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18 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Jandabt 10, 1011. 



THE FLORISTS' REVIEW 



G. L. GRANT, Editok and Managkb. 



PUBU8HSD EVXBT THCB8DAT BT 



THE FLORISTS' PUBLISHING CO. 



S30-560 Caxton Bailding, 



334 Dearborn Street, Chicago. 



Telephone, HaebisojJJ 5429. 



■xqibtxskd oabi,b aodbxss, itiobvie'w, ohioaqo 



New Yoek Oitice: 



Borougrh Park Brooklyn, N. Y. 



J. Austin Shaw, Manaoeb. 



Subscription price. 11.00 a year. To Canada. $2.00. 

 To Europe, |2JiO. 



Advertising rates quoted upon request. Only 

 ■trlctly ^'^de adTertislngr accepted. 



Adyertlsements must reach us by 5 p. m. Tuesday, 

 to Insure Insertion In the issue of that week. 



Entered as second class matter December 3. 1897, 

 at the post-office at Chicago, lU., under the act of 

 If arch S, 1819. 



This paper is a member of the Chicago Trade 

 Press ABSoclation. 



Index to Advertisers Pasre 86. 



CONTENTS. 



The RotHll Florist ■♦ 7 



— The Model Flower Shop (111ns.) 7 



— The Shower Epoch 7 



— A Woodman's Design (Ulus. ) 8 



— What's in the Box? 8 



— St. Valentine's Day 8 



— Cut Flower Boxes (illus.) 9 



Carnations — Stigmonose 10 



— Weak, Thin Stems 10 



— Chloride of LImo in Water 10 



— Name of Carnation 10 



Roses 10 



— Rivoire and De Bulgarle 10 



Orchids 11 



— Seasonable Notes .' . . 11 



Seasonable Suggestions 11 



— Dahlias and Cannas 11 



— Glganteum Lilies 11 



— Lilium Candidura 11 



— Spirsea Japonica 12 



— Amaryllis 12 



— Spencer Sweet Peas 12 



— Antirrhinums 12 



— Mignonette 12 



— Show Pelargoniums 12 



— Petunias 12 



The Glndra Place (Ulus.) 12 



In New Brunswick (Illus.) 13 



Tuberoses In the South 13 



Dormant Azalea Indica 13 



Violets — Aphis on Violets 13 



— Violets Doing Poorly 13 



Primula Sinensis Seed 13 



Begonias 14 



Trouble with Lilies 14 



Boston 14 



New York 15 



Store Destroyed by Fire (Illus. ) 16 



Crinums not Flowering 16 



News Notes and Comments 17 



What Is a Good Return ? 18 



Chicago 18 



Mamaroneck, N. Y 25 



Cincinnati 26 



Baltimore 26 



Philadelphia 28 



Providence 32 



New Bedford, Mass 34 



Obltnary 36 



— Edward Aleon 36 



— John W. Remagen 36 



Cleveland 36 



Auburn. N. Y 36 



St. Louis 38 



Indianapolis 40 



Steamer Sailings 42 



Seed Trade News 44 



— Kain in California 46 



— Milwaukee Next 46 



— Duty on Flaxseed Screenings 46 



— Imports 47 



— Values of Azaleas 47 



— Seed Imports (Quadrupled 48 



— English Seedsman's New Place 48 



— Catalogues Received 50 



Vegetable Forcing 52 



• — Vegetable Markets 52 



— The White Fly 52 



Albany, N. Y 52 



Pacific Coast 58 



— San Francisco . . .'. 58 



— Portland, Ore .59 



Mushrooms with Sweet Peas 59 



Nursery News 60 



— How the Prospect Looks 60 



Kokomo, Ind 64 



New Castle, Ind 64 



TVvonto 66 



Detroit 68 



• Greenhouse Heating 78 



— Connsctlng. a Genera tor u. Tfc 



-:- RqllRhzIng tbte Tew>eBi|ture . ..■*... A^, . ., .'. ffk 



— Watw Does Not Boil |B\ «0^ 



Pittsburg, Pa 82 



Amherst, Mass ,« 84 



Columbus, O. , M 



80CIITT OF AHEBICAN FLOBI8T8. 



IHOOBPOBATKD BT ACT OW OONOBBSI. MABOH 4 • '01 



Officers for 1910: President, F. R. Pierson, Tarry- 

 town, N. T.; vice-president, F. W. Vick. Rochester, 

 N. T.; secretary, H. B. Domer, Urbana, III.; treas- 

 urer, W. F. Kasting, Buffalo, N. Y. 



Special convention and National Flower Show, 

 Boston. Mass.. March 26 to April 1. 1911. 



Annual convention, Baltimore, Md., August 15 to 

 18. 1911. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



"We both have them. 



The exchange of orders between flo- 

 rists in distant cities is heavier this 

 season than ever before. It will never 

 grow less. 



The secretary of the S. A. F. has made 

 application to the passenger associations 

 for the usual special rates to the Boston 

 convention in March. 



Growers complain that the carnation 

 plants are not now producing cuttings 

 any more freely than they produced 

 blooms earlier in the season. 



A SPECIAL meeting of the executive 

 committee of the S. A. F. is being held 

 at Boston this week, in connection with 

 National Flower Show affairs. 



Not a few subscribers save themselves 

 the bother of annual renewal by sending 

 The Eeview $2, $3, or sometimes $5, in- 

 stead of the dollar-bill that insures fifty- 

 two visits of the paper. 



The editor of the Horticultural Trades 

 Journal, London, England, is preparing 

 to bring a party of European florists 

 and nurserymen to the National Flower 

 Show in Boston in March. 



"Wilful waste makes woeful want." 

 Don't let your surpluses go to waste. If 

 you have a little more stock than your 

 local trade calls for, you can turn it into 

 cash by putting a three or four line ad- 

 vertisement in the Classified Department 

 of The Eeview. 



WHAT IS A GK)OD RETURN? 



Will you ask through your columns 

 what growers consider a good return 

 from greenhouses per square foot! We 

 have a place of 13,500 square feet, 

 growing 1,200 roses, 4,500 carnations, 

 some 10,000 bulbs of various kinds, and 

 a thousand mums in season. Seventy- 

 five per cent of our trade is wholesale 

 and our design work in about the same 

 proportion at a discount of 20 per cent. 



We have been taking usually $6,000 

 per year, gross. Is this as much as the 

 place should return? In basing an 

 estimate as to the value of such a 

 place, what would be the value of the 

 plants, considering them to be first-class 

 stock in good condition! How could 

 we compute what amount we should 

 place on the value of the business in 

 order to find what a reasonable per 

 cent for interest on investment and for 

 depreciation should be set aside in 

 judging the return on capital? 



It is our opinion that too few florists 

 conduct business on a safe, scientific 

 plan. The only right way to run the 

 business, besides doing it honestly and 

 with good stock, is to say so much is 

 the capital invested; this per centum 

 should represent interest on the capi- 

 taj; this much per centum, the allow- 

 jrtice for depreciation; so much for 

 owner'*, and owner's family's tittie; 

 "Wicr BO much for profit. But unless one 

 knew how much his place actually cost 

 or was worth, how could he figure this 



out? We should like estimates or basis 

 for estimate for our place. 



J. C. F. C. 



Probably more often than any other 

 comes the question, "How much money 

 should I take in from a given green- 

 house area?" Difficult as that question 

 is to answer by rule, without the slight- 

 est knowledge of the special circum- 

 stances, it has recently been outclassed 

 by a new one: "How much was our 

 place worth January 1?" This comes 

 invariably from the florist who has 

 turned his business into a stock com- 

 pany. The law for the government tax 

 on the incomes of corporations requires 

 that an inventory be taken on January 

 1. But the florist never has taken an 

 inventory on that date; he has done 

 his annual summing up at the date 

 when his houses were emptiest, usually 

 July 1. How much is a carnation plant 

 in the bench worth January 1? Or a 

 rose plant? It is evident the J. C. F. 

 C. has been pondering these and similar 

 questions. If some grower who has 

 wrestled with the special problems pre- 

 sented by this corporation tax law and 

 settled them to his own and the gov- 

 ernment's satisfaction, will write out 

 his conclusions. The Eeview will be 

 glad to print them for the benefit of 

 the many who have not been so suc- 

 cessful. 



CKECAGK). 



The Great Central Market. 



Since last report the market has 

 turned one of the periodical flip-flops 

 for which it has long been famous, but 

 which have not been so frequent since 

 the business has attained years of dis- 

 cretion. The present condition has 

 come about so regularly year after year 

 that it merely is a repetition of what 

 occurred at this date last season and 

 should occasion little surprise, whatever 

 it may do in the way of inconveniencing 

 buyers or wholesalers. 



With everyone bringing in a big rose 

 crop right on the dot for Christmas, it 

 is perfectly natural that everyone 

 should go off crop at the same time a 

 little later. The approach of this con- 

 dition was apparent at the beginning 

 of last week; the full effect of waning 

 rose crops became apparent at the end 

 of the week, and the present week 

 opened with not nearly enough roses 

 to go around. The scarcity is particu- 

 larly felt in the shorter grades; it sim- 

 ply is impossible to find enough short 

 roses to meet the demand. Of the 

 medium grade the supply is larger and 

 orders are better filled. The buyer who 

 wants the extra long fancy stock can 

 still be accommodated in fairly satis- 

 factory fashion, though many buyers 

 who do not ordinarily use them are tak- 

 ing the higher priced roses when they 

 cannot get the length they want, so 

 that everything is cleaned up. Beauties 

 do not show the falling off that has oc- 

 curred in the rose crops; with most 

 houses Beauties went off crop directly 

 after Christmas and supplies are now 

 rather on the up grade. The quality of 

 all the roses is excellent, the only com- 

 plaint being of short supplies. Of 

 course shipping demand has increased 

 largely, as it always does whea crops 

 go off. 



The advance in price which naturally 

 has occurred with roses has turned a 

 considerable part of the demand to 

 other flowers. Therefore, there hag been 



