December 15, 1917 



HOETIC ULTURE 



019 



COAL SUPPLY CONFERENCE AT WASHINGTON 



The exigeii,cies of the florists in the 

 direction of coal supply were brought 

 to the notice of the Coal Administra- 

 tor, Dr. H. A. Garfield, through a hear- 

 ing before Mr. Noyes and Mr. Snead, 

 his executives in Washington, on Tues- 

 day, Dec. 4th, arranged by Wm. F. 

 Gude, Washington representative of 

 the S. A. F. & O. H., and attended by 

 a delegation of members of the Society 

 embracing the following: Chas. H. 

 Totty, president-elect; John Young, 

 secretary; William F. Gude, Washing- 

 ton representative; Robert Simpson, 

 Wm. H. Elliott, F. R. Williams, A. 

 Farenwald, F. R. Pierson, Thomas 

 Roland, H. P. Knoble, F. C. W. Brown, 

 Adolph Gude, C. J. Graham, Harry 

 Breitmeyer, August F. Poehlmann, 

 Richard Vincent, Jr., Alfred C. Hottes, 

 W. J. Palmer, W. H. Siebrecht, Jr., 

 Anders Rasmussen, E. Allan Peirce, 

 Phillip Breitmeyer. 



The delegation, which was sum- 

 moned by Secretary Young, met at 

 Mr. Gude's store In Washington, early 

 in the morning, and entered into a 

 session at 10 a. m., in the rooms of 

 the Washington Bank Clerks' Associa- 

 tion, over the Messrs. Gude's store, 

 whereat the situation was defined and 

 a course of action at the hearing de- 

 termined upon. At this session it was 

 decided that F. R. Pierson should be 

 spokesman, and the brief prepared at 

 the meeting was entrusted to him as 

 its exponent. 



Arriving at the Departmental office, 

 the delegation was introduced to Mr. 

 Snead, who very soon showed the dele- 

 gation that he was familiar with the 

 situation the delegation was to ex- 

 plain. 



Mr. Pierson made an eloquent plea 

 for the protection of florist interests, 

 as set forth in the following brief: 



Honorable H. A. Garfield, 



Fuel Administrator, U. S. A., 

 Wiisliington, D. C. 

 Dear Sir : 



We being a committee appointed by and 

 representing the undersigned organizations 

 embracing the whole United States, beg to 

 submit the following facts for your consid- 

 eration : 



Florists are In a different position from 

 any other manufacturer because, while any 

 other factory might be shut down for an 

 indefinite period without entailing any se- 

 rious loss, if a greeuhouse should be shut 

 down during the winter, the buildings 

 would be practically wrecked and their en- 

 tire value destroyed by the action of snow 

 and Ice, as the roofs of greenhouses arc 

 not heavy enough to stand the weight of 

 winter snows unless the buildings are kept 

 continually heated. 



A temporary shut-down of our green- 

 houses would cause not only the loss of 

 the buildings themselves but the contents 

 as well. It would be so great that it would 

 lose to posterity the results of many years 

 of labor and scientific Inveetigatlon as the 



perfected results of these efforts would be 

 destroyed beyond repair. 



We would, therefore, at a single stroke 

 wipe out the efforts of .vears of research 

 and plants that have taken years to pro- 

 duce. In view of the destruction of this 

 class of plants in Europe leaving in the 

 greenhouses of America practically all ex- 

 istaut stocks, we believe it our duty to 

 posterity to save them. Tender plants of 

 this character cannot be stored in ware- 

 houses like other commodities 



There is an important phase of our busi- 

 ness that deserves your careful consider- 

 ation. We refer to the fact that a large 

 proportion of the men engaged In the work 

 of raising flowers are also engaged In pro- 

 ducing plants that are necessary for food. 

 There are florists In all towns of any con- 

 siderable size in the United States who are 

 engaged in growing vegetable plants such 

 as early cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, 

 celery, pepper, lettuce, egg-plants, etc., 

 which can only be started under glass in 

 order to get full returns from them. Almost 

 every community depends on its local flor- 

 ists for plants of this character for early 

 outside planting enabling them to produce 

 an extra crop, owing to an early start, thus 

 adding to the food supply. Canning estab- 

 lishments also depend on greenhouses for 

 tomato plants, which are grown by the mil- 

 lion, aud these have to be started under 

 glass months in advance. The florist busi- 

 ness, horticulture and gardening are so 

 closely interwoven that it would be a mis- 

 take to embarrass the business of this 

 character by lack of fuel. It has been the 

 policy of the Government to increase food 

 production as much as possible not only 

 by raising farm crops but garden crops 

 also, and by interesting as far as possible 

 everyone that could obtain ground to culti- 

 vate crops and thereby lucrease food pro- 

 duction, our industry making the maximum 

 use of limited ground possible and any 

 curtailment of greenhouse activities would 

 defeat this very object, as greenhouses are 

 a necessary adjunct to successful vegetable 

 growing. There is no other business that 

 would suffer so complete a loss as would 

 the florists' business during a temporary 

 shut-dowu. If a greenhouse should be 

 closed for even a day In midwinter, the 

 work of an entire lifetime would be lost. 



May we suggest that the National Fuel 

 Administrator authorize and advise the lo- 

 cal State fuel administrators to investigate 

 the urgent needs of all greenhouse estab- 

 lishments for coal under bis jurisdiction 

 and so plan to assist him in the saving of 

 bis crops. 



Respectfully submitted. 



which was signed by twenty-two repre- 

 sentatives of associations nationally 

 interested in the proceedings. 



Mr. Snead admitted the seriousness 

 of the situation, but outlined the posi- 

 tion of the Bureau of Coal Adminis- 

 trators as to the distribution of coal, 

 and assured the delegation that the 

 requirements of their industry had the 

 grave consideration of the Board. 



As the Department viewed the ques- 

 tion, it was evident that It was ex- 

 pected of the florists that they should 

 voluntarily aid in coal consumption 

 economies, and demonstrate to the 

 local administrators that they were 

 keeping their requirements at the 

 minimum; such being determined by 

 the amount of glass which could be 

 conserved for heating from one direct 

 point. The meaning was, obTiously, 

 that there was an opportunity for 

 florists to close down all sections re- 

 quiring auxilliary heating, and to 



bring the stock in such sections to 

 those which in the emergency could at 

 least prevent the losses anticipated by 

 lack of fuel. 



This was the view both of Mr. 

 Snead and Mr. Noyes, the latter 

 directly representing Mr. Garfield. ' 



There was no representation on the 

 part of the Government officials that 

 there was any intention on the part of 

 the Government to prevent an ade- 

 quate supply of coal to florists, but it 

 was plainly evident that florists could 

 only expect assistance in cases where 

 personal efforts, properly made, had 

 failed. In other words, it was plainly 

 intimated that it was up to a florist to 

 get a sufficient supply of coal, and if 

 he could not get it, he would have to 

 show why he could not get it, and all 

 this was a matter of complaint to his 

 local Coal Commissioner, in whose 

 hands were his conditions for de- 

 termination. 



It was denied most emphatically 

 that there was to be instituted a "non- 

 essential" class, but it was very ap- 

 parent that there was to be no minc- 

 ing of matters when it came to an 

 equitable distribution of natural sup- 

 plies. 



In order that all of the trade papers 

 should receive the results of the con- 

 ference in time for simultaneous pub- 

 lication, the following telegram was 

 prepared: 



"A committee representing twenty- 

 two florist organizations, conferred 

 with the Fuel Administration here to- 

 day. While flowers are not classed as 

 non-essentials, drastic economy is 

 recommended. The Fuel question 

 should be taken up with the local 

 coal Administrators." 



(Signed) by WM. F. GUDE, 

 Washington Representative, 

 and Secretary Young, Wallace R. 

 Pierson, C. H. Totty, were appointed 

 a committee to prepare a letter cover- 

 ing the meeting to be sent the trade 

 papers also for publication in the same 



week's issues. 



Dec. 10th, 1917. 



John Young, Sec'y. 



AN ORCHID SALE. 



HORTICUI-TURE PrBUSItlNG Co., 



Boston, Mass. 

 Gentlemen — Allow us to correct the 

 report published in the various trade 

 journals as to the selling of the R. H. 

 Patterson collection of orchids. In 

 Lenox, Mass. The entire collection, 

 seedlings and all. was purchased by 

 the Julius Roehrs Company, of Ruther- 

 ford, and with the exception of about 

 one hundred plants, were moved to our 

 Rutherford conservatories. 

 Yours very truly, 



Julius Roehbs Co. 

 Rutherford, N. J. 



