10 



The Florists^ Review 



Mabch 6. 1»1» 



whioli form the remainder of this ar- 

 ticle. 



The soil need for the growing of this 

 green in Florida, says Mr. Ohmer, varies 

 greatly, running from a coarse sand 

 with little humus to one of fine sand 

 with a great deal of humus. I believe 

 that a soil about halfway between the 

 two would be the best, all things con- 

 sidered. Of course, it is well to enrich 

 the soil as much as you can. There is 

 nothing to beat manure for this pur- 

 pose, but, as barnyard manure is scarce 

 in Florida, the prepared sheep and cat- 

 tle manures may have to be substituted. 



Building and Planting. 



The slat houses usually are supported 

 on posts spaced from 12x12 feet to as 

 much as 16x16 feet. These are joihed 

 together by heavy boards and ' above 

 them are lighter stringers, to which the 

 laths or slats are nailed. This shedding 

 is now quite expensive to build. Some 

 years ago, when it was used to shade 

 pineapples, it could be erected for about 

 $300 per acre. Just before the war the 

 cost had risen to around $700 and now 

 it would be close to $1,000 per acre. 



The plants usually are set out on the 

 level ground and spaced from 12x12 

 inches to 18x18 inches. It is always 

 necessary to install an irrigation sys- 

 tem, for while we have an annual rain- 

 fall of from four to five feet, most of 

 this comes in a few weeks in the spring 

 and fall, and between times the weather 

 is likely to be pretty dry. One of the 

 overhead systems of irrigation must be 

 used, as it is impossible on our sandy 

 soil to use the flooding system that is 

 sometimes used in California. It is easy 

 to get an abundant supply of good 

 water, either from a nearby lake or 

 from shallow wells. A good pumping 

 plant is essential. However, some of 

 the growers use windmills, supplement- 

 ing these with a small pumping outfit 

 in case of need. The installation of a 

 good irrigation system is also somewhat 

 expensive, especially just now. The 

 cost before the war was upward of $300 

 per acre and now is considerably in 

 excess of that. 



Few of the growers do any stringing, 

 as most of them devote all of their 

 plants to sprays, a fact which would 

 seem to show that the sprays are the 

 more profitable. 



Two Peste That Need Attention. 



The asparagus plant is attacked by 

 a number of diseases and pests. The 

 worst pests are the red spider and the 

 cutworm. It is a case of constant work 

 to keep these down. In dry weather, 

 especially, it is remarkable how quickly 

 the red spiders increase in numbers, do- 

 ing a great deal of damage. The spiders 

 are kept in control by spraying and 

 the cutworms by poisoned baits. 



This plant seems to grow beat in the 

 spring and fall months and least of all 

 during the summer. This is a good 

 thing in reality, as during the summer 

 there is the least demand. Of course, 

 a greater or less number of sprays are 

 coming on at all times of the year, but 

 with the approach of the cooler nights 

 of the fall and winter there is a great 

 improvement, not only in the number of 

 sprays, but also in the quality. 



There are undoubtedly about 150 acres 

 devoted to the culture of this green in 

 Florida, and I should not be surprised 

 if the total went considerably over 

 that. Were it not for the amount of 



capital that must be invested, the acre* 

 age would be a good deal larger. 



Expenses and Possible Betams. 



When you consider the heavy cost of 

 shedding and the fact that the deprecia- 

 tion amounts to .close to twenty per 

 cent per year, you have an idea of one 

 of the heavy items of expense. The 

 labor costs also are away up at present 

 and it requires a large number of men 

 to keep even a moderately good-sized 

 place in condition. With all of these 

 things taken into consideration, it is 

 necessary to average close to $2 per 

 hundred sprays to make a profit suffi- 

 ciently large to compensate for the risks 

 you are taking. 



At present the northern demand ap- 

 pears to be about equal to the supply, 

 and at times there is a surplus, espe- 

 cially in the fall of the year. 'But as the 

 flower business increases in volume 



The Editor is pleased when 

 a Reader presents his ideas 

 on any subject treated in 



As experience is the best 

 teacher, so do we learn 

 fastest by an exchange of 

 experiences. Many valuable 

 points are brought out by 

 discussion. 



Good penmanship, spellinc and 

 grammar, though desirable, are not 

 necessary. Writeasyou would talk 

 when doing your best. 



WE SHALL BE GLAD 

 TO HEAR FROM YOU 



every year, there doubtless will be room 

 for a greater production in the future. 

 Altogether, it is a good business, says 

 Mr. Ohmer in conclusion, and after you 

 have mastered it in its various details 

 and discovered how best to treat your 

 plants and handle your sprays so as to 

 get them to market in the best possible 

 condition, you bid fair to make a satis- 

 factory profit on your investment. But, 

 as in everything else, there are many 

 slips, and only those who give the 

 strictest attention to the small details 

 are likely to succeed. 



BOOSTING 0X7B BUSINESS. 



Florists are becoming great believers 

 in the use of printers' ink. Indeed, sev- 

 eral have established their own monthly 

 or periodical publications, for the ex- 

 ploitation of their stock and service. 

 The latest of these is the Flower and 

 Plant Bulletin just established by the 

 Great Falls Floral Co., Great Falls, 

 Mont. H. L. Birun is the proprietor. 

 The first issue was dated February, 1919. 

 It is a 4-page folder gotten up in daily 

 newspaper style, the pages nearly as 

 large as those of The Review. It is an- 

 nounced that the publication will be dis- 

 tributed bimonthly or oftener, as cir- 

 cumstances justify. 



The publication contains numerous 

 suggestions for the care of plants and 



the use of flowers, but the principal fea- 

 ture of the pioneer issue is an explana- 

 tion of how Great Falls undertakers so- 

 licit and handle orders for funeral flow- 

 ers on a commission basis. It i^ evident 

 that there is no harmony between the 

 Great Falls Floral Co. and the under- 

 takers of that city. There are four flo- 

 rists in Great Falls, all subseribers to 

 The Beview. - i \ 



NOT ENOOEINO AKTBOPT. 



After the protest of the S. A. F. 

 against Quarantine No. 37 had been 

 prepared, the Federal Hortiealtonl 

 Board sent out the statement published 

 in The Beview for February 13. Before 

 presenting the trade's protest to the 

 Secretary of Agriculture March 1 a 

 supplement v/tLB added taking issue with 

 some of the assertions made by Dr. 

 Marlatt. The supplement concludes: 



"Nearly all of the departmental let- 

 ters conclude with the following para- 

 graph: 'The quarantine and regula- 

 tions as finally adopted represent the 

 best judgment of the Department.' 



' ' We admit and admire this straight- 

 forward statement. The Federal Horti- 

 cultural Board certainly used its own 

 judgment. It was prosecutor, jury and 

 judge, and made these regulations re- 

 gardless of the attitude of the trade 

 and regardless of what the possible dis- 

 turbance to the horticultural industry 

 finally would be, or what the enthusias- 

 tic amateur must give up. 



"Finally, we contend that much of the 

 support given to the board has been 

 brought about by an unjust treatment 

 of this subject in information which the 

 entomologists, pathologists and allied 

 scientists give to the general public and 

 laymen. They quote the ravages done 

 by imported pests. They tell them of 

 the European corn borer, the alfalfa 

 weevil, gypsy moth, chestnut blight, 

 pine tree rust, hickory borer and many 

 others, including strictly American as 

 well as foreign pests, but they do not 

 explain how few of these and other 

 pests they name have been brought into 

 the country by horticultural importa- 

 tions and which of them came here in 

 connection with other material or under 

 conditions entirely foreign to the nurs- 

 ery or florists' business. 



"The florists, nurserymen and the 

 public are thus misinformed; they are 

 led to believe, probably unintentionally, 

 that the imports of the nurserymen and 

 the florists are responsible for each and 

 every pest we have, and that by closing 

 the door to these imports further trouble 

 is ended. 



"In a letter sent by Mr. Christie to 

 the Honorable Isaac Bacharach, and by 

 Mr. Palmer to the Honorable Joseph M. 

 Frelinghuysen, which are in reply to cer- 

 tain data given to said representatives 

 by one of their constituents, both Mr. 

 Christie and Mr. Palmer mention the 

 cotton boll weevil as a striking illus- 

 tration of damage by foreign pesta, but 

 they fail to tell these gentlemen that 

 horticultural imports (which was the 

 subject under discussion) were not to 

 blame for the introduction of this pest, 

 but their reference to it, in connection 

 with the subject discussed} conveys to 

 these two gentlemen, as it would to any 

 laymaii, the impression that the impor- 

 tation of plants brought the cotton boll 

 weevil into this country, while the facts 

 are that this pest simply migrated from 

 wild cotton in Mexico across the border 

 into Texas. ' ' 



