April 19, 1913 



HORTICULTURE 



591 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



CONDCCTBD BY 



cSt^^yzA-^ 



Questions by our readers In line with any of the topic* presented on this page will be cordially received and promptly answered 

 by Mr. Ruzicka. Such commanlcations shoald Invaetably be addressed to the office of HORlIi-UL.iUKifi. 



One Way Out 



There has been considerable thought and work ex- 

 pended upon a very serious question in our line of busi- 

 ness. That one subject is : How to relieve the so-called 

 glut in the market ? We know of one way that may not 

 do away with all the surplus stock but would no doubt 

 take such large quantities of cut flowers as to be of some 

 importance to the growers, retailers and commission men 

 as well. The only way this can be done, however, is for 

 all to get together at times and work hand in hand. We 

 cannot see why Mr. So-and-so should not wish to speak 

 to his neighbor just because he happens to be his com- 

 petitor. We never have any ill feelings toward any one, 

 always treating business as a game and applying the rule 

 "Let the fittest survive." But to proceed : In a little 

 country town a florist opened a retail store. Suicide ! 

 so many said. However, judging from present appear- 

 ances the store is prospering and netting good returns 

 to the owner. At the very beginning it was decided to 

 try to give as much as possible for the people's money, 

 and the rule "small profits, quick sales," was to be fol- 

 lowed as much as possible. As other lines of business 

 have sales, every now and then to help move a lot of 

 stock it was decided to have sales also. But for the fact 

 that a sale in a flower shop would be altogether out of 

 place, a neat little plan was decided on and the results 

 were far greater than ever had been expected. There 

 being a large crop of carnations at the time and the price 

 ranging less than a cent each for good seconds, the plan 

 decided on was to have a special sale of carnations for 

 one week. Instead of advertising a sale, the week during 

 which these carnations were to be sold at a reduced price 

 was advertised as "carnation week." Neat little poster? 

 were printed and tied in a roll with elite pattern red 

 ribbon. All people asked to be given one, instead of 

 being annoyed when given an ordinary poster as is the 

 general custom to hand them out to all the people. Very 

 few were left unread we are positive. That carnation 

 week was also advertised in all the local papers, not only 

 in the home paper but in papers in other towns as well. 

 Over a thousand carnations were sold during the first 

 day of the carnation week. This may look like a small 



number to florists in larger towns, but as this town had 

 only a population of three thousand, it was doing very 

 nicely. And right here is the way out. Why could not 

 all the retail florists large and small be notified if the 

 market shows any signs of being overcrowded with flow- 

 ers? Usually when the country florist sends to the city 

 for a few roses or something of the kind, he is soaked all 

 he will stand. This only hurts the trade and should be 

 abolished. There are thousands of people in the country 

 towns that would gladly spend money for flowers if they 

 could only buy flowers. But usually it is much more 

 trouble to secure a dozen roses in the country than they 

 are worth. There are many retailers who could no doubt 

 get up something similar to the carnation week and rose 

 week which has been on the program since, and was 

 equally as successful as the carnation week. Do not for 

 a minute think that no other flowers were sold during 

 this time. Many people who had never been to the store 

 came to get a dozen carnations. Little children bought 

 them for their parents and for their school teachers. 

 Automobile parties going through town stopped to get a 

 dozen carnations, as no labor was spared in distributing 

 the circulars, and all garages, hotels, etc., had some 

 somewhere. Now we are positive this could be done in 

 other towns, and would certainly unload some flowers 

 from the glutted market, besides advertising the use of 

 flowers far and wide. Needless to say, not a box of cut 

 flowers left this shop unless it bore the name of the store. 

 And every box delivered in town was tied around the 

 center with a narrow ribbon with a flower of some sort 

 in the bow. 



Houses That Are to be Carried Over 

 It largely depends on when you want to start cutting 

 in the houses again and so it is rather difficult to say 

 just when to start drying them ofl! a little bit. Houses 

 for summer-flowering should be dried off at once or as 

 soon as the crop is cut off. A little of the coarse material 

 from the top of the benches may be removed and a good 

 dressing of bonemeal applied. A little cow manure may 

 also be applied and the plants gradually allowed to grow 

 again after their rest of a week or two. Not more than 

 that, for they might get the habit and do as they did on 

 one place once — rested nearly all season as the grower 

 afterward told us. So do not prolong the rest to an ex- 

 treme, for bench space is valuable. 



BOOM YOUR BUSINESS 



hy aJverthing yow good* In the 



Horticultusre 



Publicity among the kind of readers reached 

 by this paper is THE SORT OF PUBLI- 

 CITY THAT PAYS. 



