18 



The Florists^ Review 



Junk 3, 1920 



and that some varieties require much 

 more care than others. 



The results obtained so far indicate 

 the following facts: 



1. Sand is a better medium for the 

 germination of some of the varieties 

 ordinarily giving poor germination. 



2. A higher percentage of germina- 

 tion is usually obtained in the sweet pea 

 house than in a warmer house, such as 

 the rose house, even though germina- 

 tion is hastened by the higher tempera- 

 ture. 



3. Soaking the seed in warm water 

 for eighteen hours proved highly satis- 

 factory, and seed so treated gave good 

 germination when planted in soil even 

 in the rose house. 



4. The use of sulphuric acid is not rec- 

 ommended, as it is liable to injure some 



because it is soft and will not stand up, 

 but this season was cool and plants had 

 a good growth and favorable weather 

 brought good, hoalthy blooms. 



Various Notes. 



The Kansas City Wholesale Cut 

 Flower Co. was successful with its ship- 

 ments of carnations. They all went 

 through in good shape and customers 

 were well pleased. Business was heavy 

 all week and the last three days were 

 rushing. The sales of ferns averaged 

 20,000 per day for the week and there 

 were just enough peonies. 



Meyer Lieberman sold 2,200 peonies 

 in three hours. His partner, Morse 

 Galamba, and a couple of men took a 

 truck and visited several growers out- 

 side the city late Saturday afternoon. 



Table C. — Germination test of sixteen varieties of sweet peas. Large seeds are mpntioned 

 first, seeds ;it random second and small seeds last, under each variety. 



Weight of Number germinated Per cent 



50 seeds Days after planting germi- 



Varifty in grams 10 16 27 nated 



[4.921 



King White -{3.53125 1 2 



L 2.2785 (> 



f 5.286 40 47 47 94 



Earlv Bluebird \ 4.3065 42 46 47 94 



- L 2.99475 89 47 49 98 



[2.9675 85 44 45 90 



Florence Nightingale ^1.9985 26 84 84 68 



L 1.177 O 18 18 o8 



r 3.045 88 44 50 100 



spencer orchid | 2.02^5 26 86 45 90 



[5.79675 87 40 47 94 



Bridal Veil -14.8630 40 44 44 88 



""°^ L3.0375 21 29 31 62 



[4.389 8 18 44 88 



Tarrawa (Burpees) ] H5P *5 *? *| ?^ 



[3.8255 30 43 .'iO lOii 



Blanche Ferry spencer |2.91475 26 40 50 ,00 



[3.407 26 • 84 87 74 



H^'-'--*^ {IS "? fi ft 5^ 



r.'i.419 26 29 29 .'8 



Marauis \ 4.0607 80 84 86 Tl' 



*'*'^''"'- 1 2.6002 14 18 22 44 



r. 5.0.58 8 18 14 2H 



Mis. ,..u.. Guar |2.7595 6 10 16 30 



[5.698 6 12 28 !"><'. 



Red -^4.706 11 16 26 .52 



"*"" 13.11320 10 14 23 4<; 



r4.62 28 82 84 tlH 



Yarr-iwi -; 3..5216 18 24 30 f.O 



^''"'" '^ 12.3.545 12 17 32 <i4 



[4,774 89 47 48 !»•! 



1 aven.lcr Orchid -2.579-) 86 48 45 90 



l-avend.r uri.iuo [1.708 20 29 82 64 



r 5.676 20 84 40 80 



M-M.^P-"'in |4.679 ^ '^ It Jf. 



14 431; 10 16 20 4lt 



OranKe* l i'. 792.5 21 -'.5 37 7-4 



\ .5.01075 7 S 16 



Rose* ? 2 95S5 7 Hi IS '-W 



• Not enough seed for thre.- lot.s, so just large and smaU considered. 



varieties, especially if the treatment May 29. They suecotMled i" ;'»'.vi"S 



lasts for more than two minutes. about 2,000 peonies, all of which they 



5. The large seeds usually give better cut themselves^ 



germination than the smaller seeds of . The W. L. Rock Flower Co sold out 



the «amp varietv. ''^ I'^'"'"*^ ^""^ ^"* flowers. It had an 



' assortment of choice hydrangeas, which 



KANSAS CITY MO. '*^'*^"* woU, and a cut of 15,000 for the 



* ' week. 



'IT* Longview Farm is interested in the 



Memorial uay. ,j, j ^^^^ Floral Co., which will insure 



Satisfaction with the Memorial day lliis company of the entire out])ut of 



business up to Saturday, May 29, was Longview 's '$100,000 range, in addition 



expressed generally, with another good 1o other growers who are now ojicrat- 



day to come. It was doubtful if stock ing about 200,000 feet of glass, 



would hold out over Sunday noon, for The Pinehurst Floral Co. had plenty 



the demrind had been heavy and several of good rose.s from the groonhoiises for 



crops have been short. The peony crop Memorial day. Until Saturday, May 



was far below normal. Carnations have 2P, it had enough carnations to fill or- 



been short in this market since the ders and jieonies sufficient to give all 



storm in the early part of May and roses customers a few. Large orders for 



were scarce. Business was good all dur- peonies had to be turned down, 



ing the week. It increased each day as .1. G. Eggleston had a large supply of 



the week advanced. Stock was handled ivy geraniums, wliicli he sold at $1.50 



in better shape than usual and never .Mnd $.3 per do/on, according to size, 



was cleaner than this year. Usually a Work lias been so heavy at the 



large quantity of stock is thrown away Muehlebach Flower Shop that another 



young woman has been added to the 

 force. Miss Thelma McKee. Mr. NefE 

 had from one to three decorations every 

 day last week. Wednesday, May 26, he 

 had a wedding for which the bride's 

 bouquet was of orchids and lilies of 

 the valley. Considerable difficulty was 

 experienced in getting orchids. Bouquets 

 for the bridesmaids were old-fashioned 

 affairs, eighteen inches across, of white, 

 pink and lavender sweet peas, and there 

 were boutonnieres and a number of 

 corsages. 



Mr. and Mrs. Tucker Smith, of Pleas- 

 ant Hill, were in Kansas City Friday, 

 May 28. 



The T. J. Noll Floral Co. will install 

 a Lipman automatic refrigerating ma- 

 chine at a cost of $3,000 in its new 

 wholesale house, 1117 McGee street. 



Some of the department stores had 

 peonies on sale Saturday, May 29, for 

 $1 per dozen. One store advertised 

 20,000 at this price, which was less than 

 the retail florists had to pay. 



William Wade, of Pinehurst, shipped 

 an order of peonies to Yankton, S. D., 

 and the customer wired for another or- 

 der, as the flowers were received in such 

 good shape. 



One of the features of the amateur 

 flower gardeners' show, to be held June 

 12 at the Hotel Muehlebach, will be an 

 exchange table. Anyone with surplus 

 plants or bulbs may trade or list them 

 for exchange. J. E. K. 



IN SEABCH OF REMEDIES. 



There are two matters in my mind 

 which are of grave importance to the 

 trade. The first is of wholesale dealers 

 or commission houses shipping on spe- 

 cial occasions to individuals who are 

 not bona fide retailers. This certainly 

 is Working hardship on the legitimate 

 dealers, because if we do not get our 

 business for special occasions, when are 

 we to do any business? There certainly 

 should be some step taken to correct this 

 condition. 



Also I want to get the ideas of other 

 florists in regard to people growing and 

 selling plants in the spring without anj- 

 license. p]very spring heretofore T have 

 sold in the neighborhood of .*]00,000 to- 

 mato plants in quantities of a half-dozen 

 to 15,000 to a cu.stomer. This year I 

 shall not sell 30,000 in all. Wiiyf Be- 

 cause every old man, and woman as 

 well, who cannot do a day's work grows 

 a box or two of tomatoes, peppers, egg- 

 ])lants and cabbages and sells them to 

 anybody. They even advertise in the 

 papers and erect signs on the house 

 door and sell to the grocery stores. They 

 undersell us, as they pay no license and 

 grow only what they can attend to 

 tliemselves, while we pay for our city 

 water by meter and pay state, county 

 and city taxes. The clerk of the court 

 says that they can sell what they grow 

 witliout any license. Well, avc grow 

 ours, too, but we buy wire frames and 

 j)ut two or more things together, to 

 make designs, and are therefore manu- 

 facturers. In my own town there are 

 three or four old women making big 

 money out of plants; yet they })ay no 

 tax. But it cuts into our business in 

 the neighborhood of $1,000 in spring 

 sales. Can anyone suggest a remedy 

 for this? These people use city water 

 without cost and sell plants without a 

 license; in other word.s, wp put uj> the 

 money to run the city with and the lit- 

 tle fellows get the jirofits. What is the 

 remedv? Murrav Sands. 



