16 



The Florists^ Review 



July 12, 1917. 



^7JM!l3iJIU^iymi^lM^^2S MliU{IM!}y{|ty^l»y{!^ 



COAL COST NOT CUT 



FLIMFLAMMING THE PUBLIC. 



But the Public Wakes Up. 



Till' il;iil\ iii'\\>|i;i |mts, wliicli li,Mili.''i 

 tlif rci;il ]irici> tixiiiL; .■i;;rcciiiciit jmlli'il 

 oil' a1 \\;i>liiiiut(iii .•!>• ;i w (UMlrrrul tliin<;' 

 fc)r til" ]i('()|i|c, Mill' liy (iiic art' (•omiiig 

 arduihl tn tlic \ ii'w r,\]ir(^ssiMl liy Tlu' 

 lio\ itw ill I ipiii t inu till' allair. that it 

 ^\■as iKil what it |iiir|Miitc'i| to lir; that 

 it wa-- ill ri'iility an a llinnat imi of cx- 

 ti.n't iniiat !■ iiiiiif iiKiiith |iiircs and in no 



SCllSf a Ifilllrt il)ll. 



Till' Chii-auo 'J'riliiiiii', wliii-h was one 

 of IIm' i>a|His that ya^ • the "reduc- 

 tion'" Ihi' iiiuu''st ycini r!!', iiiiw dci-lai-es 

 tliat •■the iMiil miiu' owiifis (if Illinois 

 ami Jinliana -^till lia\i' the sid't coal sit- 

 uatinii liy t In- tail. ' " 



The Operators' Side. 



Ma\ ■_';• ihr 'rriliunc jirinted an arti- 

 cle shnwiiii;- that .luiic 1, 1!M(), the price 

 of Illinois suit rn;il scrccuiujis at the 

 luiur iiKiiith \\;is fnim SO cents to $1 a 

 ton. It alsd slated that May 2!), 1917, 

 the |>iice of tin; same coal under the 

 same ronditiiins was $li.75 a ton. 



Ja an effort to make a fair statement 

 of the (dian;^cd conditions which justi- 

 lic'd such ;in enormous increase in the 

 piici' of co.-i!, (ieoi->je II. ('ushinii', editor 

 of the F)lack Diamond, orj^aii of the coal 

 mine owners, was .asked to say in what 

 ])articulars and to what extent the cost 

 of jiroducinu coal in the Illinois district 

 had increased. 'I'Ium' lij^ures are as fol 

 lows: 



liii-r.-;i^.'i|c"-t "!' 1mI">i-, ■lin' bp incri'Mscd 



«;,0'^ •^"■•■'" 



Ini-|-i-;i-i-il i;i.-t I.I :iil ininiii:; 111:1 trl'i:iN In 



lln-|-i'a--.-(l 11.^1 c.r ^I'lUiiiiu mill Imii^iii*; mill- 



.•l-> ^ 



•J'iit:il in. r.:i-iil o'-t ]"V l"ll $0.Co 



.\ici |il iiii: tlii-<i' li;^iiri'< ;it their face 

 \;iliir and iitlnT i'\|Mit- --;iy thry art- 



lllUidl ton lilnTal t hi' ill-t i fled |iricr for 



soft coal at the pit mouth .lum' 1, lltlT. 

 was soiiii't hin;: like ^ 1 .-"'i a ton. 



Thr |.iii-r iliiii prr\ ;iirniy was $2.75 a 

 ton, whirh -i\i- an .-nidil imia 1 jirofit 

 of •'rl.L'o .'I ton iivi'i' and almNi' that 

 iraprd li\ till' iniinr^ m I'.Mli. 



When a>lMd ti. explain and to justify. 

 if ]K)Ssilde, thi< •■idditiiiii of .-rl.2ii a ton 

 1,11 top oi' till' ;i I liiw ;i iH-e for inere;i<ed 

 ,.,is1 of |.iiHlurt mil. Ml-. <'ii-hiiij; hesitat 



I'd ,'11111 e\aded. 



' ' Piihal'^ thev did it liei-.-illse t hey 

 thought they i-oiild ■j.r\ the money," it 



\\ ; I S S 11 e o (• V t e 1 1 . 



• ' 1 uui'ss that "> alioiit it. ' ' he replied. 

 Much Coal Is Stored. 



'I'll,, iiiine iipei.'itiii-' were hailed jis 

 p.'itriots for ai;ieeinu to a price ol .*2.i.>. 

 It iiL'n- lie that tin- patrioti'-m was 

 shown li\' their not rai-^-iii'.i- t he ]irices1o 

 still liii;iier ti;^ures, 



\,, ii.iiist h;is lieeii aide to find a 

 |,|;i,.,. whei-i' he eiinid leiy coal .'it prices 



I'edllred ^iliee .luly 1, luit eM'll liefore 



the ronl'creiii-e 111 Washington, eonsum 

 crs of coal were lieiny uryed to lay in 

 ■ at once their -^upjilN- of fuel I'or con 

 sumption nixt winter. To ;i larne ex- 

 (.■iit t hev took that ad\ ice. 



p,.i ha'jis the laij^e^l distriliiitor of coal 

 ill (hicauo report^ th.'it duiiiie .liiiie lie 

 .,,.1uall\ delivered ill Cliicaen nearlv 



three times as jmndi coal to customers 

 as duriiii;- the same month in l!)l(i. The 

 same report is made by other large deal- 

 ers. It is estimated that, on the whole, 

 more th.'in one-tenth id' the total supply 

 needed for consnmjition next winter was 

 put ill the liins in .luiie. 



Public Stops Buying. 



When the famous eoiiference of coal 

 mine owners was held in Wasliiii<;ton it 

 was announced in tlie newspapers that 

 a drop of from $1 to .$.") a ton would fol- 

 low by July 1. That was followed by 

 the vitriolic attack made on the work of 

 tlie conferenct' by Secretary of the 

 Navy Daniels and Secretary of War 

 Baker. J'romptly, also, came an ollicial 

 circular of the Illinois mine owners, 

 ((uoting prices which show no reduction 

 whatever. 



The result has been that, to a lar<;o 

 extent, consumers lia\e stopped buying 

 coal for storage. Dealers complain (juite 

 eenerally that their delivery teams are 

 standing idle in the barns. It is also 

 true that large dealers are not storing 

 coal in their yards. There is an ex- 

 trenndy small supply now on the ground 

 in Chicago. And sonu! of the largest 

 dealers are advising their customers not 

 to I>uy .and store coal at present. They 

 are themselves waiting for the price at 

 the mine mouth to drop. 



STOP MAlSrURE WASTE. 



Farmers ,'ire urged by .\ssistant Sec- 

 retary C.'irl \'rooman, of the United 

 Stati's Department oi' Agriculture, to 

 make e\(>ry effort tn ^avc the \:\si 

 .'iinoimt of \;iliialde iiianiire now ah 



lowed to go to waste in this country. 

 Assistant Secretary \'roomaii estimati* 

 that one-half the manure jiroduced in 

 the United States is not used as a 

 fertili/.er, there being an annual loss 

 of materi.'il worth $1 ,2(KI,(MM), ()()(• — one 

 ;ind one-half times the \;ilue of the 

 country's lltKi whe;it crop. 



"T'liis is not a wild guess,'' he con- 

 tinues, "but a shrewd and conservative 

 estimate based on reliable statistics. It 

 h;is been found that each horse or mule 

 |iroduces aniiuall,\' .$27 worth of ma- 

 nure (as compared with commercial 

 fertilizers); each head of cattle .$20 

 worth; each hog $8 worth. C'llculating 

 from the liUO census tigures for number 

 of animals on farms, the total value of 

 manure ]iroduced is found to be about 

 $2, 4(;i, (100,000. Eecent investigations 

 by the Department of Agriculture indi- 

 cate that .'it least h.alf of this great 

 wealth of fertili/.iag material is sheer 

 waste. In .-<omc good general farming 

 sections not more than lifteen jier cent 

 of the manure ]iroduced is used. Even 

 in the most intensive dai''y regions, 

 where cows are largely stall fed and 

 iom]iaiatively great care taken with 

 the manure, the loss seems to be ap- 

 proximately twenty-live ]ier cent. 



"This great war has brought home 

 to us Americans, as it has never been 

 euijdiasi/.ed before, the fact that we are 

 the world's champion wupMit^.^ Witli- 

 fuit making any comjiariirons, and sub- 

 ject to correction if it can be shown 

 tiiat the facts are otherwise, I dare aver 

 that our $1,000,000,000 m.-inure waste is 

 the world's greatest single economic 

 leak — the jirize waste of the cham]don 

 wiistrels. With commerci.'tl fertilizers 

 scarce, and some of them almost unob- 

 tainable, it would seem well worth our 

 while, in this jnneture, even without 

 any reference to war conditions, to do 

 everything within our power to stem 

 this tide of loss, especially in considera- 

 tion of the fact that stable manure is 

 the best t'oini of fertilizer known." 



IRRIGATION AND BENCHING. 



Too Much Water Harmful. 



Marly in the spring w e prumised to 

 lia\i' something to s;iy .•ilioiit irrig;iting 

 the r.'irnation lield, lia\iiig in mind the 

 need iif ;irtitii'ial w.'itering in case of a 

 rejietition ol' last summer's absence of 



rain. So I'ar this se.'isoii there lia^ 1 n 



amjile r.'iinl'all. at le.'isf in this section, 

 and thele prol>;ibly has been .'ibsollltel v' 

 no need for ailditional waterini^ nf the 

 r.'irnatioii plants. Therefore, unless you 

 .•ilready ]iossess a s]irinkliiig mitlit ,'ind 

 inst.'ilh'd it after the |ilantiug was tin- 

 islied, to be used when necessary, you 

 will jirobaldy not ha\'e ;iny. There are, 

 lio\\e\er, some ot' these systems in 

 stalled and to the owners of tli(>se we 

 w.'Mit to direct .'I few timely remarks. 



There can be no denying the f;ict that 

 a sprinkling system will jirovc; a great 



help ill pi iiilui-ing held grown carnation 

 lilts, if it is used illtelligi'iil 1\ . ( )ii the 

 other h.'iiid, it c.'in jirovc just the ojipn- 

 site, if .'I ]iroper degree ot' judgment is 

 not exercised ill Using it. There is al- 

 ways jireseut .'I great d.'inger of overdo- 

 ing ;i go(^d thing, and espn-i.-illx is it 

 true in this case. 



A ]ileiitifui supply of water usually will 

 resull ill .*i strong growth, and the n.'it- 

 ur;il teiideiiiy is to give the plants all 

 the water thev wiiiit. This |iroli;ibly is 

 the correct thing to do during the 

 nioiiths of May and dune, during wdiicli 

 time the ]>lant is |ir;iit ici liy m.-ide. \ie- 

 Liiiining Avitli the lirst of .Inly, Imwex'cr, 

 the grower must begin to wink the plant 

 into jiroper condition lor lifting rather 

 tli.'in to eiicouiage its growth. That 

 can only be done by v, ithholding the 

 w.'iter and culti\;itiiig the lield, .'ind 

 that is wiiere judgment will come into 

 play. W the ])laiits have had an .abun- 

 dance of Avater, it will not do to allow 

 them to go to the other extreme too 

 ipiickly, or they will begin to tire and 



