16 



The Florists' Review 



OCTOBBB 23, 1017. 



EINQ'S COiaNG BACK. 



Pretty nearly everyone in the trade 

 knows what happened' to A. D. King, 

 of Mattoon, 111. May 26 his place of 

 about 50,000 feet of glass was struck by 

 the big cyclone which swept across the 

 state and what was left of it really was 

 worse than if there had been noth- 

 ing; if the ground had been clear, in- 

 stead of encumbered with wreckage, it 

 Mould have been easier to start rebuild- 

 ing. Mr. King was put in the hospital 

 by the blow and it was some time be- 

 fore he was in condition to undertake 

 rebuilding. Many members of the trade 

 came to his assistance with donations of 

 stock and in the course of time he got 

 his courage back, with the result tliat he 

 started in to reestablish himself; it 

 seemed a pity to let a storm wipe out 

 so good a business. 



Today Mr. King is in position to 



take care of his trade in the good old 

 way, for seven new houses are being 

 completed for him by the John C. 

 Moninger Co., Chicago. Some of these 

 already are planted. It was the same 

 as starting a new establishment and it 

 has been done on modern lines. The 

 houses are 28x125 and the contract in- 

 cluded, besides the material and erec- 

 tion, the installation of a central heat- 

 ing plant to replace the antiquated sys- 

 tem of several separate boiler plants 

 that had been added from time to time 

 as the original establishment had been 

 added to. 



The accompanying illustration will be 

 of interest to many florists who have 

 sympathized with Mr. King and who 

 feel a personal acquaintance with him 

 through their eflfort to help him; it 

 shows that indomitable gentleman in 

 his working uniform; he is much too 

 old for khaki. 



CLEAR ACROSS THE CONTINENT. 



A florist from the Pacific coast 

 dropped in at a widely known Boston 

 store the other day and, imagine his 

 surprise, found them busy opening a 

 shipment of chrysanthemums from Cal- 

 ifornia! Clear across the continent! 



His interest being aroused, the trav- 

 eler began to make inquiries. He found 

 that the wholesalers as a class do not 

 eare to handle the California stock, be- 

 cause in a sense it competes with that 

 of home growers whose all-the-year- 

 around shipments must be considered, 

 but he found tliat retailers in many 

 cities Avhere there are wholesale houses, 

 Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, 

 Chicago, are obtaining mums direct 

 from the growers or shippers on the 

 <"oast. He was told that it is not a 

 <luestion of cost, but one of supply and 

 of quality. Mums are ready on the 

 <2oast before they are in any other large 

 ]>roducing district; in early October 

 they may be had in quantity and of ex- 

 <-ellent quality. Tlie price is low. but 

 the expressage is high enougli to make 

 the saving no special object. Waste 

 formerly was an important item, but 

 for those on the routes of the through 

 refrigerator cars two of the express 

 companies now run tlie matter of waste 

 has been eliminated; so far this season 

 the flowers have come through in good 

 shape, opening up a little soft but hard- 

 (Miing uj) nicely if a piece of stem is 

 broken off and the flowers left over 

 night in a cool basement. 



To the investigator the thought oc- 

 curred and lie asked in several cities, 

 "What is the effect on the local 

 mums?" The reply was that the Cali- 

 fornia stock has been available each 

 year before the local flowers were ready, 

 with the result that the local cut came 

 on a market in which the demand was 

 reduced by the fact that some of the 

 principal buyers had regular supplies 

 from outside. Tlie effect was not en- 

 couraging to the growers, who more and 

 more each year discarded the early va- 

 rieties and planted only those that come 

 in after the height of the season on the 



coast lias passed. This is virtually an 

 abandonment of the market in the early 

 part of the season, in certain cities, to 

 the Pacific coast shippers. 



Visiting a number of small cities and 

 towns on his route, the traveler from 

 the coast found that California mums 

 had not yet penetrated, and probably 

 never will. In such places dependence 

 is put on flowers cut in the seller's own 

 greenhouses, with an occasional special 

 order filled by ordering from Chicago or 

 some other wholesale market. It seemed 

 to the traveler that Chicago serves the 

 regular and transient needs of a large 

 part of the country, with Philadelphia 

 earing for a considerable section and 

 Boston supplying New England. Whole- 

 saling in other cities he found to be 

 largely local. 



MUMS PLANTED TOO LATE. 



In previous years I have planted or 

 benched Chrysolora mums about June 



1, and the blooms have .been good. This 

 year, however, I put them in July 12, 

 and at present they are all in bud and 

 extremely short-stemmed. Should I 

 blame the short stems on the late plant- 

 ing, or are there other reasons for this 

 condition? S. L. L.— la. 



Most likely the reason why Chryso- 

 lora is short-stemmed is because the 

 plants were set out too late. Naturally, 

 Chrysolora should be throwing buds 

 at this time, but the chrysanthemum, 

 in common with any other plant, must 

 have a season of growth, and if plants 

 are set out some six weeks later than 

 usual you cannot expect the same re- 

 sults in growth or length of stem. 



Ghas. H. Totty. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



Annual Meeting at Cleveland. 



The annual meeting of the Chrysan- 

 themum Society of America will be held 

 at Grays Armory, Cleveland, November 

 8, at 8 p. m., the first day of the Cleve- 

 land show. 



Work of Chicago Committee. 



The Chicago examining committee of 



the C. S. A. has submitted a report on 



the following new variety: 



At Chicngo, October 15, Idolpli, light pink • 

 pompon, submitted by Elmer D. Smith & Co., 

 Adrian, Mich., scored as follows on tlie com- 

 mercial scale: Color, 36; form. 18; stem and 

 foliage, IS, fullness, 18; total, 90. 



Chas. W. Johnson, Sec'y. 



MUMS NEED FERTILIZER. 



I am sending you some chrysanthe- 

 mum plants that seem to be in a weak- 

 ened condition, and I would like to 

 kno\y if this trouble is due to some- 

 thing faulty in my culture of the plants. 



S. L. L.— la. 



The plants submitted apparently 

 were in a healthy condition and did 

 not show any signs of trouble, except 

 possibly lack of nutrition. I suggest 

 that you use one-quarter decomposed 

 cow manure with your soil at plant- 

 ing time; then I do not think you will 

 have any further trouble. The thing 

 to do at this time, since the stock is 



A. D. King and the Greenhouses Hn is Building at Mattoon, IlL 



