79o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Dacember 4 
TRADE IN CHRISTMAS GREENS. 
WHAT IS SOLD I WHERE THET COME FROM. 
From early in December until the 
holidays, Christmas greens appear about 
the streets ; earlier still at some of the 
commission houses. The markets are 
soon plentifully sprinkled with stalls 
piled with laurel wreathing and set 
designs, holly, and fragrant Christmas 
trees. A greater quantity of these goods, 
however, is sold .from-temporary stands 
out on the street. Some of these greens 
are handled by wholesale florists, others 
by commission dealers in country prod¬ 
uce. A large wholesale dealer in florists’ 
supplies was asked what classes of these 
goods he handled. 
“Our Christmas greens”, responded 
this dealer,” are confined to holly, 
mistletoe, and Ground pine. We do not 
handle laurel, hemlock, or Christmas 
trees. The laurel wreathing is mostly 
made by people in the country, who 
make it in immense quantities, and ship 
it mainly to dealers in country produce.” 
“ Where does the holly come from ? ” 
“The first holly, received in the market 
about Thanksgiving, comes from Vir¬ 
ginia ; but the main stock for the holi¬ 
days is from Delaware, though some is 
also obtained from Maryland and Ten¬ 
nessee. We wait until the Delaware 
holly has had a touch of frost, which 
makes it hard and glossy. The Vir¬ 
ginia holly is softer, lighter green, and 
does not dry hard and brittle ; we con¬ 
sider it inferior to that from Delaware. 
South of Virginia, the holly is practically 
worthless for our trade. To be first- 
class, it should be hard, glossy, deep 
green, and abundantly berried. It is 
packed in wooden cases, containing 16 
cubic feet.” 
“We are told that holly is imported 
from England. Do you handle this ? ” 
“No. There is no great quantity re¬ 
ceived here, most of it being imported 
by florists with a fastidious trade. It is 
too high-priced for general sale. It is, 
however, worth the higher price so far 
as beauty is concerned, the leaves being 
very firm and glossy, and the berries 
brilliant and abundant.” 
“Is the mistletoe native or imported” ? 
“We handle only the imported; the 
native is not good enough for our trade, 
though sold upon the streets to some 
extent. These are two distinct plants, 
the Southern mistletoe, Phoradendron 
flavescens, having thinner leaves and 
smaller berries than the English sort, 
Viscum album. The leaves of our native 
plant are more yellowish-green than the 
foreign variety, and the berries lack the 
floury whiteness of the latter.” 
“ How is the mistletoe packed, and 
does it travel well ? ” 
“ It comes in cases containing about 
eight cubic feet, and it is not a very 
good traveler, so that buying it is rather 
a lottery. It is commonly sold to the 
dealers by auction, right on the docks. 
If it has been frozen or badly chilled in 
transit, the leaves all drop off, leaving 
bare sticks ; if it has heated in the hold 
of the steamer, the berries often drop, 
and are found in a slimy mass at the bot¬ 
tom of the box. It is unsalable without 
berries.” 
“ Naturally, since according to old 
English custom, it is useless for oscu- 
latory purposes without the berries, 
since one must be plucked off for every 
kiss given under it. Does it all come 
from England ? ” 
“ It is all shipped to us from that coun¬ 
try, but England receives a a good deal 
from Normandy, where the parasitic 
plant finds a congenial home on the 
apple trees in the great cider districts.” 
“ Is there no danger of the wild holly 
and mistletoe being exhausted ? ” 
“ It does not seem so ; the stock ap¬ 
pears to be practically inexhaustible, 
although the trade in such material has 
increased of late years.” 
“ How is the Ground pine sold, and 
where does it come from ? ” 
“ Ground pine is sold by weight, and 
is usually sent to market in bulk packed 
in bags or barrels. It comes from a 
great many different localities in the 
Eastern, Middle and Northern States. 
While a good deal of our stock comes 
from northern New York, we obtain it 
all the way from Maine to Wisconsin.” 
“ Is there not a short supply some sea¬ 
sons, which suggests the possibility of 
the stock being run out ? ” 
‘ 1 The shortness of supply sometimes 
apparent is due to early snow, rather 
than to deficiency in quantity of the 
wild material. An early snowfall pre¬ 
vents the gathering of the Ground pine. 
Sometimes, the early snow in one local¬ 
ity compels us to draw entirely upon 
other districts for the material. The 
same conditions sometimes shorten the 
supply of wild Dagger ferns used as 
florists’ greens.” 
While most florists sell a few of the 
wreaths, stars, crosses, etc., of holly, 
Ground pine or laurel, this trade is 
drifting more and more into the hands 
of street venders. A great deal of dec¬ 
orating material is purchased at the 
docks or freight yards by large dealers 
who hire people to make it up and sell 
it under their direction. The cheapest 
goods of this class consist of laurel or 
hemlock, brightened by a few bunches 
of scarlet Immortelles. The Immor¬ 
telles are, also, used in connection with 
Ground pine, making very lasting dec¬ 
orations. The holly wreaths are hand¬ 
somer, and cost a little more. Lower 
grades of holly, deficient in berries, are 
brightened by the Immortelles. Some 
of the florists who do not handle ordi¬ 
nary greens, make up large, solid 
wreaths of Immortelles, scarlet, yellow, 
or rose, which, tied with a broad ribbon 
sash, are very showy, and sell to a cer¬ 
tain line of trade. These Immortelles 
are small, round, dried everlasting 
flowers; they are grown in France, 
where they are dried and dyed brilliant 
colors. They are much used in making 
funeral designs, and lettering floral 
pieces, but are also pressed into service 
among Christmas greens. 
The Christmas trees are sent very 
largely from the forests of Maine, where 
the supply would appear inexhaustible. 
There are many dealers who come to 
New York every year with immense 
stocks of these, which they sell from 
temporary outdoor stands. The trees 
come by the car-load, sometimes in 
charge of the owner, sometimes con¬ 
signed to a dealer in the city. 
During the holiday season thousands 
of yards of evergreen wreathing or 
roping are used for trimming halls, 
churches, Sunday-school rooms and priv¬ 
ate dwellings ; this roping varies from 
the small at two cents a yard, up to 
that at 12 cents a yard, and is mostly 
made of Bouquet green or Ground 
pine, a little hardy evergreen that stands 
up like a little tree six inches high. 
These are wound on to a cord with fine 
wire. The making of this roping gives 
employment to a great many people 
during November and December. This 
green formerly all came from western 
Massachusetts and Vermont, but now 
many car-loads come from northern 
Wisconsin and Michigan. The farmers 
gather it up mostly, then the wholesale 
dealers buy it from them and ship it to 
all parts of the United States. Millions 
of Christmas trees are sold all over the 
United States ; the New York trade calls 
for Balsam fir, but most of the western 
cities use spruce. The Balsam fir trees 
sold in the New York market come from 
western Massachusetts and up in Maine. 
There are sold every year in the New 
York market, nearly if not quite 100 
car-loads, New York being the head¬ 
quarters for all of Greater New York. 
L. B. Brague, of Hinsdale, Mass., prob¬ 
ably is the largest single dealer; his 
trees are sold not only in New York, 
but are shipped to Pittsburg, Wheel¬ 
ing, Cleveland, Columbus, Canton, and 
even New Orleans takes one car-load. 
A large flat car will take about 1,200 
trees from 5 to 20 feet high ; they are all 
tied down tightly and compactly into 
bundles of from one to ten trees. Strange 
to say, the trees keep growing or com¬ 
ing up so fast that the same fields can 
be cut over every five years, and if they 
were not thinned out, would grow into 
solid clumps and would then be worth¬ 
less, as they would be one-sided and ill¬ 
shaped. The cutting and drawing of 
these trees give employment to hundreds 
of men and teams in the hill towns of 
Massachusetts and Maine. 
The collection of wild evergreen ferns 
is a new industry. Mr. Brague started 
into this several years ago, and was one 
of the pioneers. He is now the largest 
dealer in the country, giving employ¬ 
ment during October to something over 
90 men, storing away for his winter 
trade over 8,000,000 ferns annually, ship¬ 
ping them to all parts of the United 
States. But like-all such new things that 
come up, if one man is seen making a 
living out of it, then everybody starts 
into it, until the thing is all overdone 
and none of them succeeds. 
There is another class of decorating 
material very largely used by florists, 
which, while not strictly Christmas 
greens, is freely used at the Christmas 
season. This includes Palmetto crowns, 
southern Smilax, Leucothoe, Magnolia 
and Galax. There is a very large trade 
in these materials ; they are shipped 
from North and South Carolina, Georgia, 
Florida, Alabama, and other southern 
points, to the northern dealers in florists’ 
supplies. The Palmetto crowns, the en¬ 
tire top of a young Palmetto, and also 
the large individual leaves, are freely 
used in decorating churches and recep¬ 
tion rooms, often masquerading as 
potted palms. The Smilax vines (prob¬ 
ably S. laurifolia), a relative of our 
thorny Catbriar, are showy where gar¬ 
lands are required, the leaves being a 
deep, shining green or bronze. The 
Galax leaves are very often used in 
floral designs, as well as for decorat¬ 
ing. They come mainly from North 
Carolina, where the plant is abundant 
in the mountain region. The leaves are 
rounded, firm in texture, borne upon 
a tough, slender stalk ; during the sum¬ 
mer, they are green, but after a touch 
of frost, they turn to a bright, shining 
bronze. They can be kept for an in¬ 
definite time after being plucked. The 
Southern Long moss (Tillandsia usne- 
oides) which forms a veil over the swamp 
trees in some of the warmer States, is 
sometimes used as a draping material 
with the southern greens, though it can 
hardly be considered among them com¬ 
mercially. E. T. R. 
Scrofula 
Catarrh 
Dyspepsia 
Rheumatism 
A dreadful quartette, all due to impure, impover¬ 
ished blood, all may be absolutely cured by 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla, even when all other medi¬ 
cines fail to give relief. Remember 
HOOCI’S S parifla 
Is the best—In fact the one True Blood Purifier. 
Hood’s Pills cure all Liver Ills. 25;cents. 
200,000 
LUCKETIA DEWBERRY TIPS; very 
fine, heavily rooted. Price, $1 per 
100; $6 per 1,000; $25 per 5 000—by 
freight or express. My new 32-page Illustrated 
Strawberry Catalogue now ready. Best out. Sent 
f pan Addrofic 
W. F. ALLEN, JR., Salisbury, Md. 
COLUMBIAN TIPS AND TRANSPLANTS. 
300,000 Tips for this Fall.and Spring, 1898. Larg¬ 
est Berry Growers In the State. Prices right. 
J. H. TEATS & SONS, Fruit Growers, Williamson.N.Y. 
Nitrate of Soda 
Nearly 
Eight Million Elgins 
More watches than any other factory 
in the world has produced in the same 
period. 
A Full Ruby Jeweled Elgin Watch 
has pivotal parts of such hardness, acting 
upon jeweled bearings, together with 
such exquisite exactness of adjustment 
that it is practically wear-proof—and 
unvarying in action. 
All Elgin watches are good— Full Ruby- 
Jeweled are best — at all jewelers. 
An Eluin Watch alwayn has the word “Elgin" 
engraved on the works—fullj guaranteed. 
is the best and cheapest form 
in which you can buy nitrogen 
(or ammonia). It is also the 
most soluble and available 
form in which nitrogen can 
be applied as food for plants. 
You can mix it yourself with 
other materials in just the 
correct proportion for the 
particular crop to which you 
wish to apply it. You cannot 
raise good crops without nit¬ 
rogen in some form. Why 
not use the best—Nitrate ? 
r..np A 40-page book, “Food for Plants.” 
rlCC Tells all about mixing and using 
fertilizers. Please ask for it. 
S. M. HARRIS, MORETON FARM (p. O.) N. Y. 
LEGGETT'S S WHALE-OIL SOAP 
Fer Washing and Spraying Trees. De¬ 
stroys all Insect life on bark. San Jos6 
Scale and the like Our Brand indorsed 
by authorities. Obtainable of dealers 
or write 
LEGGETT & BROTHER. 
301 Pearl Street, New York. 
■ For 50c. 
12 Loudon Raspberry ) 
12 King Raspberry f 
T. O. KEVITT, - - ATHENIA, N. J. 
PEACH TREES 
75 Varieties in Stock. 
Largest stock of Peach Trees in the 
country. Descriptive Catalogue FREE. 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON & CO., 
Village Nurseries, HIQHT8TOWN, N. if. 
HARRISON’S 
BERLIN, MD., 
have one and a half million 
PEACH TREES 
grown from natural seed. Send for prices. 
50,000 Peach Trees 
FREE FROM DISEASE, for Fall and Spring. 
Crawford Early, Crawford Late, Stump, 
Triumph, Chair’s Choice, Smock, Mt. Rose, 
Oldinixon Free, Greensboro, Crosby, Hill’s 
Chili, Elberta, Sneed, Alexander, Champion, Globe, Beer’s Smock, Sal way. Troth’s Early, Wheatland 
and lots of others. CHEAP. Catalogue Free. ARTHUR J. COLLINS, Moorestown, N. J. 
DAV rDnrHT BOX and Pack free. PAOLR line all boxes. REPLACE 
YVe i A I I I\L-lAjn 1 free. Give BUYER’S choice; low WHOLESALE prices 
orders large or small; 10 trees at 100 rate, 300 at 1000 rate. Guarantee SAFE ARRI¬ 
VAL, trees TRUE to name, FREE from SAN JOSE scale, and of BES1 quality. Guarantee 
SATISFACTION,— write for lists, photos and FULL particulars of foregoing Stark 12 
CHALLENGE Points. STARK BROS, Louisiana, Mo., Stark, Mo., Rockport, 111., Dansvillc, N.f. 
3 Big Business Japs 
It’s free, and it tells the truth. 
are RED JUNE, BURBANK and WICKSON. Our new 
catalogue for fall will tell you about these and other 
“j Business Trees"; also about Successful Fall Planting. 
“Get it and come out of the dark." Rogers Nurseries, Dansville, N. V. 
ete. advertise themselves. The best 
always cheapest. Can supply all your wants 
from Flower and Vegetable Needs to 
Street Trees at low rates. We publish one of 
the leading Seed, Plant and Tree Cata¬ 
logues Issued which we mail l'ree. Try us, 
our stock and prices will please you. Can refer 
you to customers in every state and territory in the Union. 43 years of square dealing has made us 
patrons and friends far and near. Have hundreds of car-loads of FRUIT AND ORNAMEN¬ 
TAL TREES, SHRUBS, ROSES, PLANTS, ETC. We send by mail postpaid Seeds. 
Plants, Bulbs, Roses, Small Trees, etc., safe arrival and satisfaction guaranteed, larger by express 
or freight. 44 th year. 32 Greenhouses. 1,000 acres. 
THE STORRS & HARRISON CO., Box 26, PAINESVILLE, O. 
