34 



The Florists^ Review 



jANL'AitY 26. 1!)22 



Davis Gardens, the Establishment of the J. W. Davis Co., Terre 



I'liiiiiil its exist ciict' ;i real )n'lj> in vi'- 

 fcciint,' c-(illri-t ion--. Many custonicrs 

 \\]in ha. I lii'fu .--low in |iayin}i; liavu set- 

 tle. I tlieir lulls wtieii tuKl of this list 

 an. I the tai-t that their names Wduld bo 

 enti reil (in it in ease no sottlonu'ut was 

 reacheil by a certain date. Tlu're is a 

 cert.-iin type et' l)iiyer ■\vlio cannot be iK;- 

 cuseil oi li.i\inif a conscience, but who 

 values the Dun ur Bradstreet rating too 

 Lijilily to fail in niei'tini,' his bills. 



''We exiiect that every three months 

 will prove often enoiijih to revise this 

 list ami subse(|Hent listin<;s will carry a 

 special sec t ion sho\vin<; tluise previously 

 listed wlio have settled lip their ac- 

 c(Mints. All the retail llorists now favor 

 tliis e\(diaiii;e of cre(lit inforinatioii and 

 the s<'c(inil re]iort will cai'ry every retail- 

 er "s list of l.ia.l accounts. ' ' 



A check ainonj,' the retailers them- 

 selves shows that this plan is working 



out satisfactorily. '' I was saved money 

 the liist d;iy this list was rect'ive<l,' ' 

 sa\s one Sec<ind avenue store nianaj^er. 

 '■Se\eral days ]iri'vi()Usly I had sold a 

 lioral |)iec(! to a new customer, who liad 

 a^iee<i to ]iay within a couple of days. 

 His name on this list started nie after 

 my money at once and this proini)t ac- 

 tion uncloubtedly savetl me from writinj^ 

 off ;i loss on this one deal." 



A number of cases are reported anionjj; 

 store owners where attempts were made 

 .lurinjx the Christmas rush by j)eople on 

 this list to open new charj^e accounts. 

 ''They were careful to S(dect extra 

 (lerks for this," says another store 

 man;i<,'er. "The extra clerk is naturally 

 jileased at the idea of havin<^ secured a 

 new (diar;L,'e customer and, but for this 

 list, we sluuild ha\e added several poor 

 accounts t<i our own troubli's. " 



II. M. 



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HERE'S RIVALRY 



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PLANTS OUST CUCURIBERS. 



Changes at Terre Haute. 



S(jme of the keen min.ls of the flo- 

 rists' trade ha\e anticipated that the 

 demand for llowfring ;inil foliaj^e 

 plants, whiili has risen so rapidly in 

 late years, w.juld .attract individuals 

 outside of the trade. A jiartial f nihil- 

 ment of this antici]iation is seen in the 

 entrame of tlie ,1. W. D.'ivis Co., at 

 Terre Haute, Ind., into the (dant grow- 

 in;; lui-iiie-s. it is only parti.al. how 

 e\cr, since Mr. I);i\"is has I'or thirty 

 ^■^■at■s been engage. 1 in a closely allied 

 "business, that of growing \egetables un- 

 der gl.-iss. 



Thirty years ago, .1. \V. I);i\is was en 

 gaged in business with his brother at 

 Morri--oii. 111., in ui'iwing cucumbers in 

 a sin.-iU gr<'.'nhouse. Not satisfied that 

 their ^\ay> w.re the best w.-iys, Mr. 

 l)a\is \i'-iti-.l the e-tablishmeiits of veg- 

 etable foM-ers in neighboring towns. He 

 h;is related that it took some persu.asion 

 on his part to convince his brother tli.at 

 thi~ was a prcdit.able w;iy to s|'enil his 

 time, since they both worked the long 

 hcuirs th.'it were customary in green- 

 houses three decades .ago. Ideits that 

 Mr. l)a\is brought home with him, how- 

 ever, soon jiroved to be well worth the 

 time ami money they cost, and before 

 long Mr. Itavis was going still farther 

 .afield on his visits of inspection and 

 invest igation. 



Spreading Out. 



Th(> range at Morris<ni did not i>ro- 

 \ide large enriugh scope for the activi- 

 ties of .Mr. l).a\is. One after another, 

 he est.'iblishe.l greenh(Uis(>s .at \arious 

 towns in Illinois and hater in other 

 st.ates, until today the enterprises es- 

 t;ildi--lie(l by him number ten, in four 

 dilferent states. Most of them are in 

 Illinois, cucumber r.aiiges being fiper.at- 

 ed at Morrison, Ottaw;i, Aurora, Stre.a- 

 tor. I\;inkak(>e ami .T(di<'t. At (ilen.l.ale, 

 <'al., is anothei- I'aiiuo' devoted to cucum- 

 bers. .\t, Davenport, la., are two cst.ab- 

 lishments; tlie ,1. AV. Davis Co., com- 

 prising iTD.odii s.piare feet of gl.-iss, is 

 . ii-.a^.'.l in t'orcing \egetables. while the 

 D;i\ i^ Floral Co., whi.-h operateji 12.'>,- 

 iioo scpiare t'e.'t of gl;iss, grows ferns. 

 The biggest range of all is at Terrt^ 

 ll.aute, Ind.; it contains Cuojiod foet of 

 gl;i~s, mo>t ot' wlii.-h is il.'xnte.l to vcge- 

 t.-ibles. ;ind ;ib(.nt oiie-(il'lli to a g.lieral 

 line of ilowering ;iiel f(diage ].lants. 



Tlu' ten establishments contain .alto- 

 get her L'. 700,(1110 feet of glass. In most 

 of them .1. W. Da\ i- has .lisposed of his 

 interests to one or ."iiiother of his 

 younger brotheis, who .are 1,'. I{, Davis 

 \V. P.. Davis an.i F. L. Davis. Mr. Davis 

 himsidf is only interested .at jiresent iu 

 the ranges at Joliet, HI.; Davenport, 

 la., and Terre Haute, In.l. His home is 

 at Davenjjort, though he s{>ends the 

 winti^rs in Florida. Although he is but 



5li years of age, ho has compressed a 

 vast amount of activity into the thirty 

 vears since he began to grow vegetables 

 .•It -Morrison, 111. 



Beginning at Terre Haute. 



The range at Terre H.aute, the largest 

 b,v far of all the D.avis establish- 

 ments, was located in that cit.v by care- 

 ful design. That town was selected by 

 IMr. Davis as combining two important 

 advantagt>s, in shipping facilities and 

 access to coal. The ni.ain line of the 

 Pennsylvania and Now York Central 

 railroads connect it with tht> big east- 

 (»rn markets, while those roads and the 

 C. & E. I. connect it with the chief 

 cities in the west as well. The Hlinois 

 Central .svstem connects it with all 

 ]iarts of the south, where extensive ship- 

 ments of plants are made. The green- 

 house is within rille shot of several coal 

 holds, an import.ant fact, since the 

 twelve Westinghouse high-jiressure 

 steam Iioilers, eijuipiioil with automatic 

 Ronoy stokers, burn 11,000 tons of 

 coal a .vear. .Tiist now it (;osts only 

 $2. .TO a ton. No. 4 screenings are used. 



It was in 1914 th.at Mr. Davis became 

 interested in the facilities at Terre 

 Haute. In that year fifty eight acres 

 were ]Hir(diaso<I bv a corporation headed 

 by Mr. Davis and Charles Crilk, of 

 Davenport, la. A switch was built from 

 the C. & E. I. railroad. In that year 

 two houses, eacdi 80x000 feet, were com- 

 pleted by the Lord & Burnham Co. In 

 1916 three more houses of the same di- 

 mensions were ad<led, and in 1017 five 

 luuises were completcl, doubling the 

 size of the range. 



From Vegetables to Plants. 



I'ntil three vears .ago, only vegetables 

 were grown at Terre Haute, cucumbers, 

 tomatoes and mushrooms being the (diief 

 products. The <lemand for ilowering 

 .aii'l f(di;ige jdants led If) some exi)cri- 

 inents with them. About a ,\('ar ago, 

 C. O. Anderson, a plantsman of long ex- 

 ]nrience, became man;iger of the pl.anl 

 department. A large area of glass was 

 placed at his disposal, with ]'romise of 

 ad.litions ;is the business warr.anted it. 

 Mr. Amlersou's success has loil to the 

 decision of Mr. D.avis jind liis general 

 manager at Terre Haute, Keith Owen, 

 to go into plants on a larger scale. At 

 the beginning of this .year, additional 

 sjiace was turned over to Mr. Anderson, 

 who has charge both of jiroduction and 

 the sales of pl.ants. 



The total area devoted to j)lants now 

 is (ine-fifth of the entire range, or 120,- 

 000 square feet of glass, a good-sized 

 greenhouse establishment in itself. 

 Ferns of the Boston variety and it.;? 



