108 



HORTICULTURE 



February 7, 1920 



HORTICULTURE 



Established by William J. Stewart In 1D04 



VOL. XXXI 



FEBRUARY 7, 1920 



No. 6 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

 78 Devonshire Street, Boston, Mass. 



EDWARD I. FARRINGTON, Editor. 



Telephone Fort Hill 3694 



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HORTICULTURE, 78 Devonshire Street, Boston 9, Mass. 



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

 trict is numbered. If you will observe the number allotted 

 to Horticulture, it will facilitate the delivery of mail to 

 this office. 



The one thing which seems to engage the atten- 

 Plant tion of florists, both retailers and growers 



Prices throughout the country at the present time is 

 the scarcity of stock and the consequent 

 high prices. 



There is no doubt about the fact that flowers are in 

 less quantity than ever before in recent history, but it is 

 worth remembering that almost always there is an in- 

 evitable scarcity between the middle of January and the 

 middle of February. Anybody in the trade looking back 

 over the last dozen years or so will remember that there 

 has always been this period of short supply. 



It must be admitted, however, that the shortage is very 

 much greater this year than is normally the case. Just 

 why is this? It is difficult to get an agreement as to the 

 answer. The demand has been so heavy as to amaze 

 florists themselves, considering the prices it has been 

 necessary to charge for the goods. To what extent this 

 demand has been fostered and created by the advertising 

 campaign now being carried on is a question which no one 

 can answer, because in every line of business there has 

 been buying far beyond the average. At the same time, 

 it must be conceded that this advertising campaign has 

 had a remarkable effect in sustaining the business and in 

 inducing new people to start buying flowers. It is a 

 rather curious situation altogether, because the advertis- 

 ing campaign is bringing its results just at a time when 

 the demand is especially hard to meet. Thus we have sev- 

 eral complications! 



Without much doubt, the present situation will last 

 for a considerable time, yet it is not difficult to explain 

 and there is no reason to believe that there will not event- 

 ually be a satisfactory readjustment. Flowers are 

 scarce as a result of war-time conditions. Everybody 



knows that scores of houses were shut down and produc- 

 tion was very limited for a year or two. It is not yet 

 back to where it was before the war. Even when it gets 

 back to that place, however, it will not be normal as con- 

 ditions are now, because the demand is far greater than 

 it was in pre-war times. This means that what was a 

 normal condition then is not a normal condition now. 



That there is every reason to expect business to con- 

 finue at a living profit is evidenced by the fact that a 

 large number of growers are planning to increase their 

 ranges so as to make a much larger production possible. 

 If this movement is carried forward upon as large a 

 scale as it seem likely to be, production in the course of 

 two or three years will come pretty well toward meeting 

 the demand. You can see from this, therefore, that the 

 present situation is only a temporary one, but how about 

 prices? No one can predict safely as to the future. If 

 there is a general slump in business as many people be- 

 lieve there will be, wages all along the line will come 

 down and this may cause less buying, for it must be ad- 

 mitted that buyers today are largely wage earners. At 

 the same time, however, the cost of living may decrease 

 proportionately so that everybody will have about as much 

 money to spend for luxuries. As it is now, the florist is 

 certainly getting no more than his share of profits and Is, 

 not faring nearly as well as people in many other lines 

 of business. It costs him at least 100 per cent more for 

 labor than it did before the war and 200 per cent more for 

 coal: all his other expenses have gone up in a similar 

 way. If there comes a slump, the florist will be the first 

 to suffer. It is always a case of hard times when people 

 stop buying flowers freely. Wiith this handicap it woxild 

 seem as though the florist would be entitled to extra 

 large profits when business is brisk, yet that is not the 

 case. 



The best anyone can do under the circumstances is to 

 match his guess concerning the future with that of his 

 neighbor, but it is a self-evident fact that the scarcity of 

 flowers as exists now is merely a passing thing, and all 

 indications point to a rapid recovery of the business and 

 restoration to normal conditions. Then the flower famine 

 will be a thing of the past. 



With the Federal Horticultural Board 

 Discretion at Washington setting the pace, it is not 

 vs. surprising that the different state boards 



common sense should develop a sharp and sudden in- 

 terest in quarantine measures of one 

 kind and another. But what will the end be? Disaster, 

 without question, if the present state of mild hysteria con- 

 tinues. States will be putting up the bars against each 

 other all over the country, while inspectors and other 

 salaried officials will multiply until the expense of their 

 maintenance becomes a heavy burden. It would be the 

 natural thing for Ohio and Indiana to follow the lead of 

 Illinois in shutting out dahlias, gladioli and geraniums. 

 Pennsylvania is discussing a quarantine against New Jer- 

 sey to keep the Japanese beetle from crossing the Delaware 

 and so it goes. 



Yet right in the midst of all this comes an announce- 

 ment from Washington which turns the whole performance 

 into an Opera Bouffe. The European corn borer, we are 

 told, is a much less harmful pest than had been supposed. 

 Being one-brooded in New York and the West, it is not to 

 be considered any great menace. And even in New Eng- 

 land, we are further informed, the damage has been much 

 less than the alarmists had predicted. In Illinois fearful 

 discretion seems to have taken the nlace of reasonable 

 common sense. 



