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JOLT 14. 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



357 



EVERY STEAMER 



BRINGS US IN 



FRESH IMPORTATIONS 



OF FLORISTS' SUPPLffiS SELECTED BY MR. BAYERS- 

 DORFER IN EUROPE. WE ARE TOO BUSY TO TELL 

 YOU ABOUT THEM BUT WILL DO SO AS SOON AS 

 WE HAVE THEM UNPACKED :: :: :: :: :: 



THE LARGEST FLORISTS* SUPPLY HOUSE IN AMERICA. 



H. Bayersdorfer & Co., 



60-66 North 

 4th Street, 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



Mention Hie RPTlew wh^n yon write. 



RETAIL FLORISTS. 



(CONTINUED.) 



wfl. scon CO. 



Main and Balcom Sts. 



Buffalo, N. Y. 



J. J. BENEKE, 



Olive Street, ST* LOUIS9 MO* 



Vegetable Forcing. 



Last year a very destructive epidemic 

 due to the fungus called Cercospora mel- 

 onis inflicted a loss of over $100,000 on 

 the cucumber growers in the south of 

 England. 



INDOOR GRAPE CULTURE. 



I read with much interest, first, the 

 notes on this subject by Mr. Croydon 

 and then those by Mr. Scott and, as T 

 have been in a position to study this 

 subject at close range, perhaps a few 

 remarks may be of interest. 



The chief question is, can grape grow- 

 ing be made to pay in this country! A 

 year or two ago I would say yes, but 

 today I am more pessimistic as to the 

 results. Mr. Scott speaks of a Belgian 

 grower whose grapes netted him $2 a 

 pound in the New York market. I 

 doubt, if that same grower is shipping 

 to New York today, whether he nets 

 one-fourth of that sum. It seems to me 

 that the growers of Europe are using 

 the New York market as a dumping 

 ground. By shipping large quantities 

 over here they are enabled to relieve the 

 congestion in their own market, and 

 as the cost of transportation is practi- 

 cally nothing, they, owing to the cheap- 

 ness of production can sell cheaply and 

 still stand to make a small profit. The 

 commission dealer in New York docs 

 not seem to care for the home-grown 

 grapes so long as the imported article 

 is in the market. It is discouraging to 

 a man with perhaps a ton of grapes 

 hanging on his vines to be able to sell 

 only thirty or forty pounds in a week, 

 and on top of this have the dealer send 

 word that no more should be sent until 



Dagger and Fancy FERNS. 



A Wo. 1 quality.... $1.00 per 1000, 

 discount on larger orders. 



Very fine bronze and «rreen Oslax, 

 selected stock, $1.00 per 1000. 



Ijanrel Festooning^, band made, 

 good and full, 95.00 and S6.00 

 per 100 yards. 

 Oreen Mobs, $1.00 per bbl. 

 Sphagnnm Mosi, 50c per bag; 

 $1.00 per bbl. 

 Branob Kanrel, 50c per bundle. 

 Orders by mail, telegraph or telephone will 

 receive our prompt and personal attention. 

 L. D. Telephone 2618 Main. 



HENRY M. ROBINSON & CO. 



11 Province St., BOSTON, MASS. 



Mention The Rerlew when yon write. 



he calls for them. In my humble opin- 

 ion a market has to be created before 

 grape culture here will become profitable, 

 and some one stand to lose money in 

 creating that market. . The retailer at 

 the present time seems to want at least 

 150 to 200 per cent profit and the re- 

 sult is that while the price to the grower 

 is painfully low, the cost to the con- 

 sumer is painfully high, and this high 

 cost means naturally that consumption 

 is curtailed. 



Mr, Scott's statement that where one 

 pound could be sold thirty years ago 

 500 pounds could be sold today, is not 

 borne out by the facts. I do not think 

 we can ever see the miles of graperies 

 here as they are in Europe, because 

 the cheap native grape seems good 

 enough for the great majority of our 

 people and until the public is edu- 

 cated to the taste of the indoor grape 

 (which education, as I have previously 

 intimated, would cost money) the Mus- 

 cats and Colmars will simply be used 

 only by the very wealthy. 



The difference in the cost of produc- 

 tion here and in Europe makes all the 

 difference between profit and loss. 

 Friend Scott says, in speaking of the 

 tedious work of thinning the fruit, thai 

 **very cheap help could be taught 

 that." The question is, where is th<! 

 cheap helpf Even an unskilled laborer 

 who cannot speak English asks and re- 

 ceives in this section $1.50 per day. 

 Most of the thinning in England is done 

 by girls and women, who do not make 

 more than that in a week. I fear our 

 American women would not take up tho 

 job at any price. With the present price 

 of glass and other building requisites, 

 not to mention the mechanic's wage, 

 we cannot begin to put up houses as 

 cheaply as they do on " the other side. ' ' 

 The price we have to pay in wages to 



our skilled growers to look after the 

 crop is more than double and on everj' 

 hand we are confronted by higher cost 

 of production. 



To offset this we have a duty of only 

 about 5 cents a pound, I believe. Mr. 

 Scott says "so much the better if they 

 came in free." Since they are eaten 

 only by the rich, why would not a duty 

 of 190 per cent ad valorem be a good 

 thing? Then when the American grower 

 got his houses going and began to show 

 signs of being a bloated plutocrat :t 

 would be a good time to cut down the 

 duty and chasten his spirit. 



It is easy to talk about our improved 

 methods and machinery putting us on 

 a par with other countries, but is it al- 

 ways true? Why is it, for instance, that 

 while we have land here to give away 

 the European farmer ships thousands of 

 bushels of potatoes to the eastern ports, 

 pays a duty of 25 cents a bushel and 

 competes with the market grower on 

 Long Island? The European farmer 

 pays three or four times as much rent 

 for his land and yet, even with that 

 handicap, he must produce his product 

 more cheaply or he could not compete. 



Friend Scott refers to Mr. Herringtou 

 and Mr. Duckham in his remarks. Mr. 

 Duckham does not grow fo^ market but 

 as I had the good fortune to be fore- 

 man for Mr. Heifrington for some 

 years I know fairly well how the crops 

 farad with him. In those graperies 100 

 feet long and thirty feet wide we pro- 

 duced something like a ton of grapes 

 in each house. The houses were four 

 years coming into full bearing, which 

 must be taken into account. Now, figur- 

 ing 2,000 pounds of grapes at a sell- 

 ing price of 50 cents per pound will 

 give $1,000 for a house. With the 

 present fierce competition, for the 

 European grapes are now in the market 

 the whole year, the price is liable to run 

 even lower. Mr. Herrington has private 

 ways of disposing of much of his fruit 

 but to the man who proposes to grow 

 strictly for a wholesale trade and who 

 may expect to see his selling price gel 

 less every year, I would say, "go slow, 

 and investigate fully before you jump. ' * 



I am no pessimist but, having been 

 watching the market closely for some 

 years, I have come to the conclusion that 

 it will not pay me to engage in the 

 grape growing business. 



Charles H. Totty. 



The instruction in the last Review 

 alone pays me for many years' subscrip- 

 tion. — S. DuMSER, Elgin, 111. 



