1572 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Apbil 10, 1900. 



memorable. Not a plant worthy of the 

 name remained unsold a week ago. The 

 rest of the year for them is "velvet," 

 autos, trips to Europe and independ- 

 ence. New greenhouses and twice as 

 much for 1907, and a certainty of de- 

 mand, that is what it means for the 

 men who grow azaleas, hydrangeas, aca- 

 cias, ramblers of every kind and color, 

 and lilies, too, for every good lily sold 

 at 12 cents and many were worth 15 

 cents at 6 p. m. on Saturday. Tulips, 

 hyacinths and daffodils, violets in pots 

 and hardy roses all found their places 

 in the homes of the New Yorkers. The 

 outdoor early markets at Union Square 

 and elsewhere found thousands of early 

 buyers and prices were even better there 

 than in the stores. 



There are left not enough plants to 

 make the retail windows look respecta- 

 ble, but the loss to retailers is a serious 

 one in cut flowers, not because of ad- 

 vance purchases, for these were most cau- 

 tiously made, but because of what might 

 and would have been had Easter opened 

 with sunshine and the great parade of 

 the 400,000 been possible as usual. Ju- 

 piter Pluvius never did himself greater 

 discredit and never fell a more costly 

 rain. Well, it is over, and we must 

 make the best of it. 



The growers were good this year, and 

 did not do much pickling. They de- 

 serve more encouragement. The spirit 

 of fair play is dominant, but there 

 seems little excuse for the "cutting of 

 slips ' ' by retailers after sales are made 

 and prices agreed upon. 



I hear of a church decoration tomor- 

 row that uses 5,000 lilies. They were 

 bought on Sunday and 8 cents each was 

 the price. A big fall within twenty-four 

 hours or lees! Something like the way 

 it goes down in Wall street, they tell 

 me. 



Various Notes. 



All the retailers had beautiful win- 

 dows. A walk from Twenty-third street 

 up Broadway to Forty-second, on the 

 Avenue and the other streets frequented 

 by the good stores, was a revelation, and 

 over in Brooklyn there was no end to 

 the supply and the beauty of it all. 

 Where everything came from, and how- 

 all could be so disseminated, is a yearly 

 miracle, growing more and more en- 

 trancing as population, demand and 

 wealth increase and demonstrating as 

 never before the fact that this big city 

 is the greatest flower lover and buyer in 

 all the world. 



Sheridan 's Beauties were as fine as the 

 finest as usual. They maintain their rep- 

 utation, which has become national. 



Traendly & Schenck served their usu- 

 al elaborate luncheon early Sunday 

 morning to friends and employees. Their 

 shipping trade was large, their red roses 

 popular as ever. 



Ford Bros, handled half a million vio- 

 lets. They sold all their blooming 

 plants, and so did every wholesaler who 

 handled them. Even the daisies and 

 genistas found purchasers. James Hart 

 was regretting that he had not laid in 

 more heavily, as he could have sold three 

 times the quantity handled. There were 

 no exceptions, all the plants were gone. 



Over 1,000 boxes of violets came down 

 from the Hudson river section Saturday 

 afternoon and evening. Over a million 

 flowers came in during the day. If the 

 weather continues cool the purple 

 shower will not fail before the first of 

 May. The quality still is excellent. 



John B. Nugent is a father-in-law, his 



daughter, Elizabeth F. Nugent, who is 

 his bookkeeper and a general favorite, 

 having married April 1 Roy D. Bailey, 

 of South Dakota. The young folks will 

 mutually look after the- books until 

 June, when they leave for their honey- 

 moon trip to the big ranch of the bride- 

 groom's father in the "wild and woolly 

 west. ' ' I 



There were not many novelties this | 

 year. Fleischman had some unique im- 

 portations in dwarf ostriches and cock- 

 atoos within whose stomachs, with an 

 opening in the back, was room for a 

 bunch of violets or valley. Some very 

 pretty glass baskets at Small 's and some 

 dark wicker hampers at Thorley's were 

 new. But the majority of the bon-ton 

 retailers contented themselves with ar- 

 tistic combinations of plants or beauti- 

 ful creations in ribbon decoration, with 

 tubs and pails in white and gold. All 

 the stores were splendidly banked and 

 the plants seductively grouped as early 

 as Wednesday in many places, and 

 Thursday's display has never been 

 equaled in the world. 



Donohoe's Pompeian boxes of plants 

 sold rapidly and all his basket combina- 

 tions were handsome. 



Bowe, Van Praag and Warrendorff 

 were cramped for room as usual. So, 

 in fact, were all the Broadway florists, 

 where room means rental and a store 

 that rents for less than $5,000 a year 

 is the exception. 



The annual spring show at the Central 

 park conservatories opened on Easter 

 Sunday. Mr. Olsson has made his su- 

 perintendency at the park gardens a 

 success. 



Alex. J. Guttman sails on Thursday 

 of this week for Europe, his object be- 

 ing three weeks of rest and recupera- 

 tion. He has had a strenuous season. 



George Saltford seems to be building 

 to stay on Twenty-ninth street, which 

 with C. Millang, Starke, Cotsonas, Gel- 

 ler and Gunther, is a busy thoroughfare, 

 and now that there is no more room on 

 Twenty-eighth street the overflow will 

 naturally gravitate to Twenty-ninth. 

 Two more large ice-boxes at Saltford 's 

 are being constructed, one 7x14 feet and 

 one 10x18. 



On Friday one of Lecakes' horses, a 

 Avagon and load of plants, were all de- 

 stroyed by a collision with an Eighth 

 avenue trolley and S. T. Cotsonas, one 

 of the members of the firm, was serious- 

 ly injured. 



A. J. Fellouris has the sympathy of 

 tlie trade in the loss of his wife last 

 week. J. J. Fellouris has been confined 

 for some days with a severe attack of 

 the grip. 



J, D. Cockcroft, of Northport, L. I.; 

 Kimmerle & Minder, of Newark, N. J.; 

 J. Peters, of Hempstead, L. I.; J. 

 Hauck, of Bloomfield, N. J., and Alex. 

 J. Guttman, of Chatham, N. J., are in- 

 stalling Kroeschell boilers this season. 



Wm. G. Badgley, of Chatham, adds 

 three houses 18x150 to his plant this 

 summer. He maintains his reputation 

 for extra Maids and Brides. Hifi 

 brother, L. V. Badgley, whose arm was 

 seriously shattered by a gunshot wound, 

 is recovering at St. Michael's hospital, 

 Newark. 



J. A. Manda, of South Orange, is 

 now out, ready to tackle his orchid en- 

 terprise after a ten weeks' illness. 



H. E. Froment had a little Fourth of 

 July celebration last week when the 

 gas, or something else, exploded in his 

 basement. Xo one was injured, but Mr. 

 Coyle had a shock. Down at the plant 



market, too, there was trouble when a 

 small cyclone struck it and leveled John 

 Birnie's big tent. Business was never 

 so brisk among the plantsmen, who 

 from now on will be hustling there be- 

 fore "sun up." J. Austin Shaw. 



BOSTON. 



The Easter Trade. 



Once more the general verdict is that 

 Easter trade has broken all past records. 

 The weather during the whole week was 

 ideal for shipping plants. There were 

 misgivings as to what Saturday 's weather 

 might be, prognostications being for a 

 cold rain. Fortunately we had no rain, 

 only lowering clouds, the downpour being, 

 postponed until early Sunday afternoon. 



Again it is to be recorded that it was 

 more a plant Easter than ever, the de- 

 mand being unprecedented. Of course, 

 lilies led in popularity. As a rule they 

 were in excellent condition. All the 

 growers were cleaned out entirely. 

 Azaleas came second in popularity. We 

 never saw better, and the demand was 

 excellent. There was a tremendous out- 

 put of Crimson Rambler roses. Some 

 were very good, many just as poor. It 

 was an easy matter to pick out plants 

 which had been pot-grown since the pre- 

 vious spring, the trusses being larger 

 and richer in color and the foliage vastly 

 superior. C^uite a few Baby Ramblers 

 were seen and sold well. In pink ram- 

 blers, Dorothy Perkins sold rapidly, much 

 better than the red varieties. Some Lady 

 Gay and Farquhar were also seen. Far 

 more of these could have been sold. 

 Quite a number of hybrid perpetuals 

 were seen, also Clothilde Soupert and 

 Killarney. Hydrangeas had a good sale, 

 but many of the plants would have been 

 better a fortnight later. Some very fine 

 Marguerite Queen Alexandra were seen, 

 and spiraeas were unusually good. Aca- 

 cia armata was the only variety of that 

 genus seen. V«ry few of the rather 

 coarse metrosideros were noted. Genis- 

 tas were fine and had a good sale. In 

 bulbous stock there was a good assort- 

 ment of narcissi and tulips, and growers 

 report a fine sale on these. 



In cut flowers, while there was a very 

 good market, no remarkable rise in prices 

 occurred. Roses hardly moved at all. 

 Best Beauties did not make over $5 a 

 dozen, good medium grades being, how- 

 ever, in demand. Richmond and Liberty 

 at $15 per hundred were about the top 

 for these varieties, very few selling 

 higher. Bride, Maid, Chatenay and other 

 varieties made no advance at ,all and 

 were inclined to be druggy. Carnations 

 were better sellers than roses. Ordinary 

 stock made $3 and $4, good stock $5 and 

 $6, and some fancies $8. There was a 

 heavy output, but even whites cleaned 

 up well. There was a heavy sale for cut 

 lilies, the bulk going at 10 cents and 12 

 cents per bud. In pots 12 cents seemed 

 to be the general price. 



Violets were somewhat scarce, es- 

 pecially good singles. The best stock 

 made $1, a few going as high as $1.25. 

 Extra doubles also made $1, poorer 

 grades cleaning at 50 cents to 75 cents. 

 In bulbous material, narcissi averaged 

 $2 per hundred; single tulips, $2, and 

 double sorts, like Murillo, $4; Spanish 

 iris, $4; gladioli, $2 per dozen, and 

 Dutch hyacinths, $3 and $4 per hundred. 

 Cut spiraea averaged $3 per hundred, 

 callas $10, marguerites $1 to $1.50 per 

 hundred. Sweet peas were in inadequate 

 supply and were snapped up quickly, the 

 best at $1.50 and seconds at $1 per hun- 



