KUCBMBER 15, 1921 



The Florists^ Review 



51 



Such a House as This One at Sawtelle» Cal^ Presents a Wonderful pre-Christmas Sight. 



poinniittec on special premiums, reports 

 as follows: 



Ilarrj' I. Randall, Worcester, Mass., discretion 

 of the committee, cash $10.00. 



J. H. Keller Sons, Inc., Rochester, N. Y., dis- 

 cretion of the committee, cash $25.00. 



Carter's Tested Seeds, Inc., N. Y., discretion 

 of the committee, cash $25.00. 



American Hulb Co., Chicago, 111., to be offered 

 as prize for twenty-five lily plants in iwt, cash 

 $50.00. 



J. A. Endlong Co., Chicago, 111., discretion of 

 the committee, cash $25.00. 



Hammond's Paint & Slug Shot Works, Beacon. 

 N. Y., to be -offered as prize for the best exhibit 

 of roses to he decided by a majority vote of the 

 ladies attending the shovf. cash $10.00. 



Erne & Co., Chicago, 111., discretion of the com- 

 mittee, cash $10.00. 



Martin & Forbes Co.. Portland, Ore., discretion 

 (if the committee, cash $20.00. 



Park Floral Co., Cleveland, O., discretion of the 

 committee, cash $10.00. 



A. Ij. Miller, Jamaica. N. Y., discretion of 

 the committee, cash $25.00. 



Mrs. J. C. Vaughan, Chicago, 111., for the best 

 table decoration open to members of I.adies' 

 S. A. F., cash $25.00, also cash of $25.00 for the 

 discretion of the committee. 



Henry F. Michell Co., Philadelphia, Pa.: 

 Michell Seed House offers for the best vase of 

 twelve roses not yet disseminated gold medal, for 

 the second best vase of twelve roses not yet dis- 

 seminated, silver medal. 



Van Zonneveld & Co., Sassenheim, Holland, to 

 be offered as a prize for the best pan of Darwin 

 Bartigon, open to commercial trade, cash $25.00. 



Stuppy Floral Co., St. Joseph, Mo., discretion 

 of the committee, cash $50.00. 



W. II. Siebrecht, Chappaqua, N. Y., discretion 

 of the committee, cash $25.00. 



John Young, Sec 'y. 



ARMACOST ADVANCES. 



Cyclamen Time. 



To keep anything like abreast of the 

 improvements constantly being made at 

 the great place of Walter Armacost & 

 Co., at Sawtelle, Cal., one would have 



to visit the firm frequently. Calling 

 there the early part of December, the 

 writer found the cyclamens much re- 

 duced in number by recent shipments, 

 but still a great many thousands ready 

 to ship, while the quality in all cases 

 leaves nothing to be desired. 



Naturally the most attractive are the 

 large specimens in 8-inch, 9-inch and 10- 

 inch pots. The great beauty and perfect 

 cultural skill shown in these plants 

 baffle descriptions. They could not be 

 improved upon. In the first place, all the 

 stock is grown cool under lath shade in 

 the open air. It is brought into the 

 greenhouses to finish and the immense, 

 solid foliage, the myriads of flowers and 

 the perfect contour of the plants must 

 be seen to be realized. Descriptions fail 

 to convince and even photographs do not 

 carry the story, for the wonderful 

 variety in color of the flowers, the 

 delicately beautiful leaf markings and 

 the flower buds absolutely jostling each 

 other for place under the foliage cannot 

 be shown. Between 2,000 and 3,000 of 

 these big beauties were grown this year 

 out of 115,000 of all sizes. 



System in Handling. 



It must not be thought that all the 

 care is given the big fellows. All the 

 way down the line, through 6-inch, 5- 

 inch and 4-inch pots, the same ideal is 

 aimed at. By liberal spacing the indi- 

 vidual plants do the utmost possible in 

 the size of pot they occupy, while the 

 open-air treatment gives stamina and 

 vigor to the foliage and stiffness to the 

 stems, so that every flower stands erect; 



every leaf is perfect. It is no wonder 

 that buyers receiving their first shij)- 

 ments of sucli stock iiniiuHliately wire 

 duplicating and in many cases doubling 

 or tripling their orders. 



A word as to handlin;^': Motor trucks 

 are kept going, loaded full, b(>tween the 

 greenhouses and packing slieds. At tlie 

 sheds the packing team takes hold and 

 e.ach does his part in tying, wrapping, 

 clieckingand packing, each man a cog in 

 the well oiled machine. (Mose by the 

 large packing shed the packing c;iscs arc 

 made up and these arc standardized, so 

 that there is a cr.'ite for every plant or- 

 der. Every order received by 4 p. m. is 

 shipped that day; everything after that 

 time goes out the next morning. There 

 are considerably over 100 men employed 

 in the place and at rush times the ]);ick- 

 ing staff can l)e so quickly .'ind easily in- 

 creased that the al)ove perfect service 

 to customers is made possible. And 

 every afternoon, after the shipping 

 stock has been selected from the green- 

 houses and packed, back come the motor 

 trucks and fill up again with plants 

 from the outside, so that before night- 

 fall the houses are again filled. 



"Blooding" the Eoses. 



As bearing on tliis perfect system, 

 which is carried out in all departments, 

 the liquid manuring may be mentioned; 

 formerly it took five men ten days to 

 apply blood fertilizer to the whole of the 

 rose benches under glass. Now the blood 

 meal is worked up in the big manure 



