October 20, 1921 



The Florists^ Review 



37 



OBITUARY 



Mary Felke. 



"Flower Mary" is dead. She was 81 

 years of age and had been in feeble 

 health for several months. The end 

 came peacefully, October 17. 



Mary Felke was the widow of one of 

 the men who earliest engaged in flower 

 growing in the Chicago ^^strict. She 

 raised a large family of children, all but 

 one of whom either became a florist or 

 married a florist, and for many yedrs she 

 personally sold flowers at the stand in 

 the old North-Western railroad station, 

 where she gained from the public the 

 sobriquet of "Flower Mary," although 

 among florists she was known prin- 

 cipally as "Grandma" Felke. The 

 original Felke greenhouses at Wilmette, 

 111., until May 1 of this year under lease 

 to Joseph Turski, were taken down a 

 few weeks ago. 



Of Mrs. Felke 's children, Anton died 

 at Wilmette July 27, 1921, just past 50 

 years of age. His greenhouses are being 

 continued by his family. Frank Felke 

 removed to Elkhart, Ind., last year and 

 recently sold his greenhouses at Wil- 

 mette. Two of the daughters married 

 florists. They are Mrs. Anton Then and 

 Mrs. Nick Miller. There are numerous 

 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 



The funeral was held Thursday morn- 

 ing, October 20. 



Mrs. Benjamin P. Comeli. 



The trade extends its sympathy to 

 Benjamin P. Corneli, president of the 

 Schisler-Corncli Seed Co., St. Louis, Mo., 

 in the loss of his wife and the mother 

 of Clifford Corneli. Mrs. Corneli died 

 October 11 at St. Luke's hospital, after 

 a long illness. 



The funeral was held October 13 at 

 the Lupton chapel, St. Louis, and burial 

 was made in Beilefontaine cemetery. 

 There were numerous floral offerings. 

 Manv in the trad«C"attcnded the funeral, 

 a. J. J. B. 



— ^^m 



NE4F^Y0RE. 



The^arket. 



Three or four light frosts have done 

 much to relieve the market from the 

 glut of dahlias, asters and other outside 

 materials, but there is much of such 

 stock still coming in. There has been 

 no killing frost in the immediate neigh- 

 borhood of New York, although the 

 light frosts have checked the growth 

 of vegetation and plants in the open 

 are furnishing only sparse cuts. Chrys- 

 anthemums grown outdoors and pro- 

 tected with light covering are having 

 an extended season and figure import- 

 antly in arrivals. The supply of bench 

 grown stock is increasing, and, on the 

 whole, arrivals clean up well. There is 

 a good supply of pompon and single 

 mums, which move well within a range 

 of 50 cents to $1 per bunch. Judging 

 from the demand, the smaller mums are 

 growing in popularity. 



Koses are not quite so plentiful as 

 they have been, but with a slightly bet- 

 ter demand for them. Prices are 

 stronger, with some varieties showing a 

 material advance. The quality of all 

 varieties is excellent for the season. 

 American Beauty is meeting a fair de- 



mand, at prices running from $20 to $60 

 per hundred for specials. 



Carnations are in much larger supply, 

 but there is a good demand for them 

 and prices previously quoted are firm. 

 A few selected flowers are bringing $5 

 per hundred, a good price for this time 

 of the year. 



The supply of cattleya orchids is in- 

 creasing and their movement is quite 

 up to the increase. Most arrivals are of 

 the labiata variety, the remainder 

 mainly hybrids. The latter class com- 

 mands as high as $100 per hundred. 



White lilies are still on the scarce 

 side, but there is no particular demand 

 for them at the price of $25 per hun- 

 dred, with $30 for selected stock. Lily 

 of the valley is plentiful, rather too 

 plentiful for quick movement, and 

 prices remain unchanged. 



There is a fair demand for bouvardia 

 of the Humboldtii variety, which is 

 bringing 3.5 to 50 cents per bunch. A 

 few gardenias are arriving, and move at 

 about $2 to $4 per dozen. 



Dahlias are passing, so with other 

 outside flowers gone, arrivals meet a 

 better demand and sales are made at 

 15 to 25 cents per bunch, with some 

 varieties bringing as much as 35 cents 

 per bunch. 



The offerings of herbaceous flowers 

 are chiefly of dahlias, cosmos, gypsoph- 

 ila, delphinium, pansies and strawflow- 

 ers, all of which are in better demand 

 since the supply has shortened. 



Various Notes. 



The Broadway Flower Market is the 

 name under which a new store has been 

 opened at Broadway and Ninetieth 

 street. The proprietor is Spero, for 

 some years a buyer for Charles Abrams, 

 the Brooklyn retailer. Spero is noted 

 for energy and enterprise and his many 

 friends wish for him every success. 



Joseph S. Fenrich is receiving daily 

 a cut of the rose Golden Ophelia, a can- 

 didate for popularity this season in the 

 yellow class. 



The rose growers, at a meeting in the 

 Hotel Breslin last week, perfected an 

 organization which, it is understood, is 

 expecting to stabilize the rose market. 

 About fifty growers form the nucleus. 

 Another meeting was held Monday af- 

 ternoon, October 18, at which many de- 

 tails were discussed and plans for 

 expansion laid down. An effort is to 

 be made to reach a membership which 

 will be 100 per cent effective. 



The New York World is responsible 

 for the following: " ' We've got a swell 

 cemetery and florist in this town for 

 fast drivers! ' So reads a sign on an 

 automobile road near Pelhain Bay, N. Y. 

 p]verything in readiness, so it would 

 seem, to 'Say It with Flowers.' " 



George V. Brower, a former commis- 

 sioner of parks for tlie boroughs of 

 Brooklyn and Queens, died October 14. 

 Ho lacked two days of being 82 years 

 of age. 



L. A. Hanscr, an old-time florist, has 

 succeeded L. Jackson in the manage- 

 ment and care of the New York Cut 

 Flower Exchange, at 55 West Twenty- 

 sixth street. 



The fall flower show of the Horticul- 

 tural Society of New York will open 

 November .3 in the American Museum of 

 Natural History and continue until 

 November 6. This year the show is to 

 be held in conjunction with the show at 

 the Garden Club of America. The New 

 York Botanical Garden is arranging to 

 exhil)it a group of economic subjects, 



such as tea, coffee, chocolate, fig, banana 

 and pineapple plants. The Garden Club 

 is offering a series of prizes for table 

 decorations. 



Secretary John Young, of the S. A. F., 

 returned from Toronto October 15, 

 where he attended a meeting of the 

 publicity committee. J. H. P. 



CHICAGO. 



Press-day Special Report. 



The market has collapsed. The weak- 

 ening tendency noted in the subjoined 

 report has been carried along by warm, 

 bright weather, so increasing the' sup- 

 ply of stock that there is no possibility 

 of clearing it through the usual chan- 

 nels. The condition is in sharp contrast 

 to that of last week, when it was im- 

 possible to fill orders in full. If any- 

 one felt overcharged last week, there 

 are bargains now. 



The Market. 



Tlie market is full of disquieting ru- 

 mors concerning the financial condition 

 of this, that and the other big buyer, 

 but it nevertheless is the fact that con- 

 tinuously for more than a month busi- 

 ness here has been ahead of last year, 

 at least in the larger and more aggres- 

 sive wholesale houses. This is all the 

 more remarkable when it is considered 

 that last autumn business was better 

 than ever before. Chicago may be spe- 

 cially favored, as the center on which 

 converge the demands from the whole 

 middle west, but there is nothing but 

 rumor here to indicate that business is 

 otherwise than good. 



There is this fact noted, however: The 

 call this season puts an arbitrary price 

 limit on the stock to be sent. Buyers 

 will not take stock which is to cost too 

 much. A year or two ago they did not 

 care. Boses at 25, 35, even 50 cents 

 apiece were readily salable; but this 

 season it is a different story. As the 

 supply of long roses has increased it has 

 been found increasingly difficult to 

 move them at such prices as the grow- 

 - ers have become accustomed to expect. 

 Up to about 20 cents roses have moved 

 well; above that figure they move with 

 great deliberation. Of course the sup- 

 ])ly of short roses has decreased as the 

 cut of long stems has increased and 

 last week we had the unusual experi- 

 ence of seeing short-stemmed roses ad- 

 vance in price without at the same time 

 moving up the price of longer grades, 

 which even declined slightly in average 

 value. Last week, while the demand 

 was strongest, buyers offered 10 and 

 even 12 cents for short roses without 

 getting any, while fancy long-stemmed 

 roses, ordinarily worth 25 cents to 35 

 cents, accumulated in wholesalers' ice- 

 boxes for want of a reasonable offer. 



Last week business was brisk, stock 

 was scarce and prices were stiff, but as 

 early as October 15 indications of an im- 

 pending change began to appear. Sev- 

 eral days of Indian summer increased 

 the supply, particularly of roses, and the 

 chrysanthemum and carnation growers, 

 particularly the former, began to get 

 into their season's cuts. The result is 

 that the present week finds the market 

 slightly easier, with the probability 

 that no further pinch will bo felt until 

 the chrysanthemum says adieu, along 

 about December 1. 



(ConUnued on page 44.) 



