The Carnation in America 



three acres of ground, for the speciiic purpose of forcing carnations for the 

 winter market, and it may now be safely estimated that between seven and 

 eight milHon square feet of glass are devoted solely to carnation culture in 

 America. The number of establishments which may be classed as given up 

 principally to carnation growing is probably not less than two thousand. 

 These employ between five and six thousand people, who are paid wages 

 ranging from thirty-five to fifty dollars per month for ordinary hands and 

 growers, to seventy-five to eighty dollars per month for growers sufficiently 

 skilled to manage establishments. 



From seven to eight million carnation plants are annually grown, pro- 

 ducing upward of one hundred million carnation blooms per annum, cut and 

 sold in the various markets of the United States and Canada. These flowers 

 are estimated as selling at an average of four dollars per hundred, or four 

 millions of dollars for the entire annual output. About the year 1890, the re- 

 tail prices of carnations ranged from twenty-five to fifty, and, at occasional 

 times, seventy-five cents per dozen. At the present time the average retail 

 prices in the larger cities of the United States stand at from seventy-five cents 

 to five dollars per dozen, and, in rare instances, especially fine blooms are sold 

 at as high as eight to twelve dollars per dozen. In some of the factory 

 and smaller towns, carnations are still sold as low as thirty-five to fifty 

 cents per dozen, but these prices are due to a foolish competition among 

 local florists, and cannot be said to have been established by the legitimate 

 law of supply and demand. Properly grown carnation flowers should 

 command at least fifty cents to one dollar per dozen at retail. 



The largest American carnation establishments are located in the vicin- 

 ity of New York and Chicago. Probably more carnation blooms are grown 

 and shipped to the New York market than to any other in the United States. 

 Several very large, as well as many moderate-sized, establishments, devoted 

 exclusively to carnation culture, are located mainly upon the western portion 

 of Long Island. New Jersey boasts of a number of large establishments, as 

 well as a great number of smaller ones. There are also many establishments 

 of varying size located upon the railroads leading from New York to Boston, 

 and along the line of the Hudson River and the New York Central Rail- 

 road a large area of glass pours its flowers into the New York market. 



Chicago stands next in importance in the area of glass devoted to car- 

 nation culture. Enormous establishments are located at Joilet, Hinsdale, and 

 in the immediate suburbs of Chicago, while as far south as Richmond and 

 Lafayette, Ind.. large areas of glass are given up to carnation culture, a 

 part of their product being shipped into the Chicago market. But many of 



34 



