362 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JANUABY 5, 1905. 



NEW YORK. 



The Market 



The New Year hardly caused a ripple 

 on the floricultural sea, Saturday was 

 an exceptionally good Saturday and that 

 was about all the extra indication of 

 the coming of the glad New Year. There 

 was no over supply, no pickled stock and 

 no unnatural prices. Monday was peace- 

 ful and restful. The majority of the 

 wholesalers closed their doors and start- 

 ed for the bosoms of their tamilies at 

 1 o'clock. By 3 p. m. every curtain was 

 rung down and peace and quiet pre- 

 vailed. Most of the retailers were still 

 open when the evening shadows fell, 

 but there was "nothin' doin'." 



It was one of the quietest New Year's 

 on r^ord. A London fog and spring 

 temperature were unseasonable and de- 

 pressing. The January thaw was prompt- 

 ly on time. There seems to be little left 

 in the plant line in any of the stores. 

 Inquiry of their proprietors indicates 

 one of tne best Christmas seasons in the 

 city's history. Prosperity was general. 

 There has been no honest complaining as 

 to results. Everybody did well and all 

 start the New Year cheerfully. The in- 

 dications are favorable for four of the 

 best months the business has ever known 

 here. 



Just at present shipments of cut flow- 

 ers from the growers are light and good 

 prices have been easily maintained. Vio- 

 lets do not show the animation expected 

 and they have to be specials indeed to 

 command over $1 per hundred. Doubt- 

 less as the week progresses quite a re- 

 duction from New Year's quotations will 

 be made. The out of town demand for 

 orchids continues. A great many are 

 shipped daily. Cypripediums were too 

 ^abundant and severe cuts were necessary 

 to move them. There seems to be a limit- 

 less supply of carnations. If abundance 

 is an indication of sovereignty, then the 

 carnation is surely king. 



As to the future, the general opinion 

 is optimistic and all branches of the busi- 

 ness seem to start the new year with 

 ambition and hope in the ascendancy 

 and expectation of a successful year al- 

 most universal. 



Various Notes. 



All members of the New York bowl- 

 ing club are requested to attend a spe- 

 cial meeting to be held at the club's 

 alleys. West Thirtieth street, Monday 

 afternoon, January 9. The club will 

 bowl from 3 to 7 p. m., prior to tne reg- 

 ular meeting of the New York Florists' 

 Club. Any exhibit of novelties m plants 

 and flowers will be welcomed and these 

 may be sent in care of Secretary John 

 Young and will be properly staged for 

 the evening's display. A large attend- 

 ance is anticipated. The installation of 

 officers will tajce place and many inter- 

 esting features will make the inaugural 

 meeting one of special value to all. To 

 surpass the average attendance of 1904, 

 it is quite desirable that no less than 100 

 be on hand on Monday evening. 



A wave of grippe, bronchitis and pneu- 

 monia has been sweeping over New York 

 and vicinity during the past two week* 

 and few of the trade have escaped a 

 -dash of^he spray, -while many have been 

 thoroughly submerged and some are on 

 the sick list still. Some of the best 

 bowlers are among them. Matches are 

 close at hand with the clubs of Hob;.ken. 

 Flatbush and Madison and it behooves 

 these old standbys to brace up rapi<lly. 



So far the club has almost an unbeaten 

 record. It was a cold night at Madi- 

 son and the New Yorkers simply found 

 it impossible to warm up in a strictly 

 temperance town, but that was the first 

 and last defeat of the season. 



Theo. Lang, the captain of last year's 

 aggressive aggregation, will roll with 

 the club during the balance of the year. 

 Only the best bowlers will uphold the 

 club's prestige in the remaining matches. 

 Several large balls and decorations to 

 come ought to put nerve into Mr. Lang's 

 good right arm and keep his average 

 over the 200. J. Austin Shaw. 



BUFFALO. 



It's about time I awqke from the 

 hybernating state and joined the pro- 

 cession. Seven weeks' rest, mostly on 

 my back, has not refreshed me any, but 

 I am getting there fast. 



My brief report of Christmas doings 

 is a week behind your other correspond- 

 ents, but there is an advantage in that, 

 as I get the benefit of all the reports and 

 can at least strike an average. The Buf- 

 falo trade seems to have been most sat- 

 isfactory, while we believe some of the 

 leading stores can truthfully say that 

 their business was a considerable ad- 

 vance on any previous year. Taking 

 the whole city through, we don't think 

 the aggregate of business done was much 

 if any, ahead of last year. First of all 

 the weather could have been 500 times 

 better: Cold early in the week; then a 

 thaw on Friday, leaving the streets bare ; 

 then on Saturday, the great plant deliv- 

 ering day, a drop to a few degrees above 

 zero. We think plants were rather a 

 bigger business than cut flowers. Bou- 

 quet green was in large demand for 

 many purposes and was well cleaned up. 

 Holly was an oversupply in spite of the 

 immense quantity sold and with the ex- 

 ception of a case here and there it was 

 of very poor quality. With the help of 

 the ilex berries it made wreaths and ev- 

 erybody wanted one and some a score. 



It's not easy to say what flower took 

 the lead. First-class roses were scarce. 

 Colored carnations were in great demand, 

 especially red. Violets went rather slow- 

 ly. They reach rather too elevated a 

 price in this city. In plants also there 

 may be a diflFerence of opinion which was 

 the most popular. We know that Be- 

 gonia Lorraine, azaleas, ericas and poin- 

 settias in all shapes sold well and cyc- 

 lamens and other cheaper plants all went 

 off'. One man expressed it by saying: 

 "Everything sold well." 



W. J. Palmer & Son had a grand cut 

 of Liberty rose, which sold at retail for 

 $9 per dftzen. They also had immense 

 quantities of their Red Lawson carna- 

 tion, just the thing for the season. 



S. A. Anderson had a grand lot of 

 Lorraine begonias and poinsettias. 



Miss Kachel Rebstock made a brilliant 

 show of everything desirable in the mar- 

 ket. J. H. Rebstock, H. Keitsch & Son. 

 Byrne Bros, and L. H. Neubeck and the 

 other Main street florists made fine dis- 

 plays and are well satisfied with results. 

 From a few days before Christmas up to 

 date there has been a succession of soci- 

 ety events of some magnitude, which has^ 

 kept" "one or another firm ^usy and in- 

 cidentally helps all. 



Durinp our retirement it happened, we 

 believe, that few florists visited our town, 

 but on Christmas day we were invited 

 to go down-stairs to speak by telephone 

 to Jimmy Fiancee Hartshome, the hon- 



orable president of the American Carna- 

 tion Society, who was passing through 

 Buffalo. We would have liked to very 

 much, but we felt just then that if we 

 were given the startling news that the 

 ark with Noah as commodore was sail- 

 ing down the icy surface of Lake Erie, 

 we should not have gone to the window 

 "to have a look." W. S. 



BROCKTON. MASS. 



Christmas trade was very satisfactory 

 in every way and there was a substan- 

 tial increase in sales as compared with 

 1903. The demand for flowering plants 

 was exceptionally strong. A good many 

 foliage plants were also sold. In cut 

 flowers carnations were easily the lead- 

 ers. There was also a good call for 

 violets, roses, lilies and other seasonable 

 flowers. 



W. W. Hathaway, on Main street, kept 

 eight clerks busily employed for several 

 days prior to Christmas. He estimated 

 his store trade at twenty-five per cent 

 over 1903. In holly ana wreathing, sales 

 were very large. Flowering plants sold 

 finely, including Lorraine oegonias, aza- 

 leas, poinsettias, solanums, primulas, 

 cinerarias and cyclamens. In cut flow- 

 ers, roses sold well, chrysanthemums 

 rather slowly. Of carnations and violets 

 there were not enough to go around. Mr. 

 Hathaway notes an increasing call for 

 orchids. Of these he has been making 

 weekly displays in his windows. 



C. A. Reed, on Main street, did a big 

 trade in flowering plants and was prac- 

 tically cleaned out. Lorraine begonias, 

 Roman hyacinths in pans, azaleas and 

 primulas were favorites. Palms and fern 

 dishes also sold well. Holly and other 

 green stuff were in brisk demand. Vio- 

 lets, roses and carnations were the best 

 selling flowers. Christmas bells also went 

 well. Sales were fully twenty-five per 

 cent greater than a year ago. 



Mrs. Moir, on Center street, had a 

 very attractive Christmas display in her 

 windows. In plants she had an extra 

 good sale for Lorraine begonias, prim- 

 ulas, palms and fern dishes. Carna- 

 tions and violets were the favorites with 

 cut flower buyers. 



Thomas Greaves, at the Crawford 

 Greenhouses, had a big crop of carna- 

 tions of fine quality in for the holidays, 

 also a tine general assortment of other 

 flowers. All of Mr. Greaves' flowers are 

 handled by C. A. Reed. 



Harry Cole, at the Copeland Green- 

 houses, Campello, had a fine Christmas 

 trade for his first year in business. In 

 addition to carnations and other staples 

 he had a nice cut of cattleyas and cyp- 

 ripediums, \tbich were readily disposed 

 of at good prices. 



One of the dry. goods stores made a 

 feature of Boston ferns and Aspar^ijn s 

 plumosus, of which they appeared to dis- 

 pose of a good number. 



W. B. Arnold, Rockland, is shipping a 

 fine lot of his new Variegated Lawson 

 carnation to the local stores. 



W. N. Craig. 



Richmond, Ind. — The Advance Co. was 

 granted a patent December 6, on a new 

 ventilating apparatus which it intends 

 soon ^ ^nt^ tm "the market: ~ 



Nebraska Citt, Neb. — H. H. Cotton 

 reports Christmas business fully fifty 

 per cent greater than in 1903. Carna- 

 tions were the best seller, with Lorraine 

 begonias the most popular plant ever 

 shown here. 



