272 



HOETICULTUKE 



April 3, 1920 



HORTICULTURE 



BstabUiked by WUIlam J. Btewar* ta UM 



Vol. XXXI 



April 3, 1920 



No. 14 



PCBUSHED ■WKEKI.T BT 



HORTICXJLTURE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

 78 Devonshire Street, Boston, Mass. 



EDWARD I. FARRINGTON, Editor. 

 Telephone Fort Hill S6M 



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ftitered m second-class matter December 8. 1904, at the Post Office 

 at Boston, Mass., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1887. 



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 writing to Hobticuxtuee, please use the following form: 



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. 



It is a little hard for the average florist or 



Publishing gardener to realize the difficulties with which 



Puzzles the trade press is struggling at the present 



time. If they did realize fully the nature of 

 these difficulties, probably they would be even more willing 

 than they are to give the papers their hearty support, both 

 with subscriptions and advertising copy. The trade pa- 

 pers are necessary for the success of the trade. 

 They fill a mission the importance of which is perhaps 

 not fully appreciated. They are always ready to as- 

 sist the trade in every undertaking which will better the 

 business of the florists and the nurserymen. Yet they have 

 not been able to participate in the prosperity which the 

 florists in particular have enjoyed. A paragraph from the 

 American Botanist, discussing this matter, is remarkably 

 pertinent and is reproduced with considerable relish: 



"When it is recalled that ordinary type-stickers are 

 clamoring for more than a dollar an hour for a forty-hour 

 week and that paper-makers are demanding from twelve 

 to sixteen cents a pound for book paper worth about seven 

 cents, it is easy to see what the publishers of magazines 

 are up against. More than half of the strictly scientific 

 magazines are now carried by publishers who have no 

 hope of adequate return, but who continue to provide in- 

 formation in much the same spirit that the true scientist 

 publishes his discoveries to the world. The editor is no 

 exception to the general run and has gradually found him- 

 self in the position of the diminutive newsboy who was 

 found buying papers for two cents and selling them for 

 the same price. When asked what he got out of such a 

 transaction he replied, 'I git a chance to holler!' There 

 may be some who think that as long as the editor gets a 

 chance to 'holler' he should be satisfied, but they fail to 



consider what might happen if he gets tired of hollering. 

 The best way to keep this magazine on the job is to push 

 It whenever you can. Urge your friends to subscribe and 

 mollify your enemies by subscribing for them!" 



Many people have accepted as a fact the pre- 

 Horses vailing notion that horses are giving way to 



vs automobile delivery trucks so rapidly that in a 

 Trucks short time they will practically cease to be 

 seen on city streets. It appears, though, that 

 a reaction is already setting in, and florists will be wise 

 to carefully consider the comparative expense of maintain- 

 ing horses and motor trucks under present conditions. A 

 careful investigation has been made in Chicago, revealing 

 the fact that not a few concerns are finding horses much 

 more economical than motor driven vehicles. One Chicago 

 newspaper, after trying machines for four or five years, 

 went back to horses in 1919, putting on 132. It is reported 

 that they have saved $30,000.00 in the past year as a re- 

 sult of this move. 



The United Delivery Co., of Evanston, 111., which de- 

 livers packages for all the groceries in the town, states 

 that it kept accurate costs for a year from December 1, 

 1918, to December 1, 1919, and found that it cost six and a 

 fourth cents a package for horse delivery against eight 

 and a fifth cents for auto truck delivery. Ford trucks be- 

 ing used. The company had one competitor who used 

 trucks exclusively, and he has been driven out of business. 

 This concern is now disposing of its automobiles, replac- 

 ing them with horses. 



It appears that the average life of a horse in the city 

 is eight years. Then he sells for an average of one-fifth 

 the original cost. It is on this basis that the horse wins 

 out. After a careful comparison, a baking company found 

 that it cost $58.60 a month for the up-keep of horses and 

 $171.00 for the up-keep of its automobiles. The horses 

 averaged ten years' usage, but the machines were junked 

 in three years. Four years ago this company had 24 auto- 

 mobiles; now it has only three. 



It is only recently that it has been possible to obtain 

 reliable figures on which to scientifically gauge deprecia- 

 tion of motor trucks. Often the statement is heard that 

 horses eat their heads off when they are kept idle, but 

 that there is no cost for a machine when it is not in use. 

 This is a tremendous mistake. The depreciation is going 

 on all the time, and amounts to a much larger figure than 

 the maintenance of horses, the depreciation of the latter 

 being very much slower. It is well known that a motor 

 truck sells at a greatly decreased price even though it has 

 been used only a short time, while a horse often brings as 

 much or more at the end of a year's service as when pur- 

 chased. One contractor says that he can keep three teams 

 in the barn cheaper than he can keep one of his big trucks 

 idle. This is solely because of the rapid depreciation. 



Investigation also shows that a number of concerns 

 have become bankrupt simply because of their haste in 

 loading up with delivery trucks. Certainly the horse has 

 had the advantage during the past winter, for he seldom 

 failed to get through, while automobiles were stuck all 

 along the roads. It is said that at times within a radius 

 of four miles of the heart of New York City, so many ma- 

 chines were stuck fast in the snow that it was difficult to 

 get by even with horse drawn vehicles. 



It is true that these facts and figures are quite con- 

 trary to what most people believe to be true, but they are 

 indisputable, and florists as well as others who must make 

 many and frequent deliveries, should carefully compare 

 the relative cost of automobile trucks and horse drawn 

 vehicles before they make any costly changes. 



