Alarch 15, 1913 



HORTICULTURE 



373 



CALIFORNIA NOT A HUMBUG 

 LAND. 



Under the heading "Massachusetts 

 Boosters," In a recent issue of Hor- 

 TicuLTUEE, Rev. C. S. Harrison of 

 Yorlt, Nebraska, took occasion to refer 

 to the state of which I am proud to be 

 a resident, as a humbug land. I have 

 not a word to say against the state of 

 Massachusetts nor in fact any other 

 state, and when anyone goes so far out 

 of his way as to make so sweeping a 

 statement about the great state of 

 California, it is about time to enter 

 protest. Not that California as a 

 state needs defence from anyone but 

 there might be some readers of Hob- 

 TicuLTUBE who may be inclined to 

 believe what your correspondent from 

 Nebraska has written. 



It is quite true that weather condi- 

 tions in California have been unusual- 

 ly severe during the passing winter, 

 but it may teach a wholesome lesson; 

 I verily believe it will. Admitting that 

 citrus trees have suffered severely 

 there are yet many horticultural sub- 

 jects grown here that even the good 

 old Bay State cannot surpass or, in 

 many cases, even equal. 



I fully believe that in Massachusetts 

 apple growing is conducted quite sat- 

 isfactorily. The same may truthfully 

 be said about many parts of California. 

 Lompoc, for instance, my home valley, 

 is one of these. At this season of 

 the year, and for months past, the 

 writer has been enjoying and still en- 

 joys, daily, apples that were gi-own 

 right here on Burpee's Floradale Seed 

 Farm, and, in passing, I cannot resist 

 stating that I never enjoyed the eating 

 of apples in my life before as I have 

 done, and am still doing, these "Yel- 

 low Belleflowers." This variety is 

 claimed to be a synonym of "Warren's 

 Pippin" and so, by the way, is a varie- 

 ty grown sparsely hereabouts called 

 "Artley;" but we are not on the sub- 

 ject of the nomenclature of the apple 

 or I would be inclined to declare there 

 is much confusion to be found therein. 

 Our adjoining neighbor immediately to 

 the south of Floradale said only yes- 

 terday that he was without apples for 

 home use during the months of May 

 and June only, and this without re- 

 sorting to cold storage. We have yet 

 on hand for own use, besides a few 

 Belleflowers: Newtown Pippins, Win- 

 ter Pearmains and a local apple known 

 as Ben Cap, which from present indi- 

 cations will supply us up to and 

 through the month of April quite sat- 

 isfactorily. So far we are not troubled 

 with codling moth, San Jose scale nor 

 any disease common to the apple back 

 east. (Every state is back east on the 

 Pacific Coast.) 



California is a great state, as I have 

 found during my stay here since the 

 autumn of 1909. It was also the 

 writer's privilege to live in Califor- 

 nia from May, 1874, to September, 

 1875, part of the time in San Francis- 

 co and the remainder in San Jose, 

 when I was "called" to my native land, 

 and going there with the forlorn hope, 

 as it so proved, of returning forthwith 

 to California. Circumstances, how- 

 ever, which no strenuous efforts were 

 made to control caused us to locate in 

 Philadelphia, Pa., and although I have 

 not a word to say against the good old 

 Quaker City, yet daily almost a tender 



yearning for a return to the Golden 

 State would not down! 



No. California is not a humbug 

 land. Many horticultural subjects may 

 be grown here superior to that grown 

 on any other land in this broad uni- 

 verse. What would the flower-loving 

 public do without California as the 

 producer of seeds of that most popu 

 lar of all flowering annuals— namely, 

 the Sweet Pea? Where would the 

 supply come from for the present 

 year's demand had it not been tor 

 Lompoc Valley? No. California is 

 not a humbug land. 



Take another popular subject, name- 

 ly, the Queen of Flowers. No other land 



ADVERTISING TALKS 



BY 



Ralph M. Ward 



No. I 



Advertising began with Adam and 

 Eve. They were advertised in the 

 Bible, the greatest advertising me- 

 dium ever printed. From that time 

 until today advertising has never 

 ceased and never will. The man- 

 ner of advertising changes with the 

 times but no one in any line of 

 business can succeed to any great 

 extent without the aid of advertis- 

 ing. This is especially so when sell- 

 ing to the consumer. Even monop- 

 olies advertise these days. Just 

 think of the amount of money de- 

 voted to advertising certain articles 

 — gum, for instance. The combined 

 cost for a year, of all the floral ad- 

 vertisements in the U. S. A. would 

 not pay a month's publicity bill of 

 Spearmint Gum. If the florists com' 

 bined and advertised flowers on the 

 same scale, the production would 

 not catch up with the demand in 

 ten years. The daily newspaper is 

 the medium the florists should use 

 first. Advertise in your town papers 

 every day in the year. Consider 

 the expense the same as a man's 

 salary, the only difference being 

 that the newspaper in the course of 

 time will bring you more business 

 than five men at the same salary. 

 Of course, this is provided you 

 take good care of the business 

 when it reaches you, for advertis- 

 ing must be backed up by good 

 flowers and good service. Most 

 newspapers will write good copy for 

 you if you wish them to. Your 

 business will grow In proportion to 

 the advertising you do of the right 

 kind. 



can produce finer roses for the pleas- 

 ure of the amateur or commercially 

 than have been grown here on Flora- 

 dale, and what may be grown success- 

 fully here without effort may be grown 

 elsewhere where rose growing systems 

 prevail. When florists in the cities 

 and towns back east who have a pot- 

 plant trade fully realize how much bet- 

 ter ripened the wood on roses is here, 

 the demand for outdoor California- 

 grown roses will for all time more 

 than equal the supply. Where irriga- 

 tion is under control the rose plant 

 crop can be given all the water neces- 

 sary in its early stages of growth and 

 then — the most important of all — the 



withholding of water towards the end 

 of summer when growth is finished 

 and the ripening process is in course 

 of completion. No; California is not 

 a humbug land! 

 Lompoc. Cal. Edwin Lonsdale, 



A DIFFICULT PROBLEM. 



Au extract from the Annual Report of 

 Vice-President B. J. Fancourt, of Phila- 

 delphia, to the S. A. V. Convention at 

 Chicago. 



Trade conditions in this part of the 

 country are, in general, on a very sat- 

 isfactory basis. There have been very 

 few business failures and the expan- 

 sion both in production and distribu- 

 tion has been quite extensive, espe- 

 cially in the production. What few 

 failures we have heard of were mostly 

 in the distributing end, showing that 

 this department is by far the most 

 difficult, or, in other words, that it is 

 much easier to send the goods to mar- 

 ket than to sell them to good advan- 

 tage The most difficult problem that 

 faces us today, and with the outlook 

 more serious, if not disastrous, in the 

 future, is the small increase of retail 

 flower stores. We have heard of no 

 failures among the growers; on the 

 contrary, in the neighborhood of Phila- 

 delphia alone, and not taking into ac- 

 count eastern Pennsylvania, which 

 this report of your State Vice-Presi- 

 dent is supposed to cover, there has 

 been an Increase in glass area built 

 during the last twelve months of any- 

 where from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 sq. 

 ft. Can anything be shown of an in- 

 creased number of retail stores in the 

 same territory, during the same pe- 

 riod? No. In fact, what few new 

 stores have been opened have been 

 balanced by those who have been 

 forced out of business. It would ap- 

 pear, therefore, that if the growers 

 are to continue to make money as 

 quickly as they have been doing, in 

 order to build more glass, and in order 

 to produce more flowers, it is high 

 time to begin to think seriously of the 

 retail end. What is essential is new 

 methods in the line of selling. Twenty 

 years ago flowers were grown for the 

 so-called rich, and classed as a luxury, 

 while today they are merchandise, and 

 in a measure, a necessity. Three 

 classes of stores are necessary: cheap, 

 medium and high class. With the idea 

 of serving the masses, low-priced 

 flower stores are equally as essential 

 for the distribution of flowers and 

 plants as the five and ten-cent stores 

 are to the merchants and manufac- 

 turers, and unless a marked change in 

 methods of retailing is soon forthcom- 

 ing, the slogan will be— too much 

 glass, too few retailers. 



Evanston, Ml.— Florists here com- 

 plain that the city water, which Is 

 purified with hypochloride of lime, is 

 changing yellow chrysanthemums to 

 an ashen color, white roses to pink 

 and carnations to almost every shade, 

 but the one they should be. The com- 

 missioner of public works, with whom 

 the florists took up the matter, said 

 the water had nothing to do with 

 changing the colors of the flowers. The 

 florists will make an effort to keep 

 the city from placing lime in the 

 water and claim they will have the aid 

 of the women, who some time ago 

 complained that the water was bleach- 

 ing their hair. 



