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Mat 18, 1922 



The Florists^ Review 



47 



OHIOAaO. 



The Market. 



The story of the Mothers ' day market 

 conditions may best be briefly told by 

 a record of the oflScial temperatures for 



the week: 



Highest Mean Normul 

 Ttav deg. deg. deg. 



May 8 67 «• 66 



S'^ 9 81 70 66 



mSv 10 ■ 81 74 66 



M?J n 81 74 67 



S*J Ji 81 74 B7 



Say 14 :;::: «8 64 58 



May 15 62 68 68 



These are the weather man's records, 

 made in his aerie; on the ground it was 

 warmer, forcing all outdoor flowers into 

 premature bloom, while, with bright 

 sun, under glass the heat was devastat- 

 ing, doubling production but robbing 

 the flowers of the quality so essential 

 to satisfactory dealings at times of 

 high prices. 



The Chicago market never has known 

 such conditions at Mothers' day; a simi- 

 lar situation has been encountered at 

 Memorial day, but never before so early 

 in the month. 



The heat wave doubled the anticipated 

 quantity of stock. It made much of it 

 too soft to be safe to ship and huge 

 quantities, especially of sweet peas and 

 carnations, were unsalable. It is a con- 

 servative statement that the Chicago 

 market never at any time has handled 

 so many flowers in one week and sel- 

 dom, if ever, has the waste been larger. 

 It was a nightmare for the workers, 

 as the demand also was the largest ever 

 known and the task of filling orders 

 would have been great if the stock 

 could have been used as it came, with- 

 out the necessity of selection; as it was, 

 all possible care had to be given to 

 sorting and grading to avoid certain 

 disappointment. 



Perhaps the carnation demands first 

 place in an effort to particularize. Of 

 course the growers had held back what 

 they could. The heat hit them, making 

 much of the stock useless. Strictly fine, 

 fresh flowers were never in oversupply 

 and most of them brought good prices. 

 Prices ranged all the way from 15 cents 

 to the waste barrel. The average for 

 the week will be low, far less than the 

 grower expected. At the same time 

 there are many complaints from buyers. 

 It was distressing. 



Roses were not so seriously affected 

 by the heat; they were more plentiful 

 than had been expected, but they sold 

 out almost clean. The short and me- 

 dium lengths brought list prices, be- 

 cause they were not equal to the de- 

 mand, but concessions were necessary 

 to bring the longer grades within the 

 reach of some of the buyers. Rose grow- 

 ers fared much better than carnation 

 growers and the buyers were better sat- 

 isfied. 



Peonies have not heretofore been a 

 factor at Mothers' day. Last year one 

 house had a few thousand dozens and 

 niade a hit. This year everybody had 

 them and got hit. Growers have been 

 planting in Tennessee in the hope of 

 making Mothers' day, but this vear the 

 heat wave brought in the cuts from the 

 numerous and large fields in southern 

 Indiana and Illinois. Growers who fre- 

 quently worry over being in time for 

 Memorial day were in full swing earlv 

 in the week before Mothers' dav. Great 

 as was the demand, only a part of the 

 supply could be sold, even at prices 

 based on what the Memorial day mar- 



ket seems likely to be, and large quan- 

 tities of peonies went to cold storage to 

 await developments. The growers prob- 

 ably will be satisfied with the prices, as 

 most of them would have received no 

 more had the cut come at the usual 

 time. Too large a part of the supply 

 was white; the pinks are later. There 

 was the usual complaint over festiva 

 maxima; it is a grand peony on the 

 plant or fresh cut, but it does not ship 

 and keep well and the buyers hold aloof. 



The sweet pea growers got the worst 

 results of all. Early in the week their 

 stock was a mess; hundreds of thou- 

 sands were unsalable. Some wholesal- 

 ers had the good judgment to dump 

 them at once and clear the way for the 

 better stock which followed, but others 

 let them stand around, hoping, perhaps, 

 for a buyer. Really first-class peas 

 never were in oversupply, but of course 

 the presence of low-grade stock always 

 pulls down the prices. The growers 

 will buy no Pierce-Arrows just yet. 



The heat rushed in the bulbous flow- 

 ers early in the week, so that few Dar- 

 win tulips or jonquils were in evidence 

 by Mothers' day. There was, how- 

 ever, much outdoor valley. Easter lilies 

 were a glut, as they were not in special 

 request. Some were jobbed off, while 

 others were sent to join the peonies in 

 the freezer, but consignments from a 

 distance showed a considerable loss. 

 Callas' were in worse case than the 

 giganteums; mother evidently associ- 

 ates them with funerals, for nobody 

 wanted any. Nor did ten weeks' stocks 

 class as mother's favorite. Snapdrag- 

 ons were in larger supply than ever 

 was known before and only a small part 

 of the receipts could be sold, which 

 means that the growers of the best 

 stock got all the money and the others 

 nothing. There wete large receipts of 

 gladioli from the south, in small re- 

 quest. The indoor local gladioli were 

 much better, but not in large supply 

 and they sold fairly well. Statice moved 

 satisfactorily, as did greens. 



Lilac was in heavier supply than any 

 other week this season. Much of it ar- 

 rived in poor shape, but nobody wanted 

 even the good lilac, purple or white. 

 It was noted in many places this Moth- 

 ers' day that the public did not care for 

 outdoor flowers of any kind. 



Friday was the big shipping day; it 

 probably broke all records as to quan- 

 tity of stock sent away from this mar- 

 ket. Saturday the city retailers bought 

 heavily and Sunday morning there was 

 a still greater rush. How well it was 

 going was shown by the fact that many 

 of the early buyers were back for more 

 liofore noon and many wholesale houses 

 found it paid them to keep open all 

 day. 



From the wholesalers' point of view it 

 was a record-breaker. While prices 

 averaged low nnd there was much waste, 

 the cnsh value of sales was well ahead 

 of last yenr. Growers got low prices 

 per flower, but cut so much stock they 

 received large checks, in many cases 

 tlie largest ever. 



The retailers had all they could han- 

 dle. To have done more business they 

 would have required more space, more 

 clerks and more hours in the days and 

 nights. Half the taxicabs in town, it 

 seems, were hired to deliver flowers 

 Sunday morning. The retailers suf- 

 fered, as did growers and wholesalers, 

 because of the poor quality of so much 

 of the stock. Also, some of them found 



its abundance was not an unmixed bless- 

 ing. While they paid less than they 

 expected and could sell at a good mar- 

 gin of profit, some of them found that 

 street salesmen had buckets or wagon- 

 loads of what some people called flow- 

 ers on the adjacent street corners and 

 were doing big business Saturday after- 

 noon and Sunday. 



May 15, Monday, the market sur- 

 prised many people. The old stock had 

 been dumped and the receipts of fresh 

 flowers were light. Buying was stronger 

 than anyone expected. It seemed that 

 nearly every retail store had cleaned 

 out completely and that it was neces- 

 sary for everybody to buy at least a 

 few flowers with which to fill orders 

 and make a show. The result was an 

 excellent day 's business at prices that 

 averaged at least as good as those re- 

 ceived Saturday afternoon and Sunday. 

 The market was quite clean by night. 



Asparagus has turned scarce. 



Wietors to Retire. 



It may now be announced that the 

 long established firm of Wietor Bros, 

 will retire from the florists' business 

 May 31. Rumors of the matter have 

 long been c^jrrent^^nd N. J. Wietor 

 states that the papers have now been 

 signed. Ten acres of the Wietor prop- 

 erty adjoining the Angel Guardian Or- 

 phan Asylum, together with the rose 

 houses on the property, have been sold 

 to the orphanage, which already oper- 

 ates a quite large range of glass, selling 

 most of its output at retail. Another 

 5-acre piece and the carnation houses 

 on it have been sold to John Eschette, 

 wlio has been carnation foreman for 

 the Wietors for about fifteen years. He 

 will operate the range for his own ac- 

 count, beginning June 1, and will con- 

 sign his flowers to the Joseph Foerster 

 Co. The remainder of the Wietor estab- 

 lishment, which is all in roses, will be 

 taken over June 1 by John and George 

 Wietor, sons of Henry Wietor, and by 

 John Borst, who is Mr. Wietor 's son-in- 

 law. They will continue to grow roses, 

 to be consigned to Peter Reinberg, Inc. 

 The wholesale store in the Atlas block 

 has not been disposed of, but will cease 

 to function June 1. If a purchaser for 

 the lease and equipment does not ap- 

 pear, the store will be kept open for 

 a time for the collection of outstand- 

 ing accounts. 



The firm of Wietor Bros, started in 

 the greenhouse business in the spring 

 of 1894. In the autumn of that year 

 the wholesale house was opened under 

 the name of the Rogers Park Floral 

 Co., the owners being N. J. Wietor, 

 Henry Wietor, .lohn Muno and Adam 

 Zendor. The latter two retired from the 

 greenhouse business with a competence 

 some years ago. In 1897 the wholesale 

 house was taken over by the Wietors, 

 who in the course of time built up a 

 range of approximately a million feet 

 of glass. 



In addition to the greenhouses, the 

 brothers own considerable real estate 

 in Rogers Park. On it there is an excel- 

 lent gravel pit and a large amount of 

 black soil which is in request in neigh- 

 boring new additions. These enterprises 

 will occupy Henry Wietor 's attention 

 until such time as the real estate is 

 platted. N. J. Wietor is a vice-president 

 of the Devon Trust & Savings Bank 

 and about July 1 he will begin giving his 

 whole time to that institution, in charge 



(Continued on ftftge 64.) 



