m;jf>'ifi'''ui!fjif-''-ixr: 3>r-vii-'.' 



Mat 12, 1921 



The Florists' Review 



33 



NEW YOEK. 



The Market. 



The cut flower market, for several 

 days prior to the opening of Mothers' 

 day business, was dull, arrivals being 

 light and the demand equally so. 

 Prospects for a good cut for the 

 great day were dimmed considerably 

 by atmospheric conditions. The prices 

 reported for the week previous held 

 firmly until Friday, May 6, when car- 

 nations took an expected spurt, ad- 

 vancing to $10 per hundred. Saturday 

 they advanced to $15 for the morning 

 sales, and before night reached the $20 

 mark for flowers of good quality. 

 Sunday, $25 was the average and some 

 sales are reported at $30 and even more. 

 The supply was considerably less than 

 the demand, which condition, of 

 course, boosted the price and brought 

 out the usual crop of articles in the 

 public press, although it must be said 

 that the newspapers were fair in their 

 criticisms, taking pains to explain that 

 flowers are subject to the laws of sup- 

 ply and demand, just as are other 

 perishable products. The carnation 

 was paramount among the flowers in 

 use for the day and prices exceeded 

 those for special American Beauty 

 roses, some grades of which brought as 

 little as $20 per hundred and the best, 

 outside of a few selected flowers, $50 

 per hundred. 



All other flowers moved well and at 

 prices which were more or less nominal 

 and shipments were received through- 

 out Saturday evening. May 7, and 

 until nearly midnight. 



Roses were not particularly abundant, 

 but were of good quality and moved at 

 a maximum range of from $8 to $25 

 per hundred. The demand for long- 

 stemmed grades was light and that 

 stock cleaned out only at the normal 

 prices in vogue all week. American 

 Beauty was well on crop, as might be 

 judged when the prices quoted for 

 specials are considered for as impor- 

 tant a day as Mothers' day. As a 

 grower said, retailers kick when called 

 upon at other seasons to pay , $200 or 

 more per hundred for American Beauty, 

 yet when they have a chance on a 

 special day to drive them at one-tenth 

 of the price, they pass them up. 



Miscellaneous flowers met a good 

 demand, particularly yellow daisies, 

 which were in liberal supply. Lilac 

 was in short supply and arrivals sold 

 readily. Darwin tulips were in small 

 supply and sold readily. 



Orchids were in scant supply, but 

 there was no particular demand for 

 them and prices remained still. There 

 were a few gardenias, which did not 

 prove attractive. 



Retailers, almost without exception, 

 report an excellent Mothers' day busi- 

 ness and that much more could have 

 been done had stock not been so scarce. 



Monday, May 9, arrivals were so 

 light that the early demand practically 

 cleaned up the market and the prices 

 of Saturday were more or less in force. 

 With the weather more settled and 

 bright sunshine, normal conditions are 

 looked for soon. 



Various Notes. 



Samuel Lum, the one-time Chatham, 

 N. J., rose grower, is ill. He was^taken 

 to a Morristown hospital a few days 

 ago, supposedly suffering from appendi- 

 citis, but other serious troubles were 



found and his condition is alarming to 

 his friends. 



Liberal use was made of the news- 

 paper columns for advertising Mothers' 

 day. The Allied Florists' Trade Asso- 

 ciation of New York carried an adver- 

 tisement in eight New York papers, in- 

 cluding one in Brooklyn. Several 

 Brooklyn retailers collectively occupied 

 almost a whole page in the Saturday, 

 May 7, edition of the Brooklyn Eagle. 

 The advertisements of two Brooklyn 

 furniture dealers on the same page fea- 

 tured Mothers' day in their copy, but, 

 of course, in their own interests. 



The many friends of B. Hammond 

 Tracy, the gladiolus grower of Wen- 

 ham, Mass., a frequent visitor among 

 the trade in New York, are extending 

 sympathy to him and Mrs. Tracy in the 

 death by drowning of their only son. 

 Obituary notice appears in this issue. 



The big 6-pa8senger aeroplane, which 

 was expected to leave New York for 

 Chicago as the pioneer in the new com- 

 mercial air service between those cities, 

 Wednesday, May 4, did not get away 

 until Saturday morning, owing to 

 stormy weather, but it carried a new 

 supply of flowers with the greeting of 

 Mayor Hylan to Mayor Thompson of 

 Chicago. Among the passengers in the 

 plane was Charles Dickinson, of the 

 Albert Dickinson Co., Chicago, who at 

 the age of 63 is an enthusiast in avia- 

 tiort. 



Max Schling is using billboards on 

 the elevated railroad lines featuring 

 the telegraph service. 



The wholesale florists of the Eight- 

 eenth street flower market have ar- 

 ranged to close their establishments 

 during the summer at 4 p. m. In former 

 years the sumnier closing hour has been 

 3 p. m. The employees are much dis- 

 appointed over the change, as they have 

 organized a baseball club and are hav- 

 ing weekly try-outs with the idea of 

 evolving a first-class team. The team 

 how under trial will play LeMoult's 

 baseball team at Hempstead Sunday, 

 May 15. J. H. P. 



Sam Seligman has bought the inter- 

 est of Irving Stein in the firm of Selig- 

 man & Stein and will continue the 

 business under his own name. The 

 office and salesroom have been removed 

 to 116 West Twenty-eighth street. 



GREENS SHIPPERS OF PIERSON. 



Community spirit will crop out at all 

 times. In the April 21 issue of The Re- 

 view, there was a small item about the 

 Ridgewood Ferneries, of Beresford, Fla. 

 Subsequently The Review received a 

 letter from the Pierson Civic Associa- 

 tion, Pierson, Fla., calling attention to 

 the fact that there were other towns in 

 Florida besides the one mentioned. 

 Here is the way the champion of the 

 town put it: 



' ' There are thirty slat houses at Pier- 

 son, ranging in size from one-fourth of 

 an acre to three acres each, and five new 

 houses under construction, of one acre 

 each. All houses are covered with 1x3- 

 inch slats spaced three inches apart, 

 making a half shade, which is all that 

 is necessary in this mild climate. In 

 these houses are grown Asparagus plu- 

 mosus. Asparagus Sprengeri and smilax, 

 which all grow well here. One grower 

 also roots 500,000 rose cuttings each 

 year for a large firm in the north. No 

 artificial heat is needed in the houses 

 here and plants, flowers and decorative 

 greens can be grown much cheaper than 



in the north, where expensive houses 

 must be built." 

 The owners of these thirty houses 



arc: 



p. Anderson & Son, 



1). K. Fisher, 



Peter Pierson, 



C. U. Merrlam, 



J. G. Cade, 



H. Anderson, 



Mrs. Marie Hagstrom, 



E. F. Swanson & Sons, 



Mrs. Hannati Llndabl, 



C. E. Johnson, 



Fred Haestrom, 



C. W. Hagatrom, 



A. K. Hugstrom, 



Nels Pierson, 



S. T. Smith. 



Harper Bros., 

 H. H. Harper, 

 F. D. Harper, 

 W. Minshew, 

 W. H. North, 

 J. C. Powell, 

 R. Osmer, 

 Frank Pittman, 

 L. H. Wilson, 

 J. B. Jones, 

 Thomas Shaw, 

 J. D. Peterson, 

 John Van Horn. 

 B. M. Peterson, 

 I. V. Hale. 



The following have houses in course 

 of construction: 



Emil Swanson, 

 Nelson Bros., 

 A. E. Engstrom, 



F. N. J. Ohlson, 

 B. B. Minshew. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market, 



Perhaps the most illuminating state- 

 ment which can be made in regard to 

 Mothers' day is that in this market it 

 exceeded Christmas. 



That a special flower day unheard-of 

 ten years ago should have, within that 

 decade, developed so rapidly that it 

 means more to florists than does Easter, 

 pr Christmas, or Memorial day is .a 

 business marvel. What do you suppose 

 manufacturers and retailers in other 

 lines would give to create another day 

 us good as Christmas? Of course, the 

 post-card people, the confectioners, the 

 jewelers, even the telegraph companies 

 are trying to horn in on Mothers' day, 

 but we have such a long lead that, if 

 the trade does not commit the folly of 

 stopping its advertising, the second 

 Sunday in May belongs to us, of all 

 merchants, as long as flowers retain 

 their eloquence. 



It is estimated about $500,000 worth 

 of cut flowers, wholesale, were sold in 

 Chicago last week. 



The course of the market had been 

 predicted with unusual accuracy. There 

 were not enough flowers, oh the whole, 

 to go around, although there were one or 

 two surpluses. 



Of chief interest was the carnation 

 supply. It was short, as had been ex- 

 pected. How many more could have 

 been sold, nobody knows, nor how high 

 the price could have been carried had 

 an attempt been made. There seemed 

 to be a general agreement that, under 

 the circumstances, 15 cents was a fair 

 price for good stock and a larger part 

 of the receipts went at this rate than 

 over was the case before. Of course 

 some fancy stock. Laddie, Superb and 

 Ward, brought more and there were 

 some shipments too poor to bring the 

 market price. 



There were more roses than anything 

 else. Not only was the supply large, 

 but quality was excellent. A heavy 

 volume of orders called principally for 

 short and medium lengths. Many more 

 roses might have been sold at from 10 

 cents to 20 cents; at 25 cents and up 

 the demand fell away rapidly. Al- 

 though it is reported Premier and Mi- 

 lady sold as high as 50 cents per flower, 

 the longer grades did not bring their 

 real worth in comparison with the shorts. 

 There were long roses at all times avail- 

 able and some left over in spite of the 

 willingness of the wholesalers to listen 

 to anyone who showed an interest in 

 such stock. 



The sweet pea was .the one slight dis- 



[Contlnucd on p.iKe 38.1 



