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HORTICULTURE 



November 3, 190S 



HORTICULTURE 



AN ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL 



DEVOTED TO THE 



FLORIST, PLANTSMAN, LANDSCAPE 



GARDENER AND KINDRED 



INTERESTS 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 



II HAMILTON PLACE, BOSTON, MASS. 



Tilephont. O»fotd 292 



WM. J. STEWART, Editor and Hanager 



Our foreign notes for the past few 

 Usefulness of issues have given us some idea of the 

 the early-flowering jrreat and constantly growing popu- 

 chrysanthemums larity of the early-flowering chrys- 

 anthemums with the public and the 

 florists of London. We believe that an effort to introduce 

 these classes more ])r()iiiinently into the flower markets 

 in this country would lui'ct with much success. Our 

 wholesale growers now give so much better attention to 

 the value of good stems and foliage and careful packing 

 that these early sorts should easily find a wide market 

 in the average season where an awkward gap exists 

 between the latest asters and the general chrysanthemum 

 crop. 



We note with interest the pro- 

 Need of improvement vision made in one of the for- 

 in packing methods (ijgn chrysanthemum shows for 

 a competitive exhibition of 

 methods ami skill in the packing of cut blooms for 

 market. Tlu' idea has a distinctly practical flavor and 

 might with benefit to all concerned be given an oppor- 

 . tunity at some of our own flower exhibitions. No de- 

 partment of floral work is .so carelessly and unskillfully 

 carried on, yet none is of greater importance, for it 

 matters not how well a flower may be grown, unskillful 

 handling w^ill reduce it to the lowest rank in quick time 

 and all the care given to its production has been worse 

 than wasted. 



Concern has been expressed over the 

 The spirit of decadence of the old true competitive 

 healthy rivalry ^^pirjt which soilie think they have 

 detected among growers contribut- 

 ing to the floral exhibitions. It is assumed that ex- 

 hibitors are today more interested in the winning of 

 cash prizes than in the mere honor of excelling. This 

 may be locally true in some instances, where commercial 

 growers contribute cut blooms which have a substantial 

 fixed money value in the daily market ; but we see no 

 evidence that it goes any further. In fact, cases have 

 not infre(|uently come to our notice of commercial ex- 

 hibitors whose whole ambition was tlie idea of winning 

 out regardless of the intrinsic value of the jn-ize and of 

 the expense incurred in the effort. We are always pleased 

 to see demonstrations of this spirit of healthy rivalry, 

 for its absence would mean a deplorable halt in real hor- 

 ticultural progress, no matter how successful our shows 

 might be from the standpoint of the box oflice. 



All signs point to the probability of 



Higher salaries higher wages for expert gardeners 



in prospect and growers in the immediate future. 



where merited Wiiether applied to those employed 



in a private or a commercial capacity 

 this will prove equally true for, under conditions as they 

 exist now, equal ability is demanded. The prospect is 

 one that will, we believe, be regarded with satisfaction 

 by all those who have the welfare of the profession at 

 heart. No avocation can ever rise to higher level and 

 greater dignity that does not offer some incentive in the 

 way of larger emolument and exalted jwsition to those 

 who are ambitious to excel and have the intelligence 

 and industry to strive for pre-eminence in their calling. 

 High attainments in the gardening line have, heretofore, 

 found but scanty recognition in anything more substan- 

 tial than "the bubble reputation." Conditions now con- 

 duce to something more tangible and we are glad it is so. 



Those who favor the success of pub- 

 Get in touch lif. floral exhibitions — and this 

 with the public sliould include everyone financially 



or otherwise interested in the pros- 

 perity of the flower and plant trade — should keep their 

 eye on the Chicago show, which opens on November 6, 

 particularly on that section devoted to the retail florists'^ 

 displays. Judging from the exhibition there last year 

 and the promise of this year the tough problem of 

 bringing the retailers and decorative artists into touch 

 with these important alTairs seems to have been solved 

 in a most practical manner — something that cannot but 

 liring about a tremendous advancement in the art of 

 floral decoration and in the public knowledge and ap- 

 preciation of artistic floral handiwork. It is beyond 

 question that the successful introduction of the methods 

 so effectively put in operation at CJiicago into any com- 

 inunitv large eno\igh to supjKjrt a few floral establish- 

 ments will liring solid returns to the growers and deal- 

 ers of that district, of greater permanent value than can 

 be secured through anv other means. To get the public 

 aroused is the first duty of the florist or nurseryman. 



The shipping trade in cut flowers && 

 The menace carried on by the commission dealers 

 to the flower i^ the larger business centres has 

 shipping trade been one of the most potent agencies 

 in the extending of greenhouse area 

 for wholesale specialty growing. The loss of the ship- 

 ping trade means that the product which hitherto had 

 found a distant buyer must thereafter find its market 

 at home and the consequent embarrassment of surpluses, 

 derangement of values and stimulation of the spec- 

 ulative or fakir element. In certain of the 

 older markets, the shipping trade, once a power in 

 the maintenance of high prices, has dwindled down to 

 almost nothing and, indeed, in some instances remote 

 communities which at one time were purchas<'rs are now 

 heavy sellers in the very markets uiion which they once 

 depended for their own supply. That other large mar- 

 kets now prosperous shipping centres must eventually 

 face similar conditions seems inevitable. Reports from 

 sections south and west that have been large consum.er8 

 of material from north and east indicate an awakening 

 to local possibilities that promises better for the green- 

 house builder than for the wholesale shipper, in the near 

 future. This being the case it is up to the large grower 

 and the flower slii[)per to consider well what can be done 

 to conserve their own interests and hold as long as pos- 

 sible this business which has been directly and indirectly 

 so remunerative to them and advantageous to their local 

 market. 



