16 



The Florists^ Review 



SE^TBMBll:K 4, 1919. 



makes them what they are? How do 

 they get their coloring and what gives 

 them their perfume? When you want 



to say anything, say it in the most di- 

 rect way — "Say It with Flowers." 



Eobert 8. Edgar. 



TATE'S TIPS 



KEEP ABREAST OF THE TIMES. 



What a Trade Journal Does. 



One of the principal missions of any 

 good trade journal is to educate its 

 readers along the lines of the particular 

 trade they are engaged in. This it is 

 able to do by maintaining a staff of ex- 

 perienced correspondents in every city 

 of this country and Canada, whose duty 

 it is to watch the market each week 

 in their particular location and report 

 conditions. This is not a matter of tell- 

 ing the trade what the existing prices 

 of stock may be, for in many cases this 

 will be known before it is possible for 

 the paper to reach them. The main duty 

 of these correspondents is to find out 

 what stock is selling best at a certain 

 season, what stock there is a glut of, 

 the varieties of certain stock most 

 sought after, the best means of handling 

 stock, and, in fact, anything that may 

 be of interest to the grower. The same 

 thing holds good with the retailer. As 

 these men go from store to store, all over 

 the country, and report innovations used 

 by florists who are progressive, it is but 

 natural that they will give other florists 

 ideas. Often the readers can improve 

 on the original ideas. It is nothing but 

 many ideas worked out that makes the 

 successful business. 



Never in all my experience had I any 

 idea that so much poor stock was grown, 

 until I took up the work of reporting. 

 When I say this, it is not to be con- 

 strued to mean that it was because of 

 poor cultural methods. In my opinion 

 the great trouble seems' to lie in the men 

 who are not progressive and fail to keep 

 abreast of the times. 



Two Kinds of Stock. 



A large shipment of gladioli was 

 shown to me recently in one of our com- 

 mission houses. If the grower of these 

 got enough out of them to pay express 

 charges, to say nothing of his trouble, he 

 was lucky. Yet, on the adjoining table 

 were some of these same flowers selling 

 readily for $4, $6 and $8 per hundred. 

 The trouble is that there are a number 

 of growers, particularly small growers, 

 who fail to keep in touch with the only 

 medium that will keep them enlightened. 



To illustrate, it is my yearly custom 

 at this season to make a pilgrimage to 

 one of the largest dahlia farms in this 

 country. At this place a trial ground 

 is maintained where every new variety 

 on the market is planted, where it can 

 be kept under the watchful eye of one of 

 the firm, who studies its habit, color, 

 growth, foliage, stems, how it stands wet 

 and dry weather, etc., and if any par- 

 ticular variety does not come up to re- 

 quirements, it is soon discarded. But 

 should a variety prove good, a note is 

 made of it and you may be sure stock 

 of this particular variety is increased. 

 ■ For instance, two years ago when I 

 made my visit I saw for the first time 

 King of Autumn. At that time there 



was just one row of about 150 plants in 

 all, but the man in charge was loud in 

 "his praise of the merits of this variety. 

 On my last visit I was shown about two 

 acres of this variety in full bloom and 

 a finer sight I have never seen. They 

 had just begun to cut from this patch 

 the day before, when 1,600 had been sent 

 to market, and as I stood and admired 

 them, it would have been an easy mat- 

 ter to cut 2,000. 



Small Grower Has Opportunity. 



I can hear some of my readers say this 

 is all right for a large establishment like 

 this; my reply is that this is how the 

 establishment became so large. Any 

 man can do the same thing (and re- 

 member it is to the small grower I am 

 talking in particular; the larger ones do 

 not need to be reminded). Let any 

 grower keep in close touch with the 

 columns in which the merits of new 

 varieties are discussed. It matters not 

 whether they are roses, dahlias or gla- 

 dioli, when they are put on the market 



they will be advertised. Get a few and 

 try them. If it is a success, you will 

 be in a position to get in on the ground 

 floor and share in the large returns for 

 your trouble. When a new variety of 

 anything becomes popular and everyone 

 has it, as a rule it becomes cheap. The 

 man who is progressive usually then has 

 something to take its place. 



As I bring this article to a close I 

 have m mind a man who started busi- 

 ness on his own account a short time be- 

 fore Mr. Grant established The Review. 

 This magazine was his only textbook, 

 and he studied it as a lawyer would his 

 law books, and remember, like all flo- 

 rists who embarked in the business in 

 the early nineties, his start was humble. 

 He did most of his own work, and many 

 a night you could find him, with the 

 light of a lantern, watching his fires, 

 going over the columns of X^e Eeview, 

 and not the reading columns only, but 

 the advertisements as well. The result 

 was that nothing new came on the mar- 

 ket but that he was posted about it. 

 When he died, a few years ago, he had 

 one of the most up-to-date ranges in his 

 city. 



There never was a time in the history 

 of the business when the small grower 

 had the opportunities he has now to be- 

 come prosperous. The secret of the 

 whole thing is to keep up with the times, 

 grow nothing but the best stock and by 

 doing this eliminate waste. But after 

 all of this is done, don 't fail to see that 

 your stock is properly packed for igar- 

 ket. Tate. 



THE CARNATION PROSPECT. 



If carnations were scarce last season 

 there seems little chance that they will 

 be more plentiful in the one now open- 

 ing. It is true that a considerable num- 

 ber of greenhouses which were idle last 

 winter will be in operation this season, 

 but it is unlikely that those planted to 

 carnations will increase the production 

 in any notable degree. In the first 

 place, the aggregate season's planting 

 can not exceed the quantity of cuttings 

 rooted last winter, less the summer's 

 loss. Anyone who tried to buy cuttings 

 last spring or field-grown plants this 

 summer knows how small the supply has 

 been. It seems extremely doubtful if 

 the total number of plants benched in 

 the country as a whole, for 1919-20 

 flowers, equals the number benched a 

 year ago. Then there is the question of 

 quality. As a rule the plants are not 

 so good as a year ago. In the east the 

 stock in the fields suffered from ex- 

 cessive rains and benching was delayed, 

 while around Chicago, the country's 

 chief shipping point for flowers, the 

 season was too dry and the plants are 

 not so good as last year. Poor plants 

 mean a late cut. It will be well along 

 in the season before full production is 

 reached. 



It seems quite certain that October, 

 November and December will see a de- 



mand for carnations exceeding the sup- 

 ply, with prices again profitable to all 

 branches of the trade. 



CUTTINO BACK CARNATIONS. 



Can old carnation plants be cut back 

 to make up for a shortage of new 

 plants? F. J. H.— Utah. 



Carnation plants can be carried over 

 to the second season and may produce 

 enough flowers to make them profitable. 

 In order to do this they require special 

 treatment during the summer months. 

 I doubt whether old plants cut back at 

 this time of the year will produce 

 enough flowers to make it worth while 

 to hold the bench for them, instead of 

 utilizing the space for some other plants. 

 M. P. 



SOIL FOR CARNATION PLANTS. 



Please inform me as to the value 

 of the following formula for sterilizing 

 soil for carnations: Dissolve one ounce 

 of sodium cyanide in eight gallons of 

 water. Saturate the soil well and allow 

 it to become dry before planting. Would 

 this help old soil? A. O. C— N. Y. 



I have never heard of anyone using 

 sodium cyanide for sterilizing soil. I 

 have never known of anything that will 

 put old soil into fit condition for plant- 

 ing carnations except to spread it out 

 on the field and sow it in grass or some 



'%.. 





•^ 



