54 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE IN ENGLAND VS. 
THE UNITED STATES 
Although it is more than a decade since my visit to 
England and doubtless many of my impressions are out of 
date, nevertheless a comparison between commercial flori- 
culture in England and the United States at that time might 
be of interest. 
The retail florist here plies a more extensive trade than 
in England, and his equipment is the best and most elab- 
orate that money can buy. I saw only a few flower shops 
in London, and their furnishings were always meager and 
in a dilapidated condition. Much of the retail business was 
done by the street peddler, but whereas in this country his 
stock in trade is mostly cut flowers, in London he sells potted 
plants — generally ferns, palms, cypress, etc. — obtained at 
Covent Gardens Market. The peddling is done from house 
to house in small hand barrows or donkey carts. 
In England the small retail grower often leads a hand- 
to-mouth existence. If he lives in the city he is usually 
very much cramped for room, and his efforts must be con- 
fined primarily to the common run of bedding plants, gera- 
niums, lobelias, etc.. He caters to the poorer ale of work- 
ing people, and is obliged to sell at a ridiculously low Sa 
Sometimes, though, as in this country, the florist conducts 
a ee seed business in connection with his greenhouse 
trade, and there are many extensive suburban establishments 
which turn out vast quantities of the best quality stock. I 
have never seen finer cyclamen, cinerarias, hegoetas tuber- 
ous), pelargoniums, fuchsias, baronias, ericas, and calceola- 
rias than in England. As transportation facilities are excel- 
lent, trains being run every few minutes and country ro 
being always dependable, much of this product finds its way 
to London at the Covent Gardens Market, a scene of inde- 
seribable activity in the early morning hours. The big firms 
with which most florists are familiar, on account of their 
wide-spread advertising, generally specialize in, or devote 
much time to, the testing and introduction of novelties. 
Their market is the world and their business is very re- 
munerative. 
The growing of cut flowers under glass is conducted on a 
very different basis in England than in the United States; 
they have no such enormous establishments devoted to roses, 
carnations, etc. Their pot roses are large, and they have 
wonderful Malmaison carnations with very large flowers of 
many colors, but with the serious defect of bursting their 
calyx. However, they are now growing many varieties of 
scaciuiites ioaiiaianimaaidias 
