»;;' 



nORTlCULTUBK 



July 21, 1917 



horticuuturf: 



TOL XXVI 



JULY 21. 1917 



NO. 3 



II lll.ISHFI) WKKKI.Y HY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 147 Stimmer Street, Boston, Mas*. 



Trirphoni', IW-twh vU- 

 WM. t. 8TKWART, Editor and Munuger 



■nt»rr(J <' umtteT^Decembor s. IWK. at the Po»t Olle* 



it lU- r the Act of Congre.B of M»rch 3. 18T9. 



CONTENTS 



~ 1 ■ Page 



COVER ILLUSTRATION— Screens for Pwonles 



NOTES ON CULTIKR OF FLORISTS' STOCK— Carna- 

 tions in Field— Cyclamens— Hardy Perennials— Stocks 

 — SyrlnginK and Spraying — Reminders — Jo7ih J. M. 

 Farrell 61 



SCREENS FOR PAEONTES — William Rollins 63 



PEONIES AT THE MINNESOTA SUMMER MEETING 

 —C. 8. Harrison 63 



PURITY OF SWEET PEA SEED— WtHiom Oray 63 



THE S. A. F. CONVENTION 64 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES— American Rose Society— 

 Holyoke and Nortliampton Florists' and Gardeners' 

 Chill — Nassau County Horticultural Society — American 

 Association of Nurserymen — St. Louis Florists' Pub- 

 licity Parade National Dahlia Exhibition — Florists' 

 Club of Philadelphia— Club and Society Notes 65 



A MOVEMENT FOR BETTER EXPRESS SERVICE— 

 MdJ- Rchlinu 67 



SEED TRADE— Reorganization of W. Atlee Burpee & 

 Co. -Notes 68 



OP INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



New Flower Stores 70 



Flowers by Telecraph 71 



NEWS ITEMS FliOM EA^ERYWHERE; 



Chicago. Albany, Rochester, Washington, Providence, 

 Boston. Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburgh, Cincin- 

 nati, St. Louis 72-73 



OBITUARY- Mrs. H O. Hannah 73 



DURING RECESS — Picnic Greek-American Florists' 

 Asso. — Illustration 73 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia. 



Pittsburgh, Rochester 75 



Washington 77 



MISCELLANEOUS: 



Holland Prospects — A Correction 63 



Bronx Park Lectures 63 



Lily Bull) Prospect in Bermuda 65 



A Visit at the Brand Nursery 66 



Iowa .\utumn Flower Show 66 



Hartford Rose Garden 66 



Iowa State College 67 



New Corporations 68 



Chas. Frost in his Pansy Field —Illustration 73 



News Notes 70-82 



Visitors' Register — Personal 77 



Business Troubles 82 



Publications Received — Patents Granted 82 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated 82 



The New York wholesale flower 



The Sunday iicople are very much elated over the 



flower problem unanimity of compliance on the part 



of the fifty wholesale dealers con- 

 cerned and the consequent complete success of the move- 

 ment after years of apritation for the closing up of busi- 

 ness on Sunday. Never since the establishment of the 

 business have the.se dealers had a Sunday all their own 

 and this fact alone has acted as a repellant influence to 

 keep many valuable young: men out of this branch oF 

 the flower trade as it has also done in the retail store 

 business, and who can blame them. Naturally there is 

 a certain amount of protest from New York retailers 



a;rainst thi.- ;uiiun by liic wholisalo dealers which de- 

 jirives tlieni nf a ready source «(f supply fur Sunday 

 onlers niid makes it necessary for ibiMU to lay in a stuck 

 till Saturday for jxibsible Sunthiy re<|uirinicnts, but not 

 all the retailers are hoard in disapproval. On the con- 

 trary many of them are ipiite willing U) acknowledge 

 the reasonableness of the wliolcsalers' course and some 

 go so far as to express the wish that a similar agree- 

 ment might be possibly entered into by the retail deal- 

 ers. Tliat, however, wotild seem almost impracticable 

 except possibly through more stringent legislative en- 

 actment than now exists against any sales of flowers on 

 Sunday, something not ver}' ca,sy to enforce. There 

 are so many small traders in liotels. railroad stations, 

 on excursion l)oats and on much frequented thorough- 

 fares who would not and really could not be expecteil to 

 co-operate in any voluntarj' agreement to abandon Sun- 

 day business that the problem would be difliciilt of 

 .solution however it might be approached. 



It is to be expected that flower 



Flower values in the wholesale markets 



market anomalies will always fluctuate more or less, 



according to conditions of imme- 

 diate supply and demand. It will l)c generally acknowl- 

 edged, we think, however, that the smaller and more 

 infrequent these fluctuations are the better it will be for 

 the business and that it would be an advantage all 

 around if steadier values could be maintained than is 

 the case in some markets. A decided break in values 

 is always a liilter dose for somebody, while excessively 

 high prices carry their own eventual penalty in that 

 they are quite likely to act as an incentive to over-pro- 

 duction later on. We have in mind the condition of 

 the longiflorum lily market in certain important eastern 

 centres during tlie past few weeks. The congestion 

 which has worked so disastrously for the growers and 

 wholesale dealers in this commodity is unquestionably 

 due to rash overplanting or faulty calculation as to 

 what the market will stand at the time the bulbs arc 

 due to blonm. An unfortunate feature of the situation 

 is the wide divergence in selling jirices as between the 

 markets in question and those where the production hjis 

 not been overdone. Just what influences are at work 

 to bring about these localizwl derangement-s might be 

 worth a little investigation by the wi.^e minds that plan 

 and direct the activities of the organizations that arc 

 presumed to look after the welfare of the flower trade. 

 It is a natural conclusion that a wider distribution of 

 the product outside of the overburdened markets would 

 tend to restore a semblance of uniformity' in values but 

 that does not seem to so work out where it has been 

 tried, the demand not increasing materially in respon.se 

 to the low prices at which the goods were offered. This 

 lily matter is not an isolated instance for there are 

 plenty of inconsistencies in the flower trade that might 

 he discussed with profit but we have brought it out a.s a 

 particularly flagrant case. A vcrv earnest and business- 

 like convention has been promised for New York next 

 month in lieu of the customarv- convention frivolities. 

 Whether his product is going to realize ten dollars or 

 only one dollar a hundred is a problem of vital concern 

 to the man who has to pay for the bulbs and grow them 

 and while the chances for any practical method of con- 

 trol are very slim yet an hour might perhaps be wisely 

 devoted to the siibject and an opportnnitv' afl'orded to 

 interested parties to say publicly some of the things 

 they have been saying in private concerning the lily 

 muddle. ^ 



