88 



HOETICULTURE 



January 31, 1920 



HORTICULTURE 



EstabUshed by William J. Stewart In 1B04 



VOL. XXXI 



JANUARY 31, 1920 



No. 5 



Pri5I>ISIIED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

 78 Devonshire Street, Boston, Mass. 



EDWARD I. FARRINGTON, Editor. 



Telepbone Fort Hill 3694 



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BIntered as second-clase matter December S, 1904, at the Post Office 

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HORTICULTURE, 78 DeTonshire Street, Boston 9, Mass. 



The city of Boston is divided Into districts, and each dis- 

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 this office. 



It is apparent from the catalogues that 

 Plant prices shrubs, perennials and other stocky will 



cost considerable more this year. In 

 many instances the advance averages about one-third. 

 There seems to be a fair amount of the larger nursery 

 stock, at least in the more common lines. Little difficulty 

 will be encountered in providing customers with the shrubs 

 they demand. Perennial plants, on the other hand, are dis- 

 tinctly short, owing to labor difficulties which have inter- 

 fered with propagation. Increased costs all along the 

 line, together with short supply, are sufficient in them- 

 selves to bring about an upward movement. Moreover 

 prices before the war were lower in many instances than 

 they should have been. Nursery employees will insist 

 upon better wages in the future, and just now it is diffi- 

 cult to get help at anything like even a reasonable wage. 

 Some nurserymen have seen a large proportion of their em- 

 ployees flock to the factories or to industrial centers where 

 abnormal rates of pay are to be obtained. Doubtless there 

 will be a readjustment after a time, but in the meanwhile 

 the trade must suffer more or less. It would be impossible, 

 or at least a short-sighted policy, to raise prices too 

 sharply. It Is most important that the public be kept in 

 a friendly state of mind which will bring about liberal buy- 

 ing. It takes a long process of education to get the public 

 to a point where it will buy steadily and regularly each 

 season for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the home 

 grounds 



It looks as though England might teach this 

 Cooperative country something in the way of cooper- 

 Advertising ative advertising. The horticultural trade 

 of that country are now discussing a pro- 

 posal which goes far ahead of the National advertising 

 campaign being carried on by the florists of America. 



It calls for a united effort on the part of seedsmen, nur- 

 serymen, growers and florists to promote the cultivation of 

 flowers and the making of gardens. All this is bound to 

 result in a greater demand, not only for seeds and nursery 

 stock, but also for cut flowers and potted plants. 



In a recent issue of the Horticultural Trade Journal, 

 Robinson Bros, set forth the whole situation as follows: 



"A measure is needed to maintain and promote publilc 

 interest in gardening lest it fall to the position it occupied 

 in the life of the masses before the war and the nation's 

 need. 



"Means are required to make every family man realize 

 what a garden means to his family In happiness and health 

 and to the general improvement in home life. 



"A gardening atmosphere needs creating which will in- 

 fluence the everyday life of the average man — make him 

 feel that a garden's the thing and a garden he must have. 



"Improve the status of gardening and the Horticultural 

 Trades in the public's mind and elevate both to a position 

 of importance in the life of the nation. 



"Current general labor conditions are highly favorable 

 to the project in as much as the working day is much 

 shorter, wages higher, and the desire for a more comfort- 

 able standard of living pronounced. 



"In the elevation of the trade as a whole there is profit 

 for all individual traders. 



"Advertising alone can accomplish universal interest 

 in gardening with its result and profit to individual Traders. 

 The type of advertising required is not the "Buy So & So's 

 Seed" variety, but an appealing advocacy for gardening as 

 a briglitener of home life and a contributor to the health 

 and happiness of the artisan-cum-gardener and his family. 



"A clear understanding of the public to be appealed to, 

 the right type of appeal, and enough money to appeal big 

 enough and often enough, are essentials. But, given these 

 necessary factors and the individual personal support of all 

 the trade, the enterprise should have a permanently profit- 

 able effect upon the business of every individual horticul- 

 tural trader throughout the countrj'. 



"The cost of developing an effective scheme will be 

 between £5,000 and £10,000, an amount which should 

 not be difficult to raise from among the various 

 horticultural commercial interests of the country, which 

 include seed growers, seed wholesalers, and seed re- 

 tailers, and the manufacturers and distributors of horti- 

 cultural tools, tlie manufacturers and distributors of hor- 

 ticultural sundries such as fertilizers, etc., and the proprie- 

 tors of the amateur gardening press." 



Evidences abound on every hand to show 

 The leaven that the "Say It With Flowers" campaign 

 working is proving effective. An interesting Instance 

 is reported from a Massachusetts town. In 

 an account of a Common Council meeting a reporter wrote: 

 "They certainly said it with flowers, so many bouquets 

 were thrown." This shows that the slogan of the S. A. P. 

 is coming into every day use, and no doubt similar exam- 

 ples will be rapidly multiplied in the near future. 



Already the national phrase is getting into the public 

 prints frequently, but not always in the joke column. 



Strickland Gillilan is responsible for the following in the 

 Retail Public Ledger of Philadelphia: 



"Ouch!" yelled tho punk comedian, as he dodged a fusil- 

 lade of spoiled vegetables, "Why don't you say it with 

 flowers?'' 



Just then a harder and larger missile came over the 

 footlights, and an ice cream ad. reader yelled out, "Take 

 home a brick." 



