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■ c'v. 



8 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Januabt 7. 1909. 



pot plants, azaleas, cyclamens, Lorraines, 

 primulas, Boston ferns and palms sold 

 best, while in CBt flowers carnations were, 

 as usual, tlie leaders, roses, violets and 

 bulbous stock coming next in popular fa- 

 vor. Prices averaged good. 



Enid, Okla. — The Cowan Floral Gar- 

 dens say Christmas trade was twice as 

 large as in 1907 and three times as great 

 as in 1906. Everything sold. The trade 

 is growing rapidly here, but the made-up 

 plant arrangements of the larger cities 

 are not yet known here. 



Lynn, Mass. — Gibbs Bros, report a 

 small increase over the Christmas trade 

 of 1907, about ten per cent increase as 

 compared with 1906. Stock came out 

 about right, but they could have sold 

 more red roses and red carnations. 

 White carnations were about the only 

 thing left unsold. The call was for less 

 expensive articles and not many were 

 willing to pay the price of the made-up 

 plant arrangements. What hurt the 

 Christmas trade most was undoubtedly a 

 strike of five weeks' duration. 



TWO POINTS OF VIEW. . 



Every now and then we hear it said 

 that * ' there are too few varieties of 

 roses"; or we listen to some one be- 

 wailing the lack of novelty in the retail 

 florist's stock, because there is "too 

 much sameness about the varieties grown 

 year after year." Not so very long ago 

 it was said that there were ' ' only four ' ' 

 forcing roses, meaning Beauty, Maid, 

 Bride and Meteor. There has been a lot 

 of change in the last half dozen years — 

 and change for the better from every 

 point of view— but those who sell cut 

 flowers do not all agree \nth the opinion 

 that there are "too few varieties." 

 From one point of view there are too 

 many, especially of pink roses. I will 

 tell you why. 



In the days when Maid was our only 

 pink forcing rose we grew a good batch 

 of it and we sent to market every day 

 a cut of some little size. Then we took 

 part of our space for Chatenay and a 

 little more for Kate Moulton; then the 

 next year a house for Killarney, with a 

 house less of Maid. Last season we 

 found room for a few Mrs. Jardine, but 

 we didn't get in on My Maryland or 

 Mrs. Palmer. Looks like we had missed 

 a good thing in the Maryland, but there 

 won't be many ahead of us, for we shall 

 plant it this year. 



Now, every one of these roses is a good 

 rose — ^perhaps some better than others, 

 but not one that is not worth growing. 

 But the point 1 have in mind in this: 

 My cash returns are falling oflf, and I 

 can't kick to my commission man, or at 

 the times, for my commission house got 

 in the first protest, something like this, 

 when I asked them to pick up some My 

 Maryland for me: 



"For heaven's sake, quit it. Don't 

 split up your glass for any more varie- 

 ties. Maryland's all eight — looks like a 

 good thing — but you've got more varie- 

 ties now than you ought to have. When 

 you grew only Maid for pink you had a 



nice little batch of stuff every day; we 

 could grade it up and have enough of 

 each size to do some business with. Now 

 you've got so many varieties you don't 

 cut enough of any one thing so we can 

 grade 'em up and fill a decent order. If 

 there were not others like you, so we can 

 lump the lots, you would never get for 

 your best any more than the price of the 

 seconds, for you don't have enough long 

 stuff of any sort to fill a first-class order. 



The Kdltor la pl«ase<l 

 when a Reader 

 mresenta bis Ideas 

 on any subject treated In 



rVltP^ 



As experience is the best 

 teacher, so do we 

 leam fastest by aa 

 ezchansre of experiences. 

 Many valuable points 

 are brougrht out 

 by discussion. 



Good penmanship, Bitelling' and crram- 

 mar, though desirable, are not neces- 

 sary. Write as you would talk when 

 doln? your best. 



WK 8HALL BK GLAD 

 TO HKAR FROM TOU. 



What you want to do is to go back to 

 first principles. If you think you can 

 do something else better than Maid, why, 

 grow it — but cut out the rest, no matter 

 how good they are. Grow the thing you 

 can grow best, but grow enough of it so 

 you can cut more than a handful at a 

 time. ' ' 



Now, do you know I believe the com- 

 mission man may be rightf Moreover, 

 I'm not at all sure his theory doesn't 



apply to a good deal larger growers than 

 I am. I've been around a bit lately — 

 with my eyes open. You can see, if your 

 attention has been called to it, that the 

 growers don 't really know roses — that is,. 

 of course, cut roses; they grade them at 

 the greenhouses, into two lots, and the 

 wholesaler promptly regrades into five 

 lots, or at least four, and if the consign- 

 ment is large enough he is likely to di- 

 vide up each grade into two by separat- 

 ing the open and the tight. There you 

 have the grower's two grades set up in. 

 eight or ten pots. You '11 note the buyers, 

 when they come in, always go for the 

 graded stock, not that just in from the 

 grower, unless they expect to buy the 

 whole lot at the price of the seconds. 

 The order clerks always pick out from 

 the graded stock for shipping. 



I've looked around the retail stores,, 

 too. Only the largest carry all the va- - 

 rieties of roses in stock; most of them- 

 stock only two pinks. Maid and Killar- 

 ney — or should I say Killarney and: 

 Maid? When they get hold of a cus- 

 tomer who wants. something "different" 

 they either make it different by the ar- 

 rangement, or they order stock specially 

 for it. The average retailer, no matter 

 how much he may like to have novelties 

 for his customers, is slow to put them in 

 stock; he would rather let the grower 

 and the commission man take the risk, 

 and as supplies become more and more 

 regularly available in wholesale markets, 

 making it unnecessary for the retailers 

 to carry stock for other than counter 

 sales, the grower's risk will become 

 greater — the waste of a dollar 's worth of 

 stock in a commission house means 85* 

 cents loss to the grower to 15 cents loss 

 for the wholesaler. 



Now, the point I wish to make is not 

 against the newer roses, but rather in 

 their favor: Go in heavily enough for 

 every variety you grow so that you can 

 cut a salable quantity. Liberty displaced 

 Meteor, and in turn gave way to Eich- 

 mond, but we have no complaint of too- 

 few red roses. Next year I shall cut 

 down my pink roses to three. It would, 

 be two if I did not have to add My 

 Maryland on the chance it will displace 

 one of the others. Then in white we've 

 all got to try White Killarney as a cer- 

 tain competitor and possible successor te 

 Bride — and — here you are — how can we 

 try all the really good things and still 

 keep our lists down to where we can cut 

 profitable quantities of each variety! The 

 only solution, as I see it, is for us not tO' 

 try to do too much. "Between two- 

 stools we fall to the ground." Let us- 

 pick out the thing we can do best, and> 

 not begrudge the other fellow his modi- 

 cum of success. Let's not try to grow 

 everything, but try to do a few things^ 

 well* G. W. Smith. 



THE FRENCH AWARDS. 



Eeaders of the Review already are 

 familiar with the interesting trials of 

 new roses held last season in the Baga- 

 telle Gardens, Paris, where Rhea Reid, 

 shown by the E. G. Hill Co., of Rich- 

 mond, Ind., gained the grand gold medal 

 offered by ^he City of Paris for the best 

 rose. Awards to other roses were: The 

 premier prize, offered by the Minister of 

 Agriculture, was won by A. Dickson & 

 Sons, Newtownards, Ireland, with Dor- 

 othy Page Roberts. The premier prize 

 offered by the National Horticultural 

 Society of France, was won by Soupert 

 & Netting, Luxembourg, with Mme. Se- 

 gond Weber, a tea-scented rose obtained- 



