N«TaMBBE 21, 1918. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



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DOINGS IN DIXIE 



THE STSENUOUS UFE. 



D. C. Horgan, of the Idle Hour Nurs- 

 eries, Macon, Ga., has not had a chance 

 to put in an "idle hour" for many a 

 moon and the prospect is not promising 

 for an early surcease of activities. Mr. 

 Horgan made a record as a member of 

 the executive committee of the United 

 War Work Campaign of Bibb county, 

 an organization which set to work to 

 "improve each shining hour" from the 

 day it first undertook the patriotic 

 duties it has discharged with such signal 

 success. An account of the going over 

 the top in the Fourth Liberty Loan 

 drive of the city of Macon and the 

 county of Bibb and Mr. Horgan 's par- 

 ticipation therein appeared in a recent 

 issue of The Eeview. Business is rush- 

 ing, meanwhile, at the Idle Hour Nurs- 

 eries, to the extent that it taxes the 

 working force of that busy establish- 

 ment to the limit. 



TICKLING TULSA. 



Ifaxwell & Co. had their first annual 

 chrysanthemum show November 9, and 

 it was a great success. A page adver- 

 tisement m a morning newspaper an- 

 nounced the exhibition, which was open 

 from noon until 10 p. m. There were 

 more than 2,000 mums of a number of 

 varieties, all produced at the Maxwell 

 greenhouses, and the crowds that filled 

 the store were, as one enthusiastic 

 woman expressed it, "tickled pink." 

 The following day, Sunday, the flowers 

 were placed on sale and cleaned up 

 nicely. "Our sale netted us several 

 hundreds of dollars and, besides, was a 

 big boost for the business in general," 

 reports Lloyd Maxwell. 



The advertisement that announced 

 the exhibition and sale was an attract- 

 ive one. At the top, bottom and one 

 side there were borders of flowers drawn 

 in pen and ink, while the artist had 

 sketched in scenes depicting the various 

 uses of flowers. 



The store of Maxwell & Co. is located 

 at 816 North Elmwood avenue and is 

 conducted by Lloyd Maxwell. The other 

 member of the firm is John Maxwell, 

 who now is in the government service. 

 Both have had a long experience in the 

 flower business and started a number of 

 years ago the greenhouse establishment 

 at Alva, which is now conducted by 

 their father. 



Recently the Maxwell brothers pur- 

 chased a 40-acre tract of land and now 

 that the restrictions on building have 

 been removed by the War Industries 

 Board will undoubtedly soon make good 

 their announced intention of building 

 a range of 50,000 feet of glass. 



BIBMINOHAM, ALA. 



The florists of Birminghan; had their 

 difficulties in September, but October 

 business was immense. With the war 

 clouds past and the sky clear, the pros- 

 pect in all respects is improved and 

 all are rejoicing. 



Theo. Smith, of the Hillman Flower 

 Shop, reports the finest business on 

 record for the month of October and 



he says November is better still. He 

 has secured the services of Miss Ethel 

 Johnson, of New York. 



A. J. Koenig does a rushing business, 

 but finds time to go fishing once a week. 



The G. B. McVay & Sons Seed Co. has 

 all it can do with funeral and wedding 

 work. 



J. L. Parker is selling quantities of 

 mums. T. S. 



KNOXVILLE, TENN. 



The Market. 



We have been having an unusual fall, 

 beautiful, sunny days, with crisp, clear 

 nights. The fine weather certainly has 

 effected a big saving in coal, as most 

 of the local florists have burned little 

 fuel this fall, and, unless we have severe 

 weather later on, our fifty per cent 

 quota of coal will be equal to at least 

 seventy-five per cent, as last October 

 and November we had severe weather. 

 Practically all bulbs have arrived and 

 are finding ready sale. Chrysanthe- 

 mums are plentiful and the price has 

 declined to some extent, the best va- 

 rieties selling for $5 per dozen. Carna- 

 tions are improving and clear daily at 

 $1.50 per dozen. Roses are off crop and 

 the demand is much greater than the 

 supply. All the growers expect to bring 

 in a bumper crop for Christmas. 



Immortelle and Atlas wreaths ap- 

 propriate for the holidays are being 

 shown and are beginning to sell readily. 

 Glass oak covers that have been used 

 extensively by the florists in connec- 

 tion with the immortelle wreaths are 

 scarce this year, there being less than 

 three dozen in the city. In the past 

 the trade demand has been for from 

 100 to 200. 



Knoxville did herself proud in the 

 huge demonstration November 11, cele- 

 brating the signing of the armistice. 

 Stores were closed all day. 



Various Notes. 



A. H. Dailey has an attractive win- 

 dow featuring pictures of the Allied 

 commanders and President Wilson, with 

 a display of pompon chrysanthemums 

 both in pots and cut. 



A. J. McNutt has been busy, clean- 

 ing up almost every day. On account 

 of the shortage of help, he has been 

 forced to do part of the firing at his 

 greenhouses. 



C. S. Custer reports business good, 

 with a shortage of stock. 



Baum's Home of Flowers, Inc., has 

 been busy for the last few days, but 

 there was enough stock to go around. 

 This firm has been handicapped on ac- 

 count of sickness in its force, the fol- 

 lowing having been away from a week 

 to ten days: K. P. Baum, G. W. Ches- 

 ney. Miss Mae Cartwright, Miss Lucy 

 Manly, Mrs. Maud O'Neal. Charles L. 

 Baum has been suffering with rheuma- 

 tism, but has kept up. Newton Ster- 

 ling, for fourteen years superintendent 

 of Crouch's greenhouses, has charge of 

 the rose range at Baum's. He promises 

 to show something good for Christmas. 

 C. L. Canup, who has had charge of the 



carnation range for the last seventeen 

 years, has the finest crops on record, 

 with reduced help, which speaks well 

 for his management. 



Baum 's has just finished sowing twen- 

 ty acres of wheat. 



C. W. Henderson & Co., the W. W. 

 Scarbrough Co., the J. S. Sample Co., 

 D. R. Mayo and Kaiser Bros., local seeds- 

 men, report the largest sale of fall seeds 

 in the history of the business, especially 

 wheat. 



Robert Shoch, representing the M. 

 Rice Co., Philadelphia, was a visitor 

 November 9 and 10. He reports busi- 

 ness the best on record. In fact, Mr. 

 Shoch sold up a great many items until 

 January 1. Reports such as this show 

 that the florists' business as a whole is 

 prosperous. K. P. B. 



IN FOBT SMITH, ABK. 



"Flu" Hits and Helps George S^e. 



The "flu" hit this part of the coun- 

 try in the early part of October and 

 the average number of deaths up to the 

 present time was six a day. Flowers 

 were few and far between. Moreover, 

 such as could be obtained sold for the 

 highest prices ever known, except for 

 Christmas sales. The northern njar- 

 kets were unable to supply the demand 

 here and ferns were unobtainable. I 

 was ill from October 14 to October 30 

 with the "flu" and my wife ran the 

 business. My book account was the 

 largest I ever had in the business; even 

 went beyond Christmas business. The 

 other florists in town had all the busi- 

 ness they could do and more. The crop 

 of mums was late. There was no frost 

 here until October 31, but the summer 

 was so hot that the mums were not up 

 to standard. Never in the history of 

 the florists' business have such prices 

 been obtained for funeral work, and 

 never before has such a large amount 

 of stock been used for this purpose. 



The prospects for the winter are not 

 so bright as could be wished, for the 

 simple reason that northern market 

 prices are so high that, outside of funeral 

 work, the demand will not be so great as 

 formerly. 



Business for the last two months has 

 been the best ever known in the history 

 of the flower business, but, as stated, 

 there was great difficulty on account or 

 the shortage in the northern markets, 

 upon which we depend for stock. Be- 

 sides, the northern people would not 

 wire back or let us know they could not 

 fill orders, and their failure to do so 

 got us into trouble. 



But, all such difficulties aside, this has 

 been the greatest year ever known in 

 this section in amount of money spent 

 for flowers. George Rye. 



Mempliis, Tenn. — The Flower Shop, 

 Miss Kate Harris and Mrs. M. E. Irby 

 proprietors, has been through a period 

 of stress, due to the immense business 

 brought by the epidemic at a time when 

 there was illness in the families of both 

 members of the firm. 



