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The Florists^ Review 



Decbmbeb 18, 1919. 



1 



fore them. The placing of several large 

 advertisements in the daily papers for 

 the holidays was approved of. No more 

 meetings of this committee will be held 

 until the second Tuesday in the new 

 year. 



Contracts were let this week for the 

 remodeling of the 4-8tory building at 

 712 Washington avenue, which will be 

 the new home of Grimm & Gorly and 

 into which they will move the latter 

 part of January, to be open for busi- 

 ness in the nfiw place February 1, 1920. 

 The exterior of the building will be re- 

 modeled, with huge cement flower boxes 

 in tiers running parallel to each floor. 

 They will be filled the entire year with 

 seasonable plants and flowers. A canopy 

 of bronze and glass will project over 

 the doorway. The first two floors will 

 be used as salesrooms and will be dec- 

 orated with plastic reliefs, crystal chan- 

 deliers of distinctive design and floors 

 of French tile. A large display of wicker 

 ware and sun-room decorations will be 

 shown on the second floor. 



C. Young & Sons Co. furnished the 

 floral decorations for the opening of the 

 new Night and Day bank in the Odd 

 Fellows' building on Olive and Ninth 

 streets. Many floral baskets were sent 

 by friends of the bank and, as usual at 

 openings of this kind, it looked like a 

 flower show. 



Guy Eeburn, of Chicago, who spent a 

 week here calling on the local trade, 

 says he never experienced a more pros- 

 perous business week than he did here. 

 M. C. Wright, of the Chicago office of 

 the Lord & Burnham Co., and Martin 

 Eeukauf, representing H. Bayersdorfer 

 & Co., Philadelphia, also called on the 

 trade last week with excellent results. 



All the wholesale houses that handle 

 supplies say their shipping and local 

 trade this year is away beyond expec- 

 tations. Red frieze, red ruscus and 

 made-up magnolia wreaths have the 

 greatest call, and the supply is running 

 low. Judging from advance orders, 

 Christmas demand for cut stock will be 

 larger than ever. 



The Florists' Bowling League held a 

 fine bowling session December 10 on 

 the new alleys. During the evening 

 the Carnations met the Sweet Peas and 

 suffered defeat in two of the three 

 games, while the Roses won the odd 

 game from the Daisies, thus breaking 

 the tie for first place with the Carna- 

 tions. Frank Plotz, of the Sweet Peas, 

 was high man with 621, an average of 

 207 per game. After this week's bowl- 

 ing the league will not bowl again until 

 the first Wednesday night in the new 

 year. J. J. B. 



NEW YOEK. 



The Market. 



There is little change to be reported 

 in the flower market this week. The 

 supply of flowers is barely sufficient to 

 meet the demand, which is not more 

 than normal. The heavy supply of 

 chrysanthemums, which has been a fea- 

 ture of the market for many weeks, is 

 no longer to be reckoned with and the 

 supply of other seasonable and staple 

 items does not seem to balance the situ- 

 ation; consequently, the market faces 

 a shortage which will be hard to over- 

 come. 



Poinsettias are beginning to arrive, 

 but thus early they are moved only for 

 window display. The quality is fine and 

 ,later there will doubtless be a good de- 

 mand for them. 



Roses are not overplentiful and in the 

 short grades there is hardly sufficient 

 stock to meet requirements. American 

 Beauty is in fair supply and moves well, 

 even at prices which might be consid- 

 ered at the holiday point, the best spe- 

 cials bringing $125 per hundred. Hybrid 

 teas are active in movement, although 

 top grades require a little pushing, the 

 supply of these being much larger than 

 of the other sizes. The quality gener- 

 ally is of high order. 



Carnations are not plentiful and prices 

 continue high, sales ranging from $10 

 to $12 per hundred for the best, with 

 $15 being asked for selected stock of 

 Mrs. C. W. Ward and the reds. It is« 

 quite evident that the production of 

 these popular flowers is much curtailed 

 this season. 



Orchids continue scarce and high and 

 no change in this condition is looked for 

 in the near future. Cattleyas are bring- 

 ing $2 and more, and are quickly 

 snapped up. Much of the stock avail- 

 able is sold before arrival. The same 

 condition applies to gardenias. It is 

 rather a question on the buyer's part of 

 "How many may I have?" than of the 

 wholesaler's "How many will you 

 take?" The price for good flowers 

 seems to be $1 each, with 75 cents for 

 culls and imperfect flowers. Cypripe- 

 diums sell fairly well at $3 to $6 per 

 dozen. 



There is a small supply of Easter 

 lilies, which command 25 cents per bud 

 and flower, meeting ready sale for wed- 

 ding work. Rubrums bring $6 to $12 

 and albums $6 to $10 per hundred. Lily 

 of the valley is scarce, the price range 

 still being about 20 cents to 30 cents per 

 spray, with selected sprays as much as 

 40 cents. 



DELATED DELIVERY. 



The postal service, once the pride of the people of the United States, 

 suffered seriously during the war. It never came all the way back. Mod- 

 erately prompt handling of letter mail was attained, but at the expense of 

 publishers, who are charged three times the pre-war rates for a vastly in- 

 ferior service. 



Disruption of train schedules because of attempts at fuel conservation, 

 coming during severe weather and at the time of the Christmas rush, has 

 completed the disorganization of publishers' mails. Posted each Thursday 

 with the greatest regularity, the delivery of The Review to its subscribers 

 has passed wholly beyond the publisher's control. 



Because the next two mailing days fall on Christmas and New Year's, The 

 Review will be printed one day early and mailed on Wednesdays for the 

 next two weeks. 



By the time the succeeding issue goes into the mails, January 8, it is 

 hoped conditions will be more nearly normal and that some degree of prompt- 

 ness and regularity in delivery can be maintained. 



Sweet peas are only in moderate sup- 

 ply, the dark, muggy weather causing 

 a wholesale dropping of buds. With 

 many growers of peas the Christmas 

 supply is likely to be quite short. The 

 price range is $2 to $6, the latter figure 

 for long-stemmed sprays. 



There is a small supply of snapdrag- 

 ons, mostly short-stemmed stock, at $1 

 to $2 per bunch. Callas are a little 

 more plentiful and move fairly well at 

 $2 to $4 per dozen. Calendulas, wall- 

 flowers, a few pansies, forget-me-nots, 

 mignonette and pink bouvardia are 

 among the offerings, and clean up well. 

 Stevia is in good supply; the average 

 price is $1 for three bunches. 



Christmas greens are plentiful, with 

 the exception of lycopodium, which is 

 extremely scarce. A shipper in town 

 recently stated tJiat he cannot get pick- / 

 ers even at 15 cents per pound, about 

 three times as much as is usually paid. 

 Holly is bringing $7 per case and Christ- ^ 

 mas trees are offered at $1.50 per 

 bundle. 



Various Notes. 



Bassi Freres have opened a retail store 

 at 202 Main street. New Rochelle. The 

 building is new, of green granite and 

 white marble, three stories high, and the 

 store appointments are quite up-to-date. 

 The American Greenhouse Mfg. Co., 

 Chicago, is erecting a greenhouse for 

 show purposes in connection with the 

 store. 



C. C. Trepel, at Bloomingdale's, last 

 week featured the Von Tilzer "Say It 

 with Flowers" song, a rendition being 

 given eight times daily by a lady vocal- 

 ist, accompanied by an orchestra of six 

 pieces. Miniature reproductions of the 

 title-page of the song, with a score of 

 the chorus, were distributed generously 

 and the piece made a considerable hit. 



There were two or three mettings of 

 wholesale florists last week to consider 

 projects for the housing of the various 

 interests. One project was the leasing 

 of a large portion of the ground floor 

 in one of the abandoned department 

 stores on Sixth avenue, but it is not 

 learned that any definite action has been 

 decided upon. 



A. L. Young has commenced work on 

 the basement of the Coogan building, 

 which he will remodel to meet require- 

 ments to accommodate three or four 

 wholesalers. 



George E. M. Stumpp has been elected 

 president of the Associated Retail 

 Florists of New York. The organiza- 

 tion holds weekly meetings at the Penn- 

 sylvania hotel. 



It seems likely that the ladies' night 

 of the Now York Florists' Club will be 

 held on a date different from the one 

 decided upon at the last meeting of the 

 club, the business of the club on the 

 night selected making the change im- 

 perative. J. H. P. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



Work of the Committees. 



An examining committee of the C. 

 S. A. has submitted a report on a new 

 variety as follows: 



At Cincinnati, O., Novembor 29. Sunl)eam, 

 yellow, Japanese incurved, submitted by Elmer 

 D. Smith & Co., Adrian, Midi, scored as follows 

 on tlie commercial scale: Color, 18; form. 14; 

 fullness, 9: stem, 14; foliage, 14; substance, 13; 

 size, 8; total, 90. 



Chas. W. Johnson, Sec'y, 



