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APBiL 13, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



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I 



THE QUESTION 

 OF INSURANCE 



j^c;i^i::^L 



IT'S VITAL FOR GROWERS. 



Fire Insurance. 



The number of inquiries regarding va- 

 rious forms of insurance received by the 

 Review indicate that an article on this 

 subject will be of interest to the trade. 



First, in regard to fire insurance. An 

 interview with W. A. Blodgett, western 

 manager of the Springfield F. and M. 

 Insurance Co., of Springfield, Mass., 

 brought out the fact that most of the 

 leading fire insurance companies now are 

 glad to write insurance on greenhouse 

 buildings at their regular rates for this 

 class of risk. These rates vary accord- 

 ing to location, construction, fire protec- 

 tion, location of boiler house, arrange- 

 ment of heating apparatus, precautions 

 taken to prevent fire, etc. 



Many times a little foresight and plan- 

 ning in the proper arrangement of a 

 greenhouse plant will effect a great sav- 

 ing in the insurance rate at practically 

 no additional construction expense. For 

 instance, if the boiler room is built en- 

 tirely separate from the houses, the rate 

 will be much lower than it will if the 

 boiler room is surrounded by the houses. 

 Again, if the boiler and main flow pipes 

 are covered with asbestos, the rate will 

 be lowered, and if concrete, stone or 

 brick, instead of wood, is used for the 

 boiler house walls, a further saving in 

 the insurance rate will be secured. 



In fact, before building a greenhouse 

 it would be well to take up such questions 

 with the local insurance agent, who could 

 tell just what should be done to secure 

 the minimum rate. 



Of course, a greenhouse that enjoys 

 city fire department protection will get a 

 lower rate than one without that advan- 

 tage, although the fact that every green- 

 house is supplied with hose for watering 

 purposes, and always quickly available in 

 case of fire, is necessarily a help. 



The reason that greenhouse insurance 

 is comparatively recent is because insur- 

 ance men for years looked upon green- 

 houses as poorly constructed from the 

 fire risk point of view, but since modern 

 methods and up-to-date materials are be- 

 ing used, the usual type of present day 

 greenhouse is a much improved structure 

 and is able to hold its own as a fire risk 

 with any other type of building. 



Of course, in every class of buildings 



growing plants is constantly changing, 

 and that, therefore, there is no definite 

 basis on which to fix rates or settle 

 losses; second, that the crops grown 

 vary with the seasons and consequently, 

 even if a reasonable basis could be found 

 for a certain crop, the following crop 

 would, in nine cases out of ten, have a 

 different value. 



Taking all the foregoing into consid- 

 eration, it is evident that florists will 

 have to be content with insurance against 

 fire loss on the buildings alone. Of 

 course, there is no question but that such 

 insurance is a wise precaution, and any 

 local agent representing the well known, 

 reliable fire insurance companies, should 

 be able to \7rite such a policy at reason- 

 able rates. 



Hail Insurance. 



In taking up the matter of hai* insur- 

 ance, it was found that few of t>~ *^g- 

 ular glass insurance companies will -^^--are 



Establishment of M. M. Miesse Before the Fire of March 29. 



there are some individual cases of old, 

 tumble-down structures, which are abso- 

 lutely refused insurance by the respon- 

 sible companies, and naturally the green- 

 houses are no exception. Therefore, if 

 insurance is refused, it is well to inquire 

 for the reason and, if possible, improve 

 the conditions till all the objections are 

 overcome. 



Mr. Blodgett further stated that, so 

 far as he knew, none of the reliable com- 

 panies will accept insurance on stock in 

 the greenhouses, and he gave the follow- 

 ing reasons: First, that the value of 



greenhouses against loss from breakage 

 of glass, either from hail or other causes. 

 Nearly all of them seem to be of the 

 opinion that the percentage of loss from 

 such risks is so high that in order to 

 write such policies with profit the rate 

 would be away beyond the reach of the 

 great majority of florists. 



This view of the matter would seem 

 to indicate a surprising lack of investiga- 

 tion by the glass insurance companies, be- 

 cause, as is well known to practically 

 every greenhouse owner, the Florists' 

 Hail Association of America insures 



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EstabKshment of M. M, Miesse, Destroyed by Fire March 29, 191L 



