HORTICULTURE 



VoL XXXI 



FEBRUARY 21, 1920 



No. 8 



THE TALK OF THE TRADE 



The greenhouse trade in general has 

 been going through severe trials and 

 this is particularly true of those grow- 

 ers who do a stiipping trade in the 

 plant line: for instance, those who 

 turn out large quantities of rooted 

 cuttings and small plant stock of the 

 various lines that are marketable and 

 in demand at this time. Embargoes 

 of all descriptions are placed, ship- 

 ments are frozen, and the express com- 

 panies do very little to make good, 

 and then one storm after another has 

 come along causing heavy losses, 

 particularly the last one. 



I wonder how many florists who are 

 buying stock realize these difficulties 

 and are as considerate as they should 

 be? Those who are shipping stock 

 for themselves I am sure understand 

 very well and are reasonably patient, 

 but I say to you florists who have not 

 had some of these hard experiences 

 that you should be patient and have 

 as much consideration as is i)ossible. 

 I have just received a few words from 

 a friend who is in the cutting line and 

 he writes under date of February 13, 

 as follows: 



"We are snowed in here since Feb- 

 ruary 4, no trains, no cars and no mail 

 until yesterday and that only letter 

 mail by sled. Crust on snow makes it 

 Impossible to run snow plow. Can fill 

 no orders till we get dug out. Have 

 cuttings ready, but dare not pack until 

 we see clear track to ship. Snowing 

 again today like fury, may be another 

 big one — if so. Lord help us." 



This is just one example of what 

 many are up against 



Among the losses occasioned through 

 the last storm, we learn of Mr. Everett 

 E. Cummings of Woburn, Mass. One of 

 his houses of modern construction and 

 apparently in first-class condition 

 caved in, resulting in the loss of an 

 excellent crop of sweet peas just 

 coming in with fine stems and good 

 quality in every way. His loss is esti- 

 mated to be around $10,000. Then we 

 hear of the Florex Gardens of North 

 Wales, Pa., where the largest individ- 

 ual houses in the world are located. A 

 part of one of these large houses was 

 crushed in and their loss is estimated 

 at close to $25,000. It was also r»- 



ported that at the Duckham-l'ierson 

 place in Madison, N. J., about li»0 run- 

 ning feet of a large house was dam- 

 aged, which will also run into a heavy 

 loss, and besides these there are any 

 number of places losing all the way 

 from one or two boxes of glass to 

 twenty-five and thirty boxes, to say 

 nothing of the loss of crops attendant. 



1 know of one grower who had a fine 

 lot of geranium cuttings just ready for 

 market. We all know how scarce 

 geranium stock is. It will bring almost 

 any price, and regardless of price 

 there isn't more than half enough to 

 supply the demand. This grower lost 

 a big block of cuttings, and besides 

 being unable to fill his orders, is short 

 of stock for himself. 



To top it all, a lot of our good 

 friends are going along in a sort of 

 hand-to-mouth way as regards coal. 

 All of these expenses and risks which 

 turn out so disastrously during th6se 

 severe spells must be carried in mind 

 by those who are advertising cut flow- 



ers and finished plants to the retail 

 trade, and it is their duty to do their 

 pari towards educating the public into 

 paying a fair price for florists' stock of 

 all kinds. 



I have just heard that A. M. Camp- 

 bell of Philadelphia is going to In- 

 crease his planting of I^addie carna- 

 tions the coming season. lie is one 

 of the largest growers of this variety 

 in the country at this time, and he 

 certainly must have faith in it or he 

 would not be increasing for the com- 

 ing year. Mr. Campbell showed Lad- 

 die in excellent shape at the Chicago 

 meeting of the American Carnation 

 Society, and he is without any doubt 

 an expert grower. The blooms tliat 

 he exhibited ranked well up with the 

 winners. They couldn't all get first 

 prize, but the least we can say is that 

 they were all good. The vases shown 

 by Goddard, Strout, Campbell and 

 those coming from the Joseph HUl 

 range were each and every one Al in 

 every respect. 



A Good Type of Geranillin 



