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1674 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Ai'uiL 18, 1907. 



plunged in a frame, giving plenty of 

 air to prevent their growing "leggy." 

 When well established, pot on into larger 

 sizes, taking care never to allow them to 

 become pot-bound or dry, either of 

 which would tend to make the plants 

 hard-wooded. If only a few strong 

 plants are desired, take only the strong- 

 est center shoots, as these invariably 

 produce the healthiest plants and the 

 largest specimen flowers. The secondary 

 sprouts are not to be despised, as they 

 ■will make good plants. 



Another method of producing the 

 plant is to take a small piece of the 

 tuber along with the cutting. Nearly all 

 such cuttings will root in a much short- 

 er time and with, less coddling. For the 

 production of our finest specimens in 

 the perennial world, we almost invari- 

 ably turn to the new growths that spring 

 from the old stock. For instance, in the 

 production of our finest chrysanthe- 

 mums, the old stock is utilized simply 

 and solely to furnish the young shoot, 

 and you never see a gardener splitting 

 his last year's clump to use for flower- 

 ing. Geraniums may be wintered in a 

 dormant condition, and the old stock 

 will furnish quantities of blossoms, but 

 never the equal in quality of those from 

 young stock. 



Why not apply this theory to the 

 dahlia? For producing specimen flow- 

 ers nothing can surpass the stocky, small- 

 stemmed, well-nourished plant. 



The dislike for plants has sprung 

 largely from three reasons, viz.: The 

 almost certain death of the plant if Mr, 

 Worm decapitates it, the mistake of 

 some dealers in allowing their young 

 stock to become hard-wooded, and the 

 habit of the unscrupulous or ignorant 

 dealer in taking his cuttings in such a 

 manner as to prevent the forming of 

 eyed tubers. If the plant has formed 

 any tuber at all, and has had an oppor- 

 tunity to make roots in its new home, 

 Mr. Worm's operations will not be of 

 serious moment, unless he cuts around 

 the crown of the infant tuber. In pur- 

 chasing plants one must bear in mind 

 that a short, green, healthy looking ar- 

 ticle is far preferable to a larger hard- 

 wooded affair. The poorly started plants 

 may produce good stocky tops, but the 

 base will always be small, leaving but a 

 meagre passage for the transmission of 

 the life-giving sap from the roots to 

 the leaves and flowers above. 



Probably the most discouraging item 

 is to find when plants are dug in the 

 fall, after a glorious season of flowers, 

 only a few roots and no tuber. Nothing 

 to preserve for the next year. This is 

 caused almost always by improper cut- 

 ting when the slip is made. If cut just 

 below the leaves, allowing enough stem 

 for a shoulder to prevent the lower 

 leaves from dropping, such cuttings will 

 almost invariably form good tubers; but 

 if cut midway between joints, while you 

 may have a splendid growth above 

 ground, the chances are very slim for 

 the underground portion — that is the 

 tuber. 



Briefly stated, for exhibition flowers 

 use dahlia plants; for quantity of flow- 

 ers use either field roots or pot roots, 

 preferably the former if unable to give 

 the pot roots an early start. 



Alliance, O. — On the night of April 

 2 fire destroyed the greenhouse of Albert 

 Davis. 



TouGHKENAMON, Pa. — H. P. Owen, 

 because of ill health and old age, offers 

 his greenhouse and business for sale. 



THE VALUE OF FLORISTS' CLUBS. 



(A paper by J. V. Sullivan, read before the 

 Detroit Florists' ("lub, April :{, 1007.] 



In view of all that has been said and 

 written in the past on the subject of 

 florists' clubs it might be expected that 

 the value of such organizations would 

 now be so generally admitted as to re- 

 quire no further proof. However, we 

 still find much indifference shown by 

 some of the older florists, and by a still 

 greater number of the more recent ac- 

 cessions to our ranks, toward these so- 

 cieties whose beneficial work is now 

 quite universal and of a most substan- 

 tial character. 



To those indifferent members of our 

 profession I particularly address myself, 

 and if my words and efforts in this 

 direction will be even remotely the cause 

 of new accessions to club memberships 

 in any part of the country, then I shall 

 feel justified and well repaid for the 

 preparation of this address. 



In the pursuit of any vocation life is 

 too short for mere superficial efforts, 

 and in this, as in other occupations, all 

 should strive to reach the summit of 

 success, neglecting no stepping-stone, 

 and membership in the florists' club is 

 certainly, to the florist, the most valuable 

 as well as the most accessible means to 

 that end. And all honor is due the 

 chief supporters of the clubs, namely, 

 the broad-minded, progressive-spirited 

 growers or floral artists, who, excelling 

 in their chosen line, come to our open 

 meetings, and, with their cJarefully and 

 thoroughly prepared essays, divulge un- 

 stintedly to their interested hearers the 

 cherished and highly valuable knowledge 

 gained through years of experience, in- 

 volving in some cases many sacrifices. 



The Necessity of Or^aaization. 



Who shall question the value of 

 florists' clubs when he remembers those 

 illustrious examples of the persistent 

 good work and zeal of florists' clubs 

 that now, I am glad to note, adorn this 

 country? Organization, then, is the 

 watchword of the day. We see evidences 

 of its effects on all sides, and florists 

 everywhere, particularly the growers, are 

 feeling the effects of the operation of 

 organizations and combinations, which 

 materially advance the cost of all com- 

 ponent parts, articles and materials en- 

 tering into the construction of green- 

 houses and the operation of them. Even 

 labor organizations contribute largely, 

 though indirectly, to the same result. 



Florists' clubs are by their very 

 nature the legitimate and properly de- 

 signed combinations for accomplishing 

 for their members that which, if left to 

 individual effort, would be impossible. 

 The club 's value to its members lies in 

 the facility it affords for bringing out 

 the very best methods locally known for 

 growing and marketing the crops of the 

 members. 



The purpose of the florists' clubs is 

 primarily to develop and advance the 

 floricultural industry as locally pre- 

 sented. This is accomplished by the 

 extraordinary facility the club affords 

 for the exchange of experiences of its 

 members by the presentation of essays, 

 and the informal chats that the club 

 meetings invariably bring about between 

 members, so that they individually are 

 far better exponents of the vocation they 

 represent, after a period of association 

 with each other. For it is a noteworthy 

 fact that florists are in these times far 

 better informed, and generally better 



qualified in their profession, than thoy 

 were prior to the organization and prac- 

 tical operation of florists' clubs through- 

 out the country. 



I. will go still further, and assert with 

 full confidence that even the leaders* 

 of twenty years ago are today, in their 

 respective lines, still better qualified, and 

 more successful and representative than 

 they formerly were, because, as a rulr 

 the class referred to are always found 

 foremost in the ranks of trade organiza 

 tions. Florists' clubs give a tone and 

 dignity to the calling that truly belongs 

 to it, and add prestige, without which 

 progress and development is necessarily 

 retarded, as witness the condition of the 

 trade in all its branches prior to the 

 inauguration of florists' clubs, over 

 twenty years ago. 



The prominence given to the industry 

 through the instrumentality of the great 

 flower shows, with the development ol 

 interest in our productions, and the elo 

 vating influence of them, is the direel 

 result of the work of florists' clubs, and 

 the value of the work must be plain U* 

 the most casual observer of the pro 

 gressive stages of the business durinj^ 

 the period following the organization of 

 such clubs. For it is a well-established 

 fact that only the producers of first- 

 class flowers are today assured of a 

 ready market and remunerative prices 

 for their product, at all seasons of the 

 year, and it is self-evident that the wise 

 growers cannot afford to ignore any 

 contributing factor to the end that they 

 may be able invariably to grow first- 

 class stock, and enjoy a compensation 

 commensurate with the skill and labor 

 employed in its production. 



Benefits to Retailers. 



Retailers, too, stand in much the same 

 position as that of the growers as to the 

 necessity of seeking all the means within 

 their reach to create a ready market for 

 the final disposition of the stock after 

 it leaves the grower's hands. Upon the 

 retailers devolves the duty, yes, the 

 necessity, of developing in the future a 

 still finer taste for flowers, and en- 

 deavoring, by suggestions and illustra- 

 tive displays, to create more occasions 

 for the use of flowers and plants, thu» 

 increasing the sale of them. 



All the representatives of this impor- 

 tant branch of the business should highly 

 prize club membership, because it offers 

 them the same advantages that it pre- 

 sents to the growers, and the full extent 

 of those benefits corresponds precisely 

 with the amount of interest taken in the 

 club's proceedings, and the facilities 

 afforded by the latter to inaugurate com- 

 petitive floral displays to the certain in- 

 terest of all concerned. 



Florists' clubs, composed, as they arc, 

 of the most intelligent, enterprising and 

 progressive men in the community where 

 clubs are located, are the natural results 

 of the highest conceptions of liberal, 

 broad-minded members, who are proven 

 such by their attachment to these or- 

 ganizations, and it is an assured fact 

 that every florist engaged in the indus- 

 try, whether a member of a florists' 

 organization or not, is sharing today, in 

 a relative degree, the benefit of the great 

 work of these societies. Every retail 

 dealer in flowers, as well as every em- 

 ployee, should appreciate the great work 

 these societies are doing; their value is 

 progressive and cumulative as they in- 

 crease in age, being ever watchful as 

 they should be of their opportunities. 



