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FmAuabt 21, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



1005 



MRS . AN 



H SO N .MOSIbl'-OKOHV 





Store of Mrs. E. A. Anderson, Chicaco. 



A GROWERS' COMBINE. 



There have for some time been ru- 

 mors afloat of the plans of a gentleman, 

 now engaged in the trade, to form a 

 combine to embrace the principal grow- 

 ers in a large extent of especially pros- 

 perous territory for the purpose of reap- 

 ing the benefits which consolidation has 

 gained in some other lines of business. 

 It is reported that this is to be no 

 gentlemen's agreement, but that the 

 plants are to be acquired by purchase, 

 and in one or two localities where there 

 are good markets and excellent shipping 

 facilities, but no large ranges to be ac- 

 quired, big new modern plants are to be 

 built. 



Although the reputed originator of 

 the idea is a man of considerable finan- 

 cial resource, of wide business expe- 

 rience and undoubted energy and am- 

 bition, his scheme as reported has not 

 been taken seriously because of the eco- 

 nomic conditions which govern in our 

 trade. Thus far the law of supply and 

 demand has been found inexorable in 

 the wholesale cut flower markets. And 

 there are two facts which have been 

 developed by the operations in other 

 lines which would have an important 

 bearing on any plans for consolidations 

 in the greenhouse industry. First, no 

 combine has been successful which has 

 sought its profit through an arbitrary 

 advance in prices; profit has only come 

 through economy in production and 

 maintaining a steady market. Second, 

 no combination not based on a control 

 of raw materials has been free from 

 constantly increasing competition, which 

 has operated against the stability of 

 the market. In the cut flower business 

 the man who comes nearest to control- 



ing his market is not necessarily the 

 one who produces largest quantities, but 

 the one who produces highest quality. 

 If an operator controlling a large part 

 of the supply should seek to take ad- 

 vantage of the necessities of the trade 

 in times of light supply he would only 

 succeed in accelerating the rate at which 

 glass is now being put up by those 

 who formerly were among the wholesal- 

 ers' best customers. To those not green 

 at the business it has for several sea- 

 sons been apparent that one of the chief 

 diflBculties of those growing for whole- 

 sale is that too many of their cus- 

 tomers have enough stock from their 

 own glass in times of good crops and 



only call upon the wholesaler for spe- 

 cialties, or at times of short supply, 

 when the wholesaler, too, is off crop. 



It probably is a safe guess that if 

 the combine in question actually were 

 undertaken not many growers would re- 

 fuse adequate cash offers, but that most 

 of them would decline to take corpora- 

 tion stock in payment for their plants. 

 Nor would the best men care to be iden- 

 tified either with the success or failure 

 of a corporation which in the slightest 

 degree embodied the trust idea. The 

 florists' business is to this date, and 

 to many ,it appears that it always will 

 be, an individual enterprise. 



VITIS THUNBERGI. 



Of all the hardy vines Vitis Thunbergi 

 is by far the most handsome, says a 

 writer in the Gardeners' Magazine, and 

 certainly it is one of the most remark- 

 able introduced from China and Japan. 

 For clothing buildings, pergolas, pillars, 

 etc., it is of great value on account of 

 its rapid growth, handsome foliage, and 

 magnificent autumnal coloring. The 

 leaves are fully one foot long and as 

 much in width, very thick and leathery, 

 with a dense tomentum on the under sur- 

 face and rich, glossy green above. 



In many respects this vine closely re- 

 sembles V. CoignetisB, but the growth is 

 not quite so vigorous, though the foliage 

 is larger, and the two can most easily 

 be recognized in the autumn, when V. 

 Thunbergi commences to put on its mag- 

 nificent tints. Vitis Coignetise, though 

 a rampant grower and a useful plant 

 for many positions, is nevertheless dis- 

 appointing in the autumn, and it is quite 

 the exception to hear of a finely colored 

 specimen. Of V. Thunbergi I have never 

 heard any complaint in this respect, and 

 have seen it coloring highly in several 

 parts of the country. 



The name of V. Thunbergi for this 

 vine has often been disputed by botanists 

 and there are many now who regard it 

 as incorrect, and consider it to be a form 

 of V. Coignetiae. Nicholson's Dictionary 

 gives V. Thunbergi as a synonym of V. 

 Labrusca, but the Kew Hand List, which 

 is more recent, includes V. Thunbergi as 

 a separate species from China and Japan. 

 In the most interesting booklet upon 

 "Hardy Ornamental Vines," by James 

 H. Veitch, Vitis Thunbergi is described 

 as reaching Europe from China and 

 .Japan. 



Store of Mrs. E. A. Anderson, Chicago. 



