22 



The Florists^ Review 



Mav 12, laai 



ter spent in advertising besides. All this 

 the florists obtained for the expense and 

 effort connected with the display, which 

 were, comparatively, insignificant. 



The occasions when shows of this kin<l 

 can be held seem to be constantly in- 

 creasing. Affairs of such a cooperative 

 nature are not rare; this was one of the 

 most successful recently noted. There 

 is opportunity, too, for the small town 

 florist to promote similar affairs. The 

 scale will be smaller, since the commu- 

 nity is smaller, but the benefit in a trade 

 way may be proportionately as large. 

 For Instance. 



For instance, Hermon Brown writes of 

 the way local enthusiasm has been 

 aroused in the little town of Gilroy, Cal. 

 He says: 



' ' You will be interested to know what 

 our little California town of Gilroy does 

 in a floral way. We have a population 

 between 2,000 and 3,000. We are in the 

 center of a prune-growing district, but 

 a wonderful place for flowers to grow. 

 This year we have just held our eighth 

 annual show. It is an amateur show 

 with, this year, only one professional ex- 

 hibit. We had a fine exhibit in almost 

 all classes, although we were about one 

 week early for the best of the garden 

 blooms. 



' ' We get the best judges we can each 

 year and are trying to make our classi- 

 fication such that anyone with a good 

 flower or plant can enter for competi- 

 tion. This year we had for judges W. 

 B. Clarke, of San Jose, who is especially 

 posted on roses; H. G. Keerling, of San 

 Jose, an iris and amaryllis enth"usiast, 

 and James E. Brown, of Capitola, whose 



specialty is bulbs. We had Mrs. Clarke, 

 Mrs. Brown, Mrs. McChesney (Mr. Keer- 

 ling 's daughter) and three of the high 

 school teachers judge the arranged flow- 

 ers, and Miss Edith Patton to judge the 

 wild flowers. The prizes are donated by 

 local firms and the premium list is 

 printed by one or two banks, which have 

 their advertisements on it. 



"There were a good number of roses 

 and an extremely good exhibit of iris, 

 about thirty different varieties. Long- 

 spurred hybrid columbines were fine. 

 The six decorated dining tables added 

 much to the beauty of the hall. But the 

 best feature of the show was the wild 

 flower and children's exhibit on the sec- 

 ond day. There were four entries in the 

 prize-winning wild flower exhibit, with 

 i'44 different wild flower varieties, not 

 counting grasses or ferns. The arranged 

 flower bouquets and baskets of flowers 

 by the children were fine. I only wish 

 they could have been judged against the 

 ones arranged by the adults. 



* ' These annual shows are doing a great 

 deal to improve the home surroundings. 

 People are growing improved varieties 

 and are taking a keener interest in bet- 

 ter and more flowers. The benefit to the 

 trade is a decided one and growing each 

 year. ' ' 



So, here are suggestions as to staging 

 your own flower show, whether or not 

 the national flower show is a thousand 

 miles away or whether or not you have a 

 local society big enough to make a dis- 

 play that commands attention. Ygu are 

 creating business in other ways. Here is 

 one more which, perhaps, you haven't 

 tried. 



OPCN V^Xm^J^ CEADEDB 



MOTHERS' DAY AND MISS JARVIS. 



There has been some controversy 

 about the use of Mothers' day in con- 

 nection with the sale of flowers by the 

 trade. Threats of infringement and 

 trespassing on such rights have been 

 made by the International Mothers ' 

 Day Association, of which Miss Jarvis 

 is president. 



Miss Jarvis originated Mothers' day 

 and it placed her name on the honor roll 

 for the good of humanity. She received 

 full credit for her beautiful thought. 

 But Mothers' day got beyond her after 

 its inception, as it was then up to the 

 people to carry it on according to her 

 own wishes and suggestion. 



Her thought and idea was that every 

 person who had a mother living should 

 wear a colored carnation, and everyone 

 whose mother was dead, a white one. 

 Naturally, the florists took up the idea 

 and made Mothers' day, through pub- 

 licity, just what Miss Jarvis wished it 

 to be. 



The florists soon saw the folly of 

 making carnations the emblem of Moth- 

 ers ' day; so through educational pub- 

 licity they advocated any flower as a 

 suitable gift or emblem. This was done 

 to keep all flowers on a reasonable ba- 

 sis, as otherwise there was room for ex- 

 orbitant prices on carnations, due to an 

 inadequate supply. 



Miss Jarvis can be thankful to the 

 florists for taking up Mothers' day, for 

 it was through their publicity that the 

 day and its observance was made so 

 nation-wide. 



Suppose no notice had been taken of 

 it by the trade at all — it, and likewise 

 Miss Jarvis, would soon have been for- 

 gotten, like many similar days that are 

 not kept in the minds of the people. 



It is the unexpected result that is 

 perhaps leading Miss Jarvis, or those 

 behind her in the scheme, now to repu- 

 diate it. She, no doubt, thinks highly 

 of her idea and so did the public, as it 

 has shown by taking it up as it did. 



Mothers' day is sentimental, and 

 flowers are the only gift or emblem that 

 will perpetuate the idea as inaugurated 

 by Miss Jarvis. It is not being com- 

 mercialized, as she believes, as the peo- 

 ple are demanding what she advocated 

 and the florists' trade is ready to sup- 

 ply it. 



The trade must be alert to keep Moth- 

 ers' day in observance by preparing in 

 advance to meet the requirements. Stock 

 must be kept on a reasonable basis to 

 keep aloof ;from any criticism regard- 

 ing profiteering or commercializing the 

 day. Other lines of business are taking 

 advantage of it. Some of our newspa- 

 per advertisements say, "Buy a Vic- 

 trola for Mother." The jewelers say, 

 "Buy a Gift That Lasts." One invest- 



ment company advertised, "Buy Moth 

 er a Bond." All the novelty stores art 

 advocating beautiful Mothers' daj 

 cards and candy manufacturers arc 

 pushing candy. Let's keep the senti 

 ment, "flowers," where it belongs, as 

 it was the original wish ©f Miss Jarvis^ 

 at the day's inception. 



Miss Jarvis needed the cooperation of 

 the florists to disseminate her idea of 

 Mothers' day and, if she would now 

 cooperate with them in the same spirit 

 as she did when the day was proclaimed, 

 the glory and benefit of Mothers' day 

 would still be going to Miss Jarvis. 

 C. C. Pollworth. 



WABAN CONSEBVATOBIES SOLD. 



About 100 prominent growers of Bos- 

 ton and vicinity attended the auction 

 sale May 9 of the Waban Rose Conserva- 

 tories, at Natick, Mass., by Receiver 

 Francis E. Goodale. The greenhouses, 

 with sixty acres of land, were sold to 

 the Park Trust Co., of Worcester, for 

 $30,000. Two other parcels of land were 

 sold separately. 



The greenhouses include about 160,- 

 000 square feet of glass, among which is 

 one Hitchings house 4.'5x950 feet, two 

 Hitchings houses 22x750, an iron-framer 

 18x350, and several iron-frame and 

 wooden-frame houses 20x300. 



THE BEST SWEET PEAS. 



The question as to which are the best 

 sweet peas is not an easy one to an- 

 swer, writes George W. Kerr, in the 

 1921 bulletin of the American Sweet 

 Pea Society. There are now so many 

 first-class varieties to choose from that 

 when we try to suggest a list of, say, 

 twelve of the best, we are sure to leave 

 out certain sorts with which other 

 growers might be inclined to head their 

 list. Then, certain varieties do' better 

 on some soils and under peculiar local 

 conditions than others, so that it is al- 

 most impossible to find unanimity of 

 opinion when we ask, "Which are the 

 twelve best sweet peasf" 



Here is a good set, suitable alike for 

 cither exhibition or general cutting pur- 

 poses: Constance Hinton, or King 

 White; Royal Purple, Mrs. Tom Jones, 

 Warrior, Hawlmark Pink, Orchid, Pic- 

 ture, Cherub, Mrs. C. P. Tomlin, Hope, 

 Tangerine and Elegance. 



The best of today, however, may have 

 to take second place tomorrow, for as 

 new varieties are introduced in such 

 numbers year after year, some of them 

 (not all by any means) are sure to sur- 

 pass others in the same shade of color. 



Of last year's introductions the out- 

 standing varieties were Hawlmark 

 Pink, Doris, a splendid cerise; Pink 

 Pearl, Hebe, Unwin's Pink and Com- 

 mander Godsall, all of which will be 

 leaders in their various colors. 



For 1921 there is a long list, many 

 of which I have yet to see in bloom. 

 Those I have been fortunate enough to 

 inspect are certainly magnificent. Royal 

 Scot may be said to head the list — a 

 vivid orange-scarlet, practically fire- 

 red, it is certainly "great." Picture is 

 another superb novelty of enormous 

 size; color, rich cream-pink. Brides- 

 maid is a fine deep pink on cream 

 ground; Caress, a pale cream pink; 

 Hawlmark Lavender, a charming shade 

 of pale lavender, extra large; Margaret 

 Atlee Improved, a greatly improved 

 form of the old favorite; Rosalind, a 

 rich, bright rose of great size; Hawl- 

 mark Maroon, a fine mahogany self. 



