432 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



January 4, 190G. 



A ST. LOUIS STORE. 



The accompaDying illustrations show 

 the establishment of Fred H. Weber, St. 

 Louis, as it appeared during the chry- 

 santhemum season. Mr. Weber has a 

 very attractive street front, giving an 

 excellent view of the interior of his store. 

 He always carries a liberal stock, which 

 progressive retailers have found to be 

 one of the secrets of success. 



THE HOLIDAY BUSINESS. 



The reports of Christmas trade agree 

 on one point, that it was the heaviest 

 Christmas on record. This appears to 

 have been the case without exception 

 from Maine to Texas and from Florida 

 to Oregon. There is various report as 

 to the supply. In eastern markets the 

 quantities of material available, espe- 

 ciallv cut flowers, were just about equal 

 to the requirements and the same holds 

 true of the west, but in the Mississippi 

 valley there was a shortage, most acute 

 at Chicago, possibly because that is 

 where the largest demand centers. In 



it was observed by some of the leading 

 retailers that the demand for specimen 

 plants and made up baskets did not sho'w 

 an increase; that the best trade was 

 again tending toward cut flowers. Fash- 

 ion is fickle. That which is commonest is 

 least likely to be popular with the 

 wealthy classes, but the whims which af- 

 fect the leading New York stores need 

 afford little concern to the average 

 florist. 



UNSIGNED QUERIES. 



A great many inquiries reach the Ee- 

 viEW which cannot receive the attention 

 which would be accorded them had the 

 writer not failed to sign his name. Many 

 inquiries relate to such old and frequently 

 discussed subjects that it is impractical 

 to publish answers. Where the writer 

 gives no name or address it is impossible 

 to reply by mail. 



Such an inquiry from F. B. W. asks: 

 "How high should Harrisii now be to be 

 in time for Easter?" This inquiry is 

 received on the average of twice a week. 



E. S. B., Chicago, writes that he is 



sending diseased cuttings of geraniums. 

 Had he signed his name and address, we 

 should ' have written him that the cut- 

 tings did not come to hand. 



Another query relates to Carnation 

 Victory. Had th^ •vyriter signed his name 

 we should have taken, pleasure in refer- 

 ring him* to A. J. Guttman, New York. 



MISSISSIPPL 



Interior of the Store of Fred H. Weber, St. Louis. 



Land of Horticultural Promise. 



As an old reader of the Review I would 

 likd to call the attention of the trade to 

 the possibilities of the south and Missis- 

 sippi in particular, for growing every- 

 thing to feed and clothe mankind, also 

 to heal him in sickness. Vegetables of 

 all kinds grow of finest quality and to 

 enormous size. Nuts are native. I have 

 tried many varieties of pecan and Eng- 

 lish walnuts and the sweetest and finest- 

 flavored grow near here. 



The forests abound in wild grapes, fine 

 as cranberry for jelly for turkey. In 

 the gardens grow the cultivated grapes, 

 large and luscious, but in these fruits 

 that look like any other we see some- 

 thing indefinable, almost mysterious, in 

 the exquisite flavor, like flavors I have 

 tasted only in the fruits of Sicily. 



Cotton is king but the white mulberry 

 grows luxuriantly, awaiting the silk grow- 

 ers. A large variety of medicinal plants, 

 to import which we pay hundreds of 

 thousands of dollars yearly, grow wild, 

 choking the ditches and making lanes of 

 the highways. An experiment, a lone, 

 uncared-for camphor tree was the only 

 green thing in the orchard in the deep 

 of winter last year when a hog got in. 

 The camphor tree was sick a long time 

 (I am sorry I cannot make the same re- 

 port of the hog) but is now sending up 

 a strong, well-branched shoot and has 

 not been cared for, all of which I think 

 shows the staying qualities of the cam- 

 phora. 



On the hills around Vicksburg a for- 

 tune awaits a grower of roses. On the 

 famous French and Italian Eiviera I 

 have not seen as superb flowers as in the 

 private gardens there. 



As to schools and society, social life 

 in the towns and cities is in Mississippi 

 about as it is anywhere else. Anyone 



eastern markets good prices were real- 

 ized, probably as high as ever before. 

 In cities west of Buffalo record prices 

 were paid because of the shortage of 

 stock and because retailers had taken 

 orders without first assuring themselves 

 of supplies. A dollar apiece has been 

 the standard Christmas price for Beauties 

 in the markets of the middle west, but 

 this year enough were wholesaled at $15 

 and $18 a dozen to establish a new value 

 and probably next year's advance price 

 lists will show the result. New high 

 record prices for carnations were also 

 made, but this has been an almost an- 

 nual occurrence since the fancy sorts 

 have been offered. The novelties al- 

 ways command extra figures and it is 

 easy in times of shortage to include a 

 few of the standard varieties at the 

 prices for novelties. 



Flowering plants sold exceptionally 

 well and stocks were larger than ever 

 before. Many cities are not yet edu- 

 cated to the point of buying the com- 

 bination hampers of plants but are pre- 

 pared to take great quantities of well- 

 grown specimens with some sort of a pot 

 or ribbon embellishment. In New York 



Street Front at Fred H. Weber's, St. Louis. 



