310 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



December 29, 1904. 



mired and bought generously of every- 

 thing from Christmas bells to Christ- 

 mas hampers filled with pretty plants. 

 Taken altogether, Christmas 1904, proves 

 that the love for and knowledge of 

 plants and flowers is growing; that our 

 people are prosperous and willing to pay 

 a good price for a good quality. We 

 must continue to do all in our power to 

 foster this refining taste. 



The Leo N lessen Co. has sent out a 

 beautiful calendar for 1905. It repre- 

 sents a maiden carrying a bunch of Eas- 

 ter lilies. 



What the Wholesalers Said 



"Good, all went well, but ordinary 

 grades of carnations." — William J. 

 Baker. 



"Extra fine."— John Berger. 



"Very satisfactory." — Eugene Bern- 

 heimer. 



"Best 1 ever had."— Fred Ehret. 



"Almost too much business." — Charles 

 E. Meehan. 



"Elegant; good shipping orders." — 

 William J. Muth. 



"We did a very large business. Red 

 sold especially well. Carnations were 

 plentiful and went well, except white." 

 — Leo Niessen. 



"We are well pleased with Christmas. 

 The quality of our stock was fine." — 

 Samuel S. Pennock, 



"We worked day and night for three 

 days." — Edward Reid, 



Various Notes. 



"Good, all went well but ordinary 

 prosperous New Year. 



H. Bayersdorfer & Co. have reason 

 to be proud of the way their Christmas 

 novelties took with the general public. 

 Their effort to meet the demand for nov- 

 elty and variety is meeting with grati- 

 fying success. 



M. Rice & Co.'s business tliis season 

 broke all previous records. Notwithstand- 

 ing tlie great Christmas rush, they were 

 able to take good care of all rush 

 orders ^ent them, having large surplus 

 stock to draw from. This year was the 

 most prosperous in their business ca- 

 reer. The plans for their new building 

 have been completed and approved and 

 work will begin in the early part of the 

 new year. 



D. T. Connor states that Lord & Burn- 

 ham Co. has lately put in a now Chal- 

 lenge boiler for J. J. Habermehl's Sons, 

 at Twenty-second and Diamond streets, 

 disconnecting two old boilers and con- 

 necting the now one in three days. 



Myers & Samtman are reported to 

 have had 7,000 Beauties. It is cer- 

 tain that they had an immense crop. 



H. H. Battles made a round of the 

 commission houses with his buyer, John 

 Mclntyre, late on I^ridaj' night. Time 

 being precious, they went in a cab and 

 secured much desirable stock just in 

 from the growers. , 



Thomas Butler, who represents H. 

 Waterer, the Seventh street seedsman, 

 has had a phone put in his house for 

 tlie benefit of his business friends. He 

 says business is good. His joyous smile 

 proclaims that this is true. In times 

 <4 4»\\nem hh smile is still there, only 

 it is sadder. 



Stephen ^Mortenson, of Southampton, 

 sent a few very choice Liberties to Sam- 

 uel S. Pennock. 



The Millbrook-Loe Greenhouses, of 

 Whitford. Pa., Maull and Howell, pro- 

 prietors, have been sending Enchantress, 



Lawson and other fancy carnations to 

 William J. Moore. The quality of the 

 stock reflects the greatest credit on the 

 grower, John Stanley. 



The Flower Market had a great run 

 on their fine Beauties. Among the buyers 

 was Frank P. Myers, who bought a 

 dozen of the best brand, M. & S. stamped 

 on the leaf, evidently for a Christmas 

 gift. 



The trade in greens and in Christmas 

 trees was very heavy. 



Too tired to write any more this year. 



PUIL. 



BOSTON. 



The Christmas Market. 



Although there were no sensational ad- 

 vances in prices, as some had predicted, 

 the Christmas trade of 1904 will go on 

 record as very satisfactory. So far as can 

 be learned, it has been equally good for 

 wholesalers and retailers. Of course, the 

 holding back process caused a certain 

 stagnation in one or two lines, but not of 

 sufficient magnitude to be of great im- 

 portance. 



The output of roses was rather larger 

 than had been expected, especially of 

 Brides and Bridesmaids. Prices on these 

 showed no great advance, about $15 to 

 $18 being secured for select stock, a larg- 

 er proportion going at from $8 to $12. 

 American Beauties brought $100 for long- 

 stemmed stock, 24-inch-stems going at 

 from $50 to $75. Best quality Meteor 

 and Liberty sold at $50. In Killarney, 

 Chatenay, Wellesley and other sorts, price 

 did not rise much over normal figures. In 

 carnations, fancy scarlets, such as Fla- 

 mingo and Manley, made $10. Enchant- 

 ress, Harry Fenn and one or two other 

 fancies made $8 to $10. Some extra 

 quality Prosperity were reported to have 

 made $15. Good flowers of other varie- 

 ties made $4 to $6, inferior stock going 

 lower, whites being the hardest to move. 



Violets easily made $2 if of good qual- 

 ity. The supply of these was unequal to 

 the demand. Both double and single were 

 of fine quality. Poinsettias are not much 

 handled in a cut state in Boston. Select 

 bracts sold at 50 cents. Roman hyacinths 

 and Paper Whites made no advance and 

 were, as usual, hard to move. There was 

 a good supply of Liliuni Harrisii from 

 Peirce and Roland, these making $15 to 

 $18. Lily of the valley made $4 to $6. 

 Bouvardia, callas, stevia, mignonette and 

 cypripediums made no particular advance. 



Plants are not handled largely at the 

 markets. Peirce sold large quantities of 

 azaleas at the Park street market and 

 some other growers had cyclamens, prim- 

 ulas, solanums and Boston ferns. Mann 

 Bros, had a lot of berried hollies in pots, 

 which sold well. At the stores the plant 

 trade was of far more than the usual 

 Christmas proportions. There can \ye no 

 mistaking the fact that plants are to a 

 considerable degree usurping the place 

 formerly occupied by cut flowers as 

 Christmas gift?. The best sellers ap- 

 peared to be Lorraine begonias and aza- 

 leas. Poinsettias also sold in larger num- 

 bers than usual. Other sellers were cyc- 

 lamens, primulas, ardisias, Aucuba Japon- 

 ica, holly, solanums, Er[cas fragrans and 

 E.Tiyeniali?. Trade in palms, ferns and 

 other foliage plants was rather slow. 



The supplies of Christmas greens were 

 pretty well cleaned up on December 24. 

 The quantity on hand was smaller than 

 usual and good stock readily brought high 

 prices. The numerous dealers in Christ- 

 mas trees, wreathings, etc., on South Mar- 



ket street were cleaned out several hours 

 before the time limit for clearing the 

 street. 



Since Christmas supplies have not been 

 very abundant, due to cold, cloudy weath- 

 er, and good prices have been maintained. 

 Our Christmas weather was cold, temper- 

 ature standing about 20 degrees above 

 zero most of December 24. A consider- 

 able additional snowfall came on the even- 

 ing of December 25. 



The managers of both the Park street 

 and new market report Christmas trade 

 as very satisfactory, with stock of excep- 

 tionally good quality. 



Various Notes. 



The blooms of Fiancee and Cardinal 

 carnations, which arrived a day too late 

 for the club meeting, were on exhibition 

 at the Park street market for several 

 days. 



M. H. Norton opened a store at 1 A. 

 Park street a few days ago. We are glad 

 to state that Mr. Norton reports an ex- 

 cellent Christmas trade in plants, flowers 

 and greenery. We trust he may continue 

 to prosper. 



John Mutch, Newtonville, at one time 

 orchid grower for J. E. Rothwell and for 

 several years in business in Newtonville, 

 has failed. Liabilities are given as $2,- 

 470.30, assets $765. Mr. :Mutch grew a 

 considerable quantity of orchids, chiefly 

 cattleyas. 



William H. Elliott, of Brighton, was 

 the largest shipper of Liberty roses for 

 the Christmas trade. His cut was of its 

 usual high class quality. 



The wholesale growers of decorative 

 plants all report first-class business. 

 Thomas Roland, of Nahant, who grows a 

 large assortment, and grows them remark- 

 ably well, reports that he was as closely 

 sold out of all flowering plants as he 

 cared to be. In cyclamens, Begonia 

 Gloire do Lorraine, which he grows in 

 immense quantities, and poinsettias, he 

 had to refuse orders for over two wefks 

 before Christmas. Azaleas and primulas 

 also sold well. In ferns Nophrolepis 

 Scottii sold fairly well. 



E. N. Peirce & Co. had some 1,500 

 azaleas in prime condition for Christmas 

 and cleared all out. Leuthy & Co., Ros- 

 lindale, sold out a house containing 1,200 

 and had good trade in Begonia Gloire de 

 Ix)rraine and fern jardinieres. Farquhar 

 & Co. disposed of a big lot of Lorraine 

 begonias, azaleas, primulas, cyclamens, 

 etc. W. W. Edgar sold out a large stock 

 of poinsettias, Lorraine' begonias, azaleas, 

 primulas and cyclamens. L. H. Foster 

 estate did a heavy trade in Boston ferns. 



Charles Sander has a good batch of the 

 Turnford Hall sport of Begonia Gloire de 

 Lorraine and considers it a fine thing and 

 especially good under artificial light. 



William Sim had 100,000 Princess of 

 Wales violets for Christmas, all of superb 

 quality and could have sold many more, 

 also 5,000 of Mont Blanc and Earliest 

 of All sweet peas of grand quality. 



William Spilishury had 22,000 single 

 violets on Saturday morning at the Park 

 street market alone. A Foxboro grower 

 had .35,000 Campbells and all cleared out 

 quickly. 



Welch Bros, did an enormous Christmas 

 business, breaking all p r e viou s Teeord«; 

 In greens they could have sold much more. 

 While bulbous stock and cheaper grades 

 of carnations and roses arrived in sur- 

 prising quantities and were rather hard 

 to move, the great bulk of the receipts 

 were of the usual high quality handled by 

 this firm and their shipping trade was of 

 enormous proportions, calls coming from 



