8 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



August 13, 1908. 



that I mean people who are holding. good 

 positions, not in the florist trade, but in 

 banks, or on the railroad, or in some 

 other trade. No doubt many of you 

 have summer shippers such as these. 

 People who are not in the trade, who do 

 not have to depend on the trade, and 

 who just raise flowers to make a few 

 extra dollars; which means a few dollars 

 less for the florist-grower each week. Why 

 should a grower be made to compete with 

 these people? We all know that the com- 

 mission-man is never short of outdoor 

 flowers, so why should he accept flowers 

 from these folks, and help along the over- 

 production when it is not necessary f And 

 not alone that; the amateur encourages 

 his neighbor, and that neighbor encour- 

 ages another, and where will the trade 

 be if this keeps up? 



No doubt there is many a florist who 

 does not know about this, and perhaps 

 many a commission-man, too. But those 

 who do, do you think it is right? When 

 a florist raises a thing he doesn't grow it 

 for the few extra dollars, or for a pas- 

 time. He did not learn the trade for 

 that. He learned it to make his living, 

 support his family, and he must depend 

 on the commission-man to a certain ex- 

 tent if he is a wholesale grower. 



Seedsmen's Wholesak Lilts. 



Here ia another thing: Why is it that 

 the seedsman has his wholesale and his 

 retail catalogue? Just for the same reason. 

 He knows it would not do if the stock 

 was sold to the amateur for the same 

 price as to the florist; not alone for his 

 own sake, but for the florist 's, too. What 

 if seeds, etc., were sold at wholesale to 

 all? Where would the trade be? 



Of course, if an amateur was to buy 

 out a florist, or start for himself and 

 spend his time at it entirely, and make 

 it his business, that's another thing. We 

 all would like to help him along, encour- 

 age him, tell him the ins and outs of how 

 to grow a thing, etc. This, of course, is 

 a certain duty to mankind. 



Neither does it apply to the amateur 

 who employs a florist or two to run the 

 houses and garden for pleasure. They 

 will at times have an oversupply of flow- 

 ers and we cannot blame them if they 

 make a shipment here and th^, as they 

 do not like to see them go to waste. So 

 why shouldn't they try to turn them 

 into cash, where they are paying for 

 skilled help? Also, they are not making 

 a regular practice of it. 



Some years ago I left my position in 



a large flower establishment. I bought 

 a piece of land, got my sash ready to 

 start in for myself and depend on the 

 Philadelphia market. Well, in the first 

 place I had to send for a wholesale price- 

 list, which I did. Two days later I re- 

 ceived a postal from one seed house, say- 

 ing that if I wanted a wholesale price-list 

 I must either show by my printed letter- 

 heads that I was a florist, or give proper' 

 references to prove it. They did right, 

 so far, and I give them credit. But now 

 is where I was stuck. I gave them the 

 name of my former place, where I was 

 employed for the last five years. Cer- 

 tainly I thought I would have the trade 

 list in a day or two, as any one knows I 

 was entitled to same. But it never capie! 



Now, had I already shipped flowers to 

 a commission house in their city, and 

 given the wholesaler as reference, to be 

 , sure I would have had the price-list, and 

 how would they know whether I was in 

 the trade or not? Of course, I had no 

 trouble in getting trade lists elsewhere. 



Mr. Commission-men, from Philadel- 

 phia, Chicago, New York and elsewhere,' 

 what have you to say about this? Don't 

 you think that the trade belongs to the 

 florist? Hugo Kind. 



CARNATION NOTES.- VEST. 



Surpltxs Outdoor Plants. 



After you have planted your carnation 

 beds, you may have some plants left in 

 the field. If you planted out as many 

 as you should have done in order to be 

 able to select your plants carefully, you 

 will likely have a good many left outside. 

 Do not neglect these and allow them to 

 go to ruin for want of attention. They 

 are too valuable for that, and there are 

 too many growers who are only too anx- 

 ious to take off your hands at a profitable 

 price good plants of any good variety 

 you may be growing, if you wish to sell 

 them. 



Choose Either of Two Courses. 



There are two courses" open to you, 

 either of which will prove profitable to 

 you. You must choose at once, however, 

 between the two, according to the nature 

 of your business, as they require differ- 

 ent treatment. One plan would be to keep 

 the plants topped and shapely, to be dug 

 as ordered and disposed of as field-grown 

 plants for benching. In this case you 

 will handle them just as though you were 

 going to house them later yourself. Place 

 an advertisement in the Keview, stating 

 what varieties you have and the price. 

 The other method would be to let the 



plants run up to bud, disbud them as 

 you do inside in winter, and sell the 

 blooms. In some cases this latter method 

 can be made even more profitable than 

 selling the field-grown plants. The -re- 

 tailer, particularly, can use these blooms 

 to good advantage, especially if they are 

 principally light colors, which is likely 

 to be the case. Many of the pink varie- 

 ties come quite light outside. There is 

 always a scarcity of flowers about the 

 time the asters begin to let up, and every 

 carnation you can cut, inside or out, will 

 bring you good money. 



In either case you must, of course, 

 keep down the weeds and cultivate regu- 

 larly. If you could water the plants in 

 case you let them bloom, it would help 

 them considerably, but you must deter- 

 mine for yourself whether you would be 

 warranted in going to that much expense. 

 The plants will likely be scattered out 

 considerably, on account of having half 

 or more taken out. 



Avoid the Other Course. 



Do not do as do some growers, who al- 

 low the plants to take care of themselves 

 after they have finished planting what 

 they need. The plants are perhaps kept 

 free from weeds and cultivated, but are 

 allowed to bloom. The blooms are cut 

 and sold and the plants are advertised 



and sold for benching. This may be more 

 profitable than the methods suggested 

 above, but it would not be treating your 

 customers right, unless you let it be 

 known that the plants have been allowed 

 to bloom in the field. You would not 

 want to plant such stock yourself ; neither 

 do your customers. Say in your adver- 

 tisement just what you have for sale, 

 and deliver what you sell. That is the 

 way to build business. You may wish to 

 sell more next year, and besides, it is 

 right—' ' nuff sed. " A. F. J. Baub. 



USING LAST YEAR'S SOIL. 



Enclosed you will find a sample of soil 

 that was taken from our carnation 

 benches. We would like to know if we 

 can use it for another season with good 

 success. The carnations did well last 

 season in this soil, with little or no feed- 

 ing. 



It is hard for us to get soil, for wo 

 are in the heart of the city, and we 

 thought that perhaps, with the aid of 

 cow manure and bone meal, the soil 

 would do for another year. E. M. 



As a general thing we do not approve 

 of using soil for carnations more than 

 one season. We have tried it as an ex- 

 periment a few times, but could never 

 get as good results as we could from new 



