350 



HORTICULTURE 



October 25, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



Kstublislied by William J. Stewart In 1604 



VOL. XXX 



OCTOBER 25, 1919 



NO. 17 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY III 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

 78 Devonshire Street, Boston, Mass. 



EDWARD I. FARRINGTON, Editor. 

 Telephone Fort Hill 3694 



ADVERTISING BASKS: 



Far Inch, 30 inches to page tlJW 



Discount on Contracts for consecutive Insertions, as follows: 



One month (4 times), 5 per cent.; three months (18 times), 10 

 par osnt.; six months (26 times), 20 per rent.; ana rear (52 Umes), 

 SO per cent. 



1'age and half page space, not oonseouttve, rates on application. 



Entered as second-class matter December 8, 1904, at the Post Office 

 at Boston, Mass., under the Act of Congreaa »f March 3, 1879. 



The John Wanamaker editorials which 

 Editorial appear daily the year 'round with his 

 advertising advertising are not only good advertis- 

 ing but good literature as well. The one 

 reproduced herewith (reduced one-half from the origi- 

 nal) is a philosophical gem and a poem in prose. Com- 

 ing from the young heart of a man in his eighties full 

 of years, honors and wealth — and still on his job every 

 day, lively as a bee among the clover blossoms — it is 

 worthy of preservation in the scrap books of all who 

 love the fragrance of sweet thoughts and the wisdom of 

 the sages. 



Here is the editorial in question : 



A ROOM WHICH FLOWERS HAVE 

 MADE SWEET 

 is sweet long after the flowers are gone. 



The sky glows long after the sun disappears. 



There are people who visit us that make us feel 

 happier and richer and leave us lonelier and poorer when 

 they go away. 



Few of us understand each other. Little some people 

 know how dependent we are on something outside of 

 ourselves. Often a single word or look would have 

 changed an entire day. 



So many of us stand before each other only as closed 

 books — contents unknown. 



All the summer long we knew when we came near the 

 sweetness of the odorous honeysuckle along the back 

 road or the scent of the magnolia and the smell of the 

 lemon trefolia bushes. 



Even an old-fashioned shrub bush gives out of its 

 sweet self to all comers who pass by it. 



We aim to make our homes and our Store and our 

 ways of doing business a pleasure to people. 



(Signed) John Wanamaker. 



Oct, 16, 1919. 



We wore very much impressed with the very 

 Profit frank statements made at the Buffalo con- 

 sharing \ wit ion by Mr. Herman F. Khoble, of 

 Knoble Bros., Cleveland, Ohio, regarding 

 the profit-sharing plan which they have inaugurated with 

 their employees. Those of the older employees and 

 those in charge of departments are paid ten per cent, of 

 the net profits, the fiscal year starting July 1st, this dale 

 being selected as the best for the working out of such 



a system. This is a move in the right direction, and 

 shows the fiorisl industry to be keeping up with the 

 trend of the tunc-. The labor troubles which one and 

 all are called upon to fight, can besl be eombatted .by 

 good wages, reasonable hours and fair treatment in every 

 way. 



The question of help in the greenhouse is 



Help and i,,. r tg more acute. Some people seemed 



wages | n 1 1 1 1 1 ■ K a while back thai the return of the 

 service men would solve the problem. This 

 has not proved the fact. Man] service men have gone 

 back to their old jobs, it is true, but no! in the old spirit. 

 In some cases their wages have been doubled, but they 

 also demand shorter hours and little or no Sunday 

 work. How far they have a right to go in their de- 

 mands, who can say? The fact remains that it is im- 

 possible to get as much work done with the same money 

 as formerly, although the cost is much greater. 



Where is new labor to come from? That it is not 

 coming from England or Scotland or Holland is rea- 

 sonably certain. Can it be found in the agricultural 

 colleges? Not to any great extent. The college men 

 specializing in floriculture are few. None of the ex- 

 service men who have taken advantage of the courses 

 offered at Amherst, Mass., have elected this branch. Of 

 the regular students who take up green houses work, 

 but few stick to it. All of them say that the wages are 

 too low. 



On the other hand, many commercial growers do not 

 like to employ college graduates, saying that these young 

 men place too high a value on their services. So there 

 you are. The business needs hundreds of young men 

 from the shops and the factories who are willing to learn 

 the trade from the ground up and learn it in a commer- 

 cial way. But the financial inducements are too small. 

 Anyway you look at it, the wages of green houses men 

 must be made attractive if the work is to be done, and 

 flowers must sell for enough to justify these wages. As 

 President Cleveland said, we have to deal with a con- 

 dition and not a theory. 



We had expected to find the editorial 

 Bill boards desk littered with replies to Mr. J. 

 Horace McFarland's letter about bill 

 board advertising when we sat down in front of it on 

 Monday morning. The letters were not there. Perhaps 

 the contents of Mr. McFarland's epistle had not been 

 fully digested. We want it thoroughly understood that 

 Horticulture is not taking sides on this issue. The 

 paper is an open forum. Any proper communication 

 which is submitted to it will be published. Is there any 

 better way to get at the truth of any matter than through 

 frank and free discussion. 



There can be no quesion of the fact that this matter 

 of advertising by street signs has taken a decided hold 

 upon florists in many parts of the country. Evidence 

 that this is so is to be found in the placing of fifty orders 

 at the Buffalo convention. Money talks and florists are 

 spending money for projects in which they do not believe. 

 Mr. McFarland has presented a long list of arguments 

 in opposition to bill board advertising. His position is 

 well known and he has been perfectly consistent. Xow 

 for the benefit of the trade in general and for all mem- 

 bers of the trade in particular who have been impn — r3 

 with the possibilities of this form of advertising, let the 

 other side be given. There is no better way to get this 

 question fairly before the florists of the country than by 

 the printed word. The columns of Horticultire are 

 open. We ask your co-operation, gentlemen, for the 

 good of the trade. 



