4« 



HORTICULTURE 



January 11, ISIS 



Seed Trade 



AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASSOCIA- 

 TION. 



Officers — President, Cbas. N. Page, Des 

 Uoines, la.; 1st vice-president, Harry L. 

 Hoimes, Harrisburg. Pa.; 2nd vice-presi- 

 dent, Arthur B. Clark, Mllford, Conn.; sec- 

 retary and treasurer, C. E. Kendel, Cleve- 

 land, O. ; assistant secretary, J. M. Ford, 

 Ravenna, O. 



Next convention June, 1913. 



Why the Trade Packet? 



An esteemed correspondent, in reply 

 to an inquiry as to why our seedsmen 

 •till continue to use the trade-packet 

 custom in flower seeds, makes some 

 pertinent and pointed remarks, which 

 we pass along for the entertainment 

 and Instruction of our readers. 



"If you ever have the misfortune of be- 

 ing a flower-seed man in a big firm, you 

 will soon note the difference in costly^ labor 

 •f putting HP the so-called trade packet, 

 ai against the weighing system in frac- 

 tions of ounces. Like all elastic terms, 

 the quantity in a trade packet can be 

 moved up or down as necessity dictates 

 without having to change the price. For 

 Instance, if you sell aster seed at twenty - 

 five cents per trade packet, one dollar per 

 ounce, you could not afford to give a 

 quarter-ounce for twenty-five cents, for 

 the reason that it takes four times as 

 much labor and four times as much print- 

 ed matter to put up four quarter-ounces 

 as It does one ounce — and besides no white 

 man can get tour quarter-ounces out oi 

 an ounce of anything." 



How about the onion seed that 

 weighs sixteen ounces to the pound in 

 California but when weighed in New 

 York astonishes you by weighing 

 eighteen ounces to the pound? And 

 how about Tom Martindales pound 

 of butter, that weighed 16 ounces in 

 the morning and eighteen ounces in 

 the evening — or vice versa sometimes. 

 And Tom is not a colored man either. 

 Continuing about the dollar an ounce 

 proposition, our correspondent says: 



"If you were to charge thirty-flve cents 

 for a quarter-ounce you would be called a 

 robber." 



We demur a little to that last. Why 

 should you pay more proportionately 

 for a quarter-bushel of lawn grass than 

 you do tor a bushel? Nobody protests 

 on that! The principle is the same. 



We quote further: 



"The trade packet does away with all 

 trouble and brings the desired results. 

 An ounce of practice is worth a couple of 

 tons of theory, and I would advise the 

 novice not to meddle with the fine art of 

 running a fancy flower seed business, but 

 to stick to grass seed and things that are 

 not dealt in in less than quart lots." 



It's a good argument, and we bow 

 to superior judgment and thank our 

 friends for turning a shining light on 

 an abstruse subject. 



G. G. WATSON. 



Notes. 



Gainesville, Fla. — Geo. E. Evans has 

 disposed of his seed business here to 

 H. J. Babers. 



The Covington Seed Co. of Coving- 

 ton, Ky., have opened a retail store on 

 Madison Ave., Covington. They are 

 right in the midst of the retail busi- 

 ness and should do nicely. 



CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Miss Mary C. Cone, West Hartford, 

 Conn.— Folder price-list of Tulip and 

 Narcissus Bulbs. 



New Crop Florist's Flower Seeds 



VERBCNA Tr. Fkt. Oz. 



Mammoth Fancy Blae 30 $1.25 



Pink 30 1.25 



Scarlet 30 1.25 



Striped 30 1.25 



" " White 30 1.25 



" " Mixed 30 1.00 



SALVIA 



.MlcheU'a Scarlet Glow 50 4.00 



Bonfire 40 2.00 



Zurich 50 4.00 



Splendens 25 1.25 



King of Carpets 50 3.00 



BEGONIA 



Vernon 25 2.50 



Gracilis Laminosa 40 



" Prima Donna 50 



" Rosea 30 



Alba 80 



CENTAUREA 



Gymnocarpa 1000 seeds, 15c. .40 



CandidiBsima 1000 seeds. 30c. -75 



LOBELIA 



Crystal Palace Compacta 30 1.28 



Barnard's Perpetual $.25 $1.00 



Crystal Palace Speclosa 15 .60 



Send for our Flower Seed Order Sheet. 

 Seeds from this 



PETUNIA l^Jt'pkt-. 



Michell's Monstroans $.60 $1.00 



California Giants 30 ,C0 



Grandiflora Fringed 30 .SO 



Dwarf Inimitable 30 .60 



Snowball .30 



PHLOX DRUMMOND II 



Tr. Pkt. 0». 

 Dwarf Crimson with Eye. . . .$.40 $1.75 



FirebaU 40 1.75 



Pink j_..j 40 1.75 



" Snowball j 40 1.75 



Mixed 40 1.25 



PYRETHRUM 



Aoreum 10 .25 



THUNBERGIA 



White with Dark Bye 15 .60 



Buff with Dark Bye IG .60 



Orange with Dark E>e IS .60 



Mixed 15 .50 



ASPARAGUS 

 Plomoflna Nanus (Greenhoase Grown) 

 100 seeds. 50c.; $3.76 per 1000 seeds; 

 5000 seeds, $18.00; $34.00 per 10,000 

 seeds. 



It's very handy to order your Flow«r 

 order sheet. 



HENRY F. MICHELL COMPANY 



518 Market Street Philadelphia, Pa. 



Frederick Roemer, Quedlinburg, 

 Germany. — Wholesale Catalogue of 

 Choice German Flower Seeds. 



W. W. Barnard Co., Chicago, 111.— 

 Preliminary List of Fresh Flower 

 Seeds for Early Sowing. Wholesale 

 florists' specialties and novelties. 



flower and vegetable seeds, nursery 

 stock, roots, etc.; vegetable section on 

 pale green paper, flower section on 

 yellow. Covers adorned with pansies, 

 asters and vegetable specialties in 

 natural colors. 



D. Landreth Seed Co., Bristol, Pa.— 

 Seed Catalogue for 1913; 129th Annual 

 Edition. Comprehensive, especially In 

 the vegetable department. 112 pages. 



Oscar H. Will & Co., Bismarck, N. 

 D. — 30th Annual Seed Catalogue. Veg- 

 etable and flower seeds, small fruits, 

 etc. Cover prettily decorated in col- 

 ors. 



Chris Reuter, New Orleans, La. — An- 

 nual Illustrated Catalogue of "Peerless 

 Vegetable Seeds" for 1913. This is an 

 exclusively vegetable and grass seed 

 catalogue. Mr. Reuter claims that 

 more than 75 per cent of the New Or- 

 leans market gardeners grow their 

 crops from his seed. The excellent 

 lists of varieties as given would seem 

 to justify his claim. 



Watklns & Simpson, Ltd., London, 

 Eng. — Foreign and Colonial Wholesale 

 Catalogue of Garden and Flower Seeds, 

 118 pages, beautifully illustrated, 

 heavy cover, extensive novelty list. 



L. Daehnfeldt, Odense, Denmark.— 

 American Catalogue, Wholesale Only. 

 Vegetables and flower seeds but largely 

 devoted to root crops, cabbage and cau- 

 liflower. Excellent typographical work. 



Conard & Jones Co., West Grove, Pa. 

 —New Floral Guide for 1913. There 

 is a fine illustration in natural colors 

 of the beautiful rose Jonkheer J. L. 

 Mock on the front cover. In addition 

 to the rather complete general list of 

 seeds, bulbs, shrubs, garden perennials 

 and house plants this firm are devoting 

 more and more attention to roses and 

 cannas, both of which are given much 

 space and many illustrations in this 

 new catalogue. 



Elmer D. Smith & Co. Adrian, Mich. 

 — Chrysanthemums for 1913. The usual 

 interesting annual price list of novel- 

 ties and standard varieties issued by 

 this well-known house. Well gotten 

 up and illustrated. 



Scranton Florist Supply Company, 

 Scranton, Pa. — Wholesale Florists' 

 Supply Catalogue. A large and pro- 

 fusely illustrated catalogue, giving ex- 

 tended lists of desirable florists' goods; 

 Instructive and useful. 



Wm. Elliott & Sons, New York, N. 

 Y.— General Seed Catalogue for 1913. 

 In their usual businesslike style, but 

 better than ever. Cuto well-done. 

 Novelty and specialty list very useful. 

 Covers Illustrated in natural colors, 

 showing handsome lawn flower beds. 



Henry A. Dreer, Philadelphia, Pa. — 

 Dreer's Garden Book for 1913. 75th 

 Annual Edition. A book of nearly 300 

 pages bound in pale blue with gold let- 

 tering in deep blue medalion. Pleases 

 by its dignified simplicity of design. 

 The contents well illustrate the broad 

 scope of this well-known house. If 

 it's anything appertaining to horticul- 

 ture that is sought it is sure to bo 

 found in the pages of this comprehen- 

 sive catalogue. Illustrations are nu- 

 merous and effective. Roses, phloxes, 

 cornflowers, coreopsis and selected veg- 

 etables are given full color plates. 



Waban Rose Conservatories, Natick, 

 Mass. — Illustrated folder of New Rose, 

 Mrs. Charles Russell. 



Wm. Henry Maule, Philadelphia, Pa. 

 —The Maule Seed Book for 1913. A 

 big general catalogue (176 pages) of 



I. W. [dnundton. M|r. M. W. Wllliiius, Sic'y 



California Seed Growers 

 Association, Inc. 



Growers For Wholesale Dealers 



SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA 



