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AUGUST 0, 1914. 



The Florists' Review 



21 



THE STANDARD FLOWER POT. 

 [By J. O. WhiUdin.] 



Rumors of a movement on hand to 

 liave the standard flower pots changed 

 from the present standard shapes 

 adopted at the convention of the So- 

 ciety of American Florists at Boston, 

 Mass., August 21, 1890, have reached 

 the ears of the pottery trade, and their 

 immediate rfeply is, "Standardize the 

 jardinieres." Our product was stand- 

 ardized in 1890. Eumor has it that 

 some few retailers object to the pres- 

 ent style of standard rimmed pots and 

 they suggest a return to the smaller 

 rim, similar in design to the old-style 

 hand-made pots of uncertain dimension, 

 simply because one or more of their cus- 

 tomers may have a pet jardiniere in 

 which they find it hard or impossible 

 to insert a standard rimmed pot with- 

 out the rim showing. 



The jardiniere makers are continually 

 at work designing and making new pat- 

 terns in regular and odd shapes in lim- 

 ited quantities, which are soon discard- 

 ed, and they seemingly pay little at- 

 tention to the size of the opening in its 

 relation to the depth of the vessel, 

 Avhile a few thoughts directed to that 

 end would clear up at once any objec- 

 tion to the use of standard flower pots 

 as made at present. The potteries, to 

 keep up with the newest design of jardi- 

 nieres, would have to be continually 

 (hanging the size and shape of their 

 pots to correspond to the changing de- 

 signs of jardinieres, and there would 

 soon be no use for the standard shapes, 

 as there would be none made. 



Advantages of Present Standard. 



To return to the old style would not 

 remove the objections of the retailers, 

 but the same difficulty would occur, as 

 the old-style pot was proportionally 

 thicker at the top and possibly thicker 

 around the rim than the present pot 

 with rim, and would still bind before 

 leaching the bottom of the jardinieres. 



In olden days, long before the adop- 

 tion of the present standard pots, the 

 pottery salesman would sell pots to one 

 florist for .'j-inch and possibly the next 

 I'ustomer would buy the same pot for a 

 •5-inch; then again^ a florist would ad- 

 vertise 6-inf'li stock, which, upon arrival 

 at its destination, would go into the 

 buyer's 5-inch pots. These conditions 

 were the same in every section of the 

 country, and when the Society of Amer- 

 ican Florists adopted and standardized 

 the flower pots they did more for the 

 trade in general than any other con- 

 vention up to that time, and possibly 

 since. 



Practical potters tell us they would 

 prefer a smaller rim, as then they could 

 place more pots in their kilns and less 

 room would be occupied in storage per 

 thousand pots, but this would necessi- 

 tate a smaller diameter at the bottom, 

 and therefore less room for the soil so 

 much desired by the grower, and it is 

 only by the present system of nesting 

 or stacking pots that the price is kept 

 at the present low price. 



Trouble for Supply Houses. 

 The basket maker gets a standard pot, 

 azalea or bulb pan when he wants to 



make a new design, and his baskets are 

 formed over the size of pot or pan to 

 be used, thereby preventing the use of 

 those words so apt to spring from our 

 lips when things go wrong. 



The supply houses have on hand fig- 

 ures or samples of the most-used sizes 

 of standard flower pots, and whenever a 

 liovelty is offered to them their first 

 inquiry is, "Does it fit the standard 

 flower pot?" 



Along with the potters' cry of 

 "Standardize the jardinieres" should 

 1)0 coupled the f ern-dishers ' protest, and 

 every retailer knows his troubles in the 

 l)ast, when, by hammer, chisel and saw 

 he has tried to cut down a pot or pan 

 to fit a liner to some odd sizvj of fern 

 dish, or has called upon some tinsmith 

 to make a liner of zinc or tin. 



Any standard flower pot manufacturer 

 would gladly furnish the jardiniere and 

 fern dish makers any information re- 

 garding dimensions, etc., of their prod- 

 uct. 



AFFILIATION FOR CO-OPERATION. 



[By Adolph Farenwald.] 



I think enough has happened this last 

 year in horticulture to bring affiliation 



THE ANNUAL 



SPECIAL 

 CONVENTION NUMBER 



WILL COME OUT 



AUGUST 20 



with a full telegraphic report 

 of the Boston Convention. 



A word to the wise advertiser will 

 be sufficient. 



closer home to most branches of the 

 trade. Anybody who has eyes to see 

 and ears to hear can understand the 

 sign of the times, the need for combined 

 effort to give us and to hold the rights 

 in our profession, a profession which 

 does so much for better life and better 

 citizenship. Our whole great country 

 is afire against the ravages of rum. Let 

 us help in a more sensible way than the 

 many misdirected efforts, by building 

 up the home ties and taste, the love for 

 flowers and plants and trees. That 

 branch of education rests with us. 



So that we can all do our best, no 

 matter what branch we are in, we must 

 not be hampered by unjust legislation, 

 by dishonest and greedy competition. We 

 should be on the same footing all over 

 the country, honest seeds and trees and 

 plants and flowers. No sliding scales. 

 Neither wealth, nor position, nor igno- 



rance should be a factor in any sale. 

 Integrity should be written all over our 

 great profession, all its branches, abso- 

 lute and always. If we want to be edu- 

 cators, we must be honest to ourselves 

 and to the public. No Burbankism will 

 stand the acid test of the public for any 

 length of time. 



Common Understanding Needed. 



To do this, we must get closer to- 

 gether, so that we can understand one 

 another's wants and needs better. 

 Brains, applied science and common 

 sense should soon make us independent 

 of Dutch and French bulbs, Englisli 

 roses and nursery stock, and German 

 seeds. In. our great country we should 

 and would be able to find climate and 

 soils for all purposes. But such enter- 

 j)rises must be helped from some central 

 point, where tests and records can be 

 made and kept, and so stimulate this 

 enterprise from one common source. It 

 takes a staff of able men to take care 

 of all problems of horticulture so that 

 scientific and practical methods can be 

 applied to all branches needing this help 

 and protection. As we grow, so must 

 our problems grow towards the public. 

 (Constructive foresight is a great asset. 

 Let us make it in time. I again Appeal 

 to your loyalty and common sense to 

 help and uplift your chosen profession. 

 Everyone should desire to see horticul- 

 ture shoulder to shoulder with other 

 enterprises. At the present time it is 

 not. 



The verdict against the growers of 

 flowers and plants in Ohio a month or 

 so ago, taxing greenhouse products as 

 l)ersonal property, is the straw that 

 shows how the wind blows. The public 

 ill general thinks the florists and those 

 engaged in allied branches are making 

 money by the barrel; therefore make 

 them pay taxes. What is a law now in 

 Ohio will possibly soon be tried in other 

 states, such as Illinois, New York and 

 i'ennsylvania. We must not lose sight 

 <>t' the good will of the people. 



It was an ugly blow to our seed mer- 

 chants when the government gave its 

 contract for seed to English firms. It 

 seems as if the integrity of the home 

 merchant were doubted. What is our 

 seed trade going to do about it? If 

 responsible firms did not care to take 

 the orders the government had to give, 

 on account of their agitation against 

 free seed, they seem to have made a 

 mistake. They forgot the public. For- 

 eign seedsmen will make the most out 

 of it and advertise it widely, and the 

 ])ublic here will wonder, why did Uncle 

 Sam do it? It leaves the door wide 

 open to all kinds of harmful conjectures. 

 Watchful waiting does not seem to have 

 (lone, as far as the seedsman's troubles 

 are concerned. 



In Union Is Strength. 



A union of horticultural interests 

 would put a different aspect on this 

 feature. The seedsmen could not make 

 a wiser move, and for that matter all 

 other branches of horticulture, than to 

 join hands with the S. A. F. as a society. 

 This great society is broad in scope, 

 and it has charters made to suit exactly 

 these purposes. The time is here to 



