April 18. 1907. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



1675 



John F. Sullivan. 



Every one commercially engaged in flori- 

 culture should be a member of a florists' 

 club, and the greater the membership the 

 greater will be the value of the work 

 accomplished by the organization. Every 

 man possessing even a hotbed devoted to 

 the production of flowers owes it to him- 

 self and to the noble calling he has 

 adopted to equip himself properly with 

 the great fund of valuable knowledge 

 that only membership in a florists' club 

 can impart to him. 



Employees as Club Members. 



And while a reference to the em- 

 ployees is not strictly a part of this sub- 

 ject, I cannot refrain from saying that 

 I have always thought, and strongly con- 

 tended, that employees who are eligible 

 to membership in florists' clubs should 

 be admitted, on the payment of dues 

 much lower than those of dealers and 

 employers, and the latter class should 

 gladly welcome them to their ranks, so 

 that the knowledge thus acquired by 

 these employees may be diffused to the 

 advantage of floriculture generally, and 

 the employers particularly. 



It is indeed deplorable to witness some 

 florists' clerks attempting, without suc- 

 cess, to give to the customers even the 

 proper name of the plants they are sell- 

 ing, and most unfortunate are the re- 

 sults of their efforts to give to the pub- 

 lic the necessary and merely rudimentary 

 cultural instructions for growing the 

 most ordinary house jilants, or the more 

 easily grown bedding varieties. And 

 when their effusions are given to the 

 PTess, as they too frequently are, everj' 

 intelligent, well informed florist is hor- 



rified and totally disgusted with the 

 perusal of them. 



Clubs and Business Rivalry 



The true value of florists' clubs would 

 be materially augmented by a recogni- 

 tion of the following suggestion and the 

 practical operation of it : Prior to the 

 formation of florists ' clubs it was no 

 uncommon occurrence to find the door 

 of many greenhouse establishments se- 

 curely locked against visiting florists, 

 the owner himself being secreted upon 

 the premises and refusing to be seen. 

 The spirit of jealousy, suspicion and 

 deceit was not confined to any one local- 

 ity, either, and such examples of un- 

 friendliness could be found in almost 

 any of the large cities, where now are 

 to be seen flourishing clubs, with many 

 of their members trying to outdo each 

 other in generous, public-spirited acts. 

 Even in our club we have some members 

 who are most enthusiastic and devoted 

 to the promotion of good feeling, who, 

 prior to joining the club, would walk 

 two or three blocks out of their way to 

 avoid passing close to the stores of their 

 competitors. At that time it was easy 

 for any of us to have a grievance 

 against our neighbor florists, and we 

 would give a willing ear to any accusa- 

 tion made against them and would 

 greatly magnify their alleged faults. 

 We Avould freely circulate rumors detri- 

 mental to them, and if an opportunity 

 arose to quote competitive prices one 

 dealer would be sure to undercut the 

 other. 



But now, thanks to the happy results 

 of our club, which brings us together 



twice a month, all inimical works and 

 words are bygones, buried deep and 

 never to be resurrected. Then why 

 should we not have a high opinion of 

 the value of the florists' club? The 

 history of florists' clubs is coexistent 

 with that of the parent, and greatest of 

 all floricultural organizations, the Society 

 of American Florists, and the con- 

 tributory support given by the former 

 to the latter organization, by pursuing 

 a similar line of work, adds another ele- 

 ment of value to them and increases the 

 sum total of their intrinsic worth. 



Future Work of Clubs. 



A story giving a review of the value 

 of the florists' clubs would not be even 

 fairly complete did it not include a ref- 

 erence to some of the prospective work 

 which is peculiarly their own. and in 

 due time will, I hope, be added to their 

 annual programs everywhere. Among 

 these many phases of contemplated club 

 work arc: The dissemination of au- 

 thentic floricultural information to the 

 public; an active participation in civic 

 improvement work, substantial aid to 

 school classes iu botany and practical 

 garden work. 



They will, too, always anticipate the 

 demands and inclinations of the public, 

 and never neglect an opportunity, when 

 it arises, to promote in the people a still 

 greater love and admiration of our pro- 

 ductions, and to develop an increasing 

 patronage for our members. 



Among those future duties I regard 

 as most important the dissemination of 

 floricultural knowledge to the public. 

 Indeed, it is not unreasonable to hope 

 that in the near future every florists' 

 club in the land will increase its scope 

 of usefulness by the maintenance of a 

 bureau for the specific i)urpose of pre- 

 paring seasonable articles giving plain, 

 practical instruction iu the growing of 

 plants and flowers that will insure to 

 those interested pleasurable and success- 

 ful results; and arrangements should be 

 made for the publication of these 

 articles in the local press. For if such 

 articles are carefully prepared, if they 

 have no appearance of serving commer- 

 cial interests, and arc apparently of 

 truly altruistic nature, the press will 

 cheerfully publish them, and the ulti- 

 mate results will certainly be beneficial 

 to the florists. 



Another opportunity of vast impor- 

 tance now presenting itself to florists' 

 clubs is that of cooperation with the 

 local civic improvement efforts. In such 

 matters the present time is most oppor- 

 tune for the clubs, not only to identify 

 themselves with such work, but actually 

 to lead in it, and when it is considered 

 that the florists alone are the direct 

 pecuniary beneficiaries of this work, so 

 fast becoming popular, it is all the more 

 surprising that the florists ' organiza- 

 tions have not as yet shown much ag- 

 gressiveness in it. 



Our own club has already taken some 

 initiatory action along these lines, but 

 really effective work can only follow 

 continuous and systematic efforts, and 

 our clubs need apologize to no one for 

 our intervention in this good work, so 

 productive of almost immediate results 

 and constituting an element of rare 

 value. 



This work might with much propriety 

 extend to efforts, upon our part, to se- 

 cure horticulturists and practical plants- 

 men for our parks and public gardens, 

 and thus to remove from such places the 



