'■^r' 



18 



The Florists^ Review 



Febbcabz 20, 1919> 



iv.y^jji'^jji'^jvxv:iy9jv\vii'^Jii^ii)?jji 



BUCKEYE BULL'S-EYES 



A RAKE OPPORTUNITY^ 



At the rate that the national adver- 

 tising is creating potential flower buy- 

 ers, the growing section will have to get 

 busy to supply the goods. True, we are 

 just recovering from a serious inter- 

 ruption in the growing end, but during 

 this time demand was being created 

 apace by the unprecedented use of 

 printers ' ink, making it imperative that 

 production be speeded up. It matters 

 little what kind of flowers is sent to 

 market; they meet with a ready sale at 

 prices making their productipn profit- 

 able. For the first time in the history 

 of the business, nothing is going into the 

 loss column. Better methods of mer- 

 chandising are moving the stock and 

 they are destined effectively to solve 

 the problem of the glutted market. 



Perhaps there never existed a greater 

 incentive for embarking in the business 

 of producing plants and flowers than 

 the present offers. The labor situation 

 has returned to normal and the price of 

 glass, boilers, structural steel and other 

 materials has descended to a level per- 

 mitting extensive use. The crying need 

 of practically every wholesaler in the 

 land is stock, the question of sale, tem- 

 porarily, at least, occupying a secondary 

 place. Of the items of bedding and or- 

 namental plants there are not half 

 enough in course of preparation to take 

 care of spring requirements. The situa- 

 tion in greens is one approaching actual 

 famine, with no immediate relief in 

 sight. The plants from foreign coun- 

 tries to be excluded, or substitutes, must 

 be produced at home. The war proved 

 that the florists' business possesses sta- 

 bility. These and many other factors 

 are potential indications of the exist- 

 ence of excellent opportunities for mak- 

 ing money by producing flowers. 



Mac. 



AN APPRECIATION. 



The writer had heard much of that 

 gifted Philadelphian, Charles H. Grake- 

 low, and looked forward with pleasure 

 to hearing him speak at the recent meet- 

 ing of carnation men in the Sixth City. 

 It was at the banquet, when Toastmas- 

 ter Knoble, with a few appropriate re- 

 marks, introduced the speaker, that a 

 young man arose in his seat at the side 

 of the spacious ballroom and, by his first 

 accents, commanded the undivided at- 

 tention of his audience and demon- 

 strated that he was a master of the 

 spoken word. For fifteen minutes his 

 auditors drank from the springs of his 

 wonderful eloquence as he treated them 

 successively with scintillating flashes of 

 wit and lofty flights of oratorical 

 imagery. His apostrophe to flowers was 

 a prose poem and his glowing tribute to 

 the enterprise of the local Florists' Club 

 was sufficient to inspire every one of its 

 members with nobler purposes and 

 greater aims. Although he spoke so 

 briefly, his words were enough to be- 

 token the man as talented and able, an 

 ornament and a credit to his profession. 



The commercial flower business has 

 been advanced to its present enviable 

 status largely through the untiring ef- 



forts of naen who were graduates of the 

 potting shed; supplementing which, the 

 idealism and vision of men of the type 

 of 'Charles H. Grakelow are required, 

 that its proper ultimate salvation be 

 achieved. Thd influence of such men 

 is dynamic, in that it is impossible to 

 meet them without feeling benefited by 

 the experience and spurred to greater ac- 

 tion. May their tribe increase.' May 

 their example serve to elevate the florist 

 from the pessimism, of the past to a bet- 

 ter conception of the true nobility of his 

 calling, Mac. 



Hand-picking is usually the best meth- 

 od and the one most generally adopted, 

 but an exceedingly light solution' of 

 Paris green, applied through a fine spray 

 to the under side of the leaves where 

 the worms feed, is, as a rule, effective. 

 There may seem to be only a few millers, 

 but if these few are caught in mid- 

 winter, even at the expenditure of time 

 and trouble, it is time well spent, since, 

 as you state, they breed by the thou- 

 sand. 



If cyanide is not successful, we know 

 of nothing else but hand-picking of 

 every part carefully. C. H. T. 



MILLERS ON MUM STOCK. 



Will you please publish an effective 

 remedy for millers which are giving 

 me trouble on the mum stock plants 

 and also on the snapdragons f I have 

 used tobacco smoke, Paris green and 

 strong sulphur on the steam lines, also 

 Nico-fume, regularly, but have not been 

 able to get rid of them so far. The 

 little worms breed by the thousand, 

 when there seem to be only a few of 

 the millers. Information will be appre- 

 ciated. W. S. L.— 111. 



MILLEPEDES IN GREENHOUSES. 



I am sending a few samples of a 

 worm that has infested my greenhouse, 

 which I cannot get rid of. It multi- 

 plies rapidly and, destroys the plants. 

 Will you please tell me what will de- 

 stroy it? J. T. W.— Mich. 



Tobacco dust or Hammond's Slug 

 Shot dusted over the benches, as well 

 as between them, will clear out these 

 pests as effectively as anything I have 

 tried. C. W. 



You say you have used tobacco dust 

 and Paris green, so the only other prop- 

 osition seems to be to use cyanide. In- 

 structions for using cyanide have been 

 given repeatedly in these columns. 



Beacon, N. Y. — As one enters the city 

 of Beacon, from ferry or railroad sta- 

 tion, the first sight that meets the eye 

 is the new sign on the facade of the 

 building of Hammond's Paint & Slug 

 Shot Works, at Hammond's corner. The 

 building has been remodeled and new 

 machinery of the dustless type has been 

 installed, with a capacity of ten tons 

 daaljy. This equipment involves the 

 operation of two new electric power 

 motors. 



Lima, O. — Eggert N. Zetlitz notes a 

 slight falling off in funeral work fol- 

 lowing the long series of "flu" vic- 

 tims. Many fine floral designs were 

 made for the obsequies of a prominent 

 citizen. 



Newark, O.— C. S. Osbom & Son find 

 their seed business steadily increasing, 

 although it has been in existence only 

 ten years. Theirs is a most attractive 

 store, the front of colonial design, sel- 

 dom seen outside of New England. 



Dover, O. — C. Betscher says business 

 has been far ahead of expectations; 

 October, 300 per cent; November, 260 

 per cent; December, 300 per cent, and 

 January will run nearly 300 per cent 

 above normal years, in local business. 



Portsmouth, O. — Articles of incorpora- 

 tion w?re filed January 20 by the Herms 

 Floral Co., with capital stock scheduled 

 at $20,000. Incorporators were named 

 as follows: Catherine M. Herms, Ida 

 M. Herms, Clara L. Herms, Mary E. 

 Herms and George Albert Herms. 



Akron, O. — Hammerschmidt & Clark 

 are well pleased with their venture in 

 taking over the store formerly occupied 

 by the Gilbo Floral Co. They draw 

 upon the greenhouses at Medina, O., 

 and outside sources, and the combina- 

 tion works well. The stock at Medina 

 is in fine shape. 



Sebring, O.— A. J. Eden met with a 

 serious accident January 11, while at- 

 tempting to look after his fires. An 

 explosion of gas which had collected at 

 the rear of the furnace threw him back- 

 ward into the coal pit and burned his 

 face and arms. 



Painesville, O. — Thomas Murphy, who 

 has worked in the trade for thirty 

 years, fourteen of them with Storrs & 

 Harrison Co., started in business here 

 for himself in 1917, growing perennials, 

 pansies and other specialties. He has 

 now worked up considerable stock and 

 is going into the wholesale end of the 

 business. 



Sidney, O. — Henry Ehrhard took up 

 the growing of lettuce in place of closr 

 ing part of his houses last winter and 

 found it so profitable that he is con- 

 tinuing along the same lines this win- 

 ter, growing four crops in the season, 

 with a steady market at 25 cents per 

 pound at retail and 17 cents per pound 

 at wholesale. At no time has the mar- 

 ket been dull. The same soil is used 

 right along, with cow manure or other 

 fertilizer mixed in when planting 

 afresh. Dull weather affects the plants, 

 producing mildew, which may be over- 

 come by dusting with a sulphurous 

 fungicide. The brighter the weather 

 the stronger the crop. 



L 



