APRIL 19, 1»06. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



^575 



Never in the History of our House 

 iiave we done so mucli 



SHIPPING BUSINESS 



as last week and from reports so far in, our customers, 

 with hardly an exception, are more than pleased with 

 the fine stock they received from us and also with the 

 promptness with which we got their orders out. 



We feel satisfied that with our laxffe supply and well 

 equipped place we have served our customers better 

 than any other house possibly could hvae done. 



The rush is over. May we have a chance at YOUR orders ? 



CURRENT PRICES 



BBA.UTZEB Per doz. 



30 to 36-lnch stem »5.00 to WOO 



24-lnch8tem *00 



20-lnch stem 300 



15-lncli stem 2.00 



12-lnch stem 1-60 



Short Stems TS to 1.00 



ROBES 



Bride and Maid per 100, $3.00 to I8.C0 



Liberty " 6.00 to 10.00 



Richmond '■ 5.00 to 13.1)0 



Golden Gate " 3.00 to 8.00 



Perle " 3.00 to 8.00 



Kaiserln - 3.00 to 0.00 



Hoses, our selection " 3.U0 



CABNATIOXrS 



Select per 100, II 50 to $2.00 



Large and Fancies " 3.00 to 4.00 



MXSCEl^IiAXrEOUS 



Callas per doz.Sl.OO to 11.50 



HarrlBli " 1 OU to 1 50 



Valley per ICO, 2.00 to 3.00 



Sweet Peas " 1.00 to 1.50 



Daffodils " 3.00 



Tulips " 2.00 to 4.00 



Pansies " 100 



Daisies " .75 to 1.50 



Violets " .50 10 .75 



Mignonette per doz., .35 to .75 



DECOBATZVE 



Asparagus per string, $0.35 to $0.50 



Asparagus plumosus bunch, .36 to 1.00 



Asparagus Sprengerl ' .25 to 1.00 



Galax lOOO, $1.00, per 100, .16 



F£BN8 '• 2.00, ' .25 



Leucothoe Sprays " .75 



Boxwood per bunch .25 



Adiantum per 100, .75 



Smllax per doz. 2.50 



Prices Sab]ect to Change Without Notice. 



^ 



E. C. AMLING 



op«tm6P.M. 32-34-36 Randolph St. "•'*^^'H^"~ Chicago, llh 



The Larg^est, Beat 

 Equipped and Moat 

 Centrally Located 

 Wholesale Cut 

 Flow^er House iu 

 Chicago. 



CHICAGO. 



The Easter Trade. 



Easter was the exact opposite of 

 Christmas. At the yuletide stock ran so 

 far short of the requirements that whole- 

 salers were at their wits' ends in the 

 effort to protect the interests of good 

 customers. Last week supplies were so 

 much greater than the demand that com- 

 mission men were literally buried. Chi- 

 cago never saw the like of Christmas; 

 we hope we may never see just such an- 

 other Easter. However distressing it 

 may be to have insistent demands which 

 cannot be met, it is infinitely worse to 

 have the house full of stock for which 

 there is no outlet, while the growers sit 

 at home in serene anticipation of the re- 

 ceipt of checks for the week which will 

 pay the summer's expenses, including 

 the cost of a new house, or at least a 

 trip to the convention. 



It is always the unexpected that hap- 

 pens. It waa the practically unanimous 

 opinion that there would be enough of 

 everything except carnations. It de- 

 veloped that these were the greatest over- 

 stock. In the advance quotations prices 

 were stiff; early in the week large or- 

 ders were accepted with reluctance, or 

 even declined; stock that commanded 

 $40 per thousand Thursday brought $30 

 Friday, $20 Friday night, $15 Saturday 

 afternoon, and Saturday night white was 

 offered as low as $10, with no takers. 

 There was no time that the market was 

 cleaned up, and Saturday night many 

 thousands were still on hand. Easter 

 morning was cold and damp, and sales 

 were made only at sacrifice prices, es- 

 pecially for the day-old stock and for 



white. So bad a glut of white carna- 

 tions, many showing signs of age, never 

 has been known in this market. 



What the growers will say may be 

 guessed. The commission men will have 

 need of an antipyretic ; the * ' roasts ' * are 

 certain. The man whose stock was 

 handiest when good shipping orders 

 were going out got the benefit; the 

 grower whose stuff was in the box under- 

 neath got — what? If they chanced to be 

 neighbors you can imagine what at least 

 one of them thought. At the same time, 

 the wholesalers were blameless. If the 

 growers could not foresee the immense 

 supplies, and warn their agents, how 

 could the wholesalers prepare an outlet? 

 Where did all the carnations come from, 

 anyway? One house received 75,000 on 

 Saturday, most of them white! 



It had been expected that the supply 

 of roses would be adequate. It was 

 barely so. Deuteropathy, that sympa- 

 thetic affection of one part of the body 

 by an ailment of another, was the only 

 cause of weakness in rose prices. Had 

 the stomach of the market not been over- 

 loaded with other stock, the rose depart- 

 ment would not have had its headache. 

 Growers who had expected to fill all or- 

 ders for Beauties found themselves short. 

 Orders for Liberty and Eichmond also 

 had to be cut. The general quality of 

 roses was much fresher than of carna- 

 tions. 



Of lilies there were enough. All the 

 good ones brought $10 to $12.50 per 

 hundred, but there was short-stemmed or 

 small-flowered, spindling stock that went 

 as low as $6, and some that was not sold 

 at all. Of other bulbous stock the glut 

 was something not soon to be forgotten. 

 A few davs of warm weather to the 



south of us served to bring in large 

 quantities of outdoor flowers and the re- 

 ceipts of indoor tulips, narcissi and daf- 

 fodils were tremendous. It was impos- 

 sible to do anything with the flood. 



Close to a million violets came in for 

 the Easter trade. Singles were not a 

 factor. The Hudson river stock was in 

 very poor shape; good to look at, per- 

 haps, but offensive to olfactors and to 

 be handled gingerly if any petals were 

 to be retained. A few of the best fetched 

 $1 a hundred, more brought 40 cents, 

 and some were not sold at all. 



Of course, in such a generally glutted 

 market the odds and ends, like sweet 

 peas, mignonette, pansies, etc., were lost 

 sight of, and if sold at all, brought very 

 little. Greens were not specially abun- 

 dant; if you needed smilax you had to 

 pay for it. 



In the plant department there was also 

 a surplus. Many poor lilies were left; 

 also Crimson Eamblers, hydrangeas, 

 spiraeas, etc. Some commission men re- 

 turned the unsold plants to the growers; 

 others have them yet. 



Taking it all together, a simply pro- 

 digious quantity of stock was received, 

 an amount beyond all precedent, even 

 for the "great central market," and 

 the volume of business was something to 

 marvel at. On Friday night practically 

 every house in town wEis well ahead of 

 its sales for the corresponding days last 

 year. This was shipping business. Had 

 receipts of stock been shut off Friday 

 night, growers and wholesalers might on 

 Sunday have joined in a glad antiphony, 

 but the crash of values pulled Saturday's 

 and Sunday's sales below the same days 

 of a year ago; in some cases the falling 

 off was greater than the previous gain 



