NATIONAL COUNCIL OF HORTICULTURE 53 



The future of the plant trade in this country looks encouraging, for 

 the garden is a youthful institution in our land as yet, and its pleasures 

 and possibilities are only beginning to be realized, and while the pro- 

 portion of profit to investment is probably less than in cut flower grow- 

 ing, yet there is abundant room for all the well-grown plants that are 

 likely to be offered for some time to come. 



COMMERCIAL GROWING OF CUT FLOWERS. 

 F. R. PIERSON, TARRYTOWN, N. Y. 



The development in the commercial growing of cut flowers in this 

 country during the last thirty years is phenomenal. What might be 

 dignified as the commercial growing of cut flowers practically had its 

 beginning less than thirty years ago. Prior to that time, the quantity 

 of flowers produced was insignificant, the quality, compared with pres- 

 ent standards, inferior, and the methods of culture crude in the ex- 

 treme. With the increase of wealth, there has been a marvelous 

 progress in the production of cut flowers, both in the quality and the 

 immense quantities produced. 



It seems incredible now that the writer, less than thirty years ago, 

 was advised by one of the foremost florists of that time not to go 

 into the cut flower growing part of the business, because it would soon 

 be overdone. This seems the more incredible when one considers that 

 to-day many single establishments .are producing more cut flowers 

 than the entire greenhouse production of the United States probably 

 amounted to at that time. 



New York, which is one of the greatest cut flower centers in th< 

 world, thirty years ago depended on Boston for its supply of roses. 

 The leading varieties of roses in those days were Safrano, Isabella 

 Sprunt, and Bon Silene, all of which have practically disappeared, hav- 

 ing been superseded by improved sorts, and to-day these one-time popu- 

 lar roses are almost unknown. In carnations, at that time the leading 

 variety was President De Graw. A long-stemmed carnation was then 

 unthought of, as many buds being allowed to develop on one stem as 

 possible, and the flowers were cut with no stems. Loose, long-stemmed 

 flowers were then an unknown quantity. These short-stemmed flowers 

 were supplemented by wooden stems and wires, and made up into 

 baskets, bouquets, etc., in the most formal and artificial arrangement 

 in fact, the inferior quality of the flowers permitted nothing better. 

 The best flowers then produced would simply be unsalable to-day, on 

 account of their small size and short stems. At that time so few roses 

 and carnations were grown that they were necessarily supplemented by 

 French and Dutch bulbs, which in those days were forced in com- 

 paratively large quantities. 



In the earlier days of the cut flower industry, European methods 

 of culture were in vogue. The few roses and carnations that were 

 grown were grown mostly in pots, the greenhouses of those days being 

 very primitive. Up to that time, the buildings erected for the produc- 



