OCTOBBR 12, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



19 



THE HOBTICULTUEAL OUTLOOK. 



[Extracts from an address by J K. M. L. 

 Farqvharot Boston, befor? the New York Flo- 

 rists' Club, October 0, 1911.] 



Millionaires are much more numerous 

 now than they were a generation ago. 

 Luxuries then now are necessities, and 

 horticulture has its share in supplying 

 them. To the private gardener I would 

 say : Make yourself master of your call- 

 ing. If possible specialize in some branch 

 of it; it will distinguish you to do so, 

 just as it distinguishes a physician to 

 specialize in some department of medical 

 science. Like him, you are really a sci- 

 entific man, your calling makes you one. 

 Yours is a long training; in fact, it is 

 never done; but let not that fact dis- 

 courage you. Learn all the art of gar- 

 dening, so far as is possible, and then 

 render to your employer the best serv- 

 ice you caa and insist upon getting equi- 

 table compensation. The demand for 

 men who are gardeners of high grade 

 was never so large as it is now, and such 

 men can command good salaries. The 

 great trouble is that too many important 

 positions are held by Incompetent men, 

 who are willing to work for compensation 

 which would not attract a capable man. 



You should eiideavor to meet the wishes 

 of your employer. Have a clear under- 

 standing with him as to what he wishes, 

 then let him know that, you must have a 

 free hand in your work for results. Re- 

 gard your garden and greenhouses as a 

 manufacturer ifloes his mill. Buy enough 

 material to keep your plant running at 

 full capacity, but do not buy anything 

 you do not need. Do not try to return 

 the favor of a nurseryman or seedsman 

 who may have placed you in a position 

 by giving him an order for supplies you 

 do not actually require. 



To the florist, I would say: Broaden 

 your business. There is opportunity to 

 do it and you will be obliged to do it to 

 pT^olong your success. Have you ever 

 tried to add to your customers from 

 among the middle classes? Their trade 

 is solicited when they are in want of 

 funeral pieces, but rarely at any other 

 time. Yet, I believe there are thousands 

 of people of moderate means who would 

 gladly step into a flower store on Satur- 

 day and buy a dozen carnations, with 

 a little asparagus foliage, or a few fern 

 fronds, with which to brighten their 

 homes on Sunday and through the week, 

 if such trade were encouraged. Of 

 course it would never do to sell to such 

 people flowers that were about to go to 

 sleep; they would have to be fresh and 

 likely to keep for several days. The feel- 

 ing that the street vender is the proper 

 person to care for middle class trade will 

 bar progress in this direction. 



The florist should endeavor to diversify 

 the attractions he offers; comparatively 

 little is done with flowering plants in 

 pots. Within a decade, or less, you will 

 be furnishing pot-grown fruit trees and 

 vines for dining room decoration. You 

 may even be selling in the spring or 

 early summer the fascinating little cherry 

 tree, in fruit, of the gay Parisian cafes. 



Every seedsman shbuld endeavor to 

 educate bis customers to the use of nigh 

 grade seeds and bulbs; he will serve his 

 own best interests in doing this. He 

 should ptTi^ and encourage the sale of the 

 best varieties, and discourage or discard 

 those that have been superseded. 



It is but fair to the seedsman to state 

 that he h^s had to struggle against. Ad- 

 verse coiiditiong. He has been forced to 

 compete with irresponsible dealers, who 

 sold inferior seeds or rubbish. It is safe 



Nardfsus Poeticus NaturaDy Planted. 



to say that, on the whole, the seedsman 

 has never received the return he has de- 

 served in this country — nothing like what 

 his brother dealer in Europe has received. 

 Compare the prices of the best European 

 houses with those of any house in this 

 country! Conditions are better than, 

 they were a dozen years ago — quality is 

 being appreciated more generally — ^but 

 many buyers still hesitate to pay a proper 

 price for high grade seeds. This has 

 been especially true of Dutch bulbs. The 

 seedsman cannot do much for the up- 

 building of his business by buying and 

 selling the cheapest, meanest stock to 

 be obtained. In doing this he fools him- 

 self, injures his customer, and in the 

 end loses his trade. 



What I have said to the private' gar- 

 dener about learning his calling applies 

 still more fordbly to the seedsman. Too 

 many seedsmen do not know their busi- 

 ness. The Holland bulb men are aware 

 of thi» and are still taking unfair ad- 

 vantage of the situation. It is well 

 known in Holland that the favorite single 

 blue hyacinth, Charles Dickens, has be-' 

 come so deteriorated by disease that it is 

 no longer fi^ to be grown. Yet it is listeid 

 and sold to this country by the Hollai^d 

 growers, who usually send for it MaJie, 

 a cheap, inferior sort. We have seen the 

 beautiful pure wtite La Grandesse 'sub- 

 stituted with La Franchise, a blush sort 

 having a purple skinned bulb. Standard 



Silver and Standard Gold tulips hare 

 also deteriorated, yet these are regularly 

 listed by many seedsmen, who in most 

 cases receive substitutes such as Cottage 

 Boy, Arms of Leiden, or other inferior 

 sorts. 



Nurserymen, as a rule, have been pro- 

 gressive, more so, perhaps, than those 

 engaged in other lines of horticultural 

 industry. Still, there is much for them 

 to do. Too frequently they are more anx- 

 ious to sell stock than to assure themselves 

 that the stock sold will be well planted, 

 that the ground will be suitably pre- 

 pared, and that the after-care it receives 

 will be such that the purchasers' success 

 with it will bring the vender future or- 

 ders. In the long run it would not hurt 

 the nurseryman to inform a client that 

 the cost of preparation of ground and 

 planting, if done properly, will equal or 

 exceed the cost of the stock. Great igno- 

 rance prevails as to the conditions under 

 which nursery stock will thrive, espe- 

 cially of the more common shade trees, 

 which are often planted in gravel. 



Nurserymen should endeavor to diver- 

 sify plantations; there is ample mate- 

 rial with which to do this and their 

 clients would welcome the variety. Il^^y 

 of the nurserymen are making better 

 terms on their stock, or allowing larger 

 discounts to the, so-called, landMape 

 at-chitects than they do to private gar- 



