514 



HORTICULTURE 



May 31, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



EM ,1,1,-1,, ,i by William J. Stewart in 1904 



VOL. XXIX 



MAY 31, 1919 



NO. 22 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

 147 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. 



EDWARD I. FARRINGTON, Editor. 

 Telephone, Beach 292 



ADVERTISING BATES: 



Per inch, 30 inches to page $1.25 



Discount on Contracts for consecutive insertions, as follows: 



One month (4 times), 5 per cent.: three months (13 times), 10 

 per cent.; six months <2U times), 20 per cent.; one year (52 times), 

 30 per cent. 



Page and half page space, not consecutive, rates on application. 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 



One Year, in advance, $1,110; To Foreign Countries, $2.00; To 

 Canada, $1.50. 



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

 at Boston, Mass., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



There was never such a Memorial Day 

 Memorial Day before. Never was the demand so 



insistent. Never did prices rule so 

 high. The florists have worked hard. They are tired, 

 but they are happy. And yet in the rush of trade, they 

 have not overlooked the significance of the day. They 

 realized the tinge of sadness it brought to many hearts 

 and the feeling of warm patriotism which it. inspired. 

 It was a day hallowed by two wars. Returning soldiers 

 by the thousands helped observe it. They appreciated 

 what it meant. They have a keen remembrance of the 

 days when death rode always close at hand and when 

 life was what a 17-year-old member of the Prairie Di- 

 vision has depicted it in these lines: 



Did you ever eat with your plate in your lap, 



With your cup on the ground at your side. 

 While cooties and bugs of species untold 



Danced fox-trots over your hide? 

 Did you ever sleep in a tent so small 



That your head and your feet played tag? 

 Then shake, old man, you're a pal of ours. 



For you've followed the same old flag. 



We have been wanting to write some sound 



A lot of editorial expression on the value of adver- 



sense tising, but while we were nibbling our pencil 



point and trying to get our ideas allowing, a 



fellow by the name of E. F. Mclntyre just went ahead 



and did the thing in rhyme, the Walt Mason kind. It 



was published in Brooklyn Life and about all we can do 



is to print it over again. So here it is: 



There was an old geezer and he had a lot of sense. He 

 started up a business on a dollar-eighty cents. The dol- 

 lar for stock, and the eighty for an ad. brought him three 

 lovely dollars a day, by dad ! 



Well he bought more goods and a little more space, 

 and he played that system with a smile on his face. The 



customers flocked to his two-by-four and soon he had to 

 hustle for a regular store. Up on the square, where the 

 people pass, he gobbled up a corner that was all plate 

 glass, lie fixed up the windows with the best that he 

 had and told them about it in a half page ad. 



Mr soon had 'em coming and he never, never quit and 

 he wouldn't cut down on his ad-, one jit. And he's 

 kept things humping in the town ever since, and every- 

 body calls him the merchant prince. 



Some say it's luck, hut that's all bunk — why. he was 

 doing business when the times were punk. 



People have to purchase' and Geezer was wise — for lie 

 knew I he way to get 'em was to advertise. 



• in. another page there is a brief account of 

 Florists' a Massachusetts florisl who was victimized 

 credits |, v ;i bad check artist. Tins SO rt of flim- 



llam game is being worked all over the 

 country, and florists seem to be among the most likely 

 victims. At least special attention is paid to them. 

 Without doubt the florists need to reform their whole 

 methods of extending credits. As it is now. anybody 

 can enter the store of a retail florist and have flowers 

 charged. Oftentimes collecting the money proves to be 

 a difficult operation, and the number of instances where 

 cash is paid on checks larger than the amount of the 

 bill is much greater than might be commonly supposed. 

 All too often these checks prove to be bad. Then the 

 florist is out some real money, besides wasting a lot of 

 time on floral pieces that cannot be delivered. This 

 sort of thing must be remedied, and it is time for more 

 concerted action in all of the large cities. It is claimed 

 that, florists have a larger proportion! of bills which 

 cannot be collected than business men of any other kind. 

 It is amazing to learn how large in the aggregate losses 

 from this source are. Some of the more progressive 

 concerns are now putting special men on the job of re- 

 vising their credits and trying to get this end of the 

 business down to some sort of a workable system. Prob- 

 ably the employment of a first-class accountant at regu- 

 lar intervals, as suggested by Mr. F. H. Palmer in the 

 article published by Horticulture last week would help 

 to clear up this matter. At any rate, flori-ts must pa\ 

 more attention to the credit end of their business unless, 

 they are fond of working for nothing. 



The Lilacs 



Apparently there is no diminution in the poplarity of 

 the lilac. It takes first place in public esteem while in 

 bloom, and the newer varieties as well as some of the 

 Chinese species are being sought for the adornment of 

 Large estates. Perhaps there is no better place in the 

 world to make a study of these newer kinds than in the 

 Arnold Arboretum, in Boston, for the collection there 

 is remarkably complete. Of course all the lilacs shown 

 are not in commerce as yet, but many of the better va- 

 rieties are being propagated and sent out by nurserymen 

 here and there. Much yet remains to be done in this 

 direction, though. 



It must be admitted, however, that the number of 

 lilacs worth growing is not a very long one. One of the 

 chief points to consider is the possibility of having a 

 very long season by choosing kinds which flower at dif- 

 ferent times. 



