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DaciMBlft 19, 1918. 



The Florists^ Review 



17 



QPGN LETTEl>g>^^ DEADER^ 



county. Many of our ideas in advertis- 

 ing come from The Review. I made use 

 of the item in The Review about Presi- 

 dent Wilson greeting the wounded sol- 

 diers. I read The Review carefully 

 every week and would not do without 

 it for twice the price of subscription. 

 Imanuel Wittrup. 



BED SPIDER ON CARNATIONS. 



Referring to the note to A. S., N. J., 

 a the Ask Me! Ask Mel! column, De- 

 ember 5, about using a salt spray on 

 arnations to exterminate red spider, the 

 alt spray can be applied with the 

 ucket spray pump. The solution should 

 ot be too strong at first. 



Susan Margrave. 



OtTR GOOD GOVERNMENT. 



In the Florida Grower for December 



is an article on castor bean culture in 

 Horida and its practical failure there 

 nder government auspices and super- 

 ision. It seems to the writer that a 

 ;oTernment department that can make 

 uch a failure in this matter probably 

 s equally weak on the proposition to 

 xclude all growing plants under the 

 uarantine to become effective next 

 une. 



I would call special attention to the 

 tatement, in the article, that a fungous 

 isease is supposed to have been im- 

 lorted on the seeds. This lack of cau- 

 ion in an importation from the East 

 ndies, in contrast with the official at- 

 itude toward European stock that is 

 lore thoroughly inspected than any- 

 hing grown in this country, is funny. 



We have suffered about enough from 

 he pernicious activities of swivel chair 

 heorists tampering with practical mat- 

 ers. This quarantine and the outrage- 

 us mismanagement of the coal situa- 

 ion are examples in point. 



A. H. Graham. 



AGAINST HEAVY ODDS. 



Fourteen years ago the sales of the 

 Marshall Floral Co., Marshall, Mo., for 

 he month of December amounted to 

 15.50. The credit of the firm was not 

 ufficient to enable it to purchase a 

 ozen roses and the stockholders, who 

 ad invested the sum of $12,000 in the 

 ndertaking, were discouraged. They 

 id not feel any better when I told them 

 t would take almost a year and a good 

 eal of money before we would be in a 

 osition to do business. I had to work 

 gainst prejudice among the stockhold- 

 rs as well as lack of confidence on the 

 art of the public in starting. The first 

 ear's business netted $1,500. Last 

 ear's business reached $10,000. I have 

 urchased stock from the different mem- 

 ers of the company until I now own a 

 ontroUing interest. Last year the con- 

 ition was such that we must either 

 pend several thousand dollars in re- 

 airs, go out of business or rebuild. We 

 hose the latter course and have just 

 ompleted the new range at a cost of 

 13,000. 



We own half of one city block. The 

 ifKee and garage front north and the 

 irhole plant is well back from the street, 

 eaving fine grounds for lawn and plant- 

 ng. While our greenhouses do not 

 over so much space as the old plant, 

 he office, service building, etc., are 

 arge enough to take care oi four times 

 he amount of glass we now have and 



were built to allow for growth. The 

 whole place is modern. The only old 

 material used was the bricks, glass and 

 lome heating pipes. The John C. Mon- 

 inger Go. constructed theplant under 

 the direction of W. A. "Walker. The 

 wrecking was started June 20 and the 

 new houses were planted August 15, the 

 whole plant being completed Septem- 

 ber 18. 



It took both nerve and money in these 

 times to undertake a proposition of this 

 kind in a town of less than 5,000. We 

 have enough coal and wood to last un- 

 til Mar6h and our stook looks well. 

 The Missouri Colony for the Feeble 

 Minded, a state institution, has attempt- 

 ed to go into the commercild florists' 

 business here, but the people^U not ap- 

 prove and the great majo^H remain 

 loyal to us. However, wc ipftt no ef- 

 fort to compete with thil eoneeiU. The 

 wholesale florists of Kansas City will 

 not sell to this institution, but one in 

 St. Louis supplies the stock. We run a 

 front page ad daily in our local paper, 

 also in the best weekly paper in the 



SOLANTJMS NOT FRUITING. 



Please advise me in regard to my 

 Jerusalem cherries. I planted the seed 

 January 23 and the plants are now in 

 4-inch pots, but many of them have no 

 berries. Do you think I pinched out 

 the buds too longf Do these plants re- 

 quire a high temperature and plenty of 

 water? The leaves fall from some of 

 them. H. E. C— O. 



You did wrong in pinching your so- 

 lanums. This is the reason your plants 

 have failed to fruit. When you pinched 

 out the tops, you destroyed the flowers 

 and future fruits. Seed sown as early 

 as January ^3 should have produced big, 

 bushy plants in 6-inch or 7-inch pots, 

 loaded with fruit. Our solanums sown 

 in March are in these sizes of pots and 

 almost weighed down with fruit. An- 

 other year plant your solanums out in 

 the field, pot up early in September, do 

 not do any pinching at all, and you 

 should have large plants and an abun- 

 dance of fruit. Solanums do not need a 

 high temperature, but like plenty of 

 water. C. W. 



hi|i^j[X»yjivs;j!.vi'yj^v»y.'i\»^i^Jl.vs^^ 



BUCKEYE BULL'S-EYES 



7i^1r/SYllrs^1r/s^1^/sv1^/'•^1r^1^^1rrs>i1r^♦^1^/sx1lr•>rtr^1^r♦^1^^^ 



AN EDITORIAL B0UQX7ET. 



Rarely has editorial taste been ex- 

 hibited with more felicity than in the 

 selection of the subject for the cover 

 page of the Christmas number of The 

 Review. Cleveland florists recognized 

 the picture at once and feel gratified at 

 the favor shown them. It harks back to 

 the big fiower show in 1915, and both 

 design and picture are suggestive of the 

 creative genius of Fra Fred Brown, of 

 the J. M. Gasser Co. Mac. 



CONSERVATION OF FLOWERS. 



Conservation of fiowers is, indeed, a 

 new kind of conservation. During the 

 last year conservation of every descrip- 

 tion has been forced upon the florist by 

 the war, and now comes the necessity for 

 conserving his product, flowers. The 

 need is only temporary, however, let us 

 hope. 



The present supply of flowers in the 

 Sixth City is so inadequate to the de- 

 mand that the publicity committee, of 

 which H. P. Knoble is chairman, deemed 

 it imperative to call a meeting of the 

 florists for the purpose of discussing the 

 situation. The gathering was held at 

 the HoUenden December 13 and was 

 made up of the representative members 

 of the trade of the city and its environs. 

 The proper relationship of selling price 

 to cost was first thoroughly treated, 

 evolving the conclusion that, though a 

 few of the leading fiorists were awake 

 to new conditions, the majority were not 

 living up to their opportunities and were 

 unjust to themselves and our business 



because of their tardiness in raising 

 their prices commensurately with the ad* 

 vance in costs. The problem of making 

 the extremely low supply of flowers fill 

 all orders, however, occupied attention. 

 It was disclosed that every fiorist was 

 daily refusing orders because of his in- 

 ability to fill them, owing to the des- 

 perate scarcity of stock. The local 

 wholesale market could only partially 

 supply the need and distant sources of 

 supply could lend little assistance. 

 Each retailer present explained his par- 

 ticular method of coping with the situa- 

 tion, the consensus favoring a larger use 

 of accessories and prepared stock. The 

 necessity of a higher type of salesman- 

 ship was also pointed out as an impor- 

 tant factor. Instead of selling designs 

 made up entirely of flowers, those con- 

 sisting of more plentiful items, such as 

 prepared oak sprays, magnolias, laurel, 

 boxwood and ivies, and baskets in which 

 plants, ferns and other things could be 

 used, all of which would require only a 

 minimum amount of fresh flowers, 

 should be judiciously offered. Thus 

 would a goodly degree of genuine con- 

 servation in flowers be effected and the 

 trying conditions greatly alleviated. 

 The meeting was held at the psycholog- 

 ical moment and without doubt much 

 good was accomplished. Its pressing im- 

 portance should have called out a 

 greater attendance of the smaller flo- 

 rists, but as yet there has been evolved 

 no recipe for getting them in large num- 

 bers to meetings designed especially for 

 their benefit. It is to be hoped, however, 



