Mat 1, 1919. 



The Florists^ Review 



21 



IT'S UP TO YOU. 



Do You Want to Do Your Share? 



Is the average florist a good business 

 man? This is the question I have often 

 lieard discussed — and cussed. Well, it 

 is really hard to say, but there is no 

 doubt that the majority who are good 

 business men have made a success of 

 their venture in the florists' business 

 despite poor conditions and lack of 

 proper organization. And then there 

 are some who will have to be classed as 

 successful because they made money 

 "without the foolish expenditure of 

 money for advertising," or the help of 

 the national organization, or any of the 

 large trade organizations. Such a man 

 is in a class that is known the world over 

 as "selfish," feeling that someone else 

 is spending his time and money and that 

 he will share in the results. By com- 

 parison, we class him just as an Ameri- 

 can does the uneducated and, perhaps, 

 unfortunate, of some of the trouble- 

 burdened countries for which America 

 went into the war, with the hope to some 

 day take him by the hand and say, * * My 

 friend, my work has not been in vain, 

 for now you see the light. ' ' 



For the General Welfare. 



How few of the craft know of or care 

 for the great work done in their behalf 

 in protecting them from bad legislation, 

 or from fraud through lack of knowl- 

 edge, or from losses they would have 

 sustained without that knowledge! 

 There are those who do untiring work 

 for the benefit of all in the trade and 

 who ask as their reward only results. 

 So when you are asked for your just 

 share of expense as a contribution to- 

 ward the national publicity campaign, 

 you are enjoying a distinct privilege. 



The slogan, "Say It with Flowers," 

 is given you to use without question. 

 Are you so ungrateful or short-sighted 

 as not to see what it all means to you? 

 The moneys contributed are used mostly 

 in national magazine advertising con- 

 tracts. In order to secure space in the 

 leading publications, orders must be 

 given two or three months in advance 

 of publication, which means if we are to 

 spend money for the starting of a vigor- 

 ous campaign when the late summer and 

 fall crops are in, we must have assurance 

 that we can meet our obligations, that's 

 all. 



That 's the story. Now it is up to the 

 trade, to all concerned in every branch 

 of our industry. Let's hear from you. 

 George Asmus, 



Chairman of Finance Committee, 

 S. A. F. Publicity Campaign. 



PITTSBURGH, PA. 



The Market. 



Following actual summer heat and a 

 severe electrical storm, the mercury 

 dropped to the freezing point the morn- 

 ing of April 18. It goes without say- 

 ing that much anxiety is felt regarding 

 the possible results of the frost. 



Now that Easter is over and the flo- 

 rists have had time to size the situation 

 up, there seems to exist the unanimous 

 opinion that the holiday trade was, in 

 the words of many florists, "phenom- 

 enal^bsolutely the best ever experi- 

 enced." With the exception of carna- 

 tions, there was a suflieiency of prac- 

 tically all varieties of cut flowers. Con- 

 trary to expectations, greens were fairly 

 plentiful. Asparagus plumosus ran from 



$30 to $50 per hundred bunches; Spren- 

 geri, $40 to $60, and Massachusetts 

 ferns of fine quality $5 per thousand. 

 Eoses averaged from $8 to $40 per hun- 

 dred, with American Beauties from $10 

 to $75. Lilies were $35 and sweet peas 

 $1 to $2.50, though a few sold wholesale 

 at $3. The season being so late, violets 

 were poor and scarce. 



Vaiious Notes. 



The regular meeting of the Pitts- 

 burgh Florists' and Gardeners' Club, 

 scheduled for the evening of May 6, 

 has been postponed to the following 

 evening. The change was made to suit 

 the convenience of Dr. Otto E. Jen- 

 nings, the principal speaker of the ses- 

 sion, who is delivering a series of lec- 

 tures on agricultural botany at the Uni- 

 versity of Pittsburgh. Dr. Jennings, 

 who is curator of the Carnegie museum, 

 has chosen for his subject at the florists ' 

 club meeting, "How Plants Came to Be 

 on Earth," to be illustrated with stere- 

 opticon views. The meeting will be 

 open to the public. 



Howard E. Andrews is at Camp 

 Devens, near Ayer, Mass., following his 

 return from overseas, where he served 

 with the Signal Corps in the Twenty- 

 fifth Division. He is expected to re- 

 sume his work in the landscape depart- 

 ment of the A. W. Smith Co. within a 

 short time. Director John B. Strayer, 

 of the Smith company, has just complet- 

 ed a planting for the Jones & Laughlin 

 Steel Co., and has closed a contract to 



rearrange the old grounds and lay out a 

 new cemetery in Massillon, O. 



M. Crest is proprietor and A. Linden- 

 berg is manager of the new Diamond 

 Flower Shop, on Diamond street, next 

 the Harris theater, which operated un- 

 der the name of C. H. Savage & Co. 

 This is Mr. Crest's first experience in 

 the flower business. Mr. Lindenberg has 

 seen service with both the Victoria 

 Flower Shop and the William Penn ho- 

 tel flower shop, having been employed 

 at^ the latter for a time by E. S. James. 



Arthur James, a brother of E. S. 

 James, is making a success of his work 

 at Oneco, Fla., where he went into the 

 growing end last fall. His crop includes 

 greens and castor beans, the latter for 

 the government. Recently he sent north 

 a fine consignment of ferns and other 

 plants. 



Miss H. Eleanor Sutton and Miss Bes- 

 sie Hazen have been added to«the sales 

 force of the A. W. Smith Co. Miss 

 Elizabeth Curry is a new assistant in 

 the artificial flower department and 

 Mrs. C. Ripple is new in the packing 

 room. 



The sales staff of the Alpha Flower 

 Co. has been increased by the addition 

 of Miss Lillian Marchand and Thomas 

 J. Georgitos, both new at the game. 

 Samuel Cinkart, formerly with Harris 

 Bros., is a new chauffeur with the Alpha 

 company. 



Isaac Bayersdorfer, of Philadelphia, 

 was a recent visitor here. E. E. S. 



GERANIUM DISEASE. 



My experience of thirty-five years 

 growing geraniums has been varied. 

 This spring I had 3,000 plants that 

 turned yellow. I sprayed with Bor- 

 deaux mixture. Every leaf came off. 

 Then I began to soak the plants, and 

 kept at it. Now they are as fine plants 

 as one ever saw. What caused the leaves 

 to turn was because they were too dry. 

 I shall never try them dry again, except 

 the tops. I water the pots, not the tops. 

 Try it, and give them plenty of air. 

 You will have plants. J. F. Sked. 



or single flowers pressed before ship- 

 ment are much the best, as the size of 

 the florets and the color are more read- 

 ily recognizable. C. W. 



GERANIUMS FOR NAMES. 



I am sending two specimen leaves 

 and blooms, marked No. 1 and No. 2. 

 These plants were bought for Helen 

 Michell geraniums. I have recently 

 bought two different orders of Helen 

 Michell from different florists. The 

 last two are the same, so I judge they 

 are the true Helen Michell. Can you 

 tell me what No. 1 and No. 2 are? 



H. J. P.— O. 



FOLIAGE BURNED OR DISEASED. 



We are sending some geranium leaves 

 with spots on them. Only a few plants 

 are so affected. Can you tell us what 

 is the trouble? We also are sending 

 leaves from pelargoniums and primroses 

 which seem to be affected in the same 

 way, as they become spotted and rot. 

 The primroses were bought last summer 

 and were seemingly healthy. We potted 

 them in 2V2-inch pots and placed them 

 in coldframes. Later some of the plants 

 in one of the frames were attacked by 

 this trouble, which kept spreading until 

 it finally ruined the plants. Can you tell 

 us a remedy for this disease? 



R. & S.— O. 



I regret that the flowers when re- 

 ceived were beyond identification. Ge- 

 ranium flowers are hard to ship long 

 distances and, even when packed in 

 damp moss, seldom arrive in a condi- 

 tion to make naming possible. Trusses 



The geranium leaves had every ap- 

 pearance of having been sun-scalded. 

 This is usually due to defective glass. 

 The sun's rays, focused on the leaves 

 through such glass, are liable to cause 

 scalding, especially when the foliage is 

 damp. 



Primula obconica and malacoides, es- 

 pecially the former, are subject to a leaf 

 disease, particularly if kept in a house 



