24 



The Florists^ Review 



FIBBUABT 10, 1921 



effort will it require to bring the violets 

 back where they should bet 



Who is it who tries to play with the 

 future of the retailer, grower and 

 wholesaler? One or two speculators 

 who have only the interest of today at 

 heart and do not care for tomorrow. 

 If we are not careful, the same will 

 happen with other varieties of flowers. 

 Quarantine 37 is an excuse to some, but 

 it holds good only in sections of the 

 country where it is difficult to secure 

 flowers due to the expense of delivery 

 or where loss in shipping warrants a 

 high price, not in markets accessible to 

 growers, as in the large centers. 



New Methods Necessary. 



New methods in business are neces- 

 sary to strengthen the confidence of the 

 public in the man who supplies them 

 with their needs. Our biggest customer, 

 the F. T. D., demands adjustment and 

 equality in grades and prices as much 

 as the difference in climatic conditions 

 of the many states of the Union and 

 Canada allow. 



To date roses have been graded in 

 some states No. 1, No. 2 and short. The 

 No. 1 are the longest stems, No. 2 are 

 the medium stems, and the short are 

 roses generally used for table decora- 

 tions, etc. Other states call the short- 

 stemmed grades No. 1 and No. 2, and 

 long-stemmed grades they call extras, 

 fancies, specials or extra specials. This 

 should not be. Grades should be alike 

 all over the states and Canada. The 

 growers should have like measures and 

 like names or numbers for the different 

 lengths and qualities of flowers, and the 

 grower should not be tempted when in 

 his part of the country the weather is 

 dark and roses open slowly to believe 

 himself justified in mixing short roses 

 among the long ones or those of an in- 

 ferior quality among good ones. The 

 time is not far away when we shall have 

 a standard scale of grades. Roses will 

 run by numbers, such as No. 12, 18, 24 

 and 36, and the number will signify the 

 length of stem in inches. A new grade 

 will be created which will combine all 

 of the poor quality roses and weak- 

 stemmed roses irrespective of length, 

 which will sell at a lower price than the 

 No. 12. The time is near when we shall 

 be able to buy red roses for $50 or $60 

 per hundred at Christmas or any other 

 time and shall be able to sell them as 

 they run and not have a loss of twenty- 

 five or thirty-five per cent. 



"We retailers will not enforce this. 

 The new growers' association will see 

 to it. Its members will establish the 

 healthy, common-sense rules which are 

 so necessary to a sound business. They 

 will stabilize, not the prices, lint the 

 grades of fiowers, and the stock of the 

 grower who adheres strictly to the rules 

 will have preference. The growers' as- 

 sociation will give knowledge to those 

 who don't know and will increase the 

 eflficieney of those who have knowledge. 

 The growers' association will com- 

 mercialize our business and steady the 

 market. 



Union Gives Strength. 

 Some people -say we have too many 

 associations. We have really only one, 

 the Society of American Florists; that 

 is the mother. Out of the S. A. F. grew 

 the F. T. D., the first-born. The second, 

 the National Flower Growers' Associa- 

 tion, is young blood, and because of 

 that, it grows fast enough to keep step 

 with the F. T. D. Both work in unison 

 and both appreciate that in union lies 



strength. As it is only a question of 

 time till every good retailer will be a 

 member of the F. T. D., so it is only a 

 question of time till every grower will 

 be a member of the growers ' association. 

 Our future progress has had an example 

 in the fruit growers' association. It 

 was thought absolutely impossible that 

 the fruit growers could organize; still 

 they managed to do so. It happened in 

 the past, I do not know where, that 

 when a barrel was filled with fruit, a 

 stovepipe of liberal width was inserted 

 in the middle, which was filled with de- 

 fective fruit. After the sides had been 

 all filled with good fruit, the pipe was 

 pulled out and a layer of good fruit 

 placed on top. This cannot happen any 

 more, because the fruit growers appre- 

 ciate the fact that clean, good stock 

 strengthens the market and brings bet- 

 ter returns, and the retailer is willing 

 to pay a fairer price for fruit which is 

 all of good quality and all salable and 



he can charge a fairer price because he 

 is not forced to pay for fruit which he 

 cannot use for his customers. At 

 preseftt^all boxes or barrels which have 

 the stamp of the organization on the 

 outside cover are sold before ftU other 

 goods are sold. 



Gtot Closer Together. 



Growers do not put a stovepipe in 

 every cut flower box, but some are not 

 careful enough in grading their stock. 

 Short or weak-stemmed roses are found 

 among the long-stemmed, perfect stock 

 more than is necessary, and it will hap- 

 pen with our growers the same as with 

 the fruit dealers. After stabilizing the 

 grades and after stabilizing the quality, 

 they will help' us retailers to give our 

 customers better service and by increas- 

 ing our business they will help us to 

 increase their own, and closer coopera- 

 tion between allied trades will mean a 

 larger and better business for all. 



OD^N LETrEl^.A>- UEADEDd 



FIFTEEN YEAES AGO. 



We have mailed you a page from an 

 issue of the Florists' Review, dated 

 March 1, 1906, which came wrapped 

 around a shipment of bulbs received a 

 few days ago from Japan. 



It is interesting to know that The Re- 

 view has such a wide circulation and 

 also interesting to note the varieties of 

 roses which were offered for sale at that 

 time, such as MacArthur, Perle, Chate- 

 nay. Bride, Bridesmafd and Richmond, 

 ahd in carnations Harlowarden, Lawson, 

 Lady Bountiful and White Cloud. These 

 will bring back to florists memories of 

 fifteen years ago. Also, please note the 

 prices at which we sold cuttings at that 

 time, which were $2 per hundred and 

 $15 per thousand for most of the above 

 varieties of carnations, and the prices 

 of todav. Bassett & Washburn. 



implements, which are designed to do 

 the same work as one horse, but others 

 seem to have made out quite well with 

 them. We are obliged to keep a team 

 and really have no use for any imple- 

 ment of that character. We break our 

 field in the late fall and work it down 

 with the disk in the spring, using the 

 team for both operations. After that, 

 we need only the light cultivator and 

 the Merry Garden is just the ticket 

 for that. A. F. J. Baur. 



GOOD WORD FOR CULTIVATOR. 



Seeing a discussion in the columns ot 

 The Review regarding the merits of 

 motor-driven cultivators, I feel im- 

 pelled to add a word regarding our ex- 

 perience along that line. It is a most 

 important matter to the trade and will 

 be more so as time goes on. 



About a year ago we purchased a 

 Merry Garden cultivator. We judged 

 that this implement was just about 

 what we wanted here for cultivating 

 young cariifltion plants in the field and 

 any other cultivating of a similar 

 nature. 



Up to last spring we had been using 

 Planet .lunior manpower cultivators. 

 We were obliged to put four men in the 

 field aft.'v every rain in order to secure 

 the full benefits from the rain. During 

 the past summer, with a slightly en- 

 larged planting, we found it possible to 

 do all our cultivation with this one 

 Merry Garden motor cultivator. It did 

 the work in the same time as the four 

 man cultivators and did better work. 

 We would not think of parting with 

 this implement. 



We have not tried any of the larger 



MORE ABOUT BLACKLIST. 



I have been much interested in the 

 letters by Mrs. Annie 0. Howard and 

 Winfield S. Kircher, which recently ap- 

 peared in The Review. The blacklist 

 they propose could be extended to take 

 in the wholesaler who does crooked busi- 

 ness. 



We retailers have a big grievance 

 against the firms that advertise a certain 

 sized pot stock, "Cash, please," and 

 ship a smaller and inferior article. 

 Their position is secure, as they have 

 our money. I have been stung time 

 and again by this fraud, as that is what 

 it amounts to. If we retailers could 

 have enough glass to grow our own 

 stock, where would the wholesale grower 

 get off! 



One instance occurred to me a few 

 years %go. I was short of vincas, and 

 in looking up the advertisements I found 

 one firm offering 3-inch stock for 6 and 

 8 eents, though why there should be two 

 ijrades of 3-inch pot stock was beyond 

 my comprehension. I sent the cash for 

 the more expensive grade, thinking I 

 would be sure of getting 3-inch plants, 

 but those I received measured just two 

 and one-quarter inches. I wrote, pro- 

 testing against the substitution, and 

 the solace I received was, "Why, Mr. 

 Mdore, what do you expect for 8 cents?" 

 Last fall I fell again for an adver- 

 tisement of 4-inch cyclamens, which also 

 said, "Cash, please." The plants were 

 shipped in paper pots. When the plants 

 were taken out the dirt fell away, and I 

 found .'i-inoh stock which had been 



