18 



The Florists' Review 



Junk 9, 1921 



with that extra house. If he makes 

 $2,000 profit on the plants grown in 

 that house in the year following its 

 completion, he is just $1,000 ahead. Ho 

 has made $1,000 more than he would 

 have made, had he waited. So, figuring 

 it the other way around, he would lose 

 $1,000 by waiting. 



Present Decreases. 



The table on the preceding page 

 shows the rise and fall of prices for ma- 

 terial used in greenhouse construction. 

 These figures are, of course, approxi- 

 mate. But for the purpose of compari- 

 son, they are close enough to show the 

 trend of prices. It is interesting to 

 note the percentages of decrease from 

 the highest prices to the present prices. 

 Steel, it will be seen, registered a de- 

 crease of about thirty-three per cent, 

 the second largest fall. The reason for 

 this is that it started on the downward 

 track first. It reached its highest point 

 in 1917 and, therefore, has had about 

 four years in which to go down. This 

 may, in a way, tell something about 

 the decreases which can be expected 

 of the other prices. Most of the 

 prices reached their peak in the fall 

 of 1919 and the spring of 1920. If 

 they follow the precedent of steel it 

 will be some time in 1923 and 1924 be- 

 fore there is as great a decrease in price 

 on the other commodities. Tank cypress 

 has come down little, between thirteen 

 and fourteen per cent. There is every 

 reason to believe that there never will 

 be a repetition of pre-war prices on 

 tank cypress. This is the best grade 

 of cypress lumber. Cypress is becom- 

 ing scarcer and scarcer; in fact, it is so 

 scarce that a great deal of redwood is 

 being used in its place. So the old 

 law of supply and demand will, in all 

 probability, keep up the price of this 

 grade of cypress. The common and 

 pecky cypress have taken a good-sized 

 tumble, twenty-five and twenty-eight 

 per cent, respectively. But the supply 

 of these grades is getting smaller, and 

 there is no telling what will happen to 

 the price of them. 



Cement has taken the longest drop 

 of all, going back thirty-seven per cent 

 from its high price. 



Glass has not had a great decrease, 

 because the short glass supply has been 

 longer in catching up with the demand 

 than the other commodities. Steel pipe 

 has made an appreciable decrease, for 

 it has, in a way, followed the price of 

 basic steel. Paint, a rather large item 

 in the building of greenhouses, has also 

 taken a medium-sized tumble. The 

 average for the whole list is a decrease 

 of twenty-three per cent. 



Will They Go Back? 



But all of these commodities are still 

 above the pre-war level. Some of them 

 may some day drop to the old price. 

 Some of them will, perhaps, never go 

 back to the old level. Or, they may 

 take years to reach the desired place. 

 Or, perhaps, none of them will ever get 

 back. Or they may all go back in a 

 hurry. Or they may all take their time. 

 Whatever is to happen, each and every 

 man has his opinion. But from the 

 opinions of some of the great business 

 heads of the country and from the opin- 

 ions of men at the head of large firms 

 in the businesses that supply material 

 for greenhouses, the prices will go 

 down slowly from now on. 



If we can place any confidence at all 



in these opinions and can take an exam- 

 ple from the period after the Civil war, 

 a florist who needs a greenhouse now 

 would seem to be safe in building it and 

 reaping the additional year's profit, in 

 ])lace of saving a possible ten to twenty 

 l)er cent on the cost of erection a year 

 from now. 



THE FERTIUZEB MARKET. 



Of ill the commodities, few are so 

 hard hit in the readjustment period as 

 is the fertilizer industry; it is one place 

 in which the greenhouse trade is deriv- 

 ing a benefit. In most cases fertilizers 

 are being sold below recent costs of pro- 

 duction. There is scarcely any business 

 moving, florists being practically the 

 only class of buyers who are taking nor- 

 mal quantities. The agricultural de- 

 mand has almost disappeared. Florists 

 in the neighborhood of Chicago have 

 bought sheep manure recently as low as 

 $26 or even $25 a ton in carload lots, 

 and bone at $33 to $31 per ton. Florists 

 as a class do not obtain fertilizers from 

 first hands, as the big houses are re- 

 luctant to sell in less than carloads or 

 on other terms than sight draft at- 

 tached to bill of lading. 



BAN HITS riCUS ELASTICA. 



The quarantine placed on shipments 

 of plants and nursery stock from the 



parishes of Orleans and Jefferson, in 

 Louisiana, seems likely to curtail the 

 trade's supply of Ficus elastica cut- 

 tings. Fieus elastica cuttings, formerly 

 imported from Belgium, are now grown 

 around New Orleans, and are shipped 

 in May and June. Just as the first 

 shipments of the season were about 

 ready the quarantine was clamped 

 down, to include the two parishes whjsre 

 these cuttings are produced, by reason 

 of the camphor scale. The length of 

 the quarantine is indefinite, but it will 

 probably last long enough to spoil the 

 season's crop of cuttings, estimated at 

 over 100,000. No shipments can at 

 present be made. The formal notice of 

 the quarantine on the Japanese cam- 

 phor scale, which went into effect May 

 15, was published in last week's issue 

 of The Review. 



BUSINESS EMBARRASSMENTS. 



Cleveland, O. — C. D. Friebolin, ref- 

 eree in bankruptcy, has notified cred- 

 itors of the James Eadie Co. that the 

 final report of the trustee has been filed 

 and that a meeting to consider it will 

 be held at his ofiice, 610 Ulmer build- 

 ing, at 10 a. m. June 20. The trustee 

 asks leave to abandon the remaining ac- 

 counts receivable. Two dividends have 

 been paid, totaling seven and two- 

 tenths per cent. 



"Memorial day business was a series 

 of surprises to retailers generally, if 

 ours was any criterion," observed Wil- 

 liam Schlatter, of William Schlatter & 

 Son, Springfield, Mass. "For instance, 

 four plants of Geranium Beaute Poite- 

 vine in a pan selling for $4 was not an 

 isolated case and, as we see it, shows 

 advanced taste and appreciation of our 

 patrons for well grown stock. The 

 grand total far exceeded anything in 

 our long experience." The new Schlat- 

 ter store will be ready for occupancy 

 around July 1 and will be up to the 

 minute in every detail. 



• • • • 



Mark Aitken, of the Aitken Flower 

 Shop, Springfield, Mass., is not so satis- 

 fied with the general returns of Me- 

 morial day business. He said artificial 

 stuff cut quite a competitive figure, al- 

 though admitting they had a run on de- 

 signs from $3 upward. Some really 

 beautiful designs were seen and eclipsed 

 the stereotyped "prepared for use" 

 article. In cut flowers, the Aitken 

 greenhouses excelled in roses and car- 

 nations, the grower, Samuel Redstone, 

 having a heavy cut. A handsome pan 

 of standard-grown fuchsias placed in 

 the store window was the center of at- 

 traction, many others being sold in con- 

 sequence. 



• • • • 



J. W. Adams & Co. have established 

 headquarters at the nursery, at West- 

 field, Mass., where the output is highly 

 encouraging. A grand season for plant- 

 ing has been experienced, and a fine lot 

 of stock has been disposed of. 



• • • • 



"Finest business in our experience," 

 is the report of the H. F. A. Lange 

 Flower Shop, Worcester, Mass. "Wed- 



dings and funerals in seeming endless 

 number; no apparent let-up," observed 

 A. Lange. 



• • • • 



S. J. Goddard, Framingham, Mass., 

 pleased all concerned with a fine crop 

 of his famous Carnation Laddie around 

 Memorial day. 



• • • • 



James Wheeler, Natick, Mass., is se- 

 riously considering reducing the grand 

 stock of Calla Godfreyana to make 

 room for Winsor, the pink sport of Car- 

 nation Matchless, which is a great fa- 

 vorite in the Boston market. 



• • • • 



George Butterworth, Framingham, 

 Mass., says the Miltonia vexillaria 

 mentioned in The Review for June 2 

 will be known as the flower for the 

 June bride, so popular has it become. 

 Another gem is the fairy-like Oncidium 

 flexuosum. Some sprays worked into a 

 casket spray of lily of the valley made 

 a rich and airy combination. 



• • • • 



On entering the packing room of the 

 establishment of the A. N. Pierson Co., 

 Cromwell, Conn., one's eyes rest upon 

 a large card, bearing the scriptural quo- 

 tation, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped 

 us." Evidently our worthy veteran 

 confrere recognizes the assistance of a 

 higher authority and gives credit for 

 much of the wonderful progress made at 

 this place, which is a Mecca for stu- 

 dents and tourists. In this same pack- 

 ing room, the new rose. Pilgrim, is sent 

 forth. Complimented upon the splendid 

 appearance of the place and stock, the 

 fine old gentleman acknowledged that 

 "the Lord hath done great things for 

 us." W. M, 



