The St. Louis Republic., 1900-12-21
Florists Declare the Supply OF
Choice Evergreens Is Shorter
Than Ever Before.
PRICES ARE CLIMBING DAILY.
Market Is Glulteh With Inferior
Stock, for Which There Is No
Sale. and Dealers Are
Greatly Annoyed.

St Louis girls who have booked forwar I
TO the season when they might hang a
sprig Of misiletoe under chandelier and
await the "sculatory exercises suggested 10y
the presence of the famous parasitic shrub
will suffer from the prevailing scarcity If
the plant. The problem is one that is veX-
,uR many feminine minds and taNins; purses
{" greater extent than has been the casp
IN years. Not only IL mistlrtoe s-arce. bat
sInilav. lycopodium. and in fact. all Of the
greens used so profuseiy at Christmas time
Tor decorating and fes,oon.ng. are 81 sc1rce
that prices range from twice 10 three times
~ high as in former years. For these rca-
sons holiday trade I'm mistleton and other
greens will he the lightest that local fIrist s
have experienced.
Many of the rst-kn6wr florists will 60
through the holidays without as much a. a
single spray of mistIetoe for sale The reI-
son for this is not that there is m supply.
hu! because th. misiIe,Oe shipped north
this year Is Of an inferior quality. Hun
dreds of barrels Of IL are lyinS in the conn
mission houses unSOii For some reason.
as yet unexplained by shippers. very little
of the mistletoe has berries attached. With
out berries the plant will not sell. AMI for
this reason high prices prevail on the kind
with berries
we have not single spray Of mistletoe
in the house. said Arthur Y. Ellison of In"
Ellison IL lesson Floral Company. Nor 90
We expect to have any. Yesterday I visited
Third street and examined many barrels Of
the plant. but there We're no berries on the
leaves. Ordinarily we pay from S. up for
barrel. but the quality that is being received
in st. Louis now Is not worth 50 cents. Peo-
pie want good mistl.toe or none at all. and
If we can't get the best We will have none.
The price of greens this wear IS nearly three
times as hish As in other years.
For the most part this il caused ny the
early SHOWS In Michigan and Wisconsin.
Snow fell before the Wild plant, could Ice
gathered and a shortage was the result.
Last year We sold smilaX. wired and ready
for Use. at from cents To cents yard
To-day the same thing costs from 10 cents
up. Formerly We paid from so TO sl2 fer a
case Of srnilaN containing 100 pounds. Now
ii is much higher. Holly is cheap. and the
trade is good. II is of a good quality this
year. i understand that the m!stletoe
slipped from Fl Paso. Tex. is fine. but We
While the supply u mistletoe is lim-
tied" said Miss Teresa Badaracco Of No.
1868 Olive street. last night. still the DE-
mand is not SO great as Is generally the
case AS far as / know the prices have
not been raised. Lycopodium is very scarce.
and ae a result the prices have climbed TO
a considerable height. II Is notlceabie ihat
florists and downtown stores have done very
little decorating with greens TINS year.
Prices are too high TO permit OF extensive
decorations, ard the florists have non. 10
spare for beautifying their shops. Thy
need all they can get for their customers
Il have mlstletoe for sale, faid p J..
Foster Of No. 12s Olive street nut don l
know how long II will last II iS true t!at
TN. supply of good mi=tleto" IL limited. hut
a. Gar as ] know the usual prices prevail
At the Riessen Floral Company's store II
berries was limited. and that buying was
not as heavy as in previous years.