Septembeb 22, 1921 



The Florists^ Revkw 



23 



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FLOBICULTUBE IN GERMANY. 



Wax Halted Rapid Progress. 



Before the war the florists' trade in 

 Germany was making rapid and great 

 progress. Fruitful stimulation had 

 been drawn from the observations made 

 by German florists when pursuing their 

 profession abroad and in the course of 

 their visits to foreign exhibitions and 

 to famous growers. Another fruitful 

 cause of progress was the extraordi- 

 narily well conducted technical schools 

 for gardening, as was also the intense 

 degree of activity developed by an 

 ever-increasing number of investiga- 

 tions on questions pertaining to culture. 

 Fruitful also was the stimulation result- 

 ant on the increasing wealth of friends 

 of gardening. A further important aid 

 to progress was lent by the increasing 

 wealth of the country, with the attend- 

 ant increased buying capacity of the 

 inhabitants. 



German growers supplied the whole 

 world with lily of the valley pips. The 

 seed growers of Erfurt and Quedlinburg 

 had a firmly established reputation. 

 German tree nurseries sent their pro- 

 ductions to every European country and 

 even as far as Patagonia. The ambi- 

 tion to acquire as much knowledge as 

 possible drove young German florists 

 to England, France, Belgium and Hol- 

 land. 



Limitatious. 



Judged by American standards, the 

 average German florist 's establishment 

 may not have appeared to be on an 

 extensive scale, and the methods may 

 have seemed primitive, but the reason 

 was lack of means, or failure to invest 

 existing means. As a general rule, the 

 German gardeners earned but little, and 

 the movement towards specialization 

 was not yet sufficiently developed. 



These conditions were the natural re- 

 sult of the peculiar position of the coun- 

 try. On the west, in Belgium and Hol- 

 land, special cultures were flourishing, 

 and the whole of Germany's require- 

 ments in these lines were met by those 

 countries. The inexhaustible flower 

 fields and gardens of Italy and the south 

 of France supplied enormous quantities 

 of cheap cut flowers and greens all 

 through the winter. Thus it was that 

 for many years the German florists saw 

 their only possible path pointed out to 

 them, as they could not compete with 

 countries so favored by their climate. 

 It was only with the increase of wealth 

 and luxury that a demand for quality 

 began to be felt. This demand called 

 into existence some cut flower growers 

 of the American sort, especially for the 

 forcing of carnations and roses, and 

 these were able to sell their productions 

 at a profitable price with the greatest 

 ease, although the improved tratflc com- 

 munications with Italy and the south 

 of Franco enabled these countries to 

 offer fresher and better flowers than 

 before and to keep the prices down. 



The German vegetable grower had 

 also to struggle against many ditficulties 

 and could not venture to compete with 

 the foreign growers, whose cheap prices 



By ROBERT BLOSSFELD, 



of Potsdam, Ocrmany. 



had crushed him from the beginning. 

 But in spite of these unfavorable condi- 

 tions, considerable quantities of vege- 

 tables were grown for the well devel- 

 oped canning industry, which kept prices 

 down. 



Landscape gardening was a perennial 

 source of extensive and profitable orders 

 and during the twenty or thirty years 

 before the war many wonderfully beau- 

 tiful natural parks were laid out. 



Change Wrought by War. 



The outbreak of the war brought 

 about a complete change. The sale of 

 flowers and plants decreased, the con- 

 siderable exports to the allied countries 

 ceased immediately, as did also the 

 imports from France and later from 

 Italy. The entire uncertainty of the 

 conditions prevented the German florist 



The florists' industry of Ger- 

 many, a rapid-growing and 

 increasingly important part of 

 that nation's economic life be- 

 fore the war, was subjected to 

 changes more severe than that 

 of any other country by the 

 great conflict. News of its res- 

 toration since the armistice has 

 been meager. This account of 

 the conditions during the war 

 and after in that country so im- 

 portant horticulturally in former 

 years was written especially for 

 The Review by a member of the 

 German trade of wide experi- 

 ence and observation. 



from venturing to adapt himself at once 

 to the altered circumstances, as a return 

 to the former conditions was calculated 

 upon from month to month, later on 

 from year to year. Business stagnation 

 was fairly sudden and general. 



A certain amount of export business 

 was still done, but the blockade and 

 the export prohibitions limited these 

 ])0ssibilities more and more. In the 

 meantime the effects of the blockade 

 became noticeable in Germany, and the 

 lack of foodstuffs obliged the majority 

 of gardeners to turn to vegetable grow- 

 ing. The vast grounds employed for the 

 cultivation of lily of the valley were 

 nearly all plowed up; the cultivation of 

 flowers was replaced by the cultivation 

 of -vegetables; the flower-forcing houses 

 were turned for the most part into vege- 

 table-forcing houses, and many were the 

 lovely lawns in private and public parks 

 which were sacrificed for the sake of 

 ]>otatoes and vegetables. Much agri- 



cultural effort was also directed to vege- 

 table growing. The duration of the 

 war was a serious cause of loss to all 

 undertakings, and as more and more 

 men between 17 and 49 years of age 

 were called for military services, it was 

 only possible to keep things running 

 to a certain extent by the help of women 

 and prisoners of war. During this time 

 many irreplaceable losses were suffered 

 through valuable plants being negleeted. 

 During the earlier part of the war vege- 

 table growing was brought to a high 

 point, while every other branch of gar- 

 dening was left to one side. Before 

 long it was impossible to meet the enor- 

 mous consumption of vegetable seeds, 

 and large quantities were imported 

 from abroad. The high prices induced 

 many gardeners to devote themselves 

 to the production of seeds, not only for 

 their own use, but also for sale. As 

 nobody can see from the exterior of a 

 seed whether it has been properly grown 

 or not, these opportunist seedsmen sold 

 their crops readily and profitably. Often 

 enough ordinary turnip seed was sold as 

 white or red cabbage or cauliflower, 

 and the opportunity was taken of get- 

 ting rid of old stock by unscrupulously 

 mixing old seed with fresh. 



Renewed Demand. 



The lack of small articles suitable as 

 presents soon led to a renewed demand 

 for flowers, and many florists again 

 adapted themselves to flower growing. 

 As the small articles for daily use gen- 

 erally so popular as presents became in- 

 creasingly scarce, this demand for 

 flowers assumed considerable dimen- 

 sions, and ready sale and good prices 

 were the result. The ever-rising prices 

 of fruit also began to take effect in 

 causing a demand for fruit trees, for 

 every owner of a garden was desirous 

 of growing his own fruit. Even large 

 stocks of fruit trees which had stood 

 too long or had been neglected were now 

 unexpectedly sold off with the greatest 

 ease. Vegetable growing, however, 

 still dominated, for every grower who 

 required coal had to grow vegetables 

 and deliver these up, and it was only 

 in this way that many undertakings 

 were enabled to save the remainder of 

 their valuable plants. 



During the war limited quantities of 

 Belgian plants and Dutch bulbs were 

 imported. In Germany tremendous 

 quantities of pot ])lants have been 

 grown and readily sold within the last 

 few years. Good selling plants are most 

 especially cyclamens, the favorite of 

 the German florist; heather, geraniums, 

 ])plargoniums. Primula obconica, Prim- 

 ula chinensis, cinerarias, hydrangeas, 

 azaleas, camellias, the specialty of Dres- 

 den; and others generally used for these 

 jmrposes. The high wages paid the 

 working classes at this time enabled 

 them to spend money on flowers, and 

 this they did to a wide extent, the more 

 so because flowers were the only article 

 suitable as a gift to be obtained at a 

 reasonable price. 



After demobilization had taken place, 

 tli(> majority of the florists who returned 

 home naturally devoted themselves to 



