644 



H ORTI CULTURE 



November 14, 1908 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS 

 AND ORNAMENTAL HOR- 

 TICULTURISTS. 



Cut Flower Rates. — Freight on Ice 

 and Empty Packages. 



The twa letters following present 

 the case o£ tbe Florists' grievance and 

 the reply. The subject is one which 

 may rightly bo taken up for considera- 

 tion by the Florists' Clubs in the cen- 

 ters of trade. 



BENJAMIN HAMMOND. 



Chairman Legislative Committee, 



S. A. F. 



Fishkillon-lludson, N. Y., 



Nov. 4. 11108. 

 Mr. J. H. Bradley, General Traffic Manager 

 American Express Co., no Broadway. 

 New York City, N. Y. 

 Deat sn mi, behalf of tbe Society of 

 American Florists, I beg to lay before you 

 certain matters which pertain to tbe flower 

 growers and sellers In the principal cities 

 of the United States. Certain grievances 

 were brought up at the last annual con- 

 veutio.i bold at Niagara Falls ana were re- 

 ferred to the legislative committee of this 



\n I Society tor action, with tbe hope 



that by laying those matters before an 

 authoritative body controlling rates, reason- 

 aid nsideration may be given these com- 

 plaints. The cities of Chicago, Boston, 

 Philadelphia, New York. Washington, Baltl- 



re, Pittsburg, Buffalo, Cincinnati, New 



Orleans, are all interested. The amount of 

 cut fli (vers sold in this country reaches iu 

 the aggregate a great sum of money and 



tin- plaint of the growers and shippers 



i- that there has i a a marked increase 



in the cost of handling goods by reason of 

 the edict which has been put in force by 

 the express companies requiring extra 

 charges on the return of empties, to which 

 powers have unwillingly submitted. 

 The claim is made that the grower is most 

 seriously bandicapped in his business by 

 the excessive charge upon the return of 

 empties. rhe growers around New York 

 plain against this additional charge, 

 which went into effect May 1M, l'.'nS. In 

 Boston the same conditions exist, and the 

 i people say that they desire to se- 

 cure a return to the old tariff and the re- 

 turn of empty boxes to regular shippers 

 free of charge. Then again, in the general 

 schedules tnere is allowance made on near- 

 ly three score articles for ice shipment. 

 The people of Philadelphia, Chicago and 

 Denver all particularly take up that point. 

 An allowance of 23 per cent, on the gross 

 weight is made in the schedule alluded to. 

 Mr. Peter Reinberg, a shipper in Chicago, 

 says— "Our cut flower shipments contain a 

 little over 20 per cent, of the weight of 

 ice." Mr. 10. II. Hunt of Chicago says 

 "In the shipnn-nt of flowers 25 per cent. 

 ice is used, but on long distance shipments. 

 of whirh go to points such as Dallas, 

 Ft Worth and Oklahoma, 40 or 50 per cent, 

 p.d." The Randall Co, of ' Chicago 

 savs — "Our average shipments contain 25 

 per cent* Ice." I'oehliuann Bros. Co., Mor- 

 tJrove, ill . says— "We use on an aver- 

 age 20 per cent, i i the gross weight; 



we would I jke to use more hut our cus- 

 i . kick a bout i"» much i< e express 

 charges." This company has 1,000,000 

 square feet of uias- for roses. This is but 

 a sample pf almost innumerable letters. 

 Mr iSdwnrd Iteid of Philadelphia, says - 

 •Tn oidor t.i lie specific iii presenting this 

 claim, will say that I made a personal re- 

 . lams Express i lo. of this 

 citr on June 26. '08. fur the discount of 25 

 per cent, weight allowance on a shipment 

 of flowers made i" the Carolina Floral Co., 

 Charleston, S. c. in which it was neces- 

 sary for us io use Ice amounting from 40 

 to 50 per cent, of the i:i-"s. weight of the 

 shipment, hot the request was ignored." 



Phere is a fording among the shippers 

 that tic action of the express companies is 

 arbitrary and the advice I gave as chair- 

 man of the Legislative Committee was to 

 bring the complaints to a bead, which is 

 practically embodied herein, and to submit 

 to the Board of Traffic managers fair- 

 ly and straightforwardly, and in my opin- 

 ion they Mould receive consideration and if 

 it is pra iticable to get the charges and al- 

 lowances in a more modified condition, it 

 would be don». 



T have a mass of papers on the matter 

 which it is not necessary to burden you 

 with. I have received the general schedule 

 from the American Express Co. and the 

 Wells. Fargo Co.; I have also had most 

 courteous consideration from tbe superin- 



tendent of the American Express Co. in 

 New York, and from a travelling repre- 

 sentative of the American EJxpress Co. As 

 this company covers more ground and ban- 

 dies '■ of this in-odini than any other 



tw mpanies c blned, it seems advisable 



t<> take the manor up through you. 1 am 

 on. losing letters from Messrs Welch Bros., 

 Boston, Mr. Edward Kohl. Philadelphia, 

 and .Messrs. l'oelilniann Bros., Morton 

 Grove, as representative communications. 

 Respectfully yours, 



HFN.IA.MIN HAMMOND, 

 Chairman Legislative Committee, S. A. K. 



ot' novelties or specialties are wel- 

 comed and communications should be 

 addressed to Leonard Barron, Secre- 

 tary, 55 Liberty street, New York. 



(Copy.) 

 American Express Company, 

 Office of General Traffic .Manager, 



G5 Broadway, New York, Nov.-C, 1908. 

 Mr. Benjamin Hammond, Legislative Com- 

 mittee, Society American Florists, 

 Fishkill-on-IIudson, N. Y. 



Dear Sir: — I beg to acknowledge the re- 

 celpt of your favor of November 4th, and I 

 will at once investigate the question of ice 

 with shipments of cut flowers. I had not 

 supposed that such shipments were being 

 made to any great extent where ice was 

 used for preservation. I am today making 

 inquiry of our agents at the principal cities 

 referred to in yo.ir letter, and will give 

 you further reply later. 



There is one point referred to in your 

 letter which I may as well say to you now 

 cannot he changed, and that is. the charge 

 on returned empties. Our classification 

 alw r ays provided that returned empties 

 must be delivered at the depot by the ship- 

 per and taken from the depot by the con- 

 signee. We know that our agents did not 

 live up to the classification in this particu- 

 lar and they had been picking up and de- 

 livering these empties for certain patrons. 

 Agents at other points did not do so for 

 .ni\ pat s ami it constituted a discrimina- 

 tion which we were obliged to over ■ 



by putting into effect a classification pro 

 riding for an additional charge w here pick- 

 up delivery service was rendered. Shippers 

 and consignees still have the option of de- 

 livering the empties at the depot and call- 

 ing at the depot for them, in which case 

 there is no addil i il charge made. 



We must not lose sight, either, of the 

 fact that tbe transportation and delivery 

 of cut Cowers during extreme cold or ex- 

 treme heat, etc., calls for extra service in 

 many cases. 



Y'ours truly, 



.1. II. BRADLEY. 

 General Traffic Manager. 



Name of Hydrangea. 



The following statement is made in 

 response to some inquiries, and to 

 settle some apparent misunderstand- 

 ings regarding the name of the hydran- 

 gea registered by The E. G. Hill Com- 

 pany, July 21st, 1908, as Hydrangea 

 arhorescens alba grandiflora: 



Professor Sargent, after considera- 

 tion, decided that the proper name for 

 ihis variety was Hydrangea arbores- 

 cens grandiflora forma nova. The reg- 

 istration was corrected to that effect, 

 and the latter is- the name accepted and 

 recognized by this society. 



W. N. RUDD, Secretary. 



November 3rd, 1908. 



THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 

 OF NEW YORK. 



The exhibition of the Horticultural 

 Society of New York which opens on 

 Tuesday, November 17 in the American 

 Museum of Natural History. 77th 

 street and Columbus avenue, marks an 

 entirely new era in horticultural mat- 

 ters in New York. Inasmuch as the 

 exhibition is open free to the public, 

 and the normal attendance of visitors 

 at the Museum is considerable, the pub- 

 lic interest is guaranteed, but further 

 than that, there will be simultaneously, 

 the gigantic tuberculosis exhibit which 

 has just arrived from Washington, and 

 of itself, will attract thousands of vis- 

 itors daily. Probably there has never 

 before been so great an opportunity 

 for the trade to secure first class pub- 

 licity with such little effort. Exhibits 



FITTSBURG FLORISTS' AND GAR- 

 DENERS' CLUB. 



About forty of the members met at 

 Schenley Park greenhouses on Monday, 

 Nov. 2nd. A visiting day amongst 

 the chrysanthemums in the neighbor- 

 hood was the object for which the 

 meeting was called. The day, however, 

 was too short, and many of the places 

 on the list had to be left out. Ten 

 o'clock in the morning seems to be a 

 little early for most of the Pittsburg 

 florists, many of the tardy ones arriv- 

 ing after a move of inspection had 

 been made. Supt. Burke and Mr. J. W. 

 Jones conducted the party through the 

 Philips' conservatories, in which were 

 found many things of interest, chief of 

 which were the chrysanthemums and 

 begonias Gloire de Lorraine, some of 

 the baskets seen being superb. The 

 party was then taken over by Mr. 

 Randolph of Randolph & McClements, 

 and transported by special cars to their 

 store. After an inspection of the show 

 houses, store rooms and other places of 

 interest in the large, well equipped 

 retail establishment, the party was 

 conducted to the Dorsett Hotel, where 

 an elaborate luncheon was provided by 

 Randolph & McClements. After a few 

 felicitous speeches by President Burki, 

 E. Reineman and J. W. Jones, which 

 were ably replied to by Mr. Randolph, 

 a move was made to the extensive 

 growing establishment of the firm on 

 Stanton avenue. The crotons here are 

 a feature and are worthy of special 

 mention; thousands, of plants of vari- 

 ous sizes fill several sections. Mr. 

 Randolph is justly proud of them, and 

 much time was spent in this depart- 

 ment. The fern sections were next 

 visited, where ferns of all varieties 

 and sizes are grown in quantity and 

 next many sections devoted to palms, 

 pandanuses, cycads, poinsettias and 

 many other things too numerous to 

 mention. There was also a big array 

 of chrysanthemums. The party then 

 moved to the conservatories of A. R. 

 Peacock, calling on the way at the 

 residence of Mr. Reineman. Mr. Jen- 

 kinson conducted the party through the 

 Peacoc'T greenhouses. 



Everyone was enthusiastic over the 

 outing and expressed a wish that more 

 visiting days of the same kind be ar- 

 ranged for. Such outings are produc- 

 tive of much good, bringing the whole- 

 sale and ietail men into closer touch 

 with the growers. The private garden- 

 er is benefitted by an occasional side- 

 light on the commercial phase of his 

 profession, while the commercial man 

 gets some idea of the scope covered 

 by the work of the private gardener. 

 The horizon of each is broadened and 

 good fellowship promoted as other 

 phases of the business than their own 

 become better understood. 



JAS. HUTCHINSON. 



The regular meeting of this club, 

 Tuesdav, Nov. 3, was unusually well 

 tit tended, it being Chrysanthemum 

 Night, which always brings a large 

 crowd. In the absence of the president 

 and vice-president, Jno. W. Jones took 

 the chair. 



The private gardeners had a com- 

 petitive exhibit of chrysanthemums as 



