May 18, 1021 



The Florists' Review 



37 



OBITUARY 



Oustav H. Meier. 



Gustav H. Meier, for years a grower 

 in the territory around Cincinnati, died 

 early Monday morning, May 16. In 

 1910, he and his four partners incor- 

 porated under the name of the Hyde 

 Park Eose Co. and have been doing 

 business in Cincinnati under that name 

 ever since. The members of the Cin- 

 cinnati Florists' Society will miss this 

 good grower and even-natured man 

 from their midst. Mr. Meier had been 

 ill with heart trouble for some time pre- 

 vious to his death. 



John W. Downes. 



Another of Newport's old-time gar- 

 deners and florists, John W. Downes, 

 died Wednesday, May 11, at his home, 

 123 Prospect Hill street, Newport, R. I. 

 He was 64 years of age and had been 

 ill for some time. Mr. Downes was 

 gardener on the estate of the late Major 

 T. K. Gibbs for many years. He had 

 also been gardener on several other well 

 known estates in Newport. He is sur- 

 vived by one sister, Mrs. William 

 Yoemans, with whom he lived. He was 

 never married. W. H. M. 



Ladislav Walters. 



Ladislav Walters, 58 years of age, 

 died Sunday, May 8, at his home at 

 Cleveland, O. He had been in the flo- 

 rists' business practically all of his life. 

 He operated greenhouses at Forest City 

 park when that institution was first 

 opened. He is survived by his widow, 

 Anna, and his son. Otto. Mr. and Mrs. 

 Walters built up a good business at 5112 

 Clark street. The store and the green- 

 houses have been operated by the son. 

 Otto, for some time. 



Mrs. Cora Belle Thompson. 



Mrs. C. B. Thompson, president of C. 

 B. Thompson & Co., Inc., since its in- 

 corporation, died May 6 at Louisville, 

 Ky., at the age of 60 years. 



Having been connected with the flo- 

 rists' business for forty years, Mrs. 

 Thompson had gained many friends in 

 the trade. She was an active member 

 of the S. A. F., the Florists' Telegraph 

 Delivery Association and the Kentucky 

 Society of Florists, besides a number of 

 local civic and fraternal associations. 



She married Sam J. Thompson and 

 for a number of years assisted him in 

 the management of the retail store of 

 the firm of George Thompson & Sons. 

 When it dissolved Sam J. Thompson 

 took over the retail end of the business 

 and, with Mrs. Thompson,.ran the busi- 

 ness under the firm nattK of S. J. 

 Thompson, until the death of Mr. 

 Thompson in 1909. After-fte death of 

 Mr. Thompson the business was incor- 

 porated under the name of C. B. Thomp- 

 son & Co., with Mrs. Thompson as presi- 

 dent of the concern. 



Mrs. Thompson was buried in Cave 

 Hill cemetery Sunday afternoon. May 

 8. The church services were held at the 

 Church of the Advent, where the Epis- 

 copal funeral service was said. 



Louis Kirch represented the profes- 

 sional and George W. Plinke the 

 amateur florists among the pallbearers, 

 while the following members of the 



trade were the honorary pallbearers: 

 William Walker, William Mann, Anders 

 Rasmussen, Henry Fuchs, Emil Walther 

 and August R. Baumer. 



Surviving Mrs. Thompson are one 

 son, Edward, who is connected with the 

 firm, one brother, one granddaughter 

 and a number of nieces and nephews, 

 those best known to the trade being 

 Joseph L. Able, secretary and treas- 

 urer of C. B. Thompson & Co., Miss 

 Nellie Able, one of the principal de- 

 signers for the company, and Miss 

 Mary Schleeter, also connected with the 

 firm for a number of years. 



HARTFORD, CONN. 



Chq,rles K. Swenson has disposed of 

 his land to the City Coal Co., of this 

 city. This is the place where he grew 

 carnations and violets for a number 

 of years. He isaearing down his green- 

 houses and storing the glass and will 

 take a vacation for one or two years, 

 building again elsewhere when the 

 labor situation is easier. Within the 

 last two years he could not grow mar- 

 ketable carnations or violets owing to 

 the deadly fumes from a brick factory 

 adjacent to his greenhouses. He found 

 no redress from the courts here. 



A hearing to make permanent a tem- 

 porary injunction restraining Mrs. 

 Ellen M. Welch and her son, Andrew 

 W. Welch, from using the trade name, 

 "Welch, the Florist," was held in the 

 Superior court. May 12, in an action 

 brought by George F. Lane. Mr. Lane 

 contends that he bought the copartner- 

 ship of Welch & Lane, doing business 

 as "Welch, the Florist," from Richard 

 Phillips, the receiver of the copartner- 

 ship, paying $11,980 for the business. 

 May 5, 1919. The defendants maintain 

 that Mr. Welch had abandoned the 

 trade name "Welch, the Florist." Mr. 

 Lane now has a flower shop on Asylum 

 street and the Welch family have one 

 on Trumbull street, a few doors around 

 the corner. 



Nature gave all New England the 

 cold shoulder W^lnesday night, May 

 11. The official mercury registration of 

 the United States weather bureau in 

 this city did not go below the comfort- 

 able mark of 35 degrees, but out in the 

 country districts, where temperature 

 really matters, ice was formed and the 

 landscape was white at sunrise. Early 

 tomatoes, lettuce, beets and straw- 

 berries, which were forming, were 

 ruined. Asparagus, which was begin- 

 ning to come along fast, was completely 

 set back. Reports from the tobacco 

 area indicate that plants were out in 

 only a few cases. 



Mothers' day business exceeded all 

 expectations. Owing to the four days of 

 cloudy, dismal weather preceding Sat- 

 urday, May 7, carnations and roses 

 were short. The supply was all sold 

 out early Saturday morning and several 

 hundred customers were turned away, 

 disappointed, from all the stores. The 

 advertisements in the daily papers, 

 taken out jointly by all the prominent 

 florists, were wonderful boosts, and the 

 throngs that besieged all the stores 

 reminded one of those of Easter. One 

 prominent florist remarked, "We had 

 to wait until Sunday for our blooms to 

 open at our greenhouses so that we 

 could fill our orders." 



As it is located in the apartment 

 house district, the Linden Florist re- 

 ports a big demand for window boxes 



and is having difficulty in securing 

 geraniums and other suitable plants for 

 which there is a heavy den^and. 



J. Albert Brodrib reports a heavy de- 

 mand for funeral pieces. 



About fifty florists and their wives 

 had supper at the Y. W. C. A., May 9, 

 after which they repaired to Parsons' 

 theater, where they all enjoyed a pleas- 

 ant evening. N. C. Osborn, of Coombs, 

 had charge of the arrangements. 



C. B. M. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



It is a satisfaction to be able to 

 record that since Mothers' day business 

 has, after a fashion, maintained the 

 pace then set, running consistently 

 above last year's records for the same 

 days of May. Some of the larger houses 

 report really remarkable gains for the 

 first half of May. There is a suspicin- 

 that the satisfactory business may t/w 

 due to the weather and that it can not 

 be credited to underlying conditions. 

 The weather is responsible for the prac- 

 tical absence of outdoor flowers, and 7' 

 also is to be credited with the hea» 

 crops of a few weeks ago and thu 

 lighter production of indoor stock 

 which has followed, reversing the usual 

 order of the spring. The Chicago mar- 

 ket does not make its best showing dur- 

 ing times of maximum supply, as then 

 demand is likely to be lightest. The 

 excellent total of sales in May has been 

 the result of moderate supplies of stock, 

 the centering here of a broad demand 

 and the consequent well maintained 

 prices. 



During the last week there has been 

 little sign of reaction from Mothers' 

 day. Those of the trade who had feared 

 the after-effects of Mothers' day prices 

 and newspaper charges of profiteering 

 found nothing to indicate that the pub- 

 lie had given the incident the slightest 

 attention. The fact seems to be the 

 public appreciates that supply and de- 

 mand make the price of flowers and 

 that everybody would like to use flow- 

 ers for Mothers' day, with the result 

 that only those may have them who are 

 willing to pay the price. The inability 

 of many florists to supply flowers at 

 any price May 8 seems to have silenced 

 criticism. 



Last week's demand will classify as 

 unusually good for the season, probably 

 due to the absence of outdoor flowers 

 and to the continued cool weather, 

 which is prolonging the season of in- 

 door life. The supply of stock in this 

 market was less than it usually is as 

 mid-May passes. The usual flood of 

 peonies thus far has been only a purling 

 stream flowing gaily by. The southern 

 crop was cleaned out at Mothers' day 

 and since then there have been no re- 

 ceipts heavy enough to create a surplus 

 for storage against the Memorial day 

 demand. The peonies have been bring- 

 ing good prices. 



We had our heavy crop of roses fol- 

 lowing the warm weather in late 

 winter and the cool May has resulted 

 in light production. This is not to say 

 there is a shortage of roses, for the 

 supply generally has been equal to the 

 demand, but the condition has resulted 

 in an average price considerably bet- 

 ter than most growers thought they 

 were going to get. Continued cold 

 weather has helped hold up the quality 

 [OODtlDQed on page 40.] 



