APBiiy 20, 1022 



The Florists^ Review 



41 



BOSTON. 



The Easter Market. 



Favorable weather prevailed during 

 the week before Easter, with the excep- 

 tion of April 15, when a cold rain fell 

 practically all day, depressing business 

 somewhat at both the wholesale markets 

 and retail stores. Good Friday perfect 

 weather prevailed and, with an absence 

 of frost and snow, the delivery of planjts 

 was much simplified. 



The consensus seems to be that Boston 

 never had a better Easter trade. Prices 

 were good and demand remarkably 

 strong. There was some surplus in a 

 few lines, but nothing serious. It was 

 essentially a, plant holiday, as it is in- 

 creasingly each year, and growers of 

 plants were all practically sold out in 

 advance. Lilies were sold out com- 

 pletely and not a pot was obtainable the 

 evening of April 15; far more could have 

 been sold. The quality was not so good 

 as in some previous years, a great part 

 1^ of the plants being dwarf, and a good 

 many showed signs of disease. The av- 

 erage wholesale price was 25 cents per 

 bud. Some candidums appeared at the 

 retail stores and were eagerly bought. 



Eoses were never seen in greater quan- 

 tity or in wider variety. Pink was the 

 best selling color and Tausendschoen 

 was the leader, with Dorothy Perkins 

 next in favor. Scarlets did not take so 

 well; neither did whites. There was 

 some surplus of roses at the retail stores. 



French hydrangeas displaced azaleas; 

 the latter appeared only occasionally. 

 Never were finer hydrangeas seen. The 

 blues and pinks were in great request 

 and immense numbers were sold. Whites 

 moved more sluggishly. There were only 

 small lots of calceolarias and cinerarias, 

 but some fine bulbous stock appeared. 

 Darwin tulips, like Bartigon, showed up 

 well and the double pink Murillo seemed 

 to find favor. There were fewer hya- 

 cinths and narcissi than usual; the in- 

 tense heat April 10 and 11 spoiled a 

 good many. There were fewer genistas, 

 ericas, acacias and bougainvilleas than 

 usual, owing to the late date of Easter. 

 A considerable number of small scarlet 

 and pink geraniums were sold. For 

 foliage plants there was not much call. 

 All in all, it was a fine plant Easter, but 

 there was a lack of the flowering forced 

 shrubs seen when the holiday comes 

 earlier, there being few prunus, malus, 

 deutzias, lilacs and similar stock. 



Coming to cut flowers, everything 

 went well until April 15, when stock be- 

 gan to pile up overwhelmingly. Had the 

 day been pleasant, there would have 

 . been a complete clean-up, but persistent 

 rain crippled trade and forced prices 

 downwards. Roses cleaned up well. 

 Columbia, Ophelia, Pilgrim and Premier 

 sold during the week at $6 per hundred 

 for 9-inch, up to $18 to $20 per hundred. 

 Crusader and Hadley made from $10 to 

 $25 per hundred, the latter for 18-inch 

 stock. Ward sold well, 9-inch bringing 

 $10 per hundred and 15-inrh double this 

 price. Whites did not sell quite so well 

 as colored varieties. There were plenty 

 of American Beauties nt 75 cents to $1 

 each. Among the hybrid teas a limited 

 number only sold above prices quoted, 

 medium length of stems being mostly 

 wanted. 



Carnations had a good week; pink 

 varieties sold at $8 to $10, while Laddie, 

 Rosalia and Maine Sunshine were higher- 

 priced. Whites sold at $6 to $8 per hun- 

 dred. All good, fresh stock made satis- 



factory prices, but on the last day the 

 usual big arrivals of pickled flowers and 

 carried-over stock forced values' down 

 to $4 to $6 per hundred, some being sold 

 even lower. No violets appeared in the 

 market, but there were pansies galore. 

 The best made $2.50 per hundred. For 

 others any old price was accepted. In 

 spite of large arrivals of sweet peas, 

 there were not enough to go around. 

 Select flowers easily made $5 per hun- 

 dred, and $6 would have been willingly 

 paid on the afternoon of April 15, but 

 good flowers were then unobtainable. 

 There was a regular avalanche of bulb- 

 ous flowers, mainly narcissi, and these 

 sold at $4 to $6 per hundred. Even 

 King Alfred could not rise above the $6 

 mark, and a good number of Victorias 

 sold as low as $2 per hundred. 



There were a considerable number of 

 cut Easter lilies, but no one seemed to 

 want them, while there was a famine in 

 pot lilies. Callas were abundant at $2 

 to $4 per dozen. Calendulas and yellow 

 marguerites showed little change in 

 price. Snapdragons appeared in un- 

 wieldy numbers, being now in heavy 

 crop, and, while a great many sold at $2 

 per dozen and some for more, great 

 quantities were wasted. There were a 

 few gladioli, Blushing Bride and Amer- 

 ica; small lots of hardy larkspur at $5 

 to $6 per dozen and some gypsophila, 

 bachelor's buttons and other miscella- 

 neous flowers. 



Cattleyas were in demand and decid- 

 edly scarce; Schroederae made $12 per 

 dozen and MossisB $18 per dozen. There 

 was a fine supply of gardenias and 

 plenty of valley. Asparagus sold quite 

 well. 



The market April 17 showed the influ- 

 ence of the carried-over stock and was 

 inclined to be sluggish. Values showed 

 considerable declines, owing to a rather 

 weak demand and a good supply, due to 

 the brighter, warmer .weather. 



Various Notes. 



At the funeral of M. H. Walsh, the 

 noted rose hybridist, April 11, there was 

 a . large attendance and floral tributes 

 were indeed numerous. Some of his rose 

 introductions were particularly note- 

 worthy. Funeral services were held in 

 St. Joseph's church and interment was 

 in Falmouth cemetery. Mr. Walsh was 

 born in Wales and of his six children, all 

 of whom survive him, Edward and 

 Henry will continue the rose business. 

 John resides in Quincy. The fourth son, 

 Joseph, is a congressman in Washington 

 from the New Bedford district. Two 

 •laughters, Elizabeth and Mary, survive. 



T am glad to report Patrick Welch as 

 convalescent after a siege of sickness 

 lasting over six weeks. Mr. Welch's 

 friends, who are legion, have missed his 

 genial face and cordially welcome him 

 back. It is worthy of note that Mr. 

 Welch was f.nrseeing enough to locate 

 nt his present stand, when others decried 

 such a move, and his keen judgment was 

 seen when practically every wholesale 

 industry connected with the flower trade 

 speedily trekked after him toward Win 

 throp square. 



At the regular monthly meeting of the 

 Horticultural Club, April 5, the tables 

 were decorated with fifteen varieties of 

 acacias furnished by Thomas Roland. 

 Ormiston R-i.v, superiiiteiident of ceme- 

 teries at Montreal, and a niemlier of the 

 club, spoke interestingly for an hour of 

 liis experiences in France during the late 

 war, describing visits paid to the noted 

 liorticultnral establishments of Lemoine, 



Vilmorin, Chenault, Sebire and others. 



April weather is always fickle and un- 

 certain. April 10 a maximum of 86 de- 

 grees was recorded. The following day, 

 at 2 p. m., the temperature, due to an 

 east wind, was down to 46 degrees. The 

 intense heat caused florists considerable 

 anxiety and not a little loss; especially 

 was this true of bulbous material. 



Violets were practically a minus quan- 

 tity this year for Easter. The great 

 heat early in the week effectively cooked 

 them. Charles J. O'Brien, of Jamaica 

 Plain, had 500, the only flowers seen 

 locally. 



Mayflowers, or Epigjea repeus, from 

 the Plymouth woods made their appear- 

 ance at the stores last week. The bill 

 to protect this charming little native 

 plant, which was sponsored by Albert C. 

 Burrage and others and was defeated 

 recently by an adverse committee report 

 in the legislature, has been re-presented 

 with slight amendments and it is hoped 

 that it will pass and become law next 

 September. 



Many salesmen in the wholesale flower 

 markets who had accounts with the de- 

 funct Prudential Trust Co. were made 

 happy April 15 by the receipt of thirty 

 per cent of their claims, making ninety 

 per cent now paid since the institution 

 became insolvent, as a direct result of 

 the Ponzi financial gamble. 



The retail stores did not seem to be 

 visibly affected even by the damp, cheer- 

 less weather April 15. All seemed to be 

 crowded and doing a tremendous busi- 

 ness. Penn's, as usual, had the greatest 

 crowd, but the Houghton-Gorney Co., 

 Galvin's, Inc., T. F. Galvin and other 

 leading retailers were busy. Perfect 

 weather Easter day, with cloudless skies, 

 facilitated the making of late deliveries. 



Fred Holbrow, of Dorchester, brought 

 in some America gladioli, the first of 

 the season, April 15. J. M. Cohen han- 

 dled a fine shipment of delphiniums the 

 same dav. W. N. C. 



CHICAGO. 



Tne Market. 



As usually happens in these modern 

 times, the Easter business was not with- 

 out its disappointments, but, on the 

 whole, those who gain their livelihood in 

 the Chicago market have abundant rea- 

 son to be satisfied, and so express them- 

 selves. 



The chief difiiculty lay in the weather 

 and its effect on supply and demand in 

 the early part of the week preceding 

 Piaster. For weeks the weather was cold, 

 and dark, and rainy. In the early part 

 of the week before Easter the market 

 was crowded with flowers, for which 

 there was little demand. A great deal 

 of the stock was of a character making 

 it risky to ship, and, with dripping skies, 

 the local outlet was decidedly limited. 

 The result was that much stock was lost 

 or sold quite cheaply just before the 

 holiday, during three of the days which 

 were counted in making up the average 

 returns for the Easter week. By the 

 middle of the week the shipping demand 

 was absorbing all the good flowers that 

 <';ime to market, there was an occasional 

 glimpse of the sun and everything bright- 

 ened u]). For three days the market did 

 as big a business as ever in its history, 

 probably a little more than ever before. 

 There may be exceptions, but during the 

 three days immediately preceding Easter 

 the su{>ply was well proportioned to the 



(t'oritliiiiol on pasre 4i').> 



