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Decembeb 23, 1920 



The Florists^ Review 



21 



OBITUARY 



Erlck A. Erickson. 



After forty years of loyal and effi- 

 cient service as foreman at Peterson 

 Nursery, Chicago, Erick A. Erickson 

 died December 18 and was buried De- 

 cember 21. Mr. Erickson was 66 years 

 of age. He left Sweden in 1879 and 

 made his way almost directly to Peter- 

 son Nursery, where he lived on the 

 nursery property for thirty-five years 

 and made a wide circle of acquaintances 

 in the nursery trade. Mr. Erickson re- 

 moved from the nursery grounds about 

 five years ago to establish his family 

 in a home of their own, where he leaves 

 a widow, a son and two daughters. His 

 death occurred in a hospital, following 

 an operation on his stomach. 



Mrs. Maxie Oude DeShlelds. 



Marie Gude DeShields, elder daughter 

 of Mr. and Mrs. Adolphus Gude, of 

 Gude Bros. Co., Washington, D. C, died 

 Sunday evening, December 19, at the 

 age of 30. 



In addition to her husband she is sur- 

 vived by her mother, father, sister and 

 three brothers. 



The burial took place at Bock Creek 

 cemetery Tuesday, December 21, at 2 

 p. m. 



Mrs. Jobn C. Hatcher. 



Mary A. Ki^, wife of John C. 

 Hatcher, of Aio&terdam, N. Y., died 

 unexpectedly, F^ay, December 17, at 

 the family hom«at Hoffmans, N, Y. 

 Mrs. Hatcher iS^ been suffering for 

 some time with affaffection of the heart, 

 but was apparently in good health when 

 she retired Thursday evening. As she 

 was about to arise Friday morning she 

 was seized with the final attack, and 

 death was almost instantaneous. 



Mrs. Hatcher was born at Hunton, 

 Kent, England, and was married at 

 Croydon, Surrey, England, to Mr. 

 Hatcher, February 20, 1870. They came 

 to America on their wedding trip and 

 were so well pleased with the country 

 that they determined to settle here. 

 Amsterdam and its vicinity have been 

 their home practically since that time. 



She was a member of St. Ann's church 

 and in earlier years was active in its 

 Aid Society. Last February Mr. and 

 Mrs. Hatcher observed their golden 

 wedding anniversary. Seven children 

 were born to them, all of whom preceded 

 the mother in death except one son, 

 George Stanley Hatcher. Surviving are 

 the husband, one son, three grandsons, 

 a brother, Charles P. King, of Oriskany 

 Falls, N. Y., and a sister, Miss Harriet 

 A. King, who lives at the Hatcher home. 



Jacob Boxer. 



Jacob Boxer, manager of the Central 

 Floral Co., Denver, Colo., died Friday, 

 December 17, following a short illness 

 with pneumonia. Mr. Boxer was a com- 

 paratively young man in the business, 

 being only 28 years of age. He had been 

 manager of this company for the last 

 two years and was widely known 

 throughout business circles. 



He is survived by his father, mother, 

 one brother and a sister, with whom he 

 made his home at 1300 Hooker street, 

 Denver. R. E. H. 



CHICAOO. 



The Market. 



There was steadily increasing busi- 

 ness last week, which, with a reduction 

 in the supply, due to colder weather 

 and the holding back for Christmas, re- 

 sulted in fairly clean iceboxes every 

 night. Shipping was active and was, 

 relatively, so much better than city busi- 

 ness as to cause widespread comment. 

 Why is it out-of-town demand is so in- 

 creasingly stronger than local trade? 

 No one seems to have the answer. But 

 it seems plain Chicago is not consuming 

 so many flowers, in proportion to its 

 population, as are many other cities. 



Last week's activity, too, was made 

 greater by the booking of Christmas 

 orders. When desks were closed Satur- 

 day night in the wholesale district it 

 was with a general feeling of relief and 

 satisfaction. The success of the Christ- 

 mas season seemed to have been assured. 

 Indeed, it was the general report that 

 the number of orders then on file for 

 Christmas was greater by a consider- 

 able margin than on any previous De- 

 cember 18. Some wholesalers said their 

 orders did not average so large as last 

 year and others said the buyers were 

 staying off the more costly grades, but 

 practically all agreed that they never 

 before had so many orders on file a 

 week before Christmas. Several houses 

 said they were booked up to the limit 

 of their probable supply on practically 

 everything but long roses — the propor- 

 tion of long stock is greater than ever 

 this Christmas and selling slowed up 

 when the 35-cent grade was passed. 



One interesting feature was the way 

 the city buyers took to cover last week. 

 Quite a number of them had stated more 

 or less publicly that they did not in- 

 tend to place orders in advance at high 

 prices, purposing, instead, to take their 

 chance on the market December 24, but 

 when they saw how the out-of-town or- 

 ders were pouring in, most of them 

 thought discretion the better part of 

 valor and placed orders for much or all 

 the stock they expect to need. There 

 are, however, a few who are sitting 

 tight, counting that the market will not 

 be stronger Christmas eve than it has 

 been thus far. Probably they are right 

 so far as prices are concerned, but it 

 seems open to question if the stock they 

 will get will be of the most satisfactory 

 character. First-class stores can not 

 afford to take too many chances in that 

 respect. 



Roses were rather plentiful last week, 

 the unusually warm weather prior to 

 December 17 having brought on some of 

 the Christmas crops a few days earlier 

 than the growers wanted. Roses, that 

 is, pink roses, will be the principal item 

 of Christmas supply. There will be 

 scarcely any local Beauties, the supply 

 turning out to be less than expected. 

 Neither red roses nor Beauties will cut 

 much figure this Christmas. Columbia 

 and Premier will be the reliance. It 

 looks as though there will be enough of 

 the longest grades at the price, but a 

 shortage otherwise. 



Many wholesalers stopped taking car- 

 nation orders several days ago. No pre- 

 vious Christmas has seen such a short- 

 age of corsage flowers. The sweet peas 

 dropped their buds at just the wrong 

 time. There are practically no local vio- 



lets any more and the shipments from 

 the east are negligible. No Brunners 

 are to be had from California. Orchids 

 and gardenias are so few and dear as 

 to cut little figure in the average retail 

 store. This leaves valley in undisputed 

 possession of the field. 



There are more mums and pompons 

 this week than in any previous season 

 and, with the shortage of other flowers, 

 they are selling well, although there are 

 indications the public is tiring of them 

 after three months. Paper Whites, So- 

 leil d'Or, stevia, lilies, mignonette, 

 calendulas, etc., are in the usual supply 

 and likely to move at fair prices because 

 of the limited variety of stock avail- 

 able. 



There is little holly and boxwood is 

 selling unusually well. 



Bouquet green is selling at a record 

 price this week, 20 cents per pound, with 

 small supply and limited demand. Holly 

 is scarce and commands $9 per case. 



Weather Costs Trade Thousands. 



The weather has been black and cold 

 for days. It has cost the trade many 

 thousands of dollars through decreasing 

 the expected supply of flowers and low- 

 ering the quality. The weather scarcely 

 could have been less favorable. It has 

 hit the sweet pea growers an especially 

 heavy blow. The rose growers will have 

 a good Christmas, but hardly anyone 

 else in this trade will. 



Growers Elect National Delegates. 



At the meeting at the Hotel Randolph 

 Thursday evening, December 16, the 

 Commercial Flower Growers of "Chi- 

 cago, whioh holds charter No. 1 as a 

 local branch of the National Flower 

 Growers' Association, elected its dele- 

 gates to the meeting to be held at Wash- 

 ington, D. C, January 27. Since the 

 organization is entitled to one delegate 

 for each twenty-five members or fraction 

 thereof, five were chosen. They are: 

 President Joseph Kohout, Secretary 

 Otto Amling, August Poehlmann, George 

 J. Ball and Henry Wehrmann. With 

 William J. Keimel, president of the na- 

 tional organization, Chicago should have 

 a good representation at this important 

 meeting next month. 



The organization voted to show its 

 appreciation of Secretary Amling 's 

 services by passing a resolution provid- 

 ing remuneration for his office at the 

 rate of $1 per member per year. The 

 association now has 107 members. 



The meeting to be held January 20 

 will inaugurate a series of exhibition 

 nights, the flower for which will be 

 selected at the meeting preceding. Car- 

 nations will be shown next month. 



Peter Pearson, who had been explor- 

 ing Park Ridge December 12, brought in 

 the names of two new members from 

 that town, Carl Schramm and Joseph 

 Carnehl. Upon the approval of the 

 membership committee, they were duly 

 elected members. 



Frank Oechslin's Christmas. 



Christmas brings to Frank Oechslin a 

 few days of peace, for then the rush of 

 moving out the large stock of plants 

 for the holiday from his ranges in Aus- 

 tin and Forest Park is over. Though 

 the stock was, as in the case of most 

 plant growers, not so large as in some 

 years, there was more than enough to 



