Decembbb 29, 1021 



The Florists' Review 



31 



BAIiTIMOBE, MD. 



Tbe Christmas Maxket. 



Last week the Christmas market came 

 up to all expectations. There were more 

 blooming plants to be had than was ex- 

 pected. Poinsettias in pans were es- 

 pecially good and sold up well. Another 

 jiurprise was the large number of 

 cyclamens that made their appearance 

 at the last minute. A good many of 

 these were stock that would be classed 

 as seconds, yet there was plenty of first- 

 L'lass quality. Flowering begonias were 

 in splendid condition, and there were 

 ])lenty of fine primroses. In berried 

 plants Jerusalem cherries were plenti- 

 ful and of fine quality, with a fair sup- 

 ply of ardisias. There was a good de- 

 mand for ferns. Specimen plants sold 

 well. It was a good plant market, with 

 the supply equal to the demand. 



Cut flowers were in good supply, with 

 a demand that was most satisfactory. 

 Eoses were never better, with all of the 

 varieties well represented. Cut poin- 

 settias were in fine supply and sold well. 

 Carnations were good, with the usual 

 scarcity of red. The man who could 

 produce a good crop of red carnations 

 for Christmas certainly had a money- 

 maker. Paper Whites were plentiful, 

 and the abnormal demand for every 

 kind of stock relieved the glut on these. 

 There was a good supply of all sorts of 

 miscellaneous stock. There was a fair 

 supply of berried holly, shipped in from 

 Virginia. Local holly was without ber- 

 ries. Never before were so many artifi- 

 cial flowers on the streets. The street 

 peddlers could not touch natural stock; 

 so they plunged on artificial. Among 

 these the most noticeable were chrysan- 

 themums and a good imitation of Co- 

 lumbia roses. The shade was perfect 

 and the flower well shaped, but the 

 manufacturers stopped here. No effort 

 was made to imitate foliage or stems. 

 They were placed on branches of laurel, 

 yet it was remarkable how many were 

 sold. An effort was made to get a com- 

 parison of prices with those of last year, 

 but the best that could be learned was 

 that prices were lower than a year ago. 

 Everyone was too busy to go into this 

 phase of the market. To sum up, 1921 

 will compare favorably with past sea- 

 sons, with a good, varied supply and a 

 demand that was pleasing to everyone, 

 iind no grumbling about exorbitant 

 prices. 



Christmas in the Retail Stores. 



In the retail stores the same activity 

 was noted as usual at this season, the 

 staff of employees in every case being 

 iioubled. It is a remarkable thing about 

 the florists' business, how new clerks 

 can take hold for a few days with such 

 a small amount of friction. I was im- 

 pressed with this more than ever this 

 .year, and upon investigation found that 

 many of these "extras" were not new 

 liaiids at the florists' business. For in- 

 stance, lady clerks who had married 

 '.vould give their former employer a lift 

 at this busy season. Then there are 

 I'riends of the proprietor who help out 

 (very year. These people have become 

 acquainted with the business fairly well 

 and can jump in at a minute's notice 

 and render intelligent service. 



Never have I seen finer displays of 

 stock than was offered in the retail 

 ffores this year. Samuel Feast & Sons 

 liad a splendid line of blooming and 

 ^''liage plants. Made-up baskets were 



a leader. These, in arrangement and 

 quality, were fine. A noticeable feature 

 in this store was some fine specimens 

 of azaleas. The cut flower orders here 

 were ahead of last year, as were incom- 

 ing and outgoing telegraph orders. 



John Cook's store was a picture. 

 Never have I seen it look better. The 

 plant sales here, both blooming and 

 foliage, were good. Cut flower sales 

 broke all records. This firm had a large 

 number of church decorations, and 

 these were on a more elaborate scale 

 than usual. 



At the store of William J. Halliday, 

 Miss Groves had her usual attractive 

 window and a stock of made-up baskets 

 that were as fine as I have ever seen. 

 Miss Groves has a knack of giving that 

 touch to a made-up basket of plants that 

 makes them irresistible to buyers. Al- 

 though this house is one of Baltimore's 

 latest members of the F. T. D., the 

 telegraph order business was beyond all 

 expectations. 



At Mary Johnston's, plants were all 

 cleaned up by Christmas eve. Never 

 has this house had such a sale of plants 

 and here, too, made-up baskets were a 

 leader. Mrs. Johnston had every deco- 

 rating plant in the store out and was 

 obliged to refuse church orders for deco- 

 rations. Cut flower orders were the 

 largest in the history of the business. 

 Telegraph orders exceeded all records. 



At both the uptown and downtown 

 stores of Eobert L. Graham business 

 was only limited by space and the num- 

 ber of people the firm could procure to 

 handle it. Never has this firm done a 

 larger business in both plants and cut 

 flowers. Its telegraph orders, on which 

 the firm is making a special drive with 

 Eobert, Jr., as manager, surpassed all 

 expectations. 



Altogether it was a great Christmas, 

 with everyone satisfied. Tate. 



TORONTO, ONT. 



The Market. 



The flower stores were rushed last 

 week. The displays were beautiful. 

 The thousands of azaleas with their 

 deep pink blossoms, with here and there 

 some light-colored flowers, made the 

 stores look like bowers of beauty. 

 Potted flowers are the order of the day, 

 which is a change from previous Christ- 

 mas seasons, when wreaths found a 

 ready sale. All the cut flowers available 

 will be sold and more could be disposed 

 of if they could be obtained. The dark 

 weather which has prevailed since the 

 first part of October has had a serious 

 effect upon the flowers, but even with 

 this condition to contend with, the grow- 

 ers have done wonderfully well. During 

 the last fortnight there have been a 

 great many deaths among prominent 

 men and the floral displays have been 

 wonderful. There were designs in all 

 sizes and shapes, and baskets of enor- 

 mous proportions. Lily of the valley, 

 orchids and irises, with ferns, were used 

 to advantage in some particularly attrac- 

 tive pieces. Practically all the florists 

 shared in the demand. 



Gardeners and Florists Meet. 



The regular meeting of the Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Association was held 

 December 19, with President F. D. Clark 

 in the chair. It was the plan to have 

 W. E. Groves, president of the Canadian 

 Florists' and Gardeners' Association, at 



this meeting, but owing to the nearness 

 to the Christmas season and the rush of 

 business, it was decided to have Mr. 

 Groves at the January meeting instead. 



There was a large attendance and 

 several important items of business 

 came up for discussion. It was decided 

 to sign a petition against the proposed 

 nursery bill, which, it is feared, will 

 make a monopo^ in shrubs and peren- 

 nials. 



Three delegates were elected to rep- 

 resent the association at the Royal 

 Winter Fair. These were P. L. Whytock, 

 Thomas Manton and President Clark. 



Alexander Simpson was appointed 

 delegate to the convention of the Onta- 

 rio Horticultural Association, to be held 

 in Toronto, February 9 and 10. 



There was a good exhibition of poin- 

 settias from the Allen Gardens, orchids 

 and ferns from Exhibition park, mums 

 from Sir Henry Pellatt's and begonias. 



Following the business there was a 

 program contributed to by the members, 

 and refreshments were served. 



It was decided to hold the annual so- 

 cial in February and invite the other 

 associations of gardeners and florists. 



Fred Miller, of Miller Bros., has been 

 reelected reeve of York county. 



J. J. H. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



On the whole, Christmas was rather 

 better than had been expected in the 

 Chicago wholesale cut flower market, 

 for, if the truth must be told, there were 

 many who were lacking in confidence. 

 The outcome shows a money total of 

 sales not much different from last year, 

 which was the best ever known. Most 

 of the wholesale houses report total sales 

 nearly equal to those of 1920 and a few 

 report small increases. To have made 

 so good a showing, of course, implies a 

 considerable increase in the quantity of 

 stock handled, as the average price was 

 lower by at least twenty per cent. The 

 most important decrease was in the 

 longer grades of roses, which the buy- 

 ers refused to take at regular prices in 

 sufficient quantity to clean up the 

 supply. _ 



A fair clean-up was effected. Large 

 quantities of poinsettias were left. The 

 supply of this Christmas specialty was 

 greater than ever before, with no cor- 

 responding increase in the demand, with 

 the result that the growers were keenly 

 disappointed. Stevia and Paper Whites 

 also were left. On the other hand, all 

 good colored carnations sold out at 

 straight prices. White was not wanted. 

 Quite a few colored carnations were 

 sold on the buyer's offer and some were 

 lost, but these were flowers which 

 showed their age. 



Roses cleaned up in most wholesale 

 houses, but some reports show Columbia 

 to have been an exception to the rule. 

 It was noted everywhere that the prin- 

 cipal call was for Premier and that Co- 

 lumbia, of the pink roses, was least in 

 request. This rose, too, seemed to have 

 suffered more than others as the result 

 of the extremely unfavorable weather 

 which preceded the holiday and it may 

 have been because of the quality that 

 buyers called for something else. Eussell, 

 too, showed the effects of the bad weath- 

 er and suffered in price for that reason. 

 The growers were accused of pickling, 

 but some of the roses were not so old as 

 (Continued on page 36.) 



