253 



HOKTICULTDRE 



March IC, 1918 



Kreut profusion iiiiil the Cypript'dliimH 

 wi»r(> rpiilly wonilorfiil. tlu> liesl probii- 

 Mv Im'Iiii; tlie new niul ilisllnot Cyprl- 

 I', li im Hhcliiis. Oiiclciluins and Cyin- 

 hi.lii;iiis iiuulf nil (?X(|ulsltlve bnck- 

 >;ri)un(l and the profiisoly flowered 

 C"oolii>,Tnen made up a group, the 

 ecjual of whirh Is niroly seen. 



As no cnHh prizes were to be award- 

 ed and the entire proceeds were to be 

 Klven to the Red Cross, competition 

 on the schedule classes was very llRht, 

 most of the exhibitors beinfi content 

 to del their best regardless of the com- 

 petitive Idea. On the 200 sq. ft. plant 

 group class, Ist prize was awarded to 

 Mrs. ('. G. Weld, gard. W. C. Rust; 2nd 

 to K. S. Webster, gard. Peter Arnott. 

 Hoth arrangements were su|)erb. as 

 was also that of Weld Farm, gardener 

 Duncan rinlayson. Miss C. Warren 

 figured strong In the azalea, cytlssus 

 ami hard-wooded greenhouse plant 

 classes, and William Whitman on the 

 bulbous classes as usual. Miss Mar- 

 garet A. Rand was a successful com- 

 petitor in the amateur classes. H. T. 

 Haywood, of Franklin. Mass., an ex- 

 hibitor for the first time, made a fine 

 record in the hyacinth and hydrangea 

 classes. 



Up to time of going to press, special 

 prizes had been awarded in the plant 

 section as follows: Gold medals to A, 

 C. Burrage. Beverly Farms, for or- 

 chids; E. B. Dane, Brookline, gard. 

 Donald McKenzie, for orchids. Silver 

 medals to C. S. Sargent, gard. Charles 

 Sander, for display of Clivia niiniata; 

 Lester Leiand, gard. E. H. Wetterlow, 

 Manchester, for cyclamen. Certificate 

 of merit to F. W. Fletcher for seedling 

 freesias. Cultural certificates to Fred'k 

 Ayer-, gard. George Page, for Erica 

 melanthera: John Barr for mignonette 

 in pots; Mrs. Bayard Thayer, gard. 

 William Anderson, for Mahernia odo- 

 rata: William Whitman, gard. M. Sul- 

 livan, for spring flowering plants 

 Honorable mention to R. & J. Farquhar 

 & Co.. for hybrid azalea (A. Kaempferi 

 X A. ledifolia) ; Mt. Desert Nurseries 

 for amaryllis hybrids. Vote of thanks 

 to Hemenway Estate. Hcadville. for 

 plant group; T. E. Proctor. Topsfield, 

 for Adiantum Farleyense Gloriosa; 

 Faulkner Farms, gard. W. X. Craig, 

 for flowering plants and Laelia super- 

 biens; W. W. Edgar Company, Waver- 

 le.v, for plant group. Otlier awards 

 not yet made or inadvertently omitted 

 in this somewhat hasty report will be 

 made note of in our next week's issue. 



The Boston retail florists came out 

 in a most enterprising manner and 

 creditable spirit with baskets, vases, 

 and other tasteful, quaint and original 

 arrangements of flowers and plants 

 for various requirements, and they 

 attracted much attention and interest 

 on the part of the visiting public. 

 Among the contributors were Penn 

 the Florist. Boston Cut P^lower Com- 

 pany (silver medal). H. R. Comley 

 (silver medal). Caplan the Florist 

 (silver medal), .Julius Zinn, .John J. 

 O'Brien and Houghton-Gorney Co., the 

 latter having a rustic booth. 



In the cut flower department there 

 were some beautiful displays of car- 

 nations, notably that by S. .T. Goddard. 

 which was arranged with splendid 

 effect. Awards were made as fol- 

 lows: Silver medal to S. ,J. Goddard 

 for display; 1st prize to .John Barr in 

 many classes, several to W. .1. Clem- 



son: hiinorabit' mention to I'eter KIkIi- 

 er for carnation Red Cross; vote of 

 thanks to William Sim and M. A. Put- 

 ten. The finest oxhiblls of cninelliaH 

 we have over seen w< re made by Mrs. 

 Hayard Thayer and W. It. Coe (silver 

 medal). 



"IN ORDER TO STIMULATE OUR 

 PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN." 



I um somewhat reinindi'd of the 

 train that parted in the middle, and 

 the communication-cord snapped also, 

 the end of it striking an old lady on 

 the bonnet. "What Is the matter?" 

 she exclaimed. "Oh, the train has 

 broken in two," replied a gentleman 

 who sat in the next seat. "I should 

 say so," responded the old lady, look- 

 ing at the broken cord. "Did they 

 suppose a thin piece of string like that 

 would hold the train together?" 



.lust so with our Campaign — unless 

 we get co-operation in every sense, 

 that is — more funds and more florists 

 to tie up to our Magazine Advertising 

 Campaign, in order to get united 

 strength for the ultimate result, and 

 the use ot more flowers, we will be 

 likened to the communicating-cord, — 

 too thin to get results. Unless we get 

 our $.50,000 together, and also take ad- 

 vantage and use our local papers, 

 our money spent in magazines, etc.. 

 is 90 per cent, waste. Make it profit- 

 able by getting on the band-wagon, 

 and get 100 per cent, results. 



Gordon Selfridge. who runs the larg- 

 est department store in London, re- 

 fused to lose his head when the war 

 broke out. refused to cut salaries, re- 

 fused to believe the world had come 

 to an end, paid the English Govern- 

 ment $200,000 as an excess profit tax. 

 When the war broke out. Mr. Selfridge 

 told George T. Bye, of the "Nation's 

 Business." it was the general opinion 

 that the end had come for business. 

 Many merchants reduced staffs and 

 cut wages. "The second or third day 

 of tlie war. 1 was waited upon by a 

 conunittce of our buyers, who in- 

 formed me that they were sure of 

 heavy losses, and that they wished to 

 see it through with me on a half-sal- 

 ary basis. 



"But I wasn't sure business was go- 

 ing to be bad and with thanks for their 

 loyalty and good spirit, I told everyone 

 in the house that Selfridge's would 

 make no changes for the present. To 

 that stand we owe something ot our 

 present prosperity. 



"By keeping on our brightest face, 

 spending more money for advertising, 

 and serving out patrons with greater 

 attention, we have increased our busi- 

 ness to a volume of over $1.5,000,000, 

 a gain of over $2,500,000 in one year, 

 and that during a period of war." 



Ot course, Mr. Selfridge took advan- 

 tage of every twist in the war situa 

 tion. He advertised that every "per- 

 son in his store, during a German aero- 

 plane attack was insured free, without 

 preliminary registration, to the amount 

 of $5,000 for death resulting directly 

 from the raid. The result was to make 

 every woman turn to his store as a 

 safe place to shop and lunch, and to 



direct public attention to its Holld 

 concTele construction. Ho hag con- 

 sistently sold "War Broad" a cent or 

 two lower than anyone else In I>ondoii, 

 — another great trade attraction. 



Till' luxuries of the rich early censed 

 Id b<- a factor In his tra<le as social 

 life diminishi'd; but the luxuries ot 

 the poor, like inexpensive i>lanos, jew- 

 ilry, etc., have rapidly grown more 

 important as the wages of the work- 

 ers have risen undiT the gri'uter de- 

 mand, so, it behooves us to take ad- 

 vantage In our business, of like condi- 

 tions, to grow and sell flowers as are 

 in iKipular demand, and at prices to 

 meet the demands. Summed up In a 

 nutshell, according to the above, take 

 advantage of present conditions, ad- 

 vertise more and carry flowers that 

 will make for popular favor, and our 

 business will forge ahead. 



This reminds me of an old story I've 

 told before, entitled, "When It Would 

 Not Pay to Advertise;" An old negro 

 approached a white man in a southern 

 town, and asked, "Marse Tom, you 

 ain't seed anything of that old mule ot 

 mine. Is you?" 



"Why no, Henry, I haven't seen that 

 mule. Have you lost it?" 



"Well, ah don't know ef I lost him 

 or not, but he is sure nuff gone." 



"Henry, I spect the best way to find 

 tliat mule would he to put In a "want 

 ad" in the paper for him." 



"Shucks, dat wouldn't do no good, 

 Marse Tom.'' 



"Why not?" 



"You know, dat mule can't read." 



The active buying public has 

 changed. Our professional classes 

 are curtailing expenditures. Our 

 skilled mechanics and workers are 

 spending their increased wages, tor 

 many things which were previously out 

 of their reach, but now it is up to us 

 to reach them through "Printer's Ink" 

 — and otherwise. 



Chairman i ublicity Campaign. 



THE FUEL QUESTION. 



By //. //. Sufici-. JJiiUas, Tcias, in 



Southern Florist. 



When the mercury stands at zero 



And lump coal is ten above, 

 Tl-'* :iv"r:i!;" !t'>ri«»'s nop'cpthnnk. 



To protect the flowers we love. 

 We are forced to ITooverlze 



Anil sulislitute Instead 

 The fuel of the forest 



To w.irm the floral bed. 



Wlien cord wood wns a cord 

 Eight feet lone, four feet high, 



Anfl fully four feet broad. 



The price wna In reach of all. 



Three "bucks secured a cord 



Eight feet long, four feet high 

 And fully four feet broad. 



Times have changed since that good day, 



ford ivood h:is ehanire'I so'no. too. 

 Prom eight feet long eight sticks are made 



Tlie.v arc counted out to you. 

 It h.Ts no height, has lost its breadth, 



Today there is no cord 



KiL'''t fe-'t long, f-inr fi^^t high 



And fully four feet broad. 



Then if the cord is not so bro.Td 



And Its height to all Is lost, 

 These little sticks leave us betwixt 



The counting and the cost. 

 We need a well-filled pocket book, 



The poor, the rich, the lord. 

 Eight fnot long, four fi-et high 



And fully four feet broad. 



