Maech 11, 1915. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



p 



THE CARNATION; se 

 AT WILL IT COME BACK? 



A Well Known Philadelphian Sums up the Past, Present and 

 Future of the Flower that Makes Many Men Their Livelihood 



|NE of the weakest spots, 

 during the present season, 

 in a flower market of unus- 

 ually low prices, has been 

 the carnation. During the . 

 chrysanthemum season we 

 are accustomed to seeing 

 carnations neglected, but by Thanks- 

 giving we expect to find them take 

 their proper place. However, this year 

 we saw practically no improvement at 

 Thanksgiving, and Christmas was re- 

 markable for the lowest carnation 

 prices for many years. 



Numerous reasons have been ad- 

 vanced for this condition, some going 

 so far as to say that the divine flower 

 is losing its popular favor and is fast 

 following the violet. While this view 

 is extreme, there are three general 

 causes for the present unprofitable sea- 

 son for carnation growers. They may 

 be summarized as follows: 



1. The general business depression, 

 due to tariff changes and the European 

 war. 



2. Overproduction. 



3. Poor keeping and shipping quali- 

 ties of many carnations of later years. 



Business Blues. 



We could scarcely hope for high 

 prices for carnations, or, in fact, for 

 any flower that is largely grown, dur- 

 ing a period of so many uncertainties 

 as there have been since August 1, 

 1914. When the United States Steel 

 Corporation was operating on a basis 

 of thirty-five per cent of capacity, 

 when all railroads were reporting 

 greatly reduced earnings and even the 

 time-tried Pennsylvania's dividend was 

 in doubt; when all business had the 

 blues, it would be unreasonable to ex- 

 pect that the florists should pursue an 

 uninterrupted course of prosperity. 



Although many qpntend that flowers 

 have become a necessity, they are not so 

 fundamentally, and in the face of sta- 

 tionary or advancing cost of food and 

 reduced incomes, or no incomes at all, 

 flowers can be dispensed with readily. 

 So the carnation has not been the only 

 flower to suffer; even the aristocratic 

 orchid has fallen with the resli*. 



Although the carnation growers have 

 not made the great additions to their 

 establishments that the rosarians have 

 in recent years, still there are more of 

 them and the total increase has amount- 

 ed to many thousands of square feet 

 and proportionate production or over- 

 production has fully kept pace with 

 other staple flowers. Again, last sum- 

 mer was unusually favorable for car- 

 nations in the field and plants were 

 probably never benched in better condi- 

 tion. The autumn months were practi- 

 cally ideal for building up a strong, 

 healthy foundation and December found 



An address by Edmuiid A. Harvey, of the firm 

 of Alban Harvey & Sons, Brandywlne Summit, 

 Pa., delivered March 2, 1915, before the Florists' 

 Club of Philadelphia. 



nearly every grower with an unusually 

 large cut. 



During the last few years we have 

 heard many complaints that carnations 

 have been giving poor satisfaction and 

 many retail stores have ceased to push 

 them at all. 



Here is a vital problem that we as 

 growers have to face. Wo can not 

 blame the retailer if he does not feel 

 kindly toward the carnation when he 

 finds his stock, that was apparently 

 fresh when he bought it, unsalable at 



Tbe Editor Is pleased 

 'When a Reader 

 Iiresents Ills Ideas 

 on any subject treated in 



tvws: 



As experience Is the best 

 teacher, so do vtb 

 learn fastest by an 

 exchanee of experiences. 

 Blany valuable points 

 are brouBht out 

 by discussion. 



Good penmanship, spellinfr And 

 grammar, though desirable, are not 

 necessary. Writs as you would talk 

 when doins your best. 



WK SHAIX BK GLAD 

 TO HSAR FROM TOU 



'the end of twenty-four hours. Nor is 

 the customer who purchases them, and 

 finds them asleep the next morning, 

 likely 'to go back soon for more. 



The Remedies. 



Now, what are the remedies for these 

 conditions that confront us? 



As to general business, although it 

 has riot fully recovered by any means, 

 it is improving and many of the uncer- 

 tainties are passing away. That great 

 barometer of trade, the steel corpora- 

 tion, is operating at sixty per cent of 

 capacity, as compared with thirty-five 

 per cent in November, and, with a rec- 

 ord breaking foreign trade balance of 

 $500,000,000 in our favor since the war 



started, we may look for a slow but 

 steady improvement in general busi- 

 ness. As this comes the florists will 

 certainly get their share. 



The problem of overproduction is a 

 diflieult one to solve. It is practically 

 impossible to limit the erection of new 

 glass and it is extremely doubtful 

 whether this ever will be done arbi- 

 trarily. The only certain limit would 

 seem to be when the prices received 

 by the grower cease to render opera- 

 tion profitable; and the point at which 

 this limit is reached for one may not 

 be so for another. 



We might temporarily turn our car- 

 nation space to the production of some- 

 thing else, such as greenhouse vege- 

 tables, but for the fact that the vege- 

 table growers are faced by the same 

 problem of overproduction and in addi- 

 tion have to meet the increasing com- 

 petition of the south. 



Finally, we come to what would seem 

 to be the real solution of the problem, 

 that of increasing the popularity of 

 the carnation with the flower buying 

 public, and we can only do this by the 

 hearty cooperation of the grower, 

 wholesaler and retailer, and by giving 

 the public full value for its money. 



It is unfortunate that there is so 

 much distrust still lingering between 

 the three branches of our business. 

 There should be more cooperation, and 

 we must remember that we are all 

 mutually dependent on one another. 



If the retailer thinks someone is a 

 robber when asked $8 or $10 per hun- 

 dred for carnations at Christmas, let 

 him remember the grower probably 

 thinks the same thing when he sees the 

 consumer paying 75 cents per dozen at 

 a time when the grower is receiving 

 $1.50 or $2 per hundred. Moreover, the 

 retailer can pass the high prices on, 

 while the grower has no one to come 

 back at. 



On the other hand, let the grower 

 produce the best he can and put his 

 flowers in the retailer's hand in such 

 condition that he can make a good 

 profit and the consumer will be pleased 

 with his purchase. 



It seems to me that many carnations 

 are left on the plants too long before 

 cutting. The longer they stay on the 

 plants in the grower's house the shorter 

 will be their life on the purchaser's 

 table. Almost all carnations will keep 

 and ship better if they are cut just 

 before reaching full maturity. The 

 houses may not look as well, but this 

 is not what the buyer pays for and I 

 do not think there would be so mucb 

 objection to higher prices at the holi- 

 days if the "retailer could be sure of 

 getting stock that would keep. 



It is right here that we carnation 

 groT^ers are allowing roses to force our 



