffon this season and a large cut 

 of other varieties. He says the coal 

 situation has no terrors for him, as he 

 is supplied for the season. 



The publicity committee has been 

 doing good work since the season 

 opened. The large and small daily ad- 

 vertisements in all daily papers have 

 been attractive and the retailers have 

 commended them highly, as their cus- 

 tomers have been "Saying It with 

 Flowers" for all occasions. This com- 

 mittee met December 9 and those in 

 charge submitted several prepared 

 copies for the approval of the mewibers 

 of the committee. 



The floral displays at the Missouri 

 Botanical Garden and the municipal 

 greenhouses this week consist of Christ- 

 mas blooms and the attendance at both 

 places has been large. These displays 

 educate the public what to buy for 

 Christmas. 



The bowlers who compose the "Say 

 It with Flowers" League had a great 

 time December 3, when the Carnations 

 won three games from the Daisies after 

 giving them a 35-pin handicap and the 

 Eoses won three games from the Sweet 

 Peas. The Eoses got a 1-pin handicap. 

 It's a great race for first place. The 

 Eoses and Carnations each have won 

 sixteen games. The Sweet Peas are 

 four games out of first plape and the 

 Daisies within five games of the 

 leaders. J. J. B. 



NEW YORK. 



Tlie Market. 



With supply and demand about equal 

 as far as clearances are concerned, the 

 market is strong. While a few items 

 in supply are on the scarce side, the 

 movement of others in abundance is 

 accelerated in consequence. Prices 

 show a tendency to advance as supply 

 shortens and buyers are speculating as 

 to prospects when the chrysanthemum 

 supply is ended. The outlook for the 

 Christmas supply of cut flowers favors 

 the growers, there being every indica- 

 tion of a shortage in the holiday cut. 

 In some lines pre-war holiday prices are 

 already in evidence. 



The supply of chrysanthemums is 

 diminishing. Standard varieties are 

 showing good quality, and top grades 

 bring 75 cents per bloom, with exhibi- 

 tion sorts at $1. Singles and pompons 

 are in good demand at from 50 cents to 

 $1 per bunch. There is a good deal of 

 stock of the bench-clearance quality 

 available, and no difficulty is experi- 

 enced in its movement. 



American Beauty roses are not plenti- 

 ful, but there is suflicient stock to go 

 around. Prices continue about the same 

 as last reported, $75 to $125 per hundred 

 for the best specials, the latter figure 



