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MAY 4. 1922 



The Florists^ Review 



47 



NEW YORK. 



The Market. 



The cut flower market is not in a 

 prosperous condition just now. The 

 week just ended was one which merged 

 on the disastrous. It could not be said 

 that the supply was particularly heavy, 

 but the bottom fell out of the demand, 

 and several lines in particularly good 

 crop went to pieces. Sweet peas suf- 

 fered worse than anything else, thou- 

 sands going to waste; flowers with long 

 Htems and approaching the exhibition 

 iiuality were and are moving at as low 

 as 50 cents per hundred. Lilies, too, 

 were caught in the downward move- 

 ment, and sales are reported at as low 

 as 5 cents per flower. There seems to be 

 no reason ascribed to the downfall. 

 Some say, "Oh, we always expect a lit- 

 tle turn like this in spring." But, all 

 the same, present conditions were total- 

 ly unexpected, and there is no explana- 

 tion for it, other than that the public is 

 not buying. 



Koses are plentiful, but they do not 

 clear well. A great deal of stock was 

 carried over Saturday, April 29, in spite 

 of low prices and concessions beyond 

 them. 



American Beauty was selling Mon- 

 day, May 1, at anything from 10 cents 

 to 30 cents for specials, and clearances 

 are being made at figures even below 

 the minimum. A quotable range for hy- 

 brid teas might be $2 to $15 from No. 2 

 upward, but concessions even from 

 these prices are far from difficult to ob- 

 tain, especially with a large left-over 

 holding available at the opening of 

 market May 1. 



Cattleyas are in fair supply, with 

 prices running 35 cents to 75 cents per 

 flower and hybrids and the finer gigas 

 bringing occasionally $1 per hundred. 



Carnations are also caught in the 

 slump, and the best only move within a 

 range of $3 to $5 per hundred. 



"White lilies are not in great demand, 

 and the supply is, therefore, too great 

 for assimilation. About 5 cents to 10 

 cents per flower is the range, with a few 

 selected stalks commanding 12 cents 

 per flower. Valley is plentiful, but the 

 wedding season is commencing, and 

 sales have not fallen below the $6 mark 

 for top grade. 



Violets are finished and lilac is now 

 holding sway, quantities arriving from 

 the south. There is no let-up in the 

 supply of miscellaneous flowers, and ar- 

 rivals fare rather badly with the slump 

 in staple lines. Feverfew has made an 

 appearance and the supply of gladioli, 

 many coming from the south, is in- 

 creasing. Other items available are 

 daisies, in quantity; snapdragons, some 

 of splendid quality; Delphinium Bella- 

 donna, cornflowers, pansies galore, alys- 

 sum, stocks, bouvardia, narcissi, both 

 Trumpet and poeticus; a few Darwin 

 tulips, centaureas, myosotis, mignon- 

 ette, arbutus, lupines, columbines, 

 peonies and fruit blossoms. 



Various Notes. 



_ Gus. Ladiges, the uptown retail flo- 

 rist, is leaving for a prolonged Euro- 

 pean trip May 6. He will travel with a 

 Plattdeutscher party, which has en- 

 gaged the whole of the S. S. Hansa, and 

 he will not return until near September. 

 The project for installing a formal 

 flower garden in Central park, in con- 

 nection with an exhibition of statuary, 

 has been abandoned, owing to pressure 



of public opinion that such a display 

 would be a dangerous precedent, in so 

 far as the freedom of the park system 

 is concerned. 



Dr. N. L. Britton, former botanist of 

 the 8. A. F., has just returned from 

 Porto Eico, where he has, with a party, 

 been studying the flora of the island. 



Visitors last week were S. S. Pen- 

 nock, Philadelphia, and Thomas Koland, 

 Nahant, Mass. 



Eugene Dailledouze, of Flatbush, 

 N. Y., who has been under the weather 

 for some time, was able to make a trip 

 into the market section last week. 



A meeting of the executive commit- 

 tee of the American Dahlia Society is 

 called for Tuesday, May 8, at the Hotel 

 Grand, Broadway and Thirty-first 

 street. 



Hildenbrand & Bartels, of the Eigh- 

 teenth street flower market, have been 

 receiving cut blooms of erlangea. This 

 member of the compositse has never 

 been seen before as a cut flower and has 

 excited curiosity. Its scented foliage 

 and lilac, tubular flowers did not seem 

 to find the appreciation expected and 

 it is, therefore, doubtful whether this 

 native of tropical Africa will figure as a 

 regular thing on the market. 



A statement of the bankruptcy pro- 

 ceedings in the ease of George J. Poly- 

 kranas will be found on another page 

 of this issue under the heading, "Busi- 

 ness Embarrassments." J. H. P. 



H. Bayersdorfer & Co., of Philadel- 

 phia, have opened a store at 144 West 

 Eighteenth street, where a member of 

 the firm will be in charge. 



The annual meeting of the Horti- 

 cultural Society of New York will be 

 held in the Museum building of the 

 New York Botanical Garden, Saturday, 

 May 13, at 3:30 p. m. An exhibition of 

 plants and flowers will be held in the 

 Museum building in connection with 

 the meeting. Schedules for this exhi- 

 bition, which will have classes for or- 

 chids, herbaceous plants, shrubs, trees 

 and various spring flowers and potted 

 plants, may be had on application to 

 Mrs. George V. Nash, New York Bo- 

 tanical Garden, Bronx park, New York. 



BALTIMORE, MD. 



The Market. 



There is always a calm after the 

 storm. And how true it is in our own 

 business! The storm of the Easter rush 

 was a terrific one and the present calm 

 is welcomed by everyone. 



The market supply at the present 

 time is good, but the demand is poor, 

 due to the fact that there is a good sup- 

 ply of outdoor stock, such as lilacs, 

 Darwin tulips and outdoor valley. 

 Roses are plentiful and the quality of 

 the stock is fine. Carnations are also 

 plentiful. Sweet peas are still holding 

 their own. The supply of gardenias is 

 fine and the supply of orchids is fair. 

 Gladioli are just beginning to appear 

 locally. Snapdragons are plentiful and 

 the quality of the stock is good. 



Various Notes. 



Mr. and Mrs. William J. Johnston and 

 daughter are enjoying a vacation in the 

 sunny south. 



J. J. Perry, of the S. S. Pennock Co., 

 is in Philadelphia on business. 



The Women's Civic League is making 

 elaborate preparations for the annujil 

 flower mart, to be held the second week 



in May. A committee has been ap- 

 pointed from the local club to cooperate 

 with the league in this annual venture. 

 The florists will be given their usual 

 space to display their stock. 



It is reported that the recent cold 

 spell played havoc with the peony crop. 



Charles F. Feast and Robert T. Pater- 

 son left Sunday, April 30, for Detroit to 

 attend the F. T. D. directors' meeting. 



E. W. J. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Notorious for the suddenness with 

 which it can change front, the Chicago 

 market turned another corner April 28. 

 There had been nearly a week of fairly 

 active demand, but it had not been 

 strong enough to clean up the accumu- 

 lation of stock which had weighted the 

 market down since Easter. Then came 

 a most welcome gentleman from Omaha 

 seeking material for a tag day. He 

 must have thought our wholesalers an 

 exceptionally warm-hearted and hos- 

 pitable group. The fact is, he was the 

 man they had been looking for. Al- 

 though he was limited as to price, he 

 needed a large quantity of flowers. 

 They helped him out. His shipments 

 were made April 27, and the market 

 opened April 28 with nothing but fine, 

 fresh flowers, and none too many of 

 them. There was a good shipping busi- 

 ness April 28, and April 29 the city 

 trade bought more liberally than at any 

 time since Easter. There was hardly 

 anything in the wholesalers' iceboxes 

 over Sunday. 



With the market once more on a solid 

 footing, interest has turned to Mothers' 

 day. There being no more flowers than 

 are needed now, the belief is general 

 that there can not be too many at the 

 end of next week. Orders already are 

 coming in strongly and from many un- 

 usual sources. Numerous stores which 

 do not ordinarily handle flowers, sensing 

 the fact that nothing but flowers con- 

 vey the message of Mothers' day, are 

 inquiring about the supply and indi- 

 cate a desire to break into the game. It 

 would interest the florists in the com- 

 munities whence these inquiries come if 

 they could know the unanimity with 

 which the Chicago wholesalers are re- 

 plying that they will have flowers only 

 for florists next week. 



It seems certain the demand will be 

 the largest ever known, but what of 

 the supply? It is a foregone conclusion 

 that there will not be so many carna- 

 tions as at Mothers' day last year. The 

 supply all along has been smaller this 

 year. Nor will roses be in unusual sup- 

 ply. Easter was so late that rose houses 

 then in crop can not be again giving 

 a heavy cut for Mothers' day. There 

 will be a lot of roses, to be sure, but 

 the demand will be so strong there could 

 not be too many. 



The one flower which probably will 

 be in larger supply than ever before is 

 the peony. Not only are the many new 

 southern fields now coming into full 

 yield, but Mothers' day this year falls 

 on the latest possible date and many 

 shippers not usually classed as southern 

 will have at least a part of their crops 

 ready. The supply, therefore, probably 

 will be much heavier than last year. 

 "Probably" is used advisedly, because 

 the peony is a proverbially undepend- 

 able crop. Looking fine now, it might 



(CoDtlDued on pa«re 5h.) 



