16 



The Florists^ Review 



Skptembeb 2, 1920 



proportions and the express companies 

 are unquestionably trying to take better 

 care of shipments entrusted to their 

 care. 



It is expected that the coast-to-coast 

 refrigerator service, interrupted by the 

 world war, will now be partly resumed. 

 The express company has promised to 

 provide a semiweekly service, beginning 

 early in the present month. That is, 

 twice a week a refrigerator car will 

 leave San Francisco for the east. 



Much improvement has also been made 

 in packing methods. Shippers now 

 realize that it does not pay to send 

 anything but the best grade of fresh- 

 cut stock and are using their utmost 

 care in both handling and packing. 



When shipped an especially long dis- 

 tance, mums usually arrive in a wilted 

 condition and have to be revived. This 

 is done by breaking an inch or two off 

 the stems and placing the flowers deep 

 in water in a cool place. If some fail 

 to respond, the operation should be re- 

 peated. Above all things, the flowers 

 should never stand in a draft. 



MUMS AT LOS ANGELES. 



Culture in Foothill Country- 

 Most of the chrysanthemums pro- 

 duced in the vicinity of Los Angeles 

 are grown by Japanese. The mums are 

 planted in the open field from April 

 to June. Before the buds show in 

 August, the plants are covered with 

 cheesecloth. Many of the growers have 

 several acres of mums and such an en- 

 terprise involves a great deal of work. 

 The crop is grown principally in the 

 foothill country, in the decomposed 

 granite which occurs there. For first- 

 class results, this soil usually requires 

 heavy fertilization. Glendale, Holly- 

 wood and Sierra Madre are leading 

 centers of chrysanthemum culture. 



A few of the Japanese grow the mums 

 under glass and the greenhouse flowers 

 usually bring higher prices than the out- 

 door stock, but last year the weather 

 was so favorable that there was not 

 much difficulty in obtaining good prices 

 for the outside blooms. The growers re- 

 ceived $2.50 per dozen in November for 

 No. 1 grade and the lowest price noted 

 by the writer that season was $1 per 

 dozen to the wholesaler. 



Delivery at Local Market, n 



The growers take the stock to the 

 market in their own machines. The 

 blooms are mostly tied in bunches of 

 about six dozen, arranged in tiers of six 

 so that each alternate flower shows. 

 The Japanese are adepts at this style 

 of packing. The bunches are covered 

 with cheap muslin to keep off dust. 



Heavy wind, especially following rain, 

 is the condition most feared; it is 

 dreaded even more than frost, which 

 is seldom severe enough to damage the 

 flowers. 



The varieties chiefly grown in south- 

 ern California are Chrysolora, October 

 Frost, October Queen, Jeanne Nonin, the 

 two Batons, Chieftain, White Chieftain, 

 Bonnaffon, Appleton, Harvard, Mrs. 

 Brock, William Turner, Scalarandis and 

 Mrs. May Hunter. Other varieties are 

 cultivated, but these are most popular 

 and are best adapted for shipping. 



As regards the destination of the 

 California-grown blooms, one company 

 has shipped them successfully to Toledo, 

 Cleveland and St. Paul. Some ship- 

 ments to Pittsburgh were reported poor 

 on arrival. Our principal territory is 



Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. Other 

 wholesalers report successful shipments 

 to Detroit, to Lorain, O., to Minnesota 

 points and even to New York, but it is 

 doubtful whether shipments to the far 

 east are entirely safe. 



Every year the demand increases in 

 the surrounding territory, so that there 

 is less and less need of taking the risk 

 of the extremely long journeys. There 

 are many more chrysanthemum growers 

 in the San Francisco bay district than 

 here, in the south, and the regular ship- 

 ments of the San Francisco growers 

 cover a wider range of territory. 



H. R. Richards. 



WHAT'S GOINO ON. 



There's News in This. 



The Jointless Fire Brick Co., Chicago, 

 iss,ues a weekly bulletin for its em- 

 ployees and recent editions show, 

 among other things, what some well 

 known florists are doing. 



Here is an extract from the bulletin 

 of August 16: 



"From the number of orders we are 

 ojetting from florists all over the coun- 

 try it would indicate that this is the 

 open season for florists' orders. Per- 

 haps our ad in the Florists' Review is 

 hitting the mark, but what will they 

 be if we put all our salesmen on the 

 trail before the season is over? Go to it! 

 The florists are all in the market, from 

 indications, at this time of the year. 

 Our Mr. Peacock struck an order, from 

 the Davis Floral Co., for a carload at 

 Joliet and we have sold this one con- 



cern altogether three cars at different 

 points in Illinois and Iowa. We arc 

 putting 40,000 pounds into a green- 

 house at Morton Grove and we have 

 numerous orders from florists all 

 around, so please do not get the idea 

 that greenhouses are small pickings. 

 They are real orders." 



More Big Business. 



And here's a clipping from the bul- 

 letin of August 21: 



"The editor was called out on the 

 carpet by all three of the men who 

 travel out of headquarters for what he 

 has written in the last bulletin. Mr. 

 Peacock registered a strenuous objec- 

 tion in having only mentioned his three- 

 carload greenhouse orders and accused 

 us of having, deliberately and with 

 malice, omitted to mention his 80,000- 

 pound order for Bassett & Washburn, 

 exclusively engaged in growing roses at 

 Hinsdale, 111. And then came Mr, Kutt- 

 nauer, who took occasion to criticise us 

 for mentioning Mr. Peacock for honors 

 and deliberately omitting his name, 

 when we only mention the 40,000-pound 

 order for Poehlmann Bros. Co., accus- 

 ing us of trying to take credit for this 

 directly and going right over his head. ' ' 



The editor of the bulletin evidently 

 is something of a josher, as he explains 

 certain irrelevancies in the issue of Au- 

 gust 28 thuswise: 



"For the benefit of those who will 

 ask to know, the writer admits that he 

 reads the Florists' Review and the 

 Power Plant Engineering, and some- 

 times he reads the Gumps. Sometimes 

 he sits and smokes, and sometimes he 

 only sits." 



C»GN LCTTEI^^^ READED6 



FOB HIGHEB HAIL INSUBANCE. 



After reading what was said in The 

 Review for August 12 regarding a re- 

 vision of our hail insurance, I heartily 

 agree that something should be done. 

 I was hailed out three weeks ago and 

 lost nearly 13,000 square feet of glass. 

 I am carrying a double assessment and 

 the insurance helps out, but does not 

 begin to replace the loss. I believe that 

 the time is ripe to bring this matter up 

 and to have a readjustment of rates 

 made to conform with the prevailing 

 prices of glass and labor. 



By the time this reaches the office 

 of The Review our range will be all 

 reglazed. Edward Williams. 



WORKING CONDITIONS. 



I read A. Hodge's letter in The Re- 

 view for July 1. I agree with him on 

 the bonus system. But I think that if 

 the owner has had a good year he ought 

 to give his men something at Christ- 

 mas to show his appreciation; he might 

 give, as Mr. Hodge suggests, salary for 

 one or two months. 



I agree with what he says as to why 

 men quit. Many places have too many 

 bosses. Also, they should furnish their 

 men with what is necessary to do the 

 work, such as boots, aprons and syring- 

 ing coats. 



A good grower should be paid just as 



much as a good mechanic or carpenter 

 or bricklayer or plumber. 



I believe that we should be given the 

 8-hour day, the same as in the other 

 trades. Some places are working nine 

 hours, but most of them have to work 

 ten hours. And we should get the 

 same pay for eight hours that we are 

 getting for ten hours. If a man is 

 working by the day, he should be paid 

 at the same rate for eight hours. If 

 he is paid by the hour, he should be 

 paid enough more per hour to make his 

 pay for eight hours equal what he has 

 been receiving for ten hours. 



George Allen. 



AS TOUB FRIEND WOULD DO. 



We had a number of orders to get out 

 for the funeral of an Italian boy one 

 day recently. A foreign woman came 

 into the store several times, ordering in 

 all three large standing pieces. A^en 

 she was questioned as to what she de- 

 sired on the cards, she gave us the 

 name of a man and said: "He is dead, 

 but I am ordering them for him." 



This was amusing, but if we had more 

 of these customers, what a help it would 

 be to us during these hot summer days! 

 It may be well summed up thus: 

 "Though your friends be dead, do for 

 them what you think they would do if 

 they were still alive, and 'Say It with 

 Flowers. ' " I. L. Bates. 



