18 



The Florists' Review 



NOVEMBEB 30, 1916. 



FUEL FAMINE EASING UP. 



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FINCH IS LESS SEVERE. 



Cars Are Being Supplied. 



Although there are hundreds of flo- 

 rists who will not agree with the state- 

 ment, the coal situation is easier than 

 it was. The great outcry has resulted 

 in speeding up the movement, and espe- 

 cially the unloading and return, of cftrs, 

 as the railroads have found themselves 

 the goat and have been making great 

 efforts to relieve the conditions for 

 which they are responsible. 



Deliveries have become more regular 

 for the growers who are dealing with 

 responsible people and who have estab- 

 lished reputations for meeting their 

 own obligations promptly. 



Contracts and Credits. 



The situation is one that brings the 

 business methods of sellers and buyers 

 into the bright light and shows them 

 up for what they are. Beyond ques- 

 tion, the best of coal producers have 

 been prevented from living up to their 

 schedule of deliveries by the shortage 

 of cars, but they all have had some 

 cars, equal to at least fifty per cent of 

 their mining capacity, and they have 

 been able to malce at least that per- 

 centage of deliveries on contracts, prob- 

 * ably more, because mines do not usu- 

 ally contract up to full capacity. The 

 dependable concerns have been giving 

 the contract customers every pound 

 . shipped, selling absolutely no coal on 

 the open market. The untrustworthy 

 producer has been "stalling" the 

 holder of a contract with the story of 

 the alleged impossibility of getting cars 

 and selling his output at the high prices 

 now prevailing in the open market. 



Each florist will know from his expe- 

 rience which class of producer he has 

 contracted with this season and will 

 know what to do next year. 



But obligations never are all on one 

 side and this is a time when the florist 

 finds a record of the prompt payment 

 of bills is a decided advantage. If the 

 florist has failed to make payment as 

 agreed, he has broken the contract and 

 has no claim under it the other party 

 does not choose to recognize. 



Many Florists in Bad Flace. 



Each day brings new reports of 

 greenhouse establishments that are on 

 the verge of closing up or freezing up. 

 Nothing that has happened in years 

 has so vividly illuminated the average 

 florist's lack of preparedness, the want 

 of forehandedness that for years has 

 been a handicap on the development 

 _ of the trade. There are hundreds, even 

 thousands, of greenhouses in which the 

 fuel supply has been permitted to be- 

 come a hand-to-mouth affair. Eepeat- 

 ed warnings that the arrival of cold 

 weather would bring trouble failed to 

 stir them and today for every grower 

 who has his bunkers full there is an- 

 other who is dependent on tomorrow's 

 deliveries for the next night's fire. 



The florist who has been buying regu- 

 larly in one place and paying bills 

 promptly is in a position where, even 



if his supply is low, he will be taken 

 care of up to the limit of the ability 

 of the coal concern with which he deals, 

 but the man who still owes for last 

 spring's fuel is in a precarious position. 



Frlces a Idttle Easier. 



The number of florists who have con- 

 tracts for coal is small in comparison 

 to those who must pay whatever price 

 is asked. The larger places nearly all 

 have contracts, for they would not have 

 become large had not the managers 

 been men who could look ahead, but 

 some ranges in which the fuel bill al- 

 ways has run to quite a figure find it 

 necessary to pay the market price, 

 which is anything the seller asks, up to 

 three times the summer rate. 



As to how and why the market eased 

 the Coal Trade Journal says: 



"The anthracite situation has quiet- 

 ed noticeably within the week. It is 

 not that the supply has increased or 



that the demand for coal at the regular 

 price has subsided, but the panicky 

 feeling on the part of consumers has 

 disappeared for the time being. With 

 the public less clamorous, retail dealers 

 are not so much inclined to offer ex- 

 travagant prices for immediate deliv- 

 ery, and as a result smaller premiums 

 are being obtained by independent 

 operators and middlemen. 



"A sudden let-up in the demand for 

 bituminous developed right after elec- 

 tion and the market has weakened 

 slightly since then. Various theories 

 are advanced to account for the change 

 of heart on the part of consumers. 

 None is entirely convincing in itself, 

 but each has probably played its part. 

 About the most logical deduction is 

 that many steam users who were short 

 of coal have managed to secure enough 

 on their contracts and outside orders 

 to carry them along for a while and 

 have decided not to buy any more in 

 the open market until their stocks are 

 again nearing exhaustion or until prices 

 recede. 



"Looking to the future, it must be 

 said, however, that there is every indi- 

 cation of a strong and steady market 

 for bituminous coal and the movement 

 from the producer to consumer is reg- 

 ulated largely by the car supply." 



CRYSTAL WHITE NEXT YEAR. 



David S. Ward, of the carnation de- 

 partment of the Cottage Gardens Co., 

 asks the Keview to print the following 

 paragraph "to correct a wrong impres- 

 sion": 



' * The impression seems to be widely 

 prevalent in trade circles that the Cot- 

 tage Gardens Co. 's new carnation, 

 Crystal White, is to be disseminated 

 this season. The company is at a loss 

 to know where this impression origi- 

 nated, as it has never been their in- 

 tention to send out Crystal White until 

 next season and they never made any 

 statement that could be construed other- 

 wise. The only carnation they are send- 

 ing out this year is Cottage Maid and 

 they wish to assure the trade that 

 Crystal White will not be on the mar- 

 ket until the season of 1917-18." 



cidal properties whatever and should 

 be used only in combating insects, such 

 as aphis, thrips, etc. For the rust you 

 need to usj such remedies as Bordeaux 

 mixture. Grape Dust, sulphur on the 

 steam pipes, etc. First pick off as many 

 of the affected leaves as practical and 

 then either spray the plants thoroughly 

 with the Bordeaux mixture or dust them 

 with the Grape Dust. Mix some sul- 

 phur and lime in equal proportions with 

 enough water to make a thick paint, 

 and paint one of the steam pipes with 

 it. Keduce your syringing to a mini- 

 mum, always keeping a sharp lookout 

 for signs of red spider. Give all the 

 ventilation possible and keep the plants 

 growing vigorously. A. F. J. B. 



TO CHECK CARNATION RUST. 



I am sending you some leaves of my 

 carnations, which show signs of some 

 sort of disease. The symptoms of the 

 trouble have appeared only on a new 

 lot of plants which were shipped to me 

 from another state. The disease was on 

 them when I received them, but has be- 

 come worse, though it has not yet 

 spread to my other plants. What shall 

 I do to check the disease? I have used 

 a nicotine spray. A. G. — Okla. 



WORMS ON CARNATIONS. 



We are sending you some worms, 

 which we think are wireworms, though 

 we are not quite sure. They are spoil- 

 ing our carnations. They work up the 

 stem, eat out the. heart, and spoil the 

 leaves. The soil seems to contain quan- 

 tities of the worms and lime has no 

 effect on them. Can you tell us the 

 most economical way to rid the soil of 

 themf M. F. C— Colo. 



The disease you complain of is the 

 well known carnation rust. This is not 

 affected in the least by nicotine spray- 

 ing. In fact, the nicotine has no fungi- 



The specimens appeared to be of the 

 wireworm type. Lime will have no 

 effect on them, but if you procure some 

 carbon bisulphide, obtainable at all 

 drug stores in 1-pound cans and selling 

 at about 25 cents per pound, you can 

 clean out these and all other soil pests. 

 Bore holes twelve to eighteen inches 

 apart each way in the benches with a 

 sharply pointed stick, pour a scant tea- 

 spoonful of the carbon in each hole 



