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March 27, 1913. 



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The Florists^ Review 



21 



NEW YOSK. 



The Market. 



It was a tired, red-eyed lot of pien 

 who began to lock up their stores on 

 West Twenty-eighth street about 1 

 o'clock in the afternoon of Easter, 

 after a continuous session beginning at 

 6 a. m. Saturday. And many were tho 

 flowers which had changed hands dur- 

 ing that time, for all agreed that the 

 receipts had been from fifty to 100 per 

 cent greater than last year. It is true 

 that some of the flowers came to hand 

 in bad shape. Three days of hot, sultry, 

 foggy weather ruined the violets and 

 took the color out of the roses. As a 

 consequence, the market was filled with 

 unsalable violets. One commissiou mer- 

 chant who is entitled to speak with 

 authority on this particular flower said 

 on Sunday morning that there were not 

 less than a million violets carried over 

 in the street, and some of them good 

 violets, too, although the majority were 

 of poor quality. As for prices, they 

 ranged from 75 cents down to 20 to 

 30 cents, with the average greatly re- 

 duced by the waste. Beauties brought 

 from 50 to 60 cents for specials. In the 

 lower grades there was a full supply 

 going at the buyer's price. Killarney, 

 White Killarney, Eichmond, Bride and 

 Maid were sold at list prices in con- 

 siderable quantities. Cattleyas of the 

 dark sorts sold well at 30 to 50 cents, 

 and considerable quantities of Schroe- 

 deree were taken, but at a low range of 

 prices. Carnations were plentiful, and 

 as the week drew to a close it became 

 evident that the supply was excessive 

 and prices weakened from the top fig- 

 ure, which was 6 cents, till at the close 

 2 cents was accepted for good stock. 

 While large quantities of carnations 

 were cleaned up, a good many were 

 carried over. In spite of heavy re- 

 ceipts, lilies did well, the market being 

 jeleared at prices ranging as high as 5 

 "cents. Valley was plentiful and sold 

 well, but showed no marked improve- 

 ment in prices. Gardenias of the better 

 grades were in demand and brought 

 good prices. Sweet peas sold well, par- 

 ticularly if long-stemmed. Shorts, even, 

 were taken up fairly well and but few 

 were carried over. Narcissi were in 

 full supply and sold freely, but a good 

 many poeticus were carried over. Paper 

 Whites were no^ so plentiful and were 

 cleaned up well. Daffodils were plenti- 

 ful and cheap. Shipments of southern 

 daffodils came to hand March 20 and 

 were cleared out at 20 to 30 cents, but 

 the heavy arrivals anticipated for 

 Saturday did not materialize and the 

 greenhouse flowers held up well. Con- 

 siderable stock was carried over, how- 

 ever. Tulips sold freely, particularly 

 the white ones. Freesias continue to 

 come into the market and find sale at 

 from 10 cents up. Stocks were slow and 

 quantities were carried over. 



Plants sold well throughout the week, 

 the volume of business being unequaled 

 and the prices satisfactory. 



The Easter weather was fine and the 

 volume of business reported, both by 

 wholesalers and retailers, exceeded all 

 recent records^ Plants were featured 

 by most retailers, and the quantity of 

 plants sold has been tremendous. 



Flowers in Department Stores. 



Nearly all the New York and Brook- 

 lyn department stores handle plants and 

 cut flowers. C. C. Trepel, who has the 

 flower department in several of these 



stores, has built up an enormous busi- 

 ness. At Gimbel's the flowers and 

 plants at Easter occupied the northeast 

 corner of the basement and about 100 

 clerks were kept busy up to the closing 

 hour Saturday. Bloomingdale Bros, in- 

 cluded in their full-page advertisements 

 on Friday an offer of one ticket to the 

 Natioiial Flower Show for the opening 

 night with each purchase of $1 or more 

 in any department of the store. The 

 tickets were given out in the flower 

 department only, in exchange for 

 checks. 



As a result of this advertisement, the 

 services of five policemen were required 

 to keep the crowd in order, and even- 

 tually the crowd became so big that 

 the fire commissioner ordered the doors 

 closed for fear of the results of a panic 

 in such a mob. It is not often that a 

 florist has to be protected from his 

 would-be patrons by the police. Many 

 florists would like to be mobbed by 

 buyers just once, to see how it feels. 



Various Notes. 



' J. H. Small & Sons ' Broadway store 

 at Easter looked like a private conserv- 

 atory. At the foot and at the top of 

 the stairway leading up from the mezza- 

 nine floor to the top gallery were beau- 

 tiful arches of ramblers in full bloom. 

 These arches, which were grown for the 

 purpose, were perfect in their propor- 

 tions and most effective. At noon Sun- 

 day the store looked bare, almost deso- 

 late, except for the tired, happy clerks 

 who ^ad helped clear it of plants and 

 flowers. 



Max Schling had some exquisite 

 Cattleya gigas and tiger lilies and 

 showed an attractive lot of heather in 

 Japanese boxes, which showed it up 

 well. 



C. A. Dards reported trade about as 

 usual, with a strong preference for the 

 old favorites among the plants. 



Alex. McConnell reported an unusual- 

 ly big demand • for lilies and a satis- 

 factory volume of trade in all lines. 



M. A. Bowe had some unusually fine 

 spiraea and had a display of filled bas- 

 kets which went off in great shape. 



A. Warendorff, 1193 Broadway, 

 showed the usual array of plants, bas- 

 kets, etc. Among the attractive novel- 

 ties was a twin basket of white enam- 

 eled willow, each side carrying a 7-inch 

 pot with an azalea in one and a Scottii 

 fern in the other. A yellow chick 

 perched among the green and a bow of 

 lavender ribbon gave the whrfTe a very 

 Eastery effect. 



Young & Nugent 's store is in the 

 heart of the theatrical district and did 

 an enormous volume of business in 

 fancy baskets. A liberal use of ribbon 

 characterized their display, 

 f Downtown florists report liberal buy- 

 ing in spite of dullness on Wall street. 

 Warendorff 's Liberty Tower store did 

 a great business in plants. The An- 

 sonia store, where Mrs. Warendorff (76 

 years young) presides, makes an equally 

 favorable report from the hotel district. 

 Henry M. Robinson Co. had some fine 

 specimens of the new rose grown by 

 S. J. Eeuter & Son, Westerly, R. I., 

 which, in default of a name, is known 

 by its shipper's number, 44. They also 

 had some handsome Mrs. Charles Rus- 

 sell from the Waban Rose Conserva- 

 tories, Natick, Mass. 



J. J. Coan, manager of the Growers' 

 Cut Flower Co., displayed last week 

 some Majestic carnations grown by 

 Henry Weston, of Hempstead, L. I., 

 that were over four inches in diameter 



and with 3-foot stems. It is a white, 

 blotched with pink. This carnation was 

 given eighty-six points at a recent meet- 

 ing of the New York Florists' Club. 



A flower market will be opened soon 

 at the northern end of Union square. 

 This proposal emanated from the Cen- 

 tral Mercantile Association and has 

 been approved by Park Commissioner 

 StoA'er. It is proposed to build a forum 

 to be used by flower venders in the 

 morning and by the public in the after- 

 noon and evening. 



One of the commission houses re- 

 ceived on Saturday morning a shipment 

 of 40,000 single violets which only 

 brought an average of about 6 cents. 

 In his anxiety to get a big lot into the 

 Easter market the grower held his vio- 

 lets. As a result the flowers were too 

 old, and even the good flowers were 

 rendered worthless by being bunched 

 with decaying ones. Many of the 

 bunches were unsalable even to ped- 

 dlers. Had this grower kept his violets 

 picked closely he could have sent in 

 15,000 easily, which would have brought 

 75 cents on the last day, while those 

 shipped earlier would have brought 20 

 to 30 cents if they had been received in 

 good shape early in the week. 



The friends of J. Austin Shaw will 

 be pleased to learn that he has so far 

 recovered that he has been able to leave 

 the hospital. He will probably be con- 

 fined to the house for a week or more, 

 bjit looks forward to the pleasure of 

 attending the International Flower 

 Show. 



Wertheimer Bros, say a large number 

 of their customers have advised them 

 that they will be in New York for the 

 show and they are making extensive 

 preparations for their reception. 



OBITtJAEY. 



Myron H. Mills. 



Myron H. Mills, a pioneer florist of 

 Binghamton, N. Y., died at his home, 

 55 Front street, on Saturday, March 

 15. He retired from business a few 

 years ago, but was well known and 

 highly esteemed among the older gen- 

 eration of florists. He was born in 

 Marcellus, N. Y., April 29, 1826, and 

 removed to Binghamton in 1870. His 

 first wife was Miss Louise Poppel. 

 Their daughter, Mrs. Celora E. Martin, 

 and Mrs. Tracy Fuller and Miss Jennie 

 Mills, the daughters of his second wife, 

 who was Miss Augusta Webb of Wash- 

 ington, D. C, survive him. 



Fred W. Ostertag. 



Fred W. Ostertag, at one time one of 

 the firm of Ostertag Bros., St. Louis, 

 died Tuesday, March 18, after a long 

 illness. He was well known among the 

 trade and was one of the best workmen 

 in the floral art and decorating for big 

 jobs. The funeral took place from the 

 residence of his brother, Henry C. 

 Ostertag, Thursday afternoon, March 

 20, at two o'clock, to Belief ontaine 

 cemetery. He was 42 years of age and 

 leaves a mother, brother and sister to 

 mourn his loss. A great many of his 

 friends attended the funeral and the 

 floral designs were many and beautiful. 



J. J. B. 



Winnetka, HI. — The Bell greenhouses 

 have been sold to a Mr. Hayes, who 

 took possession March 1. 



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