14 



The Florists^ Review 



Dbcbmbbr 21, 1916. 



POT FAMINE IS WORSE 



Detroit, Dec. 12, 1916. 

 We re^et to announce that we have 

 closed our factory indefinitely. The labor 

 and fuel conditions, car shortage, em- 

 bargoes on freight, smoke ordinance and 

 other matters over which we have no 

 control, have forced us to do this. 



We wish to thank you for past kind- 

 ness shown and hope that at some future 

 period we may be able to renew the past 

 commercial friendship that has hitherto 

 existed. 



Trusting that you may have a pros- 

 perous new year, we are. 



Yours very truly, 

 DETEOIT FLOWEK POT CO., 

 Per Harry Balsley. 



There are few more widely known pot 



makers than Harry Balsley, and his 



pottery has been supplying the trade 



since 1853. That present conditions 



should close such a source of supply 



is of prime importance to the trade. 



Pot Makers' Many Troubles. 



In this year of unprecedented pros- 

 perity there are a great many people 

 who are not making any money. Among 

 them are -the men to whom this trade 

 has looked for its supply of flower pots. 



Chief of the many troubles the flower 

 pot manufacturers have encountered 

 this year has been the shortage of labor. 

 The making of pots, although largely 

 a matter of machinery, always has 

 called for a considerable amount of 

 labor, less now than in earlier times, 

 but still enough so that labor is the 

 most important item of cost. But the 

 flower pot industry never has been run 

 on the basis of skilled and efficient 

 labor; instead, it has been run with 

 cheap labor. This is a year in which 

 a cheaper grade of labor has occupied 

 a unique position. There has been no 

 pressing extra demand for high class 

 semi-professional labor, but an insistent 

 demand for merely moderately com- 

 petent workmen who could turn their 

 hands to many tasks. The munition 

 factories have offered pay that drew 

 the pot makers away. The result has 

 been that almost every pottery in the 

 eastern half of the United States has 

 been running short-handed and has not 

 accumulated the stock of pots that usu- 

 ally are on hand at' this season of the 

 year. 



Car shortage has hindered shipments, 

 but it has been only a minor factor in 

 affecting prices. When coal took its 

 war jump this fall it hit the pot makers 

 another blow. Fuel is perhaps the 

 second most important item of manu- 

 facturing expense where flower pots 

 are made. The pottery that had not 

 contracted for coal found its fuel bill 

 multiplied by two or even by three. 

 On top of the many other extra expenses 

 that have been put on the industry 

 within the last year it presented a diffi- 

 culty that could only be met by a raise 

 of prices. 



The Outlook. 



The outlook for the supply of flower 

 pots is not reassuring. Potteries now are 

 operating short-handed; some of them, 

 by offering wages heretofore unknown 

 in the industry, have been able to secure 

 a full crew, but as a whole the flower 

 pot manufacturers are producing less 

 than the normal quantity of pots. They 

 cannot turn them out at the prices at 



which the pots formerly were sold; 

 higher prices than those recently known 

 in the industry are necessary if the pot 

 factories are to be operated without 

 loss. Several have concluded that their 

 energies may better be directed in some 

 other field; at least one large producer 

 in the middle west has sold out his ma- 

 chinery and closed the department; the 

 Detroit concern- has suspended oper- 

 ations indefinitely. 



Naturally, prices are higher than nor- 

 mal, and some of the largest makers 

 have announced the withdrawal of all 

 quotations; while operating at the best 

 price possible, they are unwilling to 

 commit themselves to prices in pots for 

 future delivery. 



Nearly all the pot makers are behind 

 with their deliveries; some hope soon 

 to catch up, but the majority fear they 

 will not be able to keep pace with the 

 demand and^ that there will be a pro- 

 nounced shortage this spring. It there- 

 fore is to the interest of both the manu- 

 facturers and the consumers that the 

 existing supply be conserved as far as 

 possible. Pots are not now to be treated 

 as valueless, but they are to be taken 

 care of, cleaned with thoroughness and 

 used as long as they are in condition to 

 produce good stock. 



of valley pipsf That they can be gro^m 

 here of good quality is certain, as it lias 

 been done, but that they can be grown 

 at a profit is more open to question. 

 Yet the culture is simple. In the vie n- 

 ity of Hamburg, whence have come m. st 

 of the pips, it is said lily of the valloy 

 prefe;rs a sandy, moist loam. In natural 

 conditions when growing wild, it appears 

 to like a semi-shady position, and tliis 

 idea seems to be the generally accept .-d 

 one, yet it has been seen doing tv^II 

 without any shade whatever. The 

 method adopted in the large "commercial 

 nurseries is to allow the beds to remain 

 for three years, When the roots, or pi;)s, 

 are lifted and sorted into three siz,^s. 

 The largest make the best for early 

 forcing or retarding, whereas the smnll- 

 est are planted up again in rows into 

 well dug and manured soil, tlie ro^vs 

 being placed nine to twelves inclies 

 apart. All the attention they require 

 is the hoe, to keep down the weeds, and 

 in poor soils a light mulch of manure 

 the second year after planting. 



GENISTA CANARIENSIS. 



Please tell me how to root Genista 

 Canariensis; also when to take cuttings 

 so as to have them in bloom for Easter. 

 W. H. D.— N. Y. 



AMERICAN VALLEY? 



If the war is to continue can America 

 not become independent in the matter 



The best time to propagate genistas 

 is from December 1 to February 15, 

 while there is a nice, steady bottom 

 heat in the cutting benches. A propa- 

 gating bench that will root carnationa 

 or roses will suit genistas admirably. 

 The cuttings most easily rooted are 

 those rubbed off with a heel. The cut- 

 tings put in at this season, if kept 

 potted along, will make nice plants in 

 5-inch or 6-inch pots a year hence. 



. . C. W. 



MONEY CONTRABAND 



r/s\ir/s\iiirsvir/«\ir)«tir/svir/s\ir«vir«xir?svirASvirrs\ir/s\ii«>rti/s^ 



REMITTANCES ARE RISKY. 



British Seize Funds. 



If you sent your money to a German 

 specialist and a British warship inter- 

 cepted it en route, you may as well say 

 good-bye unless the remittance happened 

 to be in unnegotiable paper. In the 

 latter case you probably will be able to 

 get your money back. 



This information grows out of the 

 cyclamen seed case. 



Although practically everyone in the 

 trade knew of the British blockade, few 

 were farsighted enough to appreciate 

 what it meant to the individual member 

 of the trade in this country. Had the 

 significance been realized. The Review 

 would not so long have continued to 

 publish advertisements ordered before 

 the blockade shut off free communica- 

 tion with German customers, nor would 

 members of the trade in this country 

 who have looked to German seed spe- 

 cialists made their customary remit- 

 tances in accordance with that adver- 

 tising. 



The Cyclamen Money. 



It was not until the cyclamen seeds 

 were due in the late summer that the 



real situation became apparent. It was 

 about August that The Review began to 

 receive numerous inquiries with regard 

 to the non-arrival of seed specialties 

 from Germany, particularly cyclamen 

 seeds ordered of Ferd Fischer, of Wies- 

 baden. It then became apparent that a 

 large number of remittances had been 

 dispatched to Germany, but never heard 

 of afterward. The appearances wre 

 either that the men to whom the remit- 

 tances had been sent were prevented by 

 the British blockade from filling ♦he 

 orders, or that the British censor had 

 intercepted the orders and the accom- 

 panying remittances. Conjecture ■^^as 

 set at rest by the arrival of a poster rd 

 from Fischer, of Wiesbaden, It read 



Please do not publish again my advertlsem ^nt 

 of cyclamen seeds because orders, checks ni 

 The Review also do not arrive more since mort.hi 

 now. 



The card was dated at Wiesbaden 

 June 30 and did not reach Chicago urtil 

 September 12. The fact that it carried 

 the O. K. of the British censor shoved 

 where it had been in the meantime flfi^ 

 where the "orders, checks and The lie' 

 view" had gone. 



Oovemment Assistance. 



It was apparent that while none of 



