174 



HORTICULTURE 



February 6, 1903 



this paper does not concern itself. We 

 shall ai^sume that the grower is doing 

 his part well ai.d assent also to the 

 proposition that, under conditions as 

 they now exist, he has all he can at- 

 tend to. If. however, the product is 

 not well-sold and the money well-col- 

 lected it matters little how well it may 

 have been grown and so here we come 

 to the problem which presses most 

 urgently upon us today. When the 

 production outsU-ips the demand then 

 are the highesi qualifications of the 

 marketing forces put to the test. You, 

 growers, who make up the bulk of the 

 membership of this organization, know 

 something of the bitterness of disap- 

 pointment, as you have seen your 

 product, under the slightest provoca- 

 tion of sunlight and crop, piled up un- 

 sold in the wholesale markets or con- 

 demned to the alternative of being pro- 

 claimed by a •hole-in-the-wall" 

 shouter at "ten for a nickel," while 

 perhaps you read in the trade papers 

 of a scarcity and unsupplied demand 

 a couple of hundred miles away. You 

 are justified in asking "Can't this be 

 helped? What is it that stands be- 

 tween the flower and the public?" 

 But instead of asking of the wind or 

 of your brother grower, would it not 

 be well to call in the other members 

 of the family — the wholesaler and the 

 retailer — and reason together? The 

 subject is one which will tax the com- 

 bined capabilities of all. 



In the meeting for the organization 

 of this society at Philadelphia IS years 

 ago, among the objects of the organi- 

 zation as set forth by the committee 

 on resolutions were the following: 

 "To increase general interest in the 

 cultivation and consumption of the car- 

 nation; to improve the methods of cul- 

 tivation and the methods of placing it 

 on the market: to increase its use as 

 a decorative flower." Do the records 

 of the society show that these two 

 p'-opositions have been followed up as 

 of equal importance or that one has 

 been allowed to overshadow the other? 



Our worthy president in asking me 

 to prepare this paper.writes: "You have 

 been through the mill, so I think you 

 might give us a few suggestions." 

 ConsuUing the dictionary, I find the 

 word "miil" defined as "a machine in 

 which substances are ground"; "a 

 prize fight." The president evidently 

 had in mind my connection with the 

 flower commission business in the 

 long, long ago. Prom my observation I 

 should say that the commission 

 method of marketing flowers was still 

 holding 'ts own all right, although 

 proof is not wanting to indicate that 

 the sentiment among so.ne of the best 

 informed commission dealers seems to 

 favor a system of direct outright pur- 

 chases from the wholesale grower. In 

 any event the vital interests of grower 

 and wholesaler demand that the whole- 

 sale dealer should at all times have 

 exact infoiniation from the grower as 

 to crops present and prospective, and a 

 strict compliance with his wishes as 

 to time and manner of shipment. It is 

 the wholesaler's privilege and duty to 

 concern himself in the matters which 

 alTect the welfare of his grower, advise 

 him as to ways and means whereby he 

 may increase his income, post him as 

 to the movements and tendencies of the 

 market as discerned by the man at the 

 front, keep the scouts busy and do 

 something more than sell. If he is in- 

 capable of all this, he may be "in the 



righi church," but is certainly "in the 

 wiong pew.'" 



The grower should have from his 

 wholesaler unquestioned assurance of 

 financial responsibility. I sometimes 

 think the growers as a class have been 

 remarkably trusting and generous in 

 this latter respect to salesmen of all 

 kind?, but whether it is good business 

 is a different question and, as before 

 intimated, hardly in harmony with ac- 

 cepted commercial practice which de- 

 mands that the money from the sale 

 of flowers should pass promptly from 

 the consumer through the medium of 

 retailer and wholesaler to the grower, 

 and with equal celerity from the latter, 

 to those who supply and serve him. 

 In no respect are the various depart- 

 ments of the trade more closely inter- 

 dependent and in none is reform more 

 urgently needed than in this matter of 

 credits and accountability. 



As to the retailer he should never 

 forget that the producer of the stock 

 which he must have, if he is to con- 

 tinue in business, is entitled to a fair 

 return and the means of placing his 

 liusiness in a position of honor and 

 good repute. It is natural to want to 

 buy as cheap as possible but the dis- 

 position to beat down wholesale values 

 regardless of the possibilities of ruin 

 and discouragement that may follow 

 should be looked upon with disapprov- 

 al by all well-wishers of the floral in- 

 dustry. 



In conclusion, let none of us be "con- 

 tent with knowledge sufficient for the 

 present need." The business with 

 which our fortunes are linlied is only 

 in course of development, and to keep 

 pace with its growth and its emergen- 

 cies requires the best combined 

 thought you can give to it. Mutual 

 lesppct and mutual toleration are good 

 qualities to cultivate. Our peace of 

 mind, our business future and, last but 

 not least, our pocketbooks, will all 

 share in the prosperity following upon 

 a wise discernment of the close rela- 

 tionship between producer, wholesaler 

 and retailer. 



CARNATIONS I HAVE KNOWN AND 

 THEIR ELEVATING INFLUENCE. 



I'aptr read hy Miss Sarali A. Hill at the 



farnation Society liaiiijuet. Indianapolis. 

 Brother Toastmaster and Dear Friends: 



1 have taken my pen in hand to 

 write you a few lines because I can ex- 

 press what I have in mind much better 

 than in attempting an after dinner 

 speech, for unlike the majority of my 

 sex, I happen not to be eloquent of 

 tongue. 



I recognize many faces present as 

 those of old and tried friends, but if I 

 could for a moment see your signatures 

 I should linow many moi'e of you in- 

 timately, for the written name at once 

 brings up a picture of your letters, and 

 I can say without boasting that few 

 women, the country over„ have a!^ 

 many delightful gentlemen correspond- 

 ents as youi-s truly. 



Now that the machine has taken the 

 place of the steel pen I am seldom at 

 a loss to arrive at the meaning of my 

 correspondents, but there have been 

 times in the past when I hardly knew 

 whether I was deciphering an ardent 

 declaration, or only a very warm can- 

 cellation of an order for a belated lot 

 of the reigning novelty in carnations. 



It is never safe for an unmarried 

 woman to let her memory reach too 

 far back into the past, but I -can re- 



member when old La Purite was our 

 mainstay: I remember when Mile. 

 Carle threw up its first snow white 

 flower and we hold our bre-ath over its 

 purity of color and its dear cut form, 

 but even the most daring catalog liar 

 could not claim freedom of bloom for 

 either of these beautiful old path- 

 finders, nor for fiuttercup or Chester 

 Pride, Portia or Grace Wilder, which 

 were added as the years went by, and 

 if there had been only carnations on 

 our benches I doubt if we should have 

 butter on our bread, for the Bread-and- 

 Butter carnation had as yet no exist- 

 ence. 



In '.S8 with Tidal Wave the tide be- 

 gan to turn, and Father Dorner soon 

 after gave us a delightful set of seed- 

 lings, and these, with Lizzie McGowan 

 and Daybreak, set an entirely new 

 pace, and a carnation, from being a 

 spoiled beauty for admiration only, 

 began to be questioned as to its right 

 to occupy space and as to its returns 

 in hard dollars and cents per square 

 foot; the heavy boot of sordid com- 

 niercialism had kicked aside the old- 

 time beauties, and the husky varieties 

 with sleeves rolled up, stems like 

 steel, calyces like gntta percha, petals 

 lil;e leather, and a noise like money, 

 came rustling on the stage and many 

 a song and dance they have given u.=. 

 Visitors who go about a greenhouse 

 with the proprietor seldom fail to re- 

 mark upon the elevating influence of 

 flowers; I have never known a floris.t 

 yet who failed to acquiesce; he will 

 stretch his neck in his collar, elevate 

 his shoulders, and really feel higher 

 up both mentally and morally as the 

 suggestion is once more made to him. 

 But I have seen the most enthusiastic 

 visitor put to flight from the most 

 magnificent carnation range by a very 

 depressed looking section hand who 

 might be scattering bone meal or other 

 dainty tidbit for Lady Carnation's mid- 

 week meal — and further, I have known 

 carnations that have dragged their 

 owners down very near to the bottom- 

 less pit, and even Ihe best of varieties 

 at times have tried the souls of their 

 grower till no modern tongue con- 

 tained suiliciently lurid language to 

 express his feelings. 



I once made tlie acquaintance of a 

 glorious red carnation, sweet as winds 

 from Araby. a stem like whalebone, 8 

 and 10 blooms to the plant, a blaze of 

 color, and every florist wanted it by the 

 500 or 1000, but the rust "swept down 

 like the wolf on the fold" and de- 

 voured every green leaf, and I still 

 have the vision of our good German 

 gTowei' with wildly w-aving arms over 

 his grassless benches, exclaiming: 

 "That Jubilly, he was the very duyfel," 

 and what else he may have said when 

 no ladies were present I never dared 

 inquire. A prominent firm in Massa- 

 chusetts, who had a nice order for 

 "Jubilly" placed with us, were ex- 

 tremely curious to know why they 

 were failing to receive their cuttings, 

 and made inquiry quite forcibly week- 

 ly, and faintlj' each week we replied. 

 I am glad that I am addressing a coni- 

 Ijany of florists every one of whom has 

 aisscminated or been upon the point 

 of disseminating a new carnation, for 

 you know exactly what I am talking 

 about" and how often you went into 

 a perspiration before the season closed, 

 and neither did you need a rose tem- 

 perature to make your pores open. 

 Well, some four 'years, alter Jubilee 



