The Holiday business turns out erratic, uneven, but in many 

 cases exceeded the Trade's expectations and preparations 



normal 



IROBABLY the trade never 

 has givep so much thought 

 to the Christmas business 

 — before and after — as has 

 been the case this year. 

 The holiday trade is an 

 important factor even in a 

 year, and this year is dis- 

 tinctly abnormal. So the Christmas 

 sales were of unusual im- 

 portance. 



Advertising Paid. . 



Among the retailers in 

 the cities there was a quite 

 general opinion that the 

 demand would not come 

 up to last year. Some 

 were willing to let it go 

 at that, and bought ac- 

 cordingly, but others took 

 steps to stimulate the use 

 of flowers. At Cleveland, 

 for instance, the trade 

 raised a fund for adver- 

 tising and it is interesting 

 to read that Christmas eve 

 the pressure on the stores 



it found a buyer. The wholesale prices 

 did not average so high as last year — 

 indeed, in the four largest cities they 

 were the lowest ever realized at Christ- 

 mas — and no doubt most retailers gave 

 their customers the benefit, but the pub- 

 lic turned into the cash registers of the 

 trade last week an aggregate sum not 

 far behind the best week 's record 



became 



not. ' 



All 



lines of stock cleaned up 

 in good shape. In dozens 

 of places in this issue it 

 will be read that the busi- 

 ness ' ' exceeded expecta- 

 tions," even though no ad- 

 vertising was done. 



The business of the 

 week must have been enor- 

 mous, taking the country 

 as a whole. The supply 

 of stock in all lines cer- 

 tainly was the heaviest 

 ever known— and most of 



Summary of the Christmas Trade 



the trade ever has been able to make. 

 It is important to note that, while 

 the big cities and manufacturing 

 towns showed some effect of the gen- 

 eral business conditions that have pre- 

 vailed since August, the smaller cities 

 and country towns show, instead, the 

 effect of the bountiful crops. From 

 the smaller cities in the grain states 

 come many reports of the 

 best Christmas business on 

 record. The trade in the 

 middle west appears to be 

 in better shape than in 

 any other part of the 

 country. 



The holiday business was enormous, in many places 

 the largest ever, but on the whole not up to last year 

 in money value. 



In general, the retailers are better pleased than the 

 wholesalers; the plantsmen much better satisfied than 

 the cut flower growers. 



The trade in the manufacturing cities appears not 

 to have been so good as in the country towns. 



Supplies of stock were the greatest in the history 

 of the trade, both plants and cut flowers. 



Wholesale prices, particularly on cut flowers, were 

 distinctly lower than last year, especially in the larger 

 cities; the man who retailed the stock he grew fared 

 much better than the wholesale grower. 



While enormous quantities of cut flowers were sold, 

 it is everywhere noted the trade pushed plants. The 

 business was later than usual starting and many who 

 sell to the public could have used more stock than they 

 had provided. Unsatisfactory reports from certain im- 

 portant centers are offset by many statements that the 

 business exceeded expectations. 



Weather conditions were unfavorable over the 

 greater part of the country; too near zero. 



Plants Were Pushed. 



The conditions appear to 

 have favored the sale of 

 plants, especially in the 

 cities. The retailers felt 

 safer in stocking up on 

 them, and on baskets of 

 ruscus, boxwood and red 

 berries, than they did on 

 cut flowers. The result 

 seems to make it possibly 

 necessary that a complete 

 readjustment of holiday 

 cut flower values take place 

 to induce the retailers to 

 push cut flowers again the 

 way they once pushed them 

 and the way they now 

 push plants. Whatever 

 trouble there is lies with 

 the trade — the public last 

 week bought all the good 

 cut flowers the retailers of- 

 fered them at moderate 

 prices. Read the news 

 notes and city letters: 



Somersworth, N. H.— G. S. Ramsburg 

 comments that the pessimist must have 

 frozen solid, for Santa brought big bus- 

 iness for the florists in this section. 



Bellows Falls, Vt.— Christmas sales 

 were not only good but figure up al- 

 most double those of last year, accord- 

 ^°g tp George A. Halladay, of the Ma- 

 pledell Greenhouses. Plant trade was 

 not so heavy as cut flowers, but carna- 

 tions were sold at $1 per dozen: red, 

 $1.50; roses, $1.50 to $2. The weather 

 was the coldest ever known for Christ- 

 mas, for five days ranging from zero 

 to 28 degrees below. 



Amsterdam, N. Y. — O. H. De La 

 Mater, of the Hilltop Greenhouses, is 

 much pleased with the Christmas sales, 

 which increased twenty-five per cent 

 compared with 1913 and fifty per cent 

 compared with 1912. He pushed 

 plants because wholesale cut flower 

 prices leave less profit to the small 

 town florist. Poinsettias did not sell 

 well, people seeming to consider them 

 not good keepers. He notes an in- 

 crease in the sale of baskets filled with 

 holly, ruscus and red berries. Holly 

 wreaths do not go so well, but laurel 

 is more in favor. 



Terre Haute, Ind. — The Rosery 

 Flower Shop says: "We used printers' 

 ink freely, had a big assortment of cut 

 flowers and plants and did a phe- 

 nomenal business for a store only ten 

 weeks old. Fancy basket work and cor- 

 sage bouquets were our leaders." This 

 is the retail branch of the Terre Haute 

 Rose & Carnation Co., which ha3 70,000 

 feet of glass. General business condi- 

 tions have been decidedly unsatisfac- 

 tory all through the autumn, but C. J. 

 Houck, the manager, says the flower 

 business averages better than other 

 lines. 





