48 



HORTICULTURE 



January 17, 1920 



HORTICULTURE 



Established by William J. Stewart In 1904 



VOL. XXXI 



JANUARY 17, 1920 



No. 3 



PCBUSHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

 78 Devonshire Street, Boston, Mass. 



EDWARD I. FARRINGTON, Editor. 



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

 at Boston, Mass., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1897. 



It is announced that at the coming Car- 



A growers' nation Society's convention in Chicago 



organization the project of launching a special gvovr- 



ers' association will be brought up and 

 thoroughly threshed out. Ex-president Ammann of the 

 S. A. F. is thoroughly committed to the plan and has 

 informally discussed it before some of the local organ- 

 izations in various parts of the country. As stated last 

 week there seems to be a feeling across the water that 

 too many societies are being fonned, with consequent 

 danger of overlapping. It seems quite possible that 

 such a situation may eventually be reached here, but the 

 arguments in favor of this new organization seem to 

 outweigh whatever criticisms may be heard. The grow- 

 ers comprise a very large percentage of the country's 

 florists, and they have problems which are peculiarly 

 their ovm and wholly distinct from those of other 

 branches of the trade. It would seem to be for their 

 interests to have a direct opportunity to handle these 

 problems. Of course the new organization will be of 

 material help to the parent society, and no doubt will 

 help to increase the membership of tlie latter. Alto- 

 gether there seems to be every reason for wishing the 

 project well. 



Benjamin Hammond, the Slug Shot 

 Hammond's man, is famous for his terse, epigram- 

 philosophy niatic statements of fact. On the first 

 page of this season's calendar he has a 

 thought for the coming year which is well worth wide 

 circulation because it hits the economic nail on the 

 head more sharply tlian most of the more studied mes- 

 sages which come from Washington. Horticulture, 

 therefore, is glad to pass it on. It reads as follows : 



"A year of unrest is ended — tens of thousands of 

 young men have returned from the work of upholding 

 civilization, which was America's part in the fearful 

 struggle where the spirit of selfishness and barbarism 

 attempted to rule the earth. Now America has been 

 shadowed by much wanton recklessness the past few 



months, under the guise of the High Cost of Living, but 

 the High Cost of Living cannot be overcome unless pro- 

 duction is both abundant and reasonable, and that is 

 where the intelligent sense of American citizens must 

 come into action. If we are to enjoy 'A Government 

 of the People and by the People,' common sense, free 

 from wild reckless demands must prevail, otherwise the 

 glory of the Stars and Stripes wilts. 



"The future prosperity and comfort in every com- 

 munity in this great land, depends upon Fidelity, 

 Patience and Industry, and without this spirit dominat- 

 ing there can be no National greatness and little home 

 comfort, but with Faith in the Ever-living God to rule 

 us, America will be a guardian of civilization, which is 

 On Earth, Peace and Good Will to Men, and that brings 

 happy homes. But the strike spirit never will." 



Altliough the movement is going along rather 

 Easier quietly the tendency toward shorter hours 



hours and Sunday closing in the various branches of 

 the florists' industry is marked. In most of 

 the larger cities at least a few of the leading florists have 

 made a reduction in hours of labor and have established 

 the Sunday closing rule. A shorter day is now rapidly 

 coming to be a fact in tlie Boston district, and after 

 a few stores inaugurate this system, the others usually 

 have to follow in order to keep their help in a contented 

 frame of mind. A report from Cleveland shows that the 

 Sunday closing movement is making rapid strides there. 

 Some of the dealers have been closing on Sundays for a 

 long time, while others have recently adopted the plan. 

 There are still some of the florists in Cleveland, as in 

 other cities, who disapprove of Sunday closing, and 

 there are cases where their objections are well grounded. 

 This applies especially to florists who are located close to 

 cemeteries, and who depend upon cemetery business 

 largely for their profits. Such florists often seem justi- 

 fied in keeping tlieir places of business open on Sundays, 

 but there is no good reason why they should not equalize 

 the matter by allowing their employees lialf holidays or 

 part time ofl" during the week. There are usually dull 

 times when this could be done readily. After all, it is 

 only a matter of fair and just treatment, and the em- 

 ployees of a florists establishment naturally agree that 

 they should be on a par witli those in other lines of 

 trade. 



Of course it is impossible to fiLx hard and fast rules. 

 Among the wholesalers, for example, it is necessary to 

 be on the job for a much longer time than in a retail 

 store. In such an establishment orders are likely to 

 come in often by wire from distant customers, asking 

 for immediate shipments, and of course such orders must 

 be taken care of promptly. Here again the solution is 

 simply fair and equable treatment, such as all of the 

 large wholesale houses seem disposed to give. 



In the main, the good intentions of the employers 

 meet with an appreciative response from the employees. 

 In some establishments, unfortunately, there are a few 

 men who seem unwilling to buckle down to work in the 

 good old-fashioned way. Now it will be impossible to 

 jiroperly adjust economic conditions in this country 

 until employees in everv industry realize that the mat- 

 ter lies with them. TJnder-production and a general 

 tendency to slow down is largely responsible for present 

 day conditions. Even in establishments where condi- 

 tions are considered reasonably satisfactory it is neces- 

 sary at present to employ five or six people to do as 

 much work as was turned out by four previous to the 

 war. 



