28 



The Florists^ Review 



May 17, 1917. 



INDIANAPOLIS. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



The Market. 



The week started off well, with warmer 

 weather and sunshine, and present indica- 

 tions are that stock will be more abun- 

 dant. Prices of carnations range from 

 $2 to $3 and roses make $2 to $10. Lilies 

 are rather scarce, having been in large 

 demand for funeral work. The large 

 gladioli are making their appearance and 

 are welcomed at $1.50 per dozen, whUe 

 Peach Blossom brings $5 per hundred. 

 Darwin tulips are to be had at $4 and $5 

 per hundred ; the other varieties are gone. 

 The prospects for outdoor stock for 

 Memorial day are poor. The green sup- 

 ply has loosened up considerably. 



Mothers' Day Business. 



Mothers ' day was a huge success as far 

 as demand was concerned, but shortage 

 of stock prevented it from being the 

 largest day of the year. Carnations were 

 extremely scarce and, as usual, the cry 

 was for them. The white ones brought 

 $10 per hundred wholesale, with the 

 colored ones bringing $8. Eoses were 

 more plentiful, but the supply was in no 

 way equal to the demand. Sweet peas 

 were especially popular for table decora- 

 tions and corsage bouquets. 



Mothers' day tnis year was widely ad- 

 vertised, not only by the florists but also 

 by confectioners, telegraph offices, etc. 

 It is felt that this day is becoming 

 greater each year and that its rapid 

 growth is principally due to the efforts 

 of florists. A conspicuous and attractive 

 full-page advertisement in a local news- 

 paper included the governor's proclama- 

 tion for Mothers' day. These and other 

 advertisements proved so effective that 

 twice as much stock could have been sold. 



Several weddings brought valley and 

 orchids iuto favor, even at such prices as 

 $9 per dozen for orchids and $6 per hun- 

 dred for valley. Fancy gift baskets, 

 which experienced a good sale, were 

 attractively filled with the daintier 

 flowers, including sweet peas, valley, 

 daisies, delphiniums, snapdragons and 

 roses. Snapdragons were the most plen- 

 tiful flowers in the market, but they 

 were cleaned up. Potted plants held a 

 prominent place, with rose bushes, 

 spiraeas, Easter lilies, hydrangeas, lilacs 

 and pelargoniums the leading sellers. 



Sunday night the stores were abso- 

 lutely bare of flowers; the windows were 

 just settings of green. 



Various Notes. 



Homer Wiegand has added a new 

 alligator to his collection. It is a fine, 

 large one, weighing about 160 pounds. 

 These pets are exhibited in one of the 

 windows of the conservatory and attract 

 great attention. 



Announcement has been made of the 

 marriage of Miss Charline Temperley. 



A. F. J. Baur's three children have 

 been sick with the chicken pox. 



Charles Boehne recently broke his 

 finger while cranking an automobile. 



The season for bedding stock has not 

 yet opened and it is the opinion of most 

 of the tradesmen that most of this stock 

 will be moved in June. 



The Bertermann Bros. Co. reports a 

 wonderful Mothers' day business. It 

 was necessary to close the store twice 

 on account of lack of stock. The tele- 

 graph and mail orders were absolutely 

 the largest on record for the company. 



E. E. T. 



The Market, r.^ 



Business was unusually slack during 

 the first part of last week, but during 

 the second half it was more than good 

 and made up for the slow days. Mothers ' 

 day appears to be more popular than 

 ever. A good deal of advertising for 

 the day undoubtedly was responsible 

 for the splendid trade everybody en- 

 joyed. The telegraph delivery system 

 also is growing and a large number of 

 orders were sent and received. The 

 weather is not at all favorable. The 

 little sunshine makes it hard for the 

 gardeners to make much headway, and 

 most of the stores are swamped with 

 orders for outdoor work. Bedding 

 stock is in, but does not move fast. 

 Nursery stock is selling well at this 

 time. 



The market is well stocked with roses, 

 which sell well, particularly the shorter 

 and medium grades. Fine Shawyer and 

 Russell roses are observed, as well as 

 Hoosier Beauty and Milady. It was a 

 difficult proposition to get all the carna- 

 tions one needed for Mothers' day. 

 They were good in size of bloom and 

 length of stem, most of them retailing 

 at $1.50 per dozen. Sweet peas in pink 

 and blush white are plentiful, but the 

 lavender ones are scarce. They have 

 sold well. Long-stemmed snapdragons 

 sell wonderfully well and fine Spanish 

 irises meet with a good demand. Ger- 

 man stock is used largely in funeral 

 work. Easter and calla lilies continue 

 plentiful. Daisies sell well, as do 

 pansies and forget-me-nots. Mignon- 

 ette moves well. Large quantities of 

 jonquils are in the market and sell 

 easily. 



Various Notes. 



R. E. Blackshaw, of the A. L. Randall 

 Co., Chicago, called on the trade this 

 week. 



A large map of the United States, 



with tags for the principal cities of the 

 country, was the main attraction of the 

 Mothers' day display at the store of 

 the Rochester Floral Co. - A picture of 

 a mother surrounded by flowers was 

 seen in the window of George T. 

 Boucher. Edwin C. Kaelber also had a 

 suitable window display. 



8. J. Koester has left the Rochester 

 office of the Lord & Burnham Co. and 

 returned to Pittsburgh. 



F. R. Bohnke reports business much 

 better than in any previous year. He has 

 had a large quantity of funeral work 

 and has purchased a new delivery auto. 



The general committee in charge of 

 the June peony show in Convention hall 

 is making plans for a banner exhibition. 



Edwin C. Kaelber, Inc., is respon- 

 sible for the elaborate decorations of 

 palms and flowers at the new dental 

 dispensary, a magnificent building pre- 

 sented to the city by George Eastman. 



The sympathy of the trade is ex- 

 tended to Mrs. E. P, Wilson in the loss 

 of her mother, who died at Dr. Barber 's 

 hospital May 8, at the age of 68. 



Crooke, the Florist, of Mount Hope 

 avenue, has been busy of late with fu- 

 neral work. He is taking many orders 

 for bedding stock, for use in the ceme- 

 tery near his store. 



James Vick's Sons continue to dis- 

 pose of larger quantities of seeds than 

 ever before. Business this season is 

 far ahead of their anticipations. The 

 mail order business, which has become 

 extremely large, has suffered consider- 

 ably of late because shipments cannot 

 be made fast enough. An added force 

 of workers soon will remedy this. 



H. J. H. 



Ashtabula, O.— The Tong & Weeks Co. 

 has been busy with funeral work, and so- 

 cial functions have called for about the 

 usual amount of decorations. Herbert 

 Tong is to be found at the new place, 

 which is ably run by the junior Tong. 



Chester, N. J. — One of the junior 

 members of the firm of F. W. Rochelle 

 & Sons sailed for France May 15 with 

 a Red Cross division. 



Orange, N. J. — John E. Collins re- 

 ceived his new delivery car in time for 

 the Easter rush and put it to a severe 

 test in handling the record-breaking 

 business. 



Madison, N. J. — The Villa Lorraine 

 Greenhouses have been leased by An- 

 thony Ruzicka, who until recently was 

 employed at the Rowayton, Conn., 

 establishment of Traendly & Schenck, 

 the New York wholesalers. 



WestvUle, N. J. — Five greenhouses, 

 two barns and several buildings, all the 

 property of Louis C. Duncan, were 

 gutted by fire last week, entailing a loss 

 estimated at $10,000. The flames were 

 first discovered in one of the barns, but 

 before the fire companies gained control 

 the high wind had carried the flames to 

 the greenhouses and other buildings. 

 Mr. Duncan's residence was saved. 



Magnolia, N. J. — A. F. Wallace has 

 succeeded J. B. Goostrey in the owner- 

 ship of the Magnolia greenhouses and 

 is stocking the houses with young plants. 



Madison, N. J. — Duckham-Pierson Co. 

 is the corporate title of a concern re- 

 cently reorganized here, to deal "in 

 flowers and agricultural products, tim- 

 ber, steel, etc. ' ' The authorized capital 

 is $400,000 and Lincoln Pierson, Wil- 

 liam H. Duckham, M. N. Pierson and 

 Mary Duckham are tlie incorporators. 



New Brunswick, N. J. — The florists 

 have employed a novel scheme recently 

 to increase the sale of flowers, which 

 apparently were in large supply at the 

 time, by placing displays in most of 

 the stores on one of the principal streets. 

 The idea was that flowers in so many 

 windows on one st/eet could not but help 

 to increase the sales and popularize the 

 flowers. The dealers in nearly all lines 

 of merchandise were only too glad to 

 give the florists window space. The 

 names of the florists also appeared in 

 the windows. Each flower or plant was 

 labeled. 



