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The Florists' ReWew 



OCTOteEB 12, 1916. 



a>CN wrm^j^ readehb 



LET'S HAVi: IT. 



Our only motive in submitting the 

 article on special cards, whic^'appeared 

 in The Eeview for October 5, was to 

 spread the news to other florists of how 

 the cards had benefited us. As set forth 

 in the story, we found th* use of special 

 cards profitable and simply desired to 

 pass the news < around for the good of 

 the flower bu^ness in general and the 

 benefit of any in the trad»- who might 

 care to use them. We hCve no cards 

 to sell. * •» 



A great many florists, no dpubt, have 

 discovered little ways and ineans of 

 getting business that other florists could 

 use and who would be glad to know 

 about. What a fine idea to pass the 

 food news around! 



We have in mind now a little thing 

 we do that r^ijatly brought a new cus- 

 tomer to us nfcose buying will amount 

 to several hundred dollars a year, -If 

 Th6 IB^eview cares to publish this story 

 wtf jriikll be glad to prepare it— to pass 

 tha: jiews around. 

 >^?.. ■;•% Beynolds Flower Store. 



DEALING WITH THE GLUT. 



I desire to give my views with re- 

 gard to the handling of cut flowers 

 through the department stores and its 

 bearing on the legitimate florist. 



As the department store attracts the 

 wealthy class as well as the medium 

 and poorer classes, it appears to me 

 that it tends to increase the troubles 

 of a legitimate retail florist. 



Say a department store buyer visits 

 a grower during the winter and makes 

 him an offer of so much per bloom for 

 lilies for Easter. What is there to pre- 

 vent this store from disposing of these 

 lilies at a small profit and charging the 

 time and work to the cost of advertis- 

 ing! This may be agreeable to the 

 grower, who probably has sold for cash 

 at several cents less than he would have 

 obtained had he sent them to the com- 

 mission houses, but how about the 

 legitimate retailer who has paid market 

 price and cannot exist on profits that 

 satisfy the department store f 



I think that when a glut comes the 

 grower should dump or give away infe- 

 rior stock. Sending in good stock only 

 would not crowd the market, but would 

 keep it firm. Such fluctuations as we 

 have at times in the market hurt con- 

 siderably, for the general public cannot, 

 or will not, understand the ups and 

 downs of the price of flowers. I be- 

 lieve that the general public does not 

 know a good flower from a poor one. 

 I remember a customer who saw some 

 Beauties in a vase and inquired the 

 price. I told him $3 per dozen and 

 he said, "Pick out a dozen." To treat 

 him right, I went about picking the 

 closest buds, but he called me and said 

 he ' ' wanted roses, not those skimpy 

 things," 80 I gave him the wide-open 

 flowers. I gave him what he wanted, 

 but it shows that the general public 

 knows little about the quality of 

 flowers. 



The times we live in now appear to 

 me to have changed considerably ' the 

 standing of the flower business. The 

 florist of these days must make his 

 money off the rich, as poor people, 

 after paying J?or th^ necessaries of life, 

 have little reft for luxuries. A fair 

 price for flowers shoMd always be main- 

 tained. Thei'only thing We should not 

 do is to ask good prices tac inferior 

 etock. This pi frequently the i:ase when 

 ,! jstock is 'scarce in the wholesale market. 

 The Mut in flowers should be regu- 

 late(l> -%he glut lasts only fpr a short 

 time and a legitimate priow for the 

 grower and also for the retailer should 

 be maintained by not selling cheaper 

 outside the trade. Many of our retail- 

 ers advertise with cheap prices, but I 

 believe there is little money for han- 

 dling poor stock, as, by the time one 

 figures the unsalable blooms, the others 

 cost as much or more than buying first 

 quality stock. 

 Let the grower, retailer and whole- 



saler get together and work for tko' 

 benefit of each other. Let the grower 

 get a fair profit on the cost of produc- 

 tion, the wholesaler be rewarded for 

 his time and care, and the retailer for 

 his knowledge of arrangement, and the- 

 best one would be given a little over 

 for his push and energy. 



C. W. Wors. 



■"■..■',•' ^ 



GATHESINO WINTEBBEBBIES. 



You will find enclosed a twig of what 

 I think is winterberry and I shall be- 

 pleased to have a little information a» 

 to when it should be gathered and how 

 it should be treated after it has been 

 harvested here in Indiana. I want to- 

 k^p it for the- holidays. 

 >f V;.:;^C. E.G. B.— Ind. 



le berries enclosed are those of one- 

 the deciduous hollies, Bex verticil- 

 lata, and are known as wiA^frberries,. 

 as intimated in the inquiry. It would 

 be much too early to gather these yet.. 

 The collecting should be deferred until! 

 a week or two before Christmas; other- 

 wise many of the berries will shrivel or 

 drop. If you get a quantity some time- 

 in advance of the holidays, it would 

 pay to stand the bottoms of the shoots- 

 in water. If collected from December 

 1 onward, and laid on shelves in a cool' 

 cellar, or even on the fioor if it is not 

 too damp, they will keep satisfactorily.. 



0. W. 



phc 



orth 



OABNATION SOIL. 



What treatment should be given the 

 soil in a carnation bench, which was not 

 prepared last fallf The soil is a rich 

 corn compost, but not sod. It was 

 planted to corn last season. 



J. M. — ^Ind. 



They would not touch a trap or poison 

 and the only thing that rid us of thenk 

 was a little .22 rifle. 



A. P. J. B. 



If you have not yet planted your car- 

 nations, you should give the soil a lib- 

 eral top-dressing of well rotted stable 

 manure, and fork or dig this in we^l. 

 Give also a top-dressing of fine bone, 

 and let this be incorporated at the same 

 time. Failing rotted manure, use dried 

 sheep or cattle manure. C. W. 



GBOUND SQUIBBELS BUIN BUDS. 



We have a pest in our greenhouses 

 that we cannot get rid of. It seems to 

 be rats, at least that is our opinion. 

 The rodents do most damage to our 

 carnations, cutting the buds just as 

 they begin to show color and always 

 working at night. They also nibble 

 our bulbs. We have tried traps and 

 poisons without results; the rodents 

 just won't take hold of the poison. 

 That has made us wonder if they really 

 are rats. We wonder if there is any- 

 thing you can suggest that will free us 

 from the trouble. C. G. — ^Tex. 



A number of years ago we had an 

 experience similar to yours. After con- 

 siderable loss we found that the trou- 

 ble was not rats, but ground squirrels. 



CABBYING THEM OVEB. 



We have a bench of carnations whicb 

 we want to carry over for another sea- 

 son. Kindly give us a few hints on 

 how to treat them from now on, about 

 cutting back, mulching, etc. 



W. E. W.— Mich. 



^ I never have seen a bench of carna- 

 tions profitably carried over the seconci 

 season unless it had been handled with 

 that purpose in view from early in the- 

 spring. I have seen benches that were- 

 cut back hard after the blooming sea- 

 son was practically over and warm 

 weather had set in. I also have seen 

 benches carried over without any cut- 

 ting back whatever. Neither method 

 ever has produced satisfactory results 

 to my knowledge. The only satisfac- 

 tory carried over plants I ever have 

 seen were worked for cuttings at least 

 the latter half of the season and then 

 allowed to come along for the follow- 

 ing season's blooming. 



However, if the plants in your bench 

 are clean and vigorous and you are de- 

 termined to carry them over, I would 

 suggest that you do not cut them back 

 too hard at this time. You will find! 

 these plants coming into crop slowly. 

 Merely trim them up a bit to enable 

 you to keep them in the supports. Clean 

 off what dead foliage you can at th» 



