March 31, 1921. 



The Florists' Review 



25 



Charles W. Hoffman. 



The death of Charles W. Hoffman, of 

 Dayton, O., occurred March 19, follow- 

 ing an illness of more than four weeks. 

 Mr. Hoffman was born on a farm near 

 Dayton March 7, 1856, and practically 

 all his life had been spent in the nurs- 

 ery and florists' business. His business 

 was bought out by T. Pearson, of Day- 

 ton, in 1917. 



Mr. Hoffman leaves his wife, Mrs. 

 Stella Bell Hoffman, two sons and three 

 daughters. Funeral services were held 

 at 2 o'clock Tuesday afternoon, March 

 22. Interment was in Woodland ceme- 

 tery. 



Mrs. John Beitmeier. 



Mrs. Kate Eeitmeier, wife of the vet- 

 eran grower of Niles, 111., died March 

 22, after an illness of considerable dura- 

 tion, with cancer. The funeral was held 

 March 28 and was largely attended, 

 among those present being many grow- 

 ers and wholesalers in the Chicago dis- 

 trict, as both Mr. and Mrs. Eeitmeier 

 were well known in the trade. Their 

 carnations are sold by the A. L. Ran- 

 dall Co. Mrs. Beitmeier was the niece 

 of Nicholas J. Kruchten and the cousin 

 of John and Henry Kruchten. 



NEW YORK. 



The Market. 



Easter business was heavy and good, 

 according to reports available on the 

 Monday morning following the festival. 

 Vast quantities of stock received 

 throughout Saturday moved actively, 

 and at noon Sunday little except what 

 was embraced in late arrivals remained, 

 barring an unusually large supply of 

 snapdragons, mignonette and sweet 

 peas, which were in abnormal supply, 

 and a few long-stemmed, top-grade 

 roses, the arrivals of which postdated 

 the order season. 



Everyone in the wholesale trade ap- 

 pears to be satisfied with cut flower 

 conditions. The majority of the re- 

 tailers disposed of their plant stock 

 early Saturday. This made a good 

 opening for cut flowers and resulted in 

 an excellent business that continued 

 throughout Saturday night until Sun 

 day noon, and, in some cases, even 

 later. 



The weather was all that could be 

 desired, bright and springlike, just the 

 kind to please the retailer, who did a 

 land oflSce business in corsage bouquets 

 and flowers for wear. Even the news- 

 papers remarked upon the extent to 

 which flowers were worn, on both Good 

 Friday and Easter. 



The quality of stock offered was ex- 

 cellent all around, with the exception 

 of violets, perhaps, which showed the 

 effect of warm weather. The best 

 violets sold on orders at $1.50 per hun- 

 dred, but late Saturday, on account of 

 their scarcity, moved up to $3, although 

 this late business w.as insignificant. 



There was a plentiful supply of roses, 

 and their movement was good and 

 clearances were easily effected. A little 

 stock arriving late was held over. 

 American Beauties were in good supph-. 

 Hybrid teas were abundant, but long- 



stemmed grades were not so active in 

 movement as medium grades, which 

 met an immense demand. 



There was a fair supply of orchids, 

 and cattleyas moved freely, mostly 

 Mossia3 and Schroederse varieties. Spray 

 orchids, such as vandas and phalsenop- 

 sis, met a less than ordinary demand. 

 Gardenias were plentiful, and although 

 their quality was not up to the Christ- 

 mas standard, they cleared out well. 



Carnations were in good supply, but 

 arrivals included much stock that was 

 of mediocre quality. Clearances, how- 

 ever, were effected. 



As ought to be expected, bulbous 

 stock was in heavy supply. There were 

 colored freesias in abundance, Spanish 

 iris and forms of Narcissus poeticus, all 

 of which met a moderate sale. Hya- 

 cinths were in general supply, both cut 

 and in pans, and moved at prices con- 

 forming to quality. 



The supply of miscellaneous flowers 

 was large and embraced myosotis, iris, 

 calendulas, snapdragons, delphiniums, 

 mignonette, wallflowers, stocks, daisies, 

 pansies and shrub flowers such as 

 forsythia, deutzia and spirasa, all of 

 which met a moderate demand. Mon- 

 day, March 28, arrivals were light, with 

 prices not materially changed from 

 those of Saturday. 



Various Notes. 



The store of David Clarke's Sons, 

 2139 Broadway, was burglarized Sun- 

 day night, March 27. The thieves blew 

 open the safe and carried off the con- 

 tents, which, naturally, included late 

 Saturday and Sunday sales returns. 



Timothy E. Waters, of Poehlmann 

 Bros. Co., Chicago, was a visitor in the 

 cut flower markets Monday, March 28. 

 He was returning to Chicago from a 

 chaperonage of Easter shipments to 

 southern points. In company with 

 Irving Stein, of Seligman & Stein, he 

 visited the supply houses of the city, 

 leaving for the west at night. 



John Miesem, Elmhurst, L. I., had a 

 large crop of lilies for Easter, including 

 giganteums and formosums, all of which 

 were handled by Joseph S. Fenrich. 



A forest fire last week endangered 

 the carnation establishment of M. 

 Matheron, Baldwin, L. I. The damage 

 was done not so much by the flames as 

 by dynamite which had been stored for 

 use in the surrounding woodlands. 



J. H. P. 



GAS FUMES DAMAGE PLANTS. 



Suit for $100,000 Damages. 



Miss Sarah Bates, a florist in tlie 

 Laurel Hill section of New York city, 

 has 1)rought suit for $100,000 damages 

 in the Queens Supreme court against 

 the Nichols Copper Co., which erected 

 a factory near the greenhouses of Miss 

 Bates. 



Thirty years ago Miss Bates and her 

 brother started the farm and green- 

 liouses and since had received an income 

 averaging from $10,000 to $12,000 ;iii 

 nually. Then the copper compiiny 

 started the factory on the adjacent 

 property. The gases, fumes and smoke 

 from the factory proved ruinous to the 

 plants and flowers. 



In 1904 the company paid her $3,000 

 for damaging her property. It also 

 agreed to pay her $.jO each montli. In 

 1907 the monthly payments were raised 

 to $100. 



These payments, however, seemed but 

 slight, for Miss Bates estimates that. 



even with the payments, her loss caused 

 by the factory during the last ten years 

 has been about $25,000. 



She not only is suing the company 

 for the monetary claim, but she is also 

 asking for a removal of the factory and 

 a writ restraining the company from 

 operating it at its present location. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



The Easter business in this market 

 fulfilled the expectations of the most 

 sanguine and went ahead of the hopes 

 of the pessimists. If it was not the 

 biggest Easter on record, as some aver, 

 it was extremely close to it. 



As the Chicago wholesale market re- 

 flects conditions over a large part of 

 the United States, we paraphrase the 

 political axiom, "As Vermont goes, so 

 goes the nation," and say that the splen- 

 did volume of demand in the Chicago 

 market indicates that the trade at large 

 enjoyed a business beyond the early 

 expectations. 



It is the general report that the early 

 days of the week fell behind the corre- 

 sponding days of last year, while the 

 closing days of the rush went far ahead 

 of the same period of last year. There 

 are two reasons for this: A year ago 

 the market was struggling under the 

 handicap of an express strike which 

 caused nearly everyone to attempt 

 playing safe by having shipments dis- 

 patched a day or two earlier than usual; 

 then, too, a great many buyers put off 

 ordering until they had received some 

 indication as to the way the public would 

 take hold. It is a quite general report 

 among the wholesalers that Thursday's 

 tickets footed up a smaller total than 

 last year, but that Friday made up for 

 it and that Saturday went far ahead, in 

 some cases being more than double the 

 day in 1920. This bespeaks the vim 

 with which the city buyers took hold 

 when they found how well orders were 

 coming in. 



One factor which helped tlie cut flower 

 trade was the shortage and high price 

 of plants. The supply of pot lilies was 

 the smallest in years and the quality of 

 many of the few available was so poor 

 they would not meet the needs of the 

 better class of stores. Tliere was a good 

 suj)ply of bulbous stock in pots, pans and 

 boxes, with quite a few roses, mostly 

 ramVjlers ami Tausendschoen, but there 

 was not much else. Most of the re- 

 tailers sold out of plants in .i short 

 time and then turned their attention 

 to cut flowers. As Saturd.'iy was a 

 typical spring day, they did a big busi- 

 ness. 



The su]iply of cut flowers was an un- 

 usually even balance with tlie demand. 

 Tliere were times when certain items 

 were difficult to find, but there never 

 was a time a buyer could not fiml some- 

 tliing witli which to do busin(>ss. Lilies 

 were sold out days ahead. The lack of 

 lilies cut a big hole in some of the whole- 

 salers' sales; to have been able to make 

 tliis loss up with other lines was an unex- 

 pected success. It had been ])redicted 

 in some quarters that roses would be 

 .nbundant and carnations scarce. .lust 

 the opposite proved to be the case. 

 There were enough carnations so that 

 prices could not be maintained except 

 on the best grade, the bulk of the sales 

 being at $fi and $8, while on roses the 

 supply was so much below expectations 



[Contlniiod on pasp 30. 1 



