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The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



JUNB 6, 1007. 



Wholesale Cut Flowers 



48 and 50 Wabash Ave., CHICAdO 



Long Distance Phone, Central 466 



We always fill orders if stock is to be had in Chicago. 



Marlcet prices. 



Mention The Review when yon write. 



reduction in demand it would have 

 meant, the market surely would have 

 been glutted. Peonies went to $1.50 a 

 dozen, practically all good bunches sell- 

 ing at that price on Wednesday. There 

 was a tremendous call for carnations, 

 and prices were both steady and high, 

 but nevertheless when all the graves had 

 been decorated several wholesalers shut 

 up shop Thursday afternoon with some 

 thousands of white carnations in the 

 cool rooms. Many shipping orders were 

 cut or turned down Tuesday, but the 

 receipts never could be described as 

 light. 



There were large supplies of roses and 

 all other indoor flowers, and they all 

 cleared well. The receipts of sweet peas 

 were especially heavy. Lilies were abun- 

 dant. There was a big call for greens, 

 especially common ferns, and prices up 

 to $6 a thousand were reported; regular 

 customers were asked $5 for good ferns. 



The wholesalers one and all agree that 

 Memorial day gave them a more strenu- 

 ous time than either Christmas or Eas- 

 ter. The quantity of stock handled was 

 larger and in many instances the sales 

 foot up a greater amount. As an il- 

 lustration of what happened, one house 

 reports opening on the morning of May 

 28 with thirty-five orders on file for the 

 day; by night they had dispatched nine- 

 ty-four orders, most of them large. Not 

 anywhere near all were filled in full. Is 

 it strange that local buyers complained 

 that they were not listened to with the 

 usual show of respect that day? 



"With such a pressure on the market 

 it is not to be wondered at that about 

 the only point on which all agree is that 

 it was a big business. One house could 

 do little on orders for one item, while 

 another was well supplied. There was 

 no time to go out to pick up stock, and 

 no time to wait on a wholesaler if he 

 came; in fact, the rush was pretty well 

 over before any house knew where it 

 stood. C!onsequently reports do not tally 

 very closely. 



One pleasing feature was that the 

 quality of stock iipproved rapidly in the 

 few days preceding Memorial day; it 

 saved much complaint. 



• The Telephone Ordinance. 



The wholesale florists are opposed to 



the proposed telephone ordinance and 

 look to Alderman Peter Eeinberg, who 

 is a member of the council committee 

 considering it, to see that their interests 

 are protected. Under the proposed ordi- 

 nance, the wholesale florists will be ob- 

 liged to limit themselves to an average 

 of nine and a fraction outgoing calls a 

 day, including Sundays and holidays, or 

 pay an increase in rates. There is no 

 wholesaler who does not use his phone, 

 out-going, more than ten times a day. 

 Twenty calls a day for 365 days will 



igVERY now and then a well 

 IIS pleased reader speaks the word 

 which is the means of bringing a new 

 advertiser to 



1^ 



Such friendly assistance is thoroughly 

 appreciated. 



Give us the name of anyone from 

 whom you are buying, not an adver- 

 tiser, ^e especially wish to interest 

 those selling articles of florists' use 

 not at present advertised* 



FLORISTS' PUBLISHING CO. 

 520-40 Caxton Bldg. Chicago 



cost $206, where now unlimited service 

 is $125 a year. At the measured rate, 

 however, the company will supply two 

 lines for twenty calls a day. How far 

 the telephone company has already suc- 

 ceeded in working in the measured serv- 

 ice is shown by the statement that there 

 are now only about 17,000 unlimited 

 phones in the city, out of a total of over 

 134,000. 



Michigan Avenue. 



Automobiling down Michigan avenue, 

 five -flower stores are passed within the 



first three miles. First is 0. J. Fried- 

 man 's, at Van Buren street, where Beau- 

 mont, formerly with Mangel, Moscow, 

 and at one time in business for himself 

 on the north side, fills Joe Curran's old 

 place. 



Hauswirth is just fitting up the new 

 store on the avenue side of the Annex, 

 the marble people having been slow in 

 getting out the material for his box. 



C. A. Samuel son, in the Lexington 

 hotel, had a good May and says June 

 starts well. His only regret is that so 

 large a part of the business this spring 

 has been funeral work; he much prefers 

 weddings. A good customer's death may 

 mean a big order, but it's the last one, 

 while a wedding job is only a beginning. 



W. J. Smyth, at Thirty-first street, 

 has had a splendid season. May 31 he 

 had the work for the fashionable Loring 

 school, where a big class and all the 

 ushers carried bouquets of lilac. 



Muir, at Thirty-fifth street, spent $5,- 

 000 last autumn in rebuilding the store, 

 so that it now has the largest window 

 display space of any store in town. Since 

 the improvement, business there has run 

 ahead of the fine new store at Forty- 

 seventh and Grand. Mr. Moir says he 

 pushed plants successfully for Memorial 

 day, cut flowers were so high. It is the 

 old holiday story over again, but the first 

 time we ever heard it of May 30. 



Records Broken. 



In practically every wholesale house a 

 new record was set for Memorial day 

 business, and E. C. Amling says his 

 books show that: The sales for Tues- 

 day, May 28, were the largest for any 

 single day in his business career; the 

 week of May 26 to June 1 beat all other 

 weeks since his start, and May, 1907, 

 exceeded every other month in the ten 

 years he has been at it, not excepting 

 Christmas or Easter in any calculation. 



Mr. Bassett on Europe. 



O. P. Bassett and Mrs. Bassett 

 reached Chicago June 1 after having 

 spent four months in Europe. Mr. Bas- 

 sett says that he looked into the flower 

 business in every country visited and 

 that only in Paris did he find anything 

 which compares with the retail stores of 



