•r^^-^^-^ W'l'W^^V ' I'M 'fn'^Wfi . . ^^rr^-'^^ 



May 20, 1922 



The Florists' Review 



39 



CHICAQO. 



The Market. 



In the week following Mothers' day 

 the market was only moderately active. 

 As frequently occurs, the week started 

 fairly well and ended briskly, with a 

 couple of dull days between. Early in 

 the week the receipts of greenhouse 

 rtowers were light, but the market was 

 deluged with peonies from southern In- 

 diana, Illinois and Missouri. These 

 shipments ended abruptly and then the 

 market began to pick up. There were 

 110 heavy cuts of roses or carnations 

 and a moderate demand served to keep 

 the murket fairly clean. Prices were 

 not high, but they were not low for the 

 season. 



The present week started with the 

 dullest Monday the market has expe- 

 rienced in many months. Apparently 

 without explanation, the shipping de- 

 mand fell away to small proportions. 

 The only thing that saved the market 

 was an unusually active city trade, 

 largely occasioned by a heavy run of 

 funeral work. 



The peony occupies the leading place 

 at present. It has been said that no 

 two seasons are exactly, alike as regards 

 the peony and certainly this season is 

 different from any other. It seems not 

 to be a good season for anyone. Those 

 who had planted in the south, for an 

 early crop, cut practically nothing. The 

 Tennessee crop was extremely light. A 

 heat wave hit the Evansville growers 

 just at tlLe' critical time and the season 

 there was the shortest ever known. 

 Practically all the buds popped open 

 within a space of five days, where the 

 season frequently covers two weeks. 

 The flowers opened so fast they could 

 not be cut and bunched with the usual 

 care and in the usual condition. The 

 result has been that a great deal of the 

 southern Indiana crop was unfit for 

 storage. This has been particularly true 

 of festiva maxima, the flowers of which 

 fell when they were taken from the 

 boxes here. The Illinois and Missouri 

 peonies were cut under somewhat simi- 

 lar hasty conditions, but these growers 

 never used festiva maxima to the ex- 

 tent that the Evansville growers have. 

 The quantity of peonies in storage for 

 Memorial day is not large. None of 

 the cuts have been of usual size and 

 the condition of the stock on arrival 

 here has made immediate sale advisable. 

 Unless the local peonies are ready, 

 which does not often happen, there will 

 not be large supplies for Memorial day. 

 The first cut at Onarga was made 

 May 20. 



The principal interest at present cen- 

 ters on Memorial day. A satisfactory 

 number of orders has been received 

 and the file is growing with every mail. 

 Most of the wholesalers say they have 

 received a greater number of orders 

 than were on file at a corresponding 

 date last year, but some of them indi- 

 cate that the orders are not so large as 

 they thought they were going to be. 

 However, there seems little doubt that 

 the demand will equal the supply of 

 stock unless another heat wave should 

 be encountered within the next few 

 days. Stock is much better than it 

 was at Mothers ' day. 



The shipping for Memorial day will 

 begin May 26, but Sunday, May 28, 

 will be the big day. The market will 

 be open as on any other day, not only 



all day Sunday, but as far into the 

 night as conditions require. 



Orowers' Meeting. 



The after-effects of Mothers' day and 

 a spring rain cut down the attendance 

 at the regular meeting of the Commer- 

 cial Flower Growers of Chicago, at the 

 Hotel Randolph, Thursday evening. 

 May 18. It was an interesting meeting, 

 nevertheless. One of the features was 

 provided by Charles H. Porter, who, as 

 representative of the Allied Florists' 

 Association, has been responsible for 

 the large amount of publicity which 

 flowers have had on the reading and 

 pictorial pages of the Chicago newspa- 

 pers in the last three months. Mr. Por- 

 ter gave a report on Mothers' day news- 

 paper publicity, which was substan- 

 tially that delivered to the directors of 

 the Allied Florists' Association and 

 printed in The Eeview last week. He 

 told of his strenuous fight to keep ad- 

 verse propaganda out of the newspapers 

 before Mothers' day, a vastly harder 

 job than getting favorable propaganda 

 in, and described the proceedings of 

 the aldermanic high cost committee 

 which led to the publication of the 

 "fair price list" on flowers in the Chi- 

 cago papers the day before "Mothers ' 

 day. Mr. Porter mentioned a number 

 of plans for stimulating interest in 

 Mothers' day, which could not be 

 carried out in the short time his service 

 covered this year, but which may be 

 used with beneficial results next year. 



In the discussion regarding the Moth- 

 ers' day market which followed this re- 

 port, the growers of various flowers 

 showed how fortunate had been the 

 occurrence of the holiday this year. It 

 turned a glutted market into a profit- 

 able one for most of the growers. Some 

 indications of what happened will be 

 seen from such statements as that jon- 

 quils which were worth nothing the 

 week before sold for as high as 4 to 8 

 cents for Mothers' day; sweet peas 

 which were thrown into the ash can the 

 first part of the week moved out at 

 quite satisfactory prices the latter half, 

 and roses which were bringing returns 

 close to unprofitable moved high enough 

 to give growers a most satisfactory 

 average. For comparison with condi- 

 tions a year ago, it may be stated that 

 some rose growers cut twice as many 

 flowers as they did in the same week in 

 1921, though they got about the same 

 returns in cash, while sweet pea growers 

 picked fifty per cent more blooms than 

 in the same week a year ago, though 

 their returns averaged one-third of 

 what they got in 1921; in other words, 

 they furnished half again as many flow- 

 ers as they did last year and got about 

 half the number of dollars they did 

 twelve months ago. 



Another occurrence of interest at the 

 meeting was the appearance of'H. \V. 

 Logsdon, an insurance broker, who 

 showed the growers how, by united 

 effort, they might obtain a material 

 reduction in their fire insurance rates 

 from the local board of underwriters, 

 so that it would be feasible for them to 

 carry such insurance. The present rates, 

 he stated, established years ago, are not 

 warranted by the low loss ratio. Upon 

 the accumulation of the necessary facta 

 for presentation to the board of under- 

 writers, he thought the organization 

 would be able to secure a much lower 

 rate, as the woodworkers, laundrymen, 

 lumber yards and others have done. 

 Upon motion made by Joseph Kohout 



and seconded by Andrew Benson, Presi- 

 dent Peter Pearson appointed a commit- 

 tee to inquire into the possibilities of 

 Mr. Logsdon 's plan and to gather the 

 necessary information for the reduction 

 of fire insurance rates. The committee 

 named consists of Joseph Kohout, 

 George J. Ball and Henry D. Neve. 



A communication was read from J. F. 

 Ammann, giving for growers' informa- 

 tion the name and address of the secre- 

 tary of the Florists' Hail Association 

 of America. Apparently too few mem- 

 bers of the trade are acquainted with 

 the fact that this strongly organized 

 florists' mutual organization is always 

 ready to serve them through the secre- 

 tary, John G. Esler, Saddle Eiver, N. J. 



Another communication from Mr. 

 Ammann asked for an expression of 

 opinion on quarantine 37 which would 

 enable the officers of the National Flow- 

 er Growers' Association to declare the 

 position of that organization when 

 called upon to do so. Some discussion of 

 the subject made it plain that opinion 

 differed widely, and it was decided to 

 lay the matter on the table for fuller 

 inquiry at a later meeting. 



Since the next meeting, Thursday 

 evening, June 15, will be the annual 

 meeting of the Commercial Flower 

 Growers of Chicago, it has already been 

 planned to hold a banquet and invite 

 the ladies to be present. As a commit- 

 tee of arrangements for that evening. 

 President Pearson appointed Otto Am- 

 ling, Andrew Benson and Rudolph Ells- 

 worth. 



Wholesalers' Session. 



The Chicago Wholesale Cut Flower 

 Association held its annual meeting at 

 the dinner table at the Sherman House, 

 Thursday evening. May 18, President 

 Klingsporn in the chair. At the April 

 meeting C. J. Michelsen, though absent, 

 had been nominated for president. He 

 stated that it was his understanding 

 that Eric Johnson was to be advanced 

 from the vice-presidency, which he has 

 held for a year, and withdrew in Mr. 

 Johnson's favor, making the election 

 unanimous. A. T. Pyfer was elected 

 vice-president to succeed Mr. Johnson. 

 Treasurer Scliupp and Secretary Kohl- 

 brand were reelected. C. J. Michelsen, 

 Eric Johnson and Paul R. Klingsporn 

 were named as the wholesalers' repre- 

 sentatives on the board of the Allied 

 Florists' Association. 



The committee, consisting of C. J. 

 Michelsen, P. C. Schupp and Eric John- 

 son, appointed to investigate the credit 

 and collection system used by New 

 York wholesale florists and to prepare 

 a plan for such a system in Chicago, re- 

 ]iorted progress. President Klingsporn 

 reported on a similar system employed 

 by wholesale milliners in Chicago. It 

 was the unanimous view that some such 

 plan should be put into operation here 

 and a further report was requested for 

 the June meeting. Probably the first 

 step to be taken will be to consolidate 

 the past-due accounts of all the whole- 

 sale houses, thus showing how much 

 each debtor owes on this market. 



Bedding Out. 



This is a busy week for all those who 

 sell bedding stock. The public wants 

 bedding work done before Memorial 

 (lay, but this year practically nothing 

 liad been done May 22, as the weather 

 liad been unfavorable. The parks had 

 planted nothing until this week. First- 



(Cuntinnpil on piigp 44.) 



•V 



