HORTICULTURE 



Vol. XXXII 



OCTOBER 16, 1920 



No. 16 



THE TALK OF THE TRADE 



One who watches the carnation mar- 

 ket closely cannot fail to notice how 

 often the variety Mrs. C. W. Ward 

 stands as a fancy. Generally speak- 

 ing, this variety will bring a top notch 

 price when well grown, and a good 

 grower can put a finish on the blooms 

 that makes it class up with Laddie, 

 and outside of this latter sort there is 

 hardly a variety that will beat it. Take 

 for instance this season of the year 

 and the general run of carnations. 

 Both New York and Boston the past 

 week showed Mrs. C. W. Ward of as 

 fine quality as any sort that was of- 

 fered. It is not often that a carnation 

 will stand out in front for so long a 

 period as this variety. 



return for their crop. It is not a par- 

 ticularly hard crop to handle. 



There seems to be a tendency for 

 Bouvardia to come back into favor. I 

 don't think there has ever been any 

 trouble in selling good cut spikes of 

 this flower, but for a while back only 

 a very small amount was grown. The 

 last few seasons, however, have shown 

 an increase which has been pleasing 

 to the retailers, and I feel safe in say- 

 ing that the growers are getting a fair 



In addition to the varieties of 

 chrysanthemums which I mentioned 

 last week, namely Golden Glow, Octo- 

 ber Frost, Unaka, Marigold and Chrys- 

 olora, extra good stock of October 

 King and Tints of Gold are appearing, 

 also the beginning of the early pom- 

 pons and singles, and this latter type 

 is a welcome addition to the retailer. 

 I find that many growers think that 

 under present conditions their margin 

 of profit is much better on these types 

 than on the larger flowered varieties. 

 The question of labor is the all-impor- 

 tant point, and there is of course a 

 great saving on the time needed for 

 disbudding an-d tying up. 



The circular issued by the New York 

 Florists' Club pertaining to the Na- 

 tional Publicity Campaign must be of 

 interest to everyone who thinks at all 

 about the possibilities of advertising 

 in our business. The National Flower 

 Growers' Association of course is 

 working along the right lines, and that 

 association takes care very nicely of 



the growers and the part that they 

 should pay; but the real question 

 seems to be what the retailers should 

 do or what would be a fair basis to 

 work upon. Tills circular refers to 

 one association which taxes the re- 

 tail members one-half of one per cent 

 of their gross purchases, these 

 amounts being added to the total when 

 stock is bought from wholesale com- 

 mission houses, growers direct or in 

 whatever way purchases are made, 

 and that amount in turn turned over to 

 the treasurer of the association. The 

 retailers have not taken kindly to the 

 idea of taxing their gross amount of 

 business on a percentage basis, and it 

 does seem that deducting the percent- 

 age from the gross purchases would be 

 more pleasing to them. The money 

 collected is of course for advertising 

 purposes. In one case an association 

 proposes to use 75 per cent for local 

 advertising and 25 per cent for na- 

 tional. Whether these proportions are 

 fair is a matter for the future to de- 

 cide, but at any rate it isn't far wrong, 

 and there is no question that there 

 must be a different way of collecting 

 the necessary funds for advertising 

 than that which has previously pre- 

 vailed, namely voluntary contribu- 

 tions. The work being accomplished 



A HOl.SE OF C.ARX.VTIOSS 



