20 



■t; 



The Florists' Review 



Adgcst 30, 1917. 



cast of the Mississippi, including Min- 

 nesota, and the other west of the Missis- 

 sippi. The reports of the Florists' Hail 

 Association, for the years ending 1914- 

 1915, and 1916, show that the risk is 

 several times greater in the west than 

 in the east, and our first assessments 

 are based on these reports. These re- 

 ports also show that single strength 

 glass is more than twice as ^isky as 

 double; hence the higher rates. 



The by-laws provide that if condi- 

 tions should change, and the risk be- 

 come less in the west and greater in 

 the east, the rates will be adjusted. 

 The object will be, as far as possible, 

 to do justice to florists in all parts of 

 the country. The proposed by-laws pro- 

 vide that no loss less than one-half of 

 one per cent shall be paid. This is to 

 eliminate the adjustment of small, 

 pettj' losses, as the object of the asso- 

 ciation should be to protect against 

 losses that will materially affect the 

 insured. 



Hills Not a Protection? 



The protection against snow we had 

 to eliminate, as the insurance laws of 

 Indiana do not provide for this; but 

 when the legislature meets, we have no 

 doubt we can have a law passed that 

 will permit us to include insurance of 

 that kind. It may interest you to know 

 that a great many of those to whom our 

 postcards were sent and who replied 

 that they were not interested in wind 



storm insurance, gave as a reason that 

 they never had wind storms severe 

 enough to damage. Others said they 

 were protected by hills. New Albany is 

 protected by hills on the southwest, 

 west and northwest. The cyclone that 

 struck us came right down the side of 

 the highest hill, cutting down trees and 

 everything else in its path. We had a 

 pet theory that the hills would protect 

 us, but we have had to change our 

 minds. 



The state board of Indiana will act as 

 trustee until a sufficient number have 

 joined to incorporate; at such time a 

 membership meeting will be held and 

 twelve trustees elected, the trustees to 

 be selected from all over the country. 

 The business will then be turned over 

 to them and the Indiana florists' societj' 

 reimbursed only for money actually 

 paid out. The work of the committee 

 is done absolutely free of charge and 

 we shall feel well repaid if we are in- 

 strumental in helping to start a move- 

 ment that should prove a protection to 

 the florists and greenhousemen of the 

 United States; that will make it pos- 

 sible, by a reasonable outlay of money, 

 to secure a man from losing, in a few 

 seconds, what it often has taken a life- 

 time to accumulate. 



[The convention authorized the ap- 

 pointment of a special and independent 

 committee to investigate the Indiana 

 plans and give the official indorsement 

 of the S. A. F. if found worthy.— Ed.] 



^ m^^i^itAmm^iMiMiii.m^iy^iti^iiujj^ 



Mr AMERICA VS. EUROPE 



nr 



THE question of importation of 

 plants from foreign countries to 

 supply the florists' trade of America 

 has become of paramount importance, 

 and the nursery and florists' interests 

 must consider whether they will con- 

 tinue to import such foreign material, 

 which may be considered necessary to 

 the carrying out of the business, or co- 

 operate in growing their own suj)ply at 

 home. 



In many cases the best tliat can l»e 

 said of a large percentage of the im- 

 ported material is that tlie American 

 florist*gets plants in an inferior condi- 

 tion somewhat cheaper than a better 

 class of the same stock could be pro- 

 duced at liome, liut, having ])ei'ome ac- 

 customed to purchasing this foreign 

 stock, he lias fallen into the erroneous 

 belief that stock of this cliaracter can- 

 iTot be produced in this country and 

 there is nothing else for him to do. 



The reasons why the American florists' 

 and nursery trades should grow the 

 greatest bulk of the material which they 

 now import are many. The sooner the 

 nurserymen and plant growers of Amer- 

 ica awaken to the possibilities of their 

 own country for producing the needed 

 stock, the better. The rose growers 

 of California have long produced their 

 own stocks for budding, and certain 

 California nurseries have long grown 

 their own Mariana and Mazzard stocks. 

 No nurseryman would think of import- 

 ing peach stocks for budding, instead 

 of planting Carolina pits and growing 



The report of Cliarl«-.s Willis Ward, cliairman 

 of the 8. A. V. comniittpo on development of 

 American products, prt-parfd for the New York 

 oonyention. 



them himself. Carnations originally 

 came from Europe, but who would look 

 to I^urope today for a stock of carna- 

 tion plants to be grown in America? 

 The grapes now grown in California 

 originally came from France or Spain, 

 but what California vineyardist would 

 go to France or Spain to stock liis vine- 

 yards now? As it is with these things 

 toda\, so may it be with many things 

 in the near future, or whenever Amer- 

 ican energy and capital, coupled with 

 cultural skill, set out to produce them. 

 U. S. Can Supply Own Needs. 



Someone has said the old argument is 

 always advanced that in this land of 

 ours anything can be produced that is 

 jii educed elsewhere, and while admit- 

 ting the saying is applicable to manu- 

 factured articles, it has been denied 

 ihat it is applicable to the products of 

 nature; that nature drops her favors in 

 widely scattered localities, not always 

 within the borders of our own countries. 

 In reply to such statements the asser- 

 tion may well be risked that there are 

 not a dozen articles necessary to the 

 florists' or nursery trade of the United 

 States imported today tliat cannot be 

 produced somewhere in this country 

 under climatic and soil conditions 

 which are more favorable than the con- 

 ditions often existing in most of the 

 localities where the imported stock is 

 produced. 



As an example, Belgian azaleas used 

 for forcing are now being grown by 

 hundreds of thousands at Eureka, Cal. 

 The plants not only make better and 

 stronger growth, and larger plants can 

 be produced in a shorter grow- 



ing period than in Belgium, but' 

 the plants finish their budding a 

 month earlier, are more uniformly 

 budded and the buds are thor- 

 oughly ripe before the shipping season 

 commences, so that when the stock is 

 delivered to the American forcer it will 

 bo of better quality than Belgian-grown 

 stock, and in the process of delivery 

 will not be exposed to the damage in 

 transit which frequently occurs with 

 Belgian azaleas shipped across the 

 ocean. 



Again, taking all of the nursery stock 

 that is imported from Holland and 

 France, there are not many items pro- 

 duced by the Holland growers, or by 

 the French nurserymen, which cannot 

 be produced of superior quality in a 

 large area of country, comprising the 

 bulk of the Humboldt county, Cal., 

 coast line and continuing northward to 

 the British Columbia line. Hundreds 

 of thousands of boxwoods, heretofore 

 exclusively Holland products, can be 

 seen in all stages of growth in northern 

 California, and the same is true of hol- 

 lies, broad-leaved evergreens, rhododen- 

 drons and all of the coniferous ever- 

 greens. The hardy azaleas, which have 

 been heretofore almost exclusively im- 

 ported from Holland and Japan, are 

 now being grown in the same lavish 

 quantities in northern California. 

 Bulb Production. 



Take the question of hyacinth, tulip, 

 narcissus and other bulbs, commonly 

 known as Dutch bulbs. There are mil- 

 lions of these bulbs now growing along 

 the Pacific coast at various points from 

 Santa Cruz northward to Vancouver, 

 B. C, and in the vicinity of Norfolk, 

 Va. Here, again, may be found locali- 

 ties where the climatic and soil condi- 

 tions are far superior to the conditions 

 in which these bulbs are grown in any 

 part of Europe. In Holland, in spite 

 of the conditions that are decidedly 

 unfavorable for the culture of these 

 bulbs when compared with the condi- 

 tions in the Pacific coast bulb district, 

 the Hollanders have, through sheer de- 

 votion ,to their business, and stubbornly 

 and laboriously giving the culture of 

 these bulbs their undivided attention, 

 and also through shrewd ability to ad- 

 vertise and sell their goods, enjoyed a 

 ])ractical monopoly of what is known 

 as Dutch bulb growing, simply because 

 no one else in any other part of the 

 world has thought it worth while to 

 delve deeply into commercial bulb cul- 

 ture, and give it the necessary atten- 

 tion to make a success of it. 



In the Eureka bulb district lilies grow 

 luxuriantly and, when left alone, in- 

 crease from year to year until enormous 

 clumps that bloom annually are the 

 result. Gladiolus bulbs which were 

 planted three years ago turned out 

 clumps of from ninety to 110 salable 

 bulbs to the clump. These bulbs had 

 not been cultivated and were sur- 

 rounded by a thick growth of grass. 

 The same was found to be true of all 

 Aarieties of narcissi, and in some in- 

 stances clumps of hyacinths were dis- 

 covered which had been blooming in 

 the same position for several years. 

 Examination of these clumps showed 

 large, vigorous, solid bulbs in perfect 

 health, with not a sign of disease of 

 any kind. 



Now, it seems that this will ulti- 

 mately prove to be the true solution of 

 the question of providing the necessary 

 stock to carry on the florists' and nurs- 

 [("•mtlnned on page 40.] 



