January 27, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



J7 



N^ 



Cha8.'S. Crall, Chairman Reception Committee. 



with the letters A. C. S., or some other 

 special mark, and the whole be copy- 

 righted and for use only by paid-up 

 members of this society, and all infringe- 

 ments prosecuted. To this special mark 

 could be added the grower's name and 

 the date the flowers were cut, this to be 

 left to the discretion of each user. Poorly 

 grown flowers and over-aged flowers by 

 this method would soon be left in the 

 race. To succeed and properly advance 

 our business, our flowers should give 

 pleasure and satisfaction to the user, and 

 this suggestion is offered as a means to 

 that end. 



G«tting Together. 



Can we improve our methods of selling 

 carnations? Mr. Fox gave a talk in 

 Philadelphia from the retailer's point of 

 view, on prices for special days of de- 

 mand. We all know of instances when 

 the retail market price of carnations was 

 from $1 to $1.50 per dozen and the 

 wholesale price was $1 to $1.25 per hun- 

 dred, less the fifteen per cent commis- 

 sion to the middleman. This proportion 

 between the grower and the retailer is 

 not a good business proportion, and if it 

 were not for the advanced prices of spe- 

 cial days the grower would be in a bad 

 way. Adjustment will have to come some 

 day and it should come through this so- 

 ciety. 



Is there overproduction of carnation 

 blooms? I was told by a Pittsburg man 

 that if roses had been plentiful for 

 Christmas, carnations would have gone 

 begging. All hail to the rosel But car- 

 nations have their devotees as well, and 

 if given to them in proper shape and 

 form I believe the day of overproduction 

 is far in the future, providing the re- 

 tailer, the grower and the middleman can 

 get together and work toward a mutual 

 end. Let us put on our thinking caps 

 and see what we can do toward this. At 

 our meeting in this city before, we had a 

 paper by Thomas Cartledge, who stood 

 at the head of the Philadelphia retail 

 trade. He reviewed the various carna- 



tions then grown by name, giving his 

 retail experience with each, as per this 

 example: "Grace Wilder has been our 



leading pink, only because we could get 

 it in quantity. Aurora has sold equally 

 well when we could get it, although it 

 sometimes shows a slaty, ashy purple tint 

 when a little old." We want to grow 

 ' ' best sellers " ; a review of this sort 

 each season would help us find them out. 



Making Membership a Necessity. 



Our exhibitions will admit of some im- 

 provement as exhibitions to the public, 

 but as an educator to the grower the 

 lines on which we are working are as 

 nearly right as we can hope to get them; 

 as a guide to the buying of new sorts, 

 each individual will have to work that 

 out for himself, with the new flowers for 

 comparison with older sorts in front of 

 him. 



There is one point I would like to see 

 worked out and that is to have a report, 

 from those who buy novelties the first 

 year, sent in to the secretary December 1 

 of the following winter, giving their hon- 

 est opinion of the variety from the buy- 

 er's point of view. Let the secretary 

 publish these reports in pamphlet form 

 and send them to applying members only. 

 The buying of novelties is an experiment 

 from a profit point of view, no matter 

 how much we may try to elinuBSte it, 

 but a pamphlet of this sort would be a 

 great help to buyers of new sorts in their 

 second year. If necessary, this pamphlet 

 could also be copyrighted. You will note 

 that I am trying to make membership in 

 this society a necessity to all live carna- 

 tion growers. 



We need also a permanent committee 

 of finance, to devise ways and means for 



H. L. Blind, Treasurer Pittsburg Floritts' Club 



