28 



The Florists^ Review 



March 4, 1920 



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CHICAGO STARTS 



winter, a solid bed if possible, such 

 soil as would suit mums or roses, and 

 it should do well. It always pays to 

 purchase a first-class strain of seed for 

 greenhouse culture. Some special forc- 

 ing strains are advertised and, while 

 they are expensive, they are the cheap- 

 est in the end. C. W. 



CHICAGO CAMPAIGN OPENS. 



Meeting to Discuss Problems. 



Nearly 200 florists answered the call 

 for a meeting of the Allied Florists' 

 Association at the Hotel Rau<lolph, Clii- 

 cago, on the evening of March 2, to 

 straighten out the few difficulties en- 

 countered in the inauguration of the 

 cooperative advertising campaign the 

 day before and also to listen to a talk 

 by Albert Pochelon, secretary of the 

 F. T. D., who came from Detroit for the. 

 occasion. 



Secretary Swenson announced that 

 the signatures in his hands numbered 

 159 growers, 172 retailers and fourteen 

 wholesalers, a total of 345, and that 

 some district captains had informed him 

 they had more ready to send in. The 

 advertising done by the associiition last 

 week awakened the interest of nonmem- 

 bers, he stated, with the result that ten 

 applications had come in by mail on the 

 day of the meeting and many telephone 

 requests had been made for blanks. He 

 reported enthusiastic comments from 

 retailers on the results of the associa- 

 tion's advertising in the Tribune last 

 week. Unfortunately, the newspaper, 

 through a printer's error, made the sig- 

 nature to the second advertisement read 

 Allied Products Association, but had 

 offered a readjustment upon admitting 

 its responsibility for the error. 



Problems of Action. 



There ensued a discussion whether the 

 association 's advertising should bear its 

 signature or not. There were a number 

 of statements of opinion, some being in 

 favor of and others opposed to it. 

 Eventually the matter was left to the 

 decision of the directors. 



Lack of definite instructions to the 

 wholesalers had caused a misunderstand- 

 ing as to the deduction of the assess- 

 ment from the growers' returns. PMn^'c 

 the by-laws read "net returns," the 

 question was raised whether ex])ress and 

 other charges should be included. To 

 simplify matters, Paul Weiss urged that 

 the tax be upon gross sales. T^ltiuiately 

 a motion to assess the percentage ujmn 

 the growers' return after only the 

 wholesaler's commission had been de- 

 ducted was carried. 



The by-laws were amended in accord- 

 ance with the resolution at the last 

 meeting in order that the president, vice- 

 president and treasurer should be elected 

 by the board of directors from its num- 

 ber. A meeting of the board was called 

 for 2 p. m. March 4. 



Features of the Meeting. 



After the business came the evening's 

 feature attractions. The film prepared 

 in Cleveland to welcome the F. T. D. 

 two years ago was shown and at the end 

 was exhibited the first of the 60-foot 

 reels to be issued by the S. A. F. promo- 

 tion bureau for publicity purposes. En- 

 titled "Her Birthday,'"' it depicted a 

 business man's inspiration to remember 

 the occasion with flowers and the re- 

 sulting satisfaction. It is planned to 

 issue a series of such short films, to be 



distributed at low cost on a rental basis. 



Albert Pochelon, advertised as an at- 

 traction of the meeting, praised Chi- 

 cago's publicity efforts and then told 

 in his forceful way of the problems and 

 ])rofits in telegraph orders. Mr. Poche- 

 lon had spent the day in (^hicago under 

 the able guidance of an F. T. D. member, 

 W. J. Smyth, and been the guest of the 

 Ketail Florists' Association at a dinner 

 that evening, also the result of Mr." 

 Smyth's efforts. 



Following Mr. Pochelon 's remarks, C. 

 C. PoUworth, of Milwaukee, told of the 

 success of publicity there and encour- 

 aged Chicago's attempt. James S. Wil- 

 son, now of Des Moines, spoke of the 

 new Secretary of Agriculture, E. T. 

 Meredith, from Des Moines, who might, 

 he said, be counted on to listen favor- 

 ably to florists' appeals. 



PINCHING TOMATO PLANTS. 



Last year I started seed in the green- 

 house and transplanted later on to a 

 warm frame outdoors, then to the field 

 when danger of frost was past. The 

 plants grew well and vigorously, but 

 they did not set any fruit until they 

 had become quite large. Then it was 

 late and I did not get the crop I ex- 

 pected. Would it be advisable to pinch 

 them before setting out or should I let 

 the main stem growf I drilled in some 

 seed of several varieties and had a won- 

 derful crop, much ahead of the trans- 

 plants. Of course, here in Kansas, 

 drilling seed in the open is just a chance. 



W. J. H.— Kan. 



IMPERFECT MIGNONETTE BUDS. 



Please tell me why mignonette buds 

 come flat and imj)erfect. 



H. J. W.— Colo. 



This is due either to an inferior strain 

 of seed or more probably to improper 

 <'ultural conditions. Cive the mignon- 

 i'tte a cool house, 40 to 42 degrees in 



If you pinch tomatoes, it will make 

 them fruit much later. For an early 

 crop it will pay to grow the plants to 

 single stems and support them in some 

 way. Use such early varieties as Bonny 

 Best, Earliana and Chalk 's Early Jewel 

 for a first picking and larger sorts, like 

 Stone, for a main crop. Plants six to 

 eight inches high, which have not been 

 grown too closely in flats or frames, 

 should give excellent results, but do not 

 pinch unless vou want a late crop. 



C. W. 



TRADE TOPICS ., 



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WOULD END COAL CONTROL. 



Objecting to further control of coal 

 distribution by the government. Repre- 

 sentative Tilson, of Connecticut, intro- 

 duced a resolution March 1 amending 

 the Lever food control act. Under its 

 terms powor over the distribution of 

 coal is expressly taken from the govern- 

 itieut. Mr. Tilson 's action was prompt- 

 ed by the executive orders issued Feb- 

 ruary 28 by President Wilson continu- 

 ing the authority vested in Director- 

 (Jeneral Hines over the distribution of 

 coal. 



"The system of regulating distri- 

 bution now in vogue readily lends it- 

 self to graft and crooked dealing," Mr. 

 Tilson said. "I do not mean that the 

 fuel administrator or any of the prin- 

 cipal men under him are in any way 

 connected with graft or crookedness, 

 but after investigation around New 

 York I am convinced that in coal 

 reaching that city shameless graft has 

 cut a disgraceful figure." 



HARD COAL MINERS ASK RAISE. 



Greenhouse owners in the east may 

 be affected by the demands for a sixty 

 per cent increase in wages for contract 

 miners, .$2 a day raise for day men, afld 

 a 6-hour day and -l-day week for men 

 jiaid by the day or month, which will be 

 presented to the anthracite coal opera- 

 tors in New York March 9 by the union 

 representatives of the hard coal dig- 

 gers. These demands were formulated 



at a convention of the anthracite miners 

 in Wilkes-Barrc last August and ratified 

 by the national convention of the 

 United Mine Workers of America in 

 Cleveland in September. 



The conference of operators and mine 

 workers will endeavor to negotiate a 

 new agreement to take the place of the 

 contract now in force. 



The present general wage agreement 

 covering the anthracite industry was 

 entered into in May, 1916, for four 

 years ending March 31, this year. Be- 

 cause of war conditions, wages have 

 been since readjusted by supplemental 

 agreements between the miners and op- 

 erators. 



About 170,000 mine workers will be 

 affected by the new contract to be ne- 

 gotiated. 



Whether the mine workers will re- 

 main at work if an agreement is not 

 reached by March 31 will depend large- 

 ly, it is said, on how strenuously the 

 operators oppose the demands. No 

 opinion has thus far been given by 

 either side as to the outcome of the 

 negotiations. The opinion was ex- 

 pressed, however, that the negotiations 

 probably would not be taken up se- 

 riously until the bituminous w.age scale 

 has been agreed upon. 



WILL PROBE MAIL SERVICE. 



Mail delays which have caused florists 

 increasing trouble of late are to come 

 to the attention of Congress in a way 



