18 



The Florists^ Review 



Jandart 15, 1920. 



have not appeared in the markets for 

 Christmas, it should be possible to flower 

 them for the holidays by holding the 

 bulbs in cold storage and planting them 

 in August. Perhaps some growers have 

 tried it. If so. The Eeview's readers 

 would be glad to have their experience. 

 The gladiolus season really starts about 

 mid-April, under glass. With the later 

 outdoor crop the season lasts until about 

 the middle of October, which gives prac- 

 tically six months of gladioli. Whether 

 buyers would be willing to pay a price 

 proportionate to their value at Christ- 

 mas and whether the blooms would ap- 

 peal to people at that time^ are debat- 

 able questions. The scarcity and high 

 prices of other cut flowers this last 

 Christmas will give spur to experiments, 

 at least. 



Myrtle, in pink; Mrs. Francis King, in 

 scarlet, and Niagara, in yellow. The 

 primulinus hybrids force easily and 

 give a wide variety of shadings. 



HOPES FOR 40-DAY VARIETY. 



Charles Betscher, of Dover, O., who 

 is deeply interested in hybridizing 

 gladioli, at the present time is working 

 on a 51-day variety and hopes to reduce 

 the time to forty days. He hopes that 

 in another five years he can supply a 

 strain which can be matured indoors by 

 St. Valentine's day. D. 



GLADIOLI FOR EASTER. 



Please give me information relative 

 to the planting of gladiolus bulbs to 

 bloom for Easter. What are the best 

 foreing kinds? A. E. — Wash. 



It will be difficult, if not impossible, 

 to force gladioli for an Easter that 

 comes as early as April 4. IfKyou have 

 already a good start, you may get some 

 spikes, but only the most expert culti- 

 vation is able to secure good gladioli 

 by so early a date, if at all. 



The following are good foreing va- 

 rieties: Chicago White, Augusta and 

 Peace, in white; America, Panama and 



PANAMA THE PRIZE-WINNER. 



Like stage actresses — and movie 

 actresses, too, for that matter — some 

 gladioli attain popularity in a slow, 

 unostentatious way, while others sweep 

 into fame in a blaze of publicity. 

 Among the latter is Gladiolus Panama, 

 which has had a remarkably successful 

 career during the few years it has been 

 before the public. It has won medals 

 and certificates and other awards al- 

 most without number, in this country 

 and in Europe. The hosts of growers 

 for. whom it has won prizes will, there- 

 fore, recognize it, in the picture on page 

 16, as a tried and true friend. 



Panama is a seedling of Gladiolus 

 America and resembles its parent, but 

 has a deeper rose-pink color. The spikes 

 are long. The flowers are large, sub- 

 stantial and well arranged. 



CHICAGO FOR PUBLICITY. 



Adopts Milwaukee Plan. 



At what was probably the largest 

 gathering of the local trade which had 

 ever assembled in Chicago, retailers, 

 growers and wholesalers in attendance 

 at the mass meeting at the Hotel Ran- 

 dolph, Monday evening, January 12, 

 decided in favor of adopting the plan 

 of cooperative advertising now in op- 

 eration in Milwaukee. 



Over 200 florists met in response to a 

 call sent out the week previous, after 

 action favorable to the movement had 

 been taken by the retailers' and the 

 growers' organizations separately. The 

 program of speakers included H. J. 

 Seel, the successful engineer of the Mil- 

 waukee publicity; J. F. Ammann, whose 

 30,000 miles of travel in behalf of S. 

 A. F. publicity while he was president 

 last year have given him an enviable 

 oratorical ability, and Shelby C. Jones, 

 head of the advertising department of 

 Jas. S. Kirk & Co., nationally known 

 for their soap, as well as George Asmus, 

 whose work as chairman aided mate- 

 rially. 



Few Dissenters. 



When a rising vote was taken to de- 

 termine those who favored the plan, so 

 few remained seated that it was re- 

 marked that * * if the meeting wasn 't 100 

 per cent for a cooperative campaign, it 

 anyway was a good ninety-nine per cent 

 in its favor." On blanks which were 

 passed around, 105 signatures were ob- 



tained, each representing a firm of grow- 

 ers or retailers. 



The result of the meeting was the ap- 

 pointment of a temporary board of di- 

 rectors, named by the chairman, to ef- 

 fect an organization and report at a 

 meeting to be held Monday evening, 

 January 26. Those appointed were the 

 following: 



Retailers: A. Lange, L. R. Bohannon, 

 George Asmus. 



Growers: W. J. Keimel, Otto Am- 

 ling, N. J. Wietor. 



Wholesalers: Paul K. Klingsporn, 

 John Michelsen, August Poehlmann. 



The percentage upon which the cam- 

 paign will be undertaken is the same as 

 that on which Milwaukee started, one- 

 half of one per cent for the growers 

 and one per cent for the retailers, the 

 wholesalers doing as their share the 

 work of collection, unless the board of 

 directors decides on another arrange- 

 ment. 



Meeting Enthusiastic. 



So zealous was the spirit displayed 

 by the attendance that the meeting 

 opened almost at the appointed hour. 

 Joseph Kohout opened the meeting and 

 after a few earnest remarks asked for 

 nominations for temporary officers. 

 George Asmus was chosen chairman and 

 Paul Weiss secretary of the meeting, 

 H. V. Swenson serving in the latter 's 

 place till his arrival. 



After Shelby C. Jones told of the 

 ways advertising had been used to 

 build the soap business of Jas. S. Kirk 

 & Co., and related the achievements of 



the citrus and other growers' organiza- 

 tions, H. J. Seel told of the organiza- 

 tion and conduct of the campaign in 

 .Milwaukee, as well as of the increase in 

 flower sales brought about by the adver- 

 tising done. 



J. F. Ammann then told of the 

 achievements of the national publicity 

 campaign and of the benefits to be de- 

 rived from local cooperative advertis- 

 ing, declaring, "Publicity is the most 

 promising thing in the trade today." 

 He urged the preference of constant 

 clean sales to alternate gluts and holi- 

 day shortages and affirmed the former 

 could be gained by advertising.^ 



Follwortli Presents Figures. 



Joseph Pollworth presented some 

 figures which made the meeting sit up 

 and take notice. He estimated the 

 transactions in the Chicago market at 

 $5,000,000. The yield under the per- 

 centages planned would, he stated, be 

 $75,000 to $100,000. Bringing the ques- 

 tion honje to the individual, he stated: 



"If a grower's production is 300,- 

 000 blooms from 20,000 rose plants, with 

 an average sale price of 9 cents, a 10- 

 cent average return would increase a 

 grower's revenue $3,000, at a cost to the 

 grower under the Milwaukee plan of 

 only $150 per year. 



"If a grower's average wholesale 

 return on carnations is 5 cents and this 

 average were brought up to 6 cents in 

 cutting from 10,000 plants, his income 

 would increase $1,500, at a cost to the 

 grower of only $45 under the Milwau- 

 kee plan. ' ' 



Considerable discussion ensued on 

 various phases of the plan under con- 

 sideration, with the final result the 

 adoption of the proposed campaign and 

 the appointment of the directors, who 

 will report at a later meeting, when, it 

 is expected, the movement will be put 

 under way. 



RED SPIDER ON CYCLAMENS. 



I am sending you one of my cyclamen 

 plants, which are not doing well. All my 

 cyclamens are affected in the same way 

 as this one is and the plants in the 

 greenhouse from which these came have 

 the same trouble. Please tell me what 

 it is, also the remedy for it and how I 

 can keep it from spreading. 



K. F. C— Neb. 



The leaves of the cyclamen plants 

 were badly infested with red spider, 

 which is the cause of their having the 

 light grayish color. Under the influ- 

 ence of cold weather, with careful 

 treatment as to watering and ventila- 

 tion the plants should gradually im- 

 prove. The roots of the plants were 

 also badly covered with nematodes; 

 about the only remedy for this trouble 

 is to shake the soil from the roots and 

 repot in entirely new, fresh soil. 



M. P. 



A MUM NOT HARVARD. 



Please tell me the name of the chrys- 

 anthemum which I am sending you. It 

 was grown as a bush Harvard, but I do 

 not think it was rightly n^med. 



J. W. H.— Miph. 



It is hard to tell the name of a va- 

 riety when the blooms are so far ad- 

 vanced-fls those sent, but I do not think 

 the variety is Harvard. It more closely 

 resembles Intensity or an old pot plant 

 variety called the Bard. M. P. 



