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HORTICULTURE 



June 14, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



Established by William J. Stewart In 1004 



VOL. XXIX 



JUNE 14, 1919 



NO. 24 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

 147 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. 



EDWARD I. FARRINGTON, Editor. 

 Telephone, Beach 292 



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

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



The thing is bound to come. Florists are 



Shorter going to establish hours which are approxi- 



hours mate to those in other lines of business. It 



is the tendency of the times and in line with 



human as well as business progress. Oftentimes the 



owner of a business enterprise becomes so absorbed in its 



development that time means nothing to him. He is as 



willing to work sixteen hours as eight, for all his 



thoughts are centered on the one thing. Occasionally 



such a man seems surprised to find that his employees 



fail to manifest just as keen an interest in his business 



as he himself feels. He gets a warped viewpoint and 



perhaps defeats his own ends by his failure to look at 



the matter from all angles. 



The progressive and successful florist will try to make 

 the working conditions of his help as pleasant and as 

 satisfactory as possible. He will not keep them in the 

 harness while men in other lines of business are en- 

 joying needed hours of rest or recreation, if he can avoid 

 doing so. All this is more or less trite, of course. From 

 the letters printed on another page it will be seen that 

 there is general unanimity among the men in the trade 

 who have expressed an opinion in the matter, and that 

 the wind is blowing in the direction of shorter hours and 

 Sunday closing. 



Yet the one detering factor has not been overlooked. 

 If the thing desired is to be accomplished, there must 

 be a getting together in every city. Unity of action is 

 imperative. A florist must occupy a strong position and 

 be very sure of himself to close his store when he knows 

 that his competitors will be open. Let all the members 

 of the trade in each city act together and there will be 

 much less difficulty in putting the tiling oyer. The pub- 

 lic will follow along. The amount of trade lost will 

 be small and the morale of the workers will lie increased. 



There are plenty of florists who want to see the reform 

 carried through. Isn't this the time to make a begin- 

 ning? 



There is plenty of optimism among greenhouse 

 More men, as may be judged from the fact that many 

 glass f the well-known growers in the country are 



adding to their ranges. It is true that growers 

 are not a unit in anticipating a rapid expansion of their 

 business, some of them being reluctant to add any new 

 glass. There is a general feeling of confidence, however, 

 and the greenhouse manufacturers report that orders are 

 coming in most satisfactorily. It is true that the cost 

 of building new houses is higher than ever before in the 

 history, but the increase is largely offset by the higher 

 prices which are being obtained for plants and flowers. 

 Moreover, the demand seems likely to be sustained 

 for a long time. People are buying flowers more 

 freely than ever before, and the habit is spreading 

 rapidly- among what are called the middle classes and 

 the working classes. It is this fact which giyes growers 

 an optimistic outlook. 



Whose the Fault? 



"A Roving Gardener" writing in Horticulture of 

 June 7th last has something to say on "the tardiness 

 with which the public responds to new offerings" of 

 plant material. I would like to ask what opportunity 

 "the public" has to see, to get to know and to judge the 

 merits of these new offerings ? I take it that a nursery- 

 man has three means of acquainting the public of the 

 variety and quality of his "offerings" (1) By issuing a 

 catalogue replete with accurate, terse descriptions and 

 good pictures showing their habit, their flowers or both ; 

 (2) by placing properly labelled examples of the ma- 

 terial he has for sale on exhibition where the public has 

 opportunity of seeing it; (3) by advertising his wares 

 in the horticultural and lay press. 



Catalogues are issued a plenty but very few in such 

 manner as the public can gather any exact knowledge 

 of the plants listed. Advertising, in general so well 

 understood in this country, is not properly utilized by 

 those whose business is to sell living garden material, 

 and they in turn are handicapped by the almost com- 

 plete absence of a proper horticultural press. Flower 

 shows, plant exhibitions— when there is one in this 

 country there ought to be a hundred. 



The public may be skeptical of descriptions, written 

 in the superlative mood, in catalogues and advertise- 

 ments, but plants on exhibitions are a demonstrable 

 proof of their worth or otherwise. If the three means 

 at the nurserymen's command were coordinated and de- 

 veloped as they ought to be, the public would have the 

 opportunity of knowing what material is available for 

 garden embellishment. If nurserymen with proper 

 stocks of first-class plants, new or old, and by catalogue, 

 flower show and advertising bring them to the proper 

 knowledge of the public, we shall in future hear little 

 about the tardy appreciation of beautiful plants. Does 

 not "A Roving Gardener's" own story of two roses in 

 the same issue of Horticulture affirm this? 



E. H. WILSON. 



