J378 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Apbil 27, 1005. 



was somewhat reduced by the injury 

 done by the storm, still a good business 

 was done. 



ONERAHIA HYBRIDS. 



Alois P. Frey, the head-gardener at 

 Lincoln park, Chicago, has the true plant 

 breeders' instinct and has set on foot a 

 number of hybridizing operations which 

 promise interesting and valuable results. 

 One of his earliest eflforts was with 

 the cineraria and with it he 'has been 

 ""able ■ to achieve almost immediate re- 

 sults because of the plasticity of the 

 genus. As all who have saved their own 

 seed of cinerarias know, in two or three 

 years there will be marked deterioration 

 in the plants unless hybridized, accord- 

 ing to the practice of those who make 

 a specialty of growing cineraria seed for 

 the trade, Mr. Frey's early training in- 

 cluded a course at some of the big Eu- 

 ropean seed and plant growing estab- 

 lishments and, being thoroughly familiar 

 with the process and results of hybridiz- 

 ing this plant, he was led to cross Cine- 

 raria stellata, the small-flowered species, 

 with the large-flowered form, C. hybrida. 

 The accompanying illustrations show the 

 original flowers and the new forms. 

 Plants of the several forms are also 

 shown. 



The crossing in either direction 



takes more of the character of stellata 

 in both crosses. 



These plants were recently shown be- 

 fore the Chicago Florists' Club and re- 

 ceived honorable mention. They have 

 formed a conspicuous and attractive 

 feature in a mass in the early spring dis- 

 play at Lincoln park. 



BUFFALO. 



Tfie Easter Business. 



The long looked for week is past and 

 we hope that in no case were the prepa- 

 rations in vain. Up to Saturday morn- 

 ing it had here been anything but pleas- 

 ant weather, but Saturday and Sunday 

 were glorious days. The latter should 

 be a day of rest and recreation, but 

 many '•florists are near cemeteries, and 

 with them it was a great day's business 

 and what was left over on Saturday was 

 very profitably cleaned up. A telephone 

 call on a half dozen of the Main street 

 florists gave me a pretty good idea of 

 how business was and it is pretty safe 

 to say that the extent of their business 

 is a good criterion of all the rest. 

 All say it was an increase over any past 

 year. The lowest estimate was ten per 

 cent, the highest thirty per cent. An- 

 other feature they agree on was that 



A Seedling of Gneraria Hybrida Crossed with C Stellata. 



brought a material change in size and 

 character of flower. In each case the pol- 

 len parent appears to have exercised a 

 potent influence on the progeny. This 

 can be seen in the illustrations showing 

 the plants. In each case the flowers 

 were somewhat smaller than the flowers 

 of C, hybrida but very much larger than 

 the flowers of C. stellata. The variation 

 in color characteristic of the family is 

 seen in these hybrids. Furthermore 

 the profusion of bloom of the hybrids is 

 apparent. The growth of the plants 



plants more than ever were the leading 

 sales, far exceeding in amount the cut 

 flower side of the business. In cut 

 flowers, carnations were in great de- 

 mand and entirely sold out. Violets and 

 lily of the valley sold well, and, of 

 course, roses, as usual, of all medium 

 priced varieties were cleaned up. There 

 was a grand lot of Beauties disposed 

 of because the price asked was within 

 reach of many. Bulb stock was little 

 asked for, 

 W, J. Palmer & Son were more than 



satisfied and report a large increase. 

 They put lUies and azaleas as in most 

 demand and made-up baskets of plants, 

 averaging in price from $8 to $15. In 

 the wor£ of Mr. Beyer, the manager of 

 the uptown store, ' ' The baskets sold just 

 as fast as we could make them up.*^' 

 Joseph H. Bebstock said lilies, azaleas, 

 Rambler roses and hybrid roses were the 

 best sellers with him, - 



S. A. Anderson made a grand window 

 of bougainvillea which attracted great" 

 attention. He says after the favorites, 

 lilies and azaleas, the rhododendrons and 

 lilacs sold well. He had some large home- 

 grown Crimson Bamblers which all went. 



Miss Bachel Bebstock was in the best 

 of spirits and I could tell by her voice 

 on the wire that she was telling the truth 

 and that she was not "intoxicated with 

 exuberance of her own verbosity." She 

 said: "Business fine. An increase over 

 last year, and then you know, business 

 was fine last Easter. Azaleas, lilies, 

 rhododendrons, H. P. roses, Bamblers 

 and heather all sold splencUdly. Yes, 

 that's a fact. I am going to the Adi- 

 rondack mountains for two weeks' trout 

 fishing," and then "central" cut us off. 



L. H. Neubeck said his business was 

 at least twenty per cent over last year. 

 In addition to standard Easter plants 

 he noticed that rhododendrons were great 

 favorites. Pans of hyacinths and "daf- 

 fies" sold well, but not tulips. He had 

 a fine lot of Hydrangea Otaksa, but they 

 were not in demand, and that we heard 

 from others. 



H. Keitsch & Son reported a decided 

 improvement over last year and an all 

 around stock was entirely cleared out. 

 The William Scott Co. and D. New- 

 lands & Co., who are both near Forest 

 Lawn cemetery, were rushed up to 6 

 p, m, Sunday, waiting on the thousands 

 who visited the silent city. 



So it appears that while there was no 

 pronounced distinctive feature at this 

 Easter, it is growing year by year 

 stronger in the direction that it has 

 tended for years past, a pretty growing 

 plant more or less expensive and ninety 

 per cent of these are bought for pres- 

 ents to friends. Fashions and customers 

 change, we know, yet it is not easy to 

 foresee that this laudable, innocent and 

 pleasing way of remembering friends can 

 soon or ever be displaced by any new 

 fad. Nothing can be so appropriate for 

 a mutual greeting as the harbingers of 

 spring, sweet flowers. 



What the public will demand is nov- 

 elty, something new in our plants. It is 

 true the variety now grown is great to 

 what it was even twenty years ago, 

 when old lilium candidum was our 

 standard Easter plant, but fine as are 

 the many plants now grown, we must keep 

 on progressing. 



The increase of business in our city 

 is only normal, for it is a bigger town 

 than it was last year and has more people 

 who can afford luxuries. We do not 

 know how it is in other cities, but the 

 church decorations are entirely a thing 

 of the past. You do not even hear it 

 mentioned. Twenty-five years ago col- 

 umns of the daily papers would describe 

 the decorations. Now it is all covered 

 by a brief paragraph, "The churches 

 were decorated with cut flowers and 

 potted plants." I hate that word, 

 potted plants. It reminds you of potted 

 ham or potted pigs' feet. We have to 

 thank the parsons for the loss of this 

 part of the business, for they preached 

 against the decorations being done by 



