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GRAPPLING WITH s»e 



^ GROWERS' NEEDS 



For the permanent organization of the national growers' association, 

 launched at the American Carnation Society's convention at Chicago, the 

 officers seek advice and suggestions, so that their actions at New York next 

 week will have the guidance of those ivho are to form its membership. 



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E have all experienced that 

 feeling of helplessness, of 

 groping our way around 

 when suddenly plunged 

 into blank darkness, and 

 we all have felt the keen 

 appreciation of light when 

 the first ray reveals our 

 surroundings and we are 

 once more able to control 

 <iiir movements intelligently, without 

 tear of disaster. 



The great octopus of the flower busi- 

 ness, the growers' industry, with its 

 many arms stretching out into the in- 

 dustrial world for sustenance, has been 

 floundering in the dark. It is true that 

 the individual arms, retail, wholesale, 

 supply, nursery, bulb and others, each 

 with its branches, are to a greater or 

 loss extent organized for their advance- 

 ment, but the great 

 life-giving body, on 

 which all are de- 

 pendent, is in poor- 

 er condition to care 

 for its own require- 

 ments than any of 

 its dependent chil- 

 dren. 



Organization. 



An illustra- 

 tion should make 

 the case clear to all 

 of us. A few years 

 ago, the creative 

 imagination of an 

 individual made our 

 F. T. D. At its in- 

 <'option we thought 

 that the few dollars 

 a year business ex- 

 changed between 

 one florist and an- 

 other was quite con- 

 siderable, but who 

 of us, in our wildest 

 flreams, visioned the 

 enormous strides 

 find possibilities of 

 that association ? 

 Where we planted 

 "1 single units, we 

 liave reaped in 

 thousands. What 

 was the underlying 

 principle of that 

 '^iiccess? Organiza- 

 1i»n! Organization 

 that had as its in- 

 spiring factor ne- 

 cessity. 



Today the great 

 necessity of the 

 flower growers' or- 



By FRED C. V. BROWN. 



ganizing for their own protection and 

 the advancement of their industry is 

 far greater than was ever the necessity 

 for bringing into life any of the florists ' 

 societies which exist at present. We are 

 indebted to the father of this new as- 

 sociation, J. Fred Ammann, of Edwards- 

 ville. 111., for the opportunity given to 

 the growers of America to bind them- 

 selves into a society to combat the 

 wrongs and advance the interests of the 

 only large producing element on this 

 continent which is without real repre- 

 sentation at critical times, such as we 

 have. had and are experiencing with the 

 fuel administration and legislative acts, 

 sucli as Quarantine .37. 



The growers are todav without even 



Fred C. W. Brown. 



Temporary President of the American Flower Growers' Agaoclation.) 



fairly accurate data as to the size or 

 importance of their business. We can- 

 not go to the "powers that be," who- 

 ever they are, and say that we are rep- 

 resenting so many thousands of good, 

 law-abiding citizens of this great coun- 

 try who have invested in their business 

 so many millions of dollars and we want 

 protection. 



Laws are put on the statute books 

 that are unfair to florists. Illustrations 

 are the fireman's act in Ohio, where a 

 licensed fireman must be employed, no 

 matter how small your greenhouse may 

 be, and Quarantine 37, which is consid- 

 ered a hardship by some and a blessing 

 by others. You are told by bulb grow- 

 ers just how, when and for what price 

 you may buy bulbs anft just what your 

 packing" charges will be, but you send 

 your stock to the wholesaler with a 

 thank- you- for- tak- 

 ing-them air and no 

 control of any kind 

 is permitted you. 

 Great gluts of cut 

 flowers are faced 

 and the loss is all 

 borne by the grower. 



Cooperation. 



The growers indi- 

 vidually are work- 

 ing day and night 

 to p 1 i m i n a t e the 

 m a n y insect and 

 fungous ])ests in 

 their houses, work- 

 ing almost blindly 

 because, through 

 lack of organiza- 

 tion, the valued in- 

 formation that their 

 nMghbor may have 

 is denied them. 

 Witness the chry- 

 santhemum midge. 

 Had a broadcast 

 warning been sent 

 throughout the 

 land of that pest, or 

 of the rose midge 

 or the leaf roller, 

 and we had heeded 

 it, think of the 

 many thousands of 

 dollars that would 

 have been saved. 



In the matter of 

 priblicity, there are 

 plans, preparations 

 and ideas aplenty. 

 The grower should 

 take care of his own 

 publicity and say in 

 what channel his 



