■/•J'F-T-'^.V 



488 



The Weekly Florists' Review 



January 3, 1907. 



I BEST ROSES! 



I 



I The Benthey-Coatsworth Co. i 



I Wholesale Cut Flowers. 3S Randoloh Sf.. Thinaao I 



KILLARNEY, RICHMOND, BRIDESMAID, BRIDE 

 and a full line of CUT FLOWERS of all kinds. 



Mention The Review when yoii •write. 



I 



pink Lawson largely another year. They 

 find it holds its color in spring and fall 

 better than Enchantress. 



Local seed merchants anticipate a 

 busy season. Some have their catalogues 

 ready for mailing and all will be issued 

 in a few days. 



Schlegel & Fottler Co. still head the 

 Seed Trade Bowling League, with Far- 

 quhar & Co. a close second. The Park 

 street flower market team is doing some 

 excellent work at present. 



W. K Craig. 



NEV YORK. 



The Market 



Christmas materialized a general re- 

 sult almost identical with the predictions 

 as to prices, sales and satisfaction. From 

 the retailers' standpoint there can be no 

 sincere fault-iinding, for every plant and 

 combination of plants in hamper, basket, 

 box or jardiniere that had merit in qual- 

 ity and artistic arrangement, sold at a 

 good price and not enough were left to 

 dress the windows respectably in any flo- 

 rist's store worthy of the name. 



Cut flowers, too, were not held at ab- 

 normal prices by the wholesalers and the 

 antagonism to these and the suggestions 

 as to plant preference were not so gen- 

 eral as in other years. Beauties were re- 

 tailed at $25 a dozen. Maids and Kil- 

 larney at $10, Richmond at $12 to $15, 

 carnations $1.50 to $6 and violets at $3 

 a hundred. At these rates the flower- 

 loving public of this city on special oc- 

 casions like Christmas and Easter do not 

 complain. They have been educated to 

 expect it and the return to more reason- 

 able figures surprises and allures them. 



The wholesalers would have had no 

 fault to find with Christmas if after 

 maintaining prices at fair rates all day 

 Monday the evening shipments had not 

 been overwhelming. Much of the stock 

 was cut so close that the buds were too 

 small to find, while some of it gave evi- 

 dence of the pickling process, and both 

 had to go into the "discard" Christmas 

 evening. 



You can imagine the rose slunlp on 

 the day after. White roses and carna- 

 tions, especially the former, were cut to 

 almost summer rates until the pressure 

 of overabundance was relieved. This will 

 account to the growers for the general 

 average not coming up to expectations; 

 while the very best held firm, the me- 

 dium and lower grades all suffered. 



Violets alone maintained their values 

 even up to the end of the week and were 

 selling as high as $1.25 per hundred on 



Your Plans 

 For 1907 



should include telephone 

 service at your home as well as at 

 your place of business. 



It isn't only "just as 

 easy" to do things by telephone, it is 



EASIER 

 CHEAPER and 

 QUICKER 



NEW YORK TELEPHONE COMPANY 

 (5 DEY STREET 



Mention The BeTlew wben you write. 



Saturday. New Year's prices will aver- 

 age a little over half the price of cut 

 flower rates at Christmas. Orchids and 

 gardenias were in extensive demand and, 

 while prices were wisely not advanced, 

 all the varieties were well called for and 

 nothing worth mentioning was left when 

 the local and shipping demands were 

 filled. 



The few mums left were of only me- 

 dium quality and were snapped up 

 quickly. Of holly, mistletoe, wreathing, 

 wild smilax, the market was swept abso- 

 lutely bare. In some of the green goods 

 centers ferns and galax was the entire 

 stock left by noon of Christmas. And 

 the supply men never had such a clear- 

 ing up. Baskets, vases, all the novel im- 

 portations, immortelles, wreaths and 

 Christmas bells — everything was taken. 

 Shipments were made day and night up 

 to the evening of December 24 and still 

 the call was incessant. So, all things con- 

 sidered, it was a good Christmas and 

 there was little to complain of. The 

 pickling was lighter than usual and is 

 evidently growing more unpopular. The 

 weather wa.s not severe. The love of 

 flowers by the general public was never 

 more in evidence. 



The Telephone Situation. 



Few even of the smallest flower stores 

 in New York or Brooklyn are without 

 a telephone and in many of the big re- 

 tail as well as wholesale stores so large 

 a part of the orders is received over the 

 'phone that more than one line is neces- 

 sary. Two telephone companies in New 

 York would be a nuisance and an added 

 expense without in any way improving 

 the service. Every florist is interested 

 that a report of an investigation con- 

 cerning the telephone service of thirty- 

 six cities has been submitted to the 

 Board of Estimate and Apportionment 

 by Harry P. Nichols, assistant engineer, 

 of the Bureau of Franchises. Such bene- 

 fits as have been derived from competi- 

 tion elsewhere, together with the dis- 

 advantages or inconvenience due to it, 

 appear to be set forth impartially. Mr. 

 Nichols refers to the progressive policy 

 of the Bell Company in New York during 

 the last two years, its reduction of rates 

 and its energetic attempts to develop the 

 use of the telephone. The company has 

 offered yearly compensation to the city, 

 and also so to reduce its rates from time 

 to time that the earnings shall not 



