208 



HORTICULTURIi 



August 25, 1906 



plant and flower lovers that numbers 

 among Its members many prominent 

 society leaders, and whose purpose it 

 is to increase the cultivation of plants 

 and flowers among the people and by 

 its system of dues gTiarautee to tie 

 New Orleans Horticultural Society 

 that it will incur no financial loss at 

 an>- of its future flower shows. This 

 society will no doubt be of great bene- 

 fit to us :i!id will encourage our ex- 

 hibitors to greater efforts. 



Harry Donnelly, for Texas. 



From a commercial viewpoint all the 

 evidence at hand speaks of progress. 

 Texas is beginning to realize that she 

 can grow cut flowers, and one promi- 

 nent grower of Dallas has made a start 

 in the right direction, having put up 

 this year 100,000 square feet of glass, 

 with the intention of doubling it next 

 year. These houses are up-to-date 

 houses, and no expense spared to make 

 them the best in the country; he will 

 grow all the new kinds of roses and 

 carnations along with the best stand- 

 ard sorts, also the general run of cut 

 flowers, and greens, doing a wholesale 

 business only. It is such a place as 

 the small florists of this State have 

 been needing where they can get their 

 flowers in a hurry and much fresher 

 flowers than they can get from the 

 North, where they have been getting 

 them in the past. 



All over the State reports come in 

 of new houses going up for retail use, 

 but one of the great things the florist 

 of this State has to contend with is to 

 get expert help: there is a good chance 

 for such help down here, and after get- 

 ting used to the weather and the State 

 they could get good wages. 



In cut flowers carnations have been 

 grown more than any other flower. 

 Roses under glass up to the present 

 haven't been a success, although a San 

 Antonio grower does them well, and 

 I think some of the other growers will 

 take rose culture up in the near fu- 

 ture; roses do fine out in the open 

 ground, and can be cut up to Novem- 

 ber. 



F. L. Schuiz, for Kentucky. 



In the western part of the State coal 

 is very cheap, and there has probably 

 been more building in that section than 

 any other. We have had plenty of 

 rain, but not enough to cause much 

 loss. Our annual Carnation and Rose 

 Show was again a great success. Near- 

 ly all the new varieties were on exhi- 

 bition. I hope to sometime in the near 

 future see the convention landed for 

 Louisville, "The Gateway to the 

 South." 



John BIrnle, for New Jersey. 



The part of New Jersey in which I 

 am located is so near New York City 

 that it is practically a part of it. there- 

 fore all stock, both cut flowers and 

 plants, finds its way there — the cut 

 flowers to the commission district or 

 the several markets established near 

 there, and the plants disseminated 

 from the plant market at Spring and 

 Canal streets. Everything is sold at 

 wholesale at all the places mentioned. 



The demand for cut flowers of all 

 kinds is on the increase, especially the 

 finer grades, the carnation evidently 

 considerably ahead as to popularity. 

 The chrysanthemum is still a favorite 

 in it'i season, but does not seem to 

 hurt the sale of other flowers as it 



used to do. Carnations, roses, etc.. 

 have brought remunerative prices and 

 been in good demand all through the 

 chiysanthemum season for several 

 year;?. 



The decorative plant business is also 

 O'l the increase. Several New Jersey 

 firms have gone out of the cut-flower 

 business and now grow decorative 

 plaLls exclusively. The demand for 

 bedding plants increases every year, 

 the geranium decidedly in the lead. 

 Ttr.eie is also a marked increase in the 

 deniand for window box and vase 

 pl?nt.>. The shipping trade is also 

 growing. 



The prospects for the coming season 

 are good; carnations in the field, al- 

 though small owing to the dry weath- 

 er in early summer, are healthy and 

 many growers are busy at the present 

 time getting them housed. 

 W.N.Craig, for Massachusetts (East.) 

 It gives me pleasure to herewith 

 present my report on trade conditions 

 in Eastern Massachusetts during the 

 past year which, taken all in all, has 

 been the most prosperous one our 

 florists have ever experienced. 



Prices in the cut flower markets have 

 not shown any advance, but an increas- 

 ingly large volume has been disposed 

 of not only in Boston, but in many 

 other cities in this part of the old Bay 

 State. Carnations have proved more 

 popular than roses, and have fre- 

 quently cleaned out well when many 

 roses were unsold. First-class stock 

 never fails to sell, no matter what the 

 flower may be. Single violets meet 

 with a rapidly increasing sale and net 

 much highw price than the doubles; 

 this is not surprising when their fine 

 color, length of stem and size are con- 

 sidered. Orchids are meeting with 

 more favor at the better class of re- 

 tail stores, and many more would be 

 sold were there not so many private 

 collections amongst our wealthy flower 

 lovers. Chrysanthemums have con- 

 siderably declined in popularity and do 

 not now prove a very remunerative 

 crop. The taste for big blooms which 

 originated in Boston has largely died 

 out and medium sizes or undisbudded 

 sprays are preferred by many of the 

 most critical buyers. We believe this 

 tendency towards smaller blooms will 

 gradually spread to the cities. 



A moderate amount of glass roof has 

 been built during the past year, but 

 quite a number of new firms have 

 started which goes to show that busi- 

 ness is in a healthy slate. A consider- 

 able area of glass devoted exclusively 

 to the framing of cucumber, tomatoes 

 and lettuce, has been erected. Massa- 

 chusetts is noted for these productions 

 and prices during the past season have 

 generally been satisfactory. Quite a 

 number of florists find it profitable to 

 grow catch crops of tomatoes and 

 cucumbers during the summer months. 

 There is a constant .growth in the 

 number of private estates requiring the 

 services of skilled gardeners, and a 

 good many houses have been built for 

 the culture of flowers and fruits on 

 these estates. The steady addition to 

 the number of greenhouses on private 

 estates seems to make no difference to 

 florists' trade, as we seldom hear of 

 any of them selling their productions 

 as is commonly done in some States. 



We have had during the present year 

 some notable exhibitions and conven- 

 tions at Horticultural Hall, Boston. In 



January, the Carnation Society gave 

 us a rich treat; in March, the American 

 Rose Society produced the fiaest ex- 

 hibition of the Queen of Flowers ever 

 held in America; in June, the smaller 

 but none the less excellent Peony 

 Society met with us. and provided an- 

 other good show. The re.gular exhibi- 

 tions of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society have also been of a high 

 standard. 



The Gardeners' and Florists' Club of 

 Boston continues to grow and prosper. 

 It now has— August. 1900— over '3:30 

 members, with prospects of a heavy 

 increase the coming fall. Membership 

 is pretty equally divided between com- 

 mercial growers and private gardeners. 

 Meetings are always largely attended. 

 The North Shore Horticultural Society 

 and other clubs and societies in this 

 part of the State are all in a prosper- 

 ous condition. 



The demand for good pot plants in 

 flower has been very noticeable at the 

 holidays; some of our best growers 

 are realizing the needs of our market 

 anrl are producing better stock than 

 has been brought in from other plant- 

 growing centres. Ornamental trees 

 and shrubs of the more popular sorts 

 should prove a remunerative branch 

 for some florists: the demand for these 

 shows a wonderful advance. 



Conditions for the coming season are 

 very promising, and we look for good 

 business during the season of 1906-7. 



RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN RE- 

 TAILERS' METHODS OF 

 OFFERING FLOWERS. 



A paper bv W. F. Guile of Wa.slilugton, 

 I). C, at "S. A. F. Convention at U.iyton. 

 Being requested to read a paper and 

 lead a discussion on recent improve- 

 ments in retailer's methods of offering 

 flowers for sale, personally I should 

 much preler the discussion to reading 

 a paper. However. I know no better 

 way than to give my own personal ex- 

 perience of the past twenty years in 

 the retail florist's business at the Na- 

 tioiial Capital where we think we have 

 some up-to-date flower stores. There 

 is probably 110 business or profession 

 that has seen a greater change in the 

 last decade, than the retail florists', or 

 has made greater strides. I am sure 

 that no cla.ss of men has worked 

 harder or had longer hours than 

 they. 



Right here, I want to say we too 

 often hear the cry, "things are not as 

 thoy used to be." This expression is 

 too commonly used by a great many 

 people engaged in the retail florists' 

 business. "Things are not as they 

 used to be" is not true in the sense it 

 is given, while I do not doubt it is 

 absolutely a fact in a great many 

 cases, among the men who make 

 the remark, because they have the 

 same old fogy methods and 

 manner of doing business used 

 years ago. whereas, the wide-awake 

 florist with the proper push, has gone 

 ahead and adopted new and modern 

 methods, with the inevitable results 

 that he makes more money with less 

 work and the old-timer has been left 

 with his old-fashioned ideas — while 

 the former has reason to thank the 

 powers that be that "things are not 

 as they used to be." 



SOME OLD TIME METHODS. 

 Sending flowers in old shoe and hat 

 boxes: delivering funeral designs in a 

 farm wagon; taking a man In his 



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