20 



The Florists' Review 



December 26, 1912. 



THE FLORISTS' REVffiW 



O. L. GRANT. Editor and Manaokb. 



PUBUSHKD KVKEY THURSDAY BY 



The FLORISTS' Publishing Co 



S80-560 Caxton BaildlnK, 

 fi08 South Dearborn St., Chlcaso. 



Tklbphonk, Ha&bison 5429. 



bzqibtebkd oablk addbb88, fiiobvizw. chioaqo 



New York Office: 



1310 Forty-Ninth St Brooklyn. N. Y. 



TXLEPHONX. 2832 W. Borough Park. 

 J. Austin Shaw, Manaqkb. 



Snbecriptlon price. $1.00 a year. To Canada. $2.00 

 To Europe, |2.e0. 



Advertising rates quoted upon request. Only 

 strictly trade advertising accepted. 



Advertisements must reach us by 6 p. m. Tuesday, 

 to insure Insertion In the issue of that week. 



Entered as second class matter December 3. 1897. 

 at the post-office at Chicago. 111., under the act of 

 March 3. 1879. 



This paper is a member of the Chicago Trade 

 Press Association. 



OOXTENTS. 



Christmas 1912 9 



— A Record-Breaking Busluess 9 



The Retail Florist 10 



— Christmas Novelties 10 



— McCutcheon's Roses (lllus.) 10 



— Benson's New Store (iUus. ) 10 



Hex Begonias 11 



Candytuft for Memorial Day 11 



Advantages of Organization 11 



Chrysanthemums '. 12 



— A European Success (lllus. ) 12 



— The Best Exhibition Mums (lllus.) 12 



Observations on Gladioli 13 



Carnations 14 



— Weak-Stemmed Enchantress 14 



— To Drive Out Angleworms 14 



— Nitrate of Soda 14 



— The London Carnation Show (illus.) 14 



— Carnation Culture in Brief 15 



Home-Made Remedies 17 



Quite a Staff 17 



Seasonable Suggestions 18 



— Pansles 18 



— Hydrangeas 18 



— Rambler Roses 18 



— Lilacs 18 



— Seed Sowing 18 



Too Much Fumigation 18 



Useless After Being Forced 18 



Nothing Matter in Kansas (lllus.) 19 



Dickson Gets Medal (portrait) 19 



Plants for Easter 19 



Live Wires 19 



Obituary 20 



— Alexander J. Thomas 20 



Chicago 20 



St. Louis 24 



New York 26 



Philadelphia 28 



New Orleans 29 



Boston 30 



Nashville, Tenn 38 



Cincinnati 40 



Washington 42 



Steamer Sailings 44 



Seed Trade News 46 



— Society of American Florists 48 



— Pure Seed 51 



— Valley EMps 52 



— Catalognes Received 52 



Pacific Coast Department 64 



— The Panama-Padflc Rose 64 



— Vallejo, Cal 64 



— Los Angeles, Cal 54 



— Seattle, Wash 56 



— Portland, Ore 58 



— San Francisco 58 



Nursery News 64 



— Aphis on Maples 64 



— • Co-operation Among Growers 65 



Detroit 68 



Cleveland 70 



Pittsburgh 72 



Holyoke, Mass 74 



Waterbury, Conn 74 



Greenhouse Heating 84 



— Boiler Shops Poets 84 



— Piping In Northern Ohio 86 



The Glass Trade 86 



Bowling 88 



— At Chicago 88 



Hartford, Comi 90 



News Notes 92 



Salt Lake City, Utah.— W. T. Gray, 

 who has a range of greenhouses at 

 Eleventh South and Seventh East 

 streets and has been engaged in the 

 wholesale trade for some years, has 

 now opened a retail store at 5 East 

 Broadway. The location is considered 

 a first-class one, as it is in a district 

 of the city where general business is 

 rapidly developing. 



SOCIETY OF AXEBZOAK FLORISTS. 



Incorporated br Act of Oongrcu, Uarcb 4, 1901. 

 Offlcera for 1912: President, a. Vincent, Jr., 

 Whit* Ifarsb, Md.; Tlce-preaident, August Postal- 

 maiui, Morton Grove, IIL: aecretary, John Yonng, 

 64 W. 28tb St. New York City; treaanrer, W. F. 

 Kaatliiff, BnCtalo. N. Y. 



Offlcera for 1918: President, J. K. M. L. 

 Farqxitaar, Boettm. Maas. ; vice-president, Theodore 

 Wlrtb, Mlnneapolla: aecretary, J<Aii Yoo^n 64 

 W. 28tli St., New York Cltj; treasurer, W. F. 

 Rastlnf , Buftalo. 



Third National Flower Show, New York, April 

 S to 12, 1918. 



Index to Advertisers 



Page 94 



' ' When the days begin to lengthen the 

 cold begins to strengthen." 



Only twelve weeks to Easter. Much 

 less than three months in which to pre- 

 pare for the next big flower day. 



Don 't pay money to traveling sub- 

 scription agents. Eeview representa- 

 tives all are well known in their re- 

 spective communities. 



Not a few subscribers save themselves 

 the bother of annual renewal by sending 

 The Eeview $2, $3, or sometimes $5, in- 

 stead of the dollar-bill that insures fifty- 

 two visits of the paper. 



The trade will be compelled to find 

 an effective substitute for nicotine in- 

 secticides, since the latter are no longer 

 available in quantity to meet the demand. 

 Will the experimenters please get busyf 



Saturday, December 21, was the short- 

 est day of the year — too short by far 

 for every retail florist, but not so short, 

 by any means, as were December 23 ancT 

 24 for all the work that had to be 

 crowded into them. 



Fortunate is the industrious florist 

 who retails his own product — if the 

 wholesale prices of mums have this sea- 

 son averaged less than before, the re- 

 tailing grower has been able to get at 

 least as much for his crop as in any other 

 year. 



The Department of Horticulture of 

 the University of Illinois has issued in 

 pamphlet form, revised to date of publi- 

 cation, the two papers presented at the 

 annual meeting of the Illinois State 

 Florists ' Association held March 5, 1912, 

 descriptive of the floriculture research 

 work at the experiment station. The pa- 

 pers were printed in full in The Eeview 

 at the time. 



If there is one thing more than another 

 The Eeview would like to impress on the 

 trade it is the necessity of keeping faith. 

 No advertisement should exaggerate and 

 in every case the stock should be there 

 when the order arrives. Handling a 

 perishable commodity, complaints are 

 bound to arrive, but the man who satis- 

 fies his customers will work up a big 

 business, while the man who does not 

 make good will go the other way. 



Most florists consider the retail prices 

 of cut flowers and plants so greatly above 

 the wholesale prices that it is a matter 

 for concealment from all outside the 

 trade — and certainly such matters are not 

 those for advertisement — but did you 

 ever take the trouble to investigate the 

 manufacturing cost of any of the articles 

 of staple merchandise! When you do 

 you will find that what the consumer 

 pays usually is about three times the fac- 

 tory cost, sometimes a good deal more. 

 Selling is what costs, and the florist is 

 selling cheap. 



OBITUARY. 



Alexander J. Thomas. 



{ 



Alexander J. Thomas, founder of the 

 business which is now conducted under 

 the name of A. J. Thomas & Sons, at 

 Owego, N. Y., died December 2, at the 

 age of 77 years. He was born in Ger- 

 many, and had lived in this country 

 about forty-five years, impending thirty- 

 five years of that time in Owego. A 

 year or two ago, when failing health 

 compelled him to retire, the business 

 was reorganized under the present firm 

 name and two of his sons took charge 

 of it. He bore an excellent reputation 

 and had many friends. The funeral 

 services were held at St. Patrick's 

 church, and the burial was in St. Jo- 

 seph's cemetery, Tioga. He is survived 

 by his wife, by three sons, Joseph A., 

 Fred J. and Albert A. Thomas, and by 

 one daughter. Miss Anna Thomas, of 

 Owego. 



CHICAGO. 



The Oreat Central Market. 



There were early indications that the 

 Chicago market would break all records 

 for Christmas. The number of orders 

 was surprisingly large and they not 

 only came earlier than usual but called 

 for earlier shipment. As early as De- 

 cember 21 a heavy shipping business 

 was being done, though the shipments 

 of December 22 were many times heav- 

 ier and those of December 23 still 

 larger. As this issue goes to press, 

 December 24, shipping is still going on, 

 though the wholesalers have turned 

 the greater part of their attention to 

 getting out city orders. 



There was an abundance of roses 

 this Christmas, although short roses 

 were scarce. The same culture which 

 enables the growers to bring in their 

 crops of Killarneys at the date wanted 

 produces a large proportion of long 

 stems. The bulk of the business was 

 in medium lengths. Buyers would have 

 taken several times as many short roses 

 could they have obtained them, but 

 they wanted the grades selling at above 

 15 cents only in comparatively limited 

 quantities. All through the Christmas 

 rush there have been plenty of the 

 special long roses while at times other 

 grades have been well cleaned up. All 

 roses were excellent except that Killar- 

 ney was extremely pale in color because 

 of a week of sunless skies. Beauties 

 were plentiful. Much of the stock was of 

 excellent quality but there were many 

 blue Beauties, showing the process by 

 which the quantity was obtained. 



Carnations were practically the only 

 flower not in adequate supply this 

 Christmas. Shipping orders for these 

 were the heaviest ever known and prob- 

 ably the average price will figure out 

 the best thus far recorded. In other 

 seasons quotations have been about as 

 high, but not all the stock has sold 

 so near to quoted prices as has been the 

 case up to the present writing. Natu- 

 rally, red has been the scarcest item, 

 with dark pink next in demand and 

 in even lighter supply than red. Even 

 white has sold well. Oood sun Decem- 

 ber 22 and 23 helped not a little. 



There has been an abundance of 

 violets, principally eastern stock. Most 

 of these have sold locally and to a few 

 big buyers, though of course everyone 

 has used more or less. Cattlevas have 



