tt;- 



20 



The Florists' Review 



Septembbb 28, ).916. 



nolia wreaths and any other greens 

 that are heavy or that must not get too 

 dry. 



The second floor is devoted to general 

 stock. Here is everything else except 

 baskets. The way this floor has been 

 filled already is surprising. 



The third floor is tlie basket stock 

 room. Some idea of the growth of the 

 basket industry may be formed by re- 

 flecting that one whole floor of consid- 

 erably over 5,000 square feet is devoted 

 to baskets alone. Then remember that 

 these baskets are stacked high, very 

 high, and you have it. 



The fourth floor is the basket factory 

 and paint shop. It is equipped with a 

 large cedar tub for soaking the wreaths 

 and willow baskets and with a com- 

 pressor for spraying the paint over 

 these baskets. This compressor is also 

 equipped with a fan and tube for car- 

 rying the paint fumes from the room 

 to the open air. 



The fifth floor is the scene of wreath 

 making. Here the fancy wreaths are 

 made up ready for distribution. An in- 

 genious labor-saving device is a wreath- 

 rack on wheels.- This rack holds a 

 large number of wreaths; when full it 

 is wheeled to the elevator, lowered to 

 the floor below, given a light spraying 

 of preservative, sent to the drying room 

 if need be, and returned to the floor 

 above until require"d. 



Precautions Against Fire. 



The fire precautions are complete. 

 They consist of a fire tower, with spray- 

 ers and balconies at each floor, and of 

 a complete system of sprinklers. These 

 sprinklers are placed at regular inter- 

 vals in water pipes set in the ceiling. 

 Under fire heat of 160 degrees the lead 

 in any sprinkler melts, letting off the 

 water over a radius of 100 feet. The 

 stairway and elevator doors are metal, 

 fireproof. 



The many details for storing, han- 

 dling and quickly dispatching the stock 

 that have been carefully worked out 

 are the result of years of experience in 

 the field of florists' supplies. The build- 

 ing is claimed to be the finest and most 

 perfectly appointed florists' supply 

 home in the country. Phil. 



THE BELGIAN PLANT SHIPMENTS. 



The following is from a, letter sent, 

 September 19, by McHutchison & Co., 

 New York, to their customers: 



"With regard to fall shipments of 

 azaleas, etc., from Belgium, we are up 

 against a serious problem; the German 

 authorities will not allow the shipments 

 to leave Belgium unless payment ia 

 made to the Belgian growers in ad- 

 vance. This, of course, is impractic- 

 able; money cannot be sent into Bel- 

 gium, and the British will not pass the 

 shipments through the blockade if pay- 

 ment is made to the Belgians, who, of 

 course, are under the control of the 

 German military authorities. 



" 0-p to June, 1915, the German au- 

 thorities uade no objection to the ship- 

 ping of these goods. The British Order 

 in Council went into effect about that 

 time and British pern- its were given on 

 the understanding that payment be de- 

 posited in a bank in Great Britain to 

 the credit of the shipper, not to be 

 withdrawn without British consent. 

 The German authorities evidently 

 agreed to these conditions, as after 

 much negotiation with the Belgian 

 growers they likewise gave permits to 

 ship and shipments have come forward 

 since on that basis. 



* * As the strong censorship in Bel- 

 gium prevents information coming from 

 there, we did not get the exact text 

 of the former agreement made, but 

 from information which- reached us in 

 devious ways we understood the Brit- 

 ish would release, through Belgian 

 banks, part of the funds accumulated 

 in the Banque Beige pour I'Etranger, 

 London. Evidently not enough of the 

 funds were released to satisfy the Ger- 

 mans and that is likely the reason why 

 they now stop shipments. 



"We surmounted all previous ob- 

 stacles, got shipments through from 

 Belgium each fall and spring since the 

 war began, but the German authorities 

 probably acted with deliberation in 

 this case and did not allow sufficient 

 time for pressure to be brought to bear 

 upon them to change or even modify 

 their orders. Still, the situation was 

 almost as bad last fall and yet ship- 

 ments came, late we admit, but we 

 shipped all our orders, so we are not 

 without hope that this fall's shipments 

 will yet come. 



"The United States State Depart- 

 ment acted energetically and placed the 

 matter by cable directly before the 

 German authorities in Belgium. The 

 German and British embassies are both 

 lending assistance. Our Holland con- 

 nections are in touch with Berlin and 

 London, the strong syndicate of Belgian 

 growers is negotiating direct with the 

 German military authorities in Belgium, 

 so you will see that every agency is 

 working to the end that these ship- 

 ments' will come this season. 



"We even offered to advance pay- 

 ments through Holland for the ship- 



ments, then pay a second time through 

 London, but the British authorities re- 

 fused to allow the shipments to pass 

 the blockade if payment had been made 

 in advance for them." 



TENNESSEEANS PLAN SHOW. 



The officers of the Tennessee State 

 Florists' Association met at the Geny 

 Bros, store, at Nashville, September 21, 

 to consider plans for thfe next annual 

 meeting and flower show, which are to 

 be held in January. After considerable 

 discussion" it was decided to hold the 

 meeting at the same time as the annual 

 meetings of the nurserymen and the 

 fruit growers. The officers of the other 

 two bodies, some of whom were in the 

 city, were called into a joint session. 



It was decided to hold a fruit and 

 flower show in connection with the 

 meetings. The committees visited the 

 City Chamber of Commerce and were 

 promised cooperation in securing proper 

 quarters for the show and the business 

 sessions. Several buildings were then 

 visited, to make sure that proper floor 

 space could be secured. The committees 

 took steps to make the show an assured 

 thing and the work pertaining to the 

 show was left with the president, Karl 

 P. Baum, of Knoxville, and the secre- 

 tary of the other associations, G. M. 

 Bentley. 



There will be a good trade exhibit; 

 a number of the large florists' supply 

 houses have already signified their in- 

 tentions of making displays. Immedi- 

 ate steps will be taken to make the 

 •show worth while and to secu're the at- 

 tendance of every retail florist in the 



Dallas, Tex. — Albert G. Sprinkle has 

 returned to his position with the Green 

 Floral Co., after two months of illness 

 in a sanitarium. 



Hatcher Station, Qa. — R. A. Lee & 



Co. have become the sole owners of the 

 Chattahoochee Floral Co., dealers in 

 decorative greens. 



Fort Worth, Tex. — Among the re- 

 cruits from the amateurs the trade has 

 Mrs. G. W. Smith, 1712 Sixth avenue, 

 who has a small greenhouse and a gar- 

 den where she grows plants and cut 

 flowers, sweet peas especially, which 

 'for two years she has been selling at 

 wholesale to Fort Worth florists. 



College Station, Tex. — The depart- 

 ment of horticulture of the Agricul- 

 tural and Mechanical College of Texas 

 has just closed a contract with the Lord 

 & Burnham Co. for the construction 

 of one of its all-steel greenhouses, 25x 

 133 feet, as the beginning of a range 

 for experiment for the benefit of the 

 florists of Texas. The house will be 

 modern in every respect and a labora- 

 tory for floriculture will be constructed 

 with the service building, all to be fire- 

 proof throughout. 



Bristol, Tenn.— The Bristol Floral Co. 

 has increased its capital stock from 

 $10,000 to $25,000. 



New Orleans, La. — Florists of New 

 Orleans recently took a day off for their 

 outing across Lake Pontchartrain to 

 Mandeville. This was the thirty-second 

 time the New Orleans Horticultural 

 Society held its annual outing, and the 

 third time the women folk of the florists 

 attended. Arrangements for the picnic 

 were in charge of a committee com- 

 posed of the following: Henry Kraak, 

 Claude Ory, Henry Scheuermann, A. 

 Verlinde, Paul Abele, C. R. Panter, 

 Joseph Steckler. 



Dallas, Tex. — A large flower show 

 will be held at Dallas in the early part 

 of November by the Texas State Flo- 

 rists' Association and the Dallas Wom- 

 en's Forum. Plans for the joint ex- 

 hibit are being cosipleted by commit- 

 tees from two organizations. Cash 

 premiums will aggregate $500 and there 

 will be numerous merchandise prizes. 

 One day will be designated as chrysan- 

 themum day. There also will be a rose 

 day, a violet day, a design and bouquet 

 day, a fern day, etc., and an auction 

 will be held each night of the day's 

 entries. 



