196 



HORTICULTURE 



February lu, 1917 



M 



H 



QuESirioN 



The Burning Question Regarding 

 The Present Building Situation Is 



had best buy your green 

 wait for a drop in steel 



■117HETHBR you 

 •• house now or 

 prices. 



Let's get right down to the facts of the mat- 

 ter. 



Steel prices are higher now than they have 

 ever been before. They have been climbing 

 steadily. They haven't stopped climbing; and 

 from all indications they're not going to stop 

 climbing. • 



Briefly — the longer you wait, the higher the 

 price you'll probably have to pay for your 

 greenhouse. Besides, losing all the business 

 at sky high war-time prices that you might 

 have gotten had you had your greenhouse 

 while you were waiting for prices to go down. 



The possibility of peace being declared is 

 unfortunately a remote one at best. Con- 

 servative New York bankers whose fingers 

 must needs be continually on the pulse of 

 world events, are almost unanimous in their 

 opinion that while several peace parleys may be 

 forthcoming during the next year, the war will 

 still drag on. 



It is a significant fact that when peace was 

 first broached by the Central Powers, steel 

 slumped only the expected number of points, 

 incidental to Wall Street flurries. Which loss 

 was followed by a steady climb, back to normal. 



Far in the future as the end of the war 

 really seems, if it should end tomorrow, it 

 would still have but little effect on steel prices. 



Most of the big steel concerns have orders 

 for their output for many months to come. 

 The entire output of the Bethlehem Steel Co. 

 during the year 1917 is already contracted for. 



Other steel mills have orders placed by foreign 

 powers, for two and three years ahead on the 

 non-cancelable, but transformable basis. That 

 is, if the war should end, the balance of the 

 order not already filled in the form of muni- 

 tions, shall be filled in the form of other steel 

 products to be specified for use during the Re- 

 construction Period that must necessarily fol- 

 low the war. 



In view of which, is it really good business 

 to wait for a fall in steel prices that may be a 

 long time coming? Especially to delay in build- 

 ing your proposed greenhouse, at this time of 

 all times, when everybody else is going after 

 record-breaking, war-time business with a ven- 

 geance — and getting it 



Many florists are protecting themselves 

 against a further jump in steel prices by order- 

 ing their greenhouses now. Beside being able 

 to get them for a price probably lower than 

 it will be a few months from now; there's 

 the added advantage of having all materials 

 right on the ground so that just as soon as the 

 ground is in condition, the building can start, 

 and the house be ready for roses and other 

 early plants well before the first of June. 



It is often even possible to build in mid- 

 winter during a protracted spell of mild 

 weather. For instance, last Winter we built 

 four, 61' by 500' houses for L. B. Coddington of 

 Murray Hill, New Jersey. 



Let us talk over the advantages of this early 

 ordering, more fully with you. 



We go anywhere for business. Or to talk 

 business. 



HitcKitv 



mpatiy^ 



NEW YORK 



BOSTON 



PHILADELPHIA 



^170 Broadway 49 Federal Street 40 S. 15th Street 



General Offices and Factory, Elizabeth, N. J. 



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