FLOWER POTS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. 21 



The difference iu cost between a good and a poor pot is very 

 slight, and if the florist will demand and accept nothing but a first 

 class pot, a standard iu quality as well as in size will soon be 

 reached. Some may ask what constitutes a standard in quality, 

 and I would thus define it. To be standard in quality a pot must 

 be made of clay properly prepared, be of uniform firing and of a 

 smooth surface inside as well as out. It must also be of right 

 porosity, which can be accomplished by the proper mixture of 

 clay, and on a machine-made pot must have a smooth rim on the 

 inside, so that the man standing at his bench, potting thousands of 

 plants per day as is being done constantly iu large establishments, 

 may have some flesh on his thumbs at night and more time for 

 recreation than he otherwise would have, if he felt obliged to ask 

 forgiveness for his forcible denunciation of the rough edged pots 

 furnished by many manufacturers. It must also be one that will 

 stand transportation and years of usage if necessary. 



The practical florists, and there are a good many of them, 

 were long ago conxanced that the best pots are the cheapest. 



Before asking forgiveness for having trespassed so long on your 

 patience I want to say a few words about ornamental flower pots, 

 now commonly called "jardinieres." For some j^ears there has 

 been a constantl}^ increasing demand for ornamental coverings for 

 flower pots, and we have depended very largely for these upon 

 articles of foreign manufacture. During the past year we have 

 paid special attention to this branch of the trade, and have 

 produced shapes and designs second to none, have imitated glazes 

 so perfectly that it takes an expert to detect the difference between 

 the real and the imitation, and w'ithal have produced these 

 jardinieres at prices which place them within the reach of every 

 one. 



I often ask myself whether it is probable that the demand for 

 flow'er pots in the next quarter of a century will increase in the 

 same ratio as during the past quarter. And having the books at 

 hand I simply took the total manufactures of 1869 and 1894, and 

 found the increase as ten to one, or in round numbers 700,000 

 flower pots in the former year and 7,000,000 in the latter; and if 

 the same factory can in 1920, twenty-five years later, produce and 

 sell 70,000,000 we shall verily be living in a land of flowers. 



