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BARS ON OUR USE OF 



COAL NEARLY DOWN 



Because of an oversupply in bituminous and the steam size of anthra- 

 cite coal, the United States Fuel Administration has decreed that florists may 

 burn all the coal they want where there is a surplus. The decision rests with 

 the State Administrators, who should be consulted. 



i lECAUSE of an unexpected 



B surplus of certain kinds of 

 coal, the United States 

 Fuel Administration last 

 week let the bars to flo- 

 fc » ^ rists nearly down; we may 

 a) v.^^.^^ burn all we need of bitumi- 

 Xja^'Tj ^ nous coal, all sizes; all the 

 'I steam anthracite, or buck- 

 wheat, and coke breeze. 

 Through an order issued October 26 to 

 the State Fuel Administrators by H. A. 

 Garfield, U. S. Fuel Administrator, flo- 

 rists are to be allowed to buy and burn 

 any of the classes of fuel mentioned, 

 provided, of course, there is a local sup- 

 ply in excess of the needs of the indus- 

 tries on the priority list of the U. S. War 

 Industries Board. 



That there is such an excess in all the 

 states wherein bituminous coal mines 

 are located is the statement of the State 

 Fuel Administrators. In its campaign 

 to speed up production so that there 

 would not be another coal famine in the 

 United States this winter, the Fuel Ad- 

 ministration, through the cooperation of 

 the mine operators and miners, appears 

 to have overshot the mark. 

 ' ' We are millions of tons 

 of bituminous coal ahead of 

 consumption," was stated 

 November 1 at the office of 

 the State Fuel Administra- 

 tor for Illinois. 



Consequently there is no 

 doubt that florists in Ohio, 

 Illinois, Indiana and the 

 other middle western states 

 can have all the coal they 

 want. 



Comes Bather Late. 



In many cases undoubted- 

 ly this change in the order 

 of the Fuel Administration 

 will not be of much benefit 

 to the owners of greenhouse 

 ranges. Many of them have 

 so made their plans that 

 the permission to use a 100 

 per cent supply of coal 

 comes too late; houses are 

 empty, or even torn down. 

 There are many others, 

 however, who have gone on 

 the assumption that a way 

 would be found to operate 

 their establishments at ca- 

 pacity, and they are win- 

 ners. No small number of 

 the latter optimists have in 

 the bins their full season's 

 supply. 



To these the latest order 

 means that they can use the 

 coal they bought on specu- 



lation, without the danger of being 

 branded as disloyal through having to 

 make an involuntary contribution to the 

 Red Cross. 



While the order, which is given in full 

 on this page, was not issued at Wash- 

 ington until October 26, it was not unex- 

 pected, as during the last several weeks, 

 as reported in The Review, the larger 

 greenhouse owners in Chicago have been 

 besieged by coal salesmen to place orders 

 for prepared sizes of bituminous, or the 

 mine-run coal of prewar days. 



Plenty of Coal Now. 



Some were doubtful about permission 

 to burn this coal after they had pur- 

 chased it, while others have been buying 

 steadily on the theory that if coal was 

 going begging they might just as well 

 have it. 



Apparently the latest order of the 

 Fuel Administration will bring most re- 

 lief to the trade east of Indiana, all in 

 Indiana, Illinois and west of the Mis- 

 sissippi having previously been granted 

 the right to use screenings. Because of 

 their geographical location and the fact 

 that the coal mines of the country had 



been placed in zones,, which did not allow 

 shipments of coal from one section to 

 another, the greenhouse owners along 

 the Atlantic seaboard have had some 

 difficulty in securing even the fifty per 

 cent of their normal coal consumption 

 allowed by the order of the Fuel Ad- 

 ministration issued last April. 



The inclusion in this latest order of 

 "steam anthracite," which is the buck- 

 wheat the eastern growers have been 

 using for years, as was stated in The 

 Review's Philadelphia letter last week, 

 undoubtedly means that this class of 

 coal, too, is plentiful and that this 

 method has' been taken to relieve the 

 market of the surplus. 



If it were not a «iatter of transpor- 

 tation, the surplus of bituminous coal in 

 the middle western states would be 

 grabbed by the eastern florists, many of 

 whom have not been able up to a few 

 weeks ago to get deliveries on the coal 

 they had ordered. The situation is saved 

 for growers in Ohio if they are planted 

 up or have means of planting the houses 

 now being vacated by mums. 



In The Review for October 31 there 

 was printed a statement from Dr. Gar- 

 field assuring the people of 

 the country that the situa- 

 tion is so well in hand that 

 there will be no fuel famine 

 this winter. The order al- 

 lowing florists to burn 100 

 per cent of their fuel re- 

 quirements, wherever there 

 is a surplus, followed close 

 on the heels of this an- 

 nouncement. 



Helps Optimists. 



That the order has come 

 too late to help most of the 

 large growers of plants and 

 cut flowers seems probable. 

 Recent reports from various 

 parts of the country have 

 been telling of this concern 

 which has sold its valuable 

 collection of plants and has 

 prepared to close half its 

 range in order to comply 

 with the Fuel Administra- 

 tion's order, or of that one 

 which will close the houses 

 now filled with mums as 

 soon as the crop is cut. 



About the only ones who 

 will profit by the order are 

 those optimistic persons who 

 were confident that some- 

 thing would turn up to re- 

 lieve the situation and who 

 planted their places as 

 though there had been no 

 restriction order. These are 



