125Sa 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



November 10, 1904. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



The Market 



Business has not been very good. The 

 optimists say it is better than a week 

 ago; the pessimists say it is not 

 * ' worth a row of pins. ' ' With the mid- 

 season chrysanthemums and the election 

 out of the way, conditions are slowly 

 improving. The mountainous wagon 

 loads of flowers coming into town are 

 appalling. Gallantly have the wholesal- 

 ers worked to get them out of the way, 

 with only fair results j they come in 

 very fast. 



This is show week and chrysanthe- 

 mum is queen. The Leo Niessen Co. 

 reports the varieties of the week to be 

 Timothy Eaton, Mrs. Eobinson and 

 White Bonnaffon, white; George W. 

 Childs, red; Col. Appleton, Major Bon- 

 naffon, Yellow Eaton, yellow; Balfour, 

 Byron, Chamberlain (new English), 

 Maud Dean, Barclay and Dr. Engue- 

 hard, pink. Ivory is useful, but not a 

 fancy. The Cut Flower Co. had their 

 first Batons on Wednesday and a num- 

 ber of the above sorts in fine form. 

 Among other additions to the list are 

 Philadelphia, lemon yellow, at Wm. 

 J. Baker's; Golden Wedding, orange 

 yellow, at Berger Brothers; Mrs. Na- 

 than Smith, white, Cheltoni, lemon yel- 

 low, at S. S. Pennock's. 



Boses and carnations continue dull ; 

 violets are fair stock, with prices a lit- 

 tle better. Orchids are becoming more 

 oi a factor. S. S. Pennock stated that 

 he can fill an order for 400 white or- 

 chids or cypripediums, an impossibility 

 not long ago. 



There Is Room at the Top. 



The feature of the November meeting 

 of the Florists' Club was an exhibit 

 of fancy chrysanthemums and carnations 

 made by Edward A. Stroud, of Overbrook 

 and Strafford. There were four large 

 vases of chrysanthemums, all very fine 

 and all of recent introduction. The vari- 

 eties were William Duckham, pink; Mrs. 

 Nathan Smith, white; Cheltoni, an im- 

 proved Nellie Pockett, and Ben Wells, 

 white. The carnations were Judge Hins- 

 dale, white with carmine markings, large, 

 rather globular; Enchantress, pale pink, 

 in fine form ; Mackinac, a splendid white, 

 large flower on stout stem, a beautiful 

 bunch. This variety is considered their 

 most prolific sort. This display was 

 greatly admired by the many members 

 present. It reflects great credit on the 

 energy and enterprise of Mr. Stroud and 

 on the skill of his foreman. It is of es- 

 pecial interest, as the varieties are all 

 commercial sorts that are bringing good 

 prices in these days of over-production. 



Ranstead Street 



Ranstead street runs west from the 

 junction of Fifteenth street and South 

 Penn Square. It is known floriculturally 

 as the business home of Edward Reid. 

 Improvements have been added from 

 time to time, until now the place is 

 seemingly arranged to the best possi- 

 ble advantage, every square foot of 

 space being utilized. Two floors are 

 used, the upper having the sales room, 

 the capacious ice-box, the cooling room 

 for carnations and the office, where Miss 

 Erans presides over the books and the 

 mimeograph. The lower floor contains 

 another large ice-box, used chiefly for 

 roses and valley, a large cool room, well 

 filled with shelves for carnations and 



other flowers and duplicate desk, ship- 

 ping facilities, etc. A compartment of 

 the upstairs ice-box has just been 

 equipped with a complete set of trays 

 for greens that are very convenient. 

 Mr. Reid carries a very fine lot of stock, 

 which he is always ready to show. 



Gardenias. 



The wholesale market has been some- 

 what unsettled on the gardenia lately. 

 The price stood at 20 and 25: cents in 

 the end of October. The supply short- 

 ened and it advanced to 30 cents. It 

 has today reached 35 to 40 cents. A 

 private family living on a large estate 

 some distance out of town, desiring to 

 secure better returns for their gar- 

 denias, sent their daughter to the city 

 to sell. See the returns. The first re- 

 tailers offered her 35 cents for her gar- 

 denais. The next retailer created a 

 sensation by offering 50 cents each for 

 her best blooms; possibly with a view 

 to exclusive control. So the price of 

 gardenias today has reached double 

 that of a week ago. 



A Chat About Bulbs. 



The roomy store of Johnson & 

 Stokes is filled to overflowing with all 

 sorts of things to rejoice the heart of 

 a true gardener, with just enough plants 

 around to add a touch of life to the 

 scene. Upstairs W. J. Sherry made 

 time to give PMl a cordial welcome and 

 a few ideas about bulbs. Despite heavier 

 importations, Mr. Sherry said narcissi, 

 especially Von Sion and tulips, are 

 scarce; so are crocuses. Named hya- 

 cinths of good varieties are still to be 

 had in quantity, but that is possibly due 

 to the late Easter next season. By 

 December it is likely these two will be 

 marketed, making the season a leader on 

 bulb sales. 



Hightstown. 



Charles E. Meehan, the hustling man- 

 ager of the Flower Market, and D. T. 

 Conner, with Lord & Burnham Co., paid 

 a visit to Hightstown, N. J., last Fri- 

 day, thoroughly enjoyed by both. They 

 went there on a freight train, not for an 

 election wager or to save expense, but 

 just because it so happened. 



They visited Pierson & Bodine, a 

 new place with a fine house, 16x250, 

 devoted to violets in excellent shape. 

 Nothing was said about who put up 

 the house, but Mr. Conner's interest 

 is very significant. 



Joseph P. Johnson was next. He has 

 a half-dozen houses devoted to violets, 

 chiefly Lady Campbell. They are ver-v 

 fine and the blooms are much admired 

 at the Flower Market. 



Then came Black & Son's place. 

 Elias Black received the visitors. Be- 

 sides good violets, there are plenty of 

 carnations. Scott is grown as well as 

 in its palmiest days. Queen Louise, 

 Enchantress an,l Mrs. Lawson, all 

 looked well. 



Tracy Norton came next, He had 

 violets galore. They can grow violets 

 at Hightstown, Mr. Meehan says so; he 

 has been there and he ought to know. In 

 talking about the violet market this 

 fall, Mr. Norton said: "The warm 

 weather was due to the warm weather." 

 If you can guess what he meant when 

 quoting this sentence you are very 

 much smarter than Phil. 



Darkness came next, much to the dis- 

 appointment of the visitors who wanted 

 to see Richard Norton, Chas. Black and 



Pierre, but you can't do all the places 

 when you travel by freight. 



Various Notes. 



Paul Berkowitz, of H. Bayersdorfer 

 & Co., returned on Monday from a very 

 successful fall trip. The firm is tre- 

 mendously busy, shipping orders all over 

 the country. 



John I. Heibeck, of Chester county, 

 will offer his greenhouses for sale 

 next week. 



Wm. J. Baker is receiving some ex- 

 ceptionally well grown chrysanthe- 

 mums from M. J. Brinton, of Christi- 

 ana, Pa. Philadelphia, Major Bonnaf- 

 fon and Maud Dean are among his 

 varieties. 



The Leo Niessen Co. had a large or- 

 der for the white chrysanthemum Mrs. 

 Henry Robinson this week. 



Wm. J. Moore has been visiting the 

 growers lately. 



The chrysanthemum show in Fair- 

 mount park was thrown open last Sun- 

 day to a tremendous crowd of visitors. 

 It will be continued as long as €he flow- 

 ers remain in good condition. 



The display at Gimbel Brds. * store, 

 described last week, has been continued 

 ti is week. It is attracting great crowds 

 of f)eople. Hugh Graham used a con- 

 siderable quantity of flowers to keep the 

 decoration fresh. His work was greatly 

 admired. 



A. M. Campbell, with Edw. Eeid, who 

 was ill last week, has returned to his 

 post. 



In last week's Riverton notes Viola 

 enculata should have been Viola corcuta, 

 the tufted pansy. Phil. 



ST. LOUIS. 



The Market. 



Business is steadily improving and the 

 outlook is good for a busy season front 

 now on. There seems to be plenty of 

 work for social affairs, also in funeral 

 designs. Several of the leading retailers 

 report large wedding orders for next 

 week. Last Saturday was a very busy 

 day. Chrysanthemums are in great abun- 

 dance. They always are when show time 

 approaches. The finer quality are now 

 upon the market. There are so many of 

 the better sorts now in that fancy prices 

 are out of the question, and it is only 

 a question of "how many can you use 

 and we make a price to suit. ' ' About 

 all that can be obtained for the very 

 best chrysanthemums is $3. The next 

 grade can be had from $1 to $2. The 

 big show at the World's Fair should 

 help the sale of cut stock considerably. 



Roses are not much looked after dur- 

 ing the mum season and unless they are 

 extra fancy they are hard to dispose of 

 at satisfactory prices. White and Amer- 

 ican Beauties are the only sellers now. 

 Plenty of red and pink are going to 

 waste for want of demand. Fancy teas 

 do not bring over $6 per hundred. Good 

 quality of roses can be had from $2 to 

 $4, and even cheaper in 1,000 lots. The 

 prices asked for fancy Beauties are $3 

 and $4 per dozen, and $6 to $10 per hun- 

 dred is the price for the stock with 

 shorter stems. 



Carnations are also plentiful. There 

 seems to be a general complaint that 

 stock goes to sleep over night. Of course, 

 the retailers are only buying for their 

 daily sales. One retailer reports that 

 he dumped 500 that were bought for 

 fancy at 3 cents; they were worthless 



