Jllv 4, 1912. 



The Florists^ Review 



13 





Dr. Albert J. Oclmner, Chicago 200.00 



United Nursery Co., Roseacres, Miss. . 1,281.45 



David Herbert & Son, Atco, N. J 1JI5.65 



Jewell Nursery Co., Lake City, Minn.. Ifi.l.TO 



E. E. Stewart, Rives Junction, Mich . . 422.:« 

 Maywood Nursery Co., Maywood, 111.. 12. (K) 



Leesley Bros., Chicago 111.81 



K. Y. Teas, CentervUle, Ind 40.00 



W. C. Keed, Vlncennes, Ind 128.0,"( 



Good & Reese Co.. Springfield, 29. 7o 



Veldhayzen Van Zeuten & Son, Llsse, 



Holland 494.8.- 



John F. Croom & Bro., Magnolia, N. C. l,(i«3.7t! 



W. J. Gallaway, Eaton, 1^2."^ 



F. & F. Nurseries, Springfield, N. J 164.30 



Yokohama Nursery Co., New York City 138.30 



C. Colyn & Sons, Voorhaut, Holland... 800.00 



Harlan P. Kelsey, Salem. Mass 3U2.;{.t 



C. M. Hobbs & Son, Bridgeport, Ind... 200.72 



O. A. D. Baldwins, Brldgeman, Mich.. 7.65 



Re.vburn Mfg. Co., Philadelphia 14.00 



Shenandoah Nurseries. Shenandoah. la. !^8..50 



T. S. Hubbard Co., Fredonla, N. Y 188.00 



n. J. Weber & Sons, Nursery, Mo 59.20 



Jacks Smith & Co., Naardam. Holland. 3.50.00 



W. Van Kleef, Boskoop, Holland 78.00 



G. Vangelden, Boskoop, Holland 517..S5 



Fred D. Jackson, Chicago 1.00 



J. Walter Stead, Chicago 1.0(1 



P. W. Sullivan, Chicago 1.00 



Independent Brewing Co., Chicago.... 1.00 



Total $13,823.41 



THE SPECIAL PLANT EATE. 



Paper Pots Making Trouble. 



It recently has been brought to the 

 attention of The Review that some of 

 the members of the trade are having 

 trouble in getting the special rate on 

 plant shipments because of a misappre- 

 hension on the part of the express com- 

 panies — the express company employees 

 are not sufficiently well posted on the 

 customs in the florists' trade to be able 

 to correctly interpret the express com- 

 pany's own rules. 



The trouble is over shipments of 

 plants where the balls are in the so- 

 called paper pots. 



These shipments are entitled to the 

 special rate, twenty per cent less than 

 the merchandise rate. But sometimes 

 they are billed at the full merchandise 

 rate. A recent complaint from L. C. 

 Stroh & Sons, Batavia, N. Y., has 

 brought out the fact that all shipments 

 by American Express from Rochester, 

 N. Y., this season, where the paper 

 "pots" were used, have been billed at 

 the full merchandise rate. The express 

 agent has watched for the paper pots 

 and when he has found them, he has 

 charged one-fourth more than he should 

 have charged. 



Stroh & Sons, under protest, paid the 

 charges on a certain shipment and wrote 

 a letter to the American agent at Ba- 

 tavia, asking for the refund of a certain 

 overcharge of 83 cents. The Batavia 

 agent referred the matter to Superin- 

 tendent H. C. Hacock at Rochester. The 

 latter passed it back to the depot agent 

 at Rochester, W. B. Champlin, who said 

 he had always billed all such shipments 

 at the full merchandise rate under ar- 

 ticle 29, page 24, of Official Express 

 Classification No. 21. Superintendent 

 Hacock said Champlin was right and 

 instructed the agent at Batavia to ad- 

 vise Stroh & Sons that their claim could 

 not be allowed. 



It is a case in which the officials were 

 wrong when they thought they were 

 right. 



Paper Pots Are Wrappings, 



A number of similar cases have arisen. 

 They have all been based on a lack of 

 Vnowiedeo of florists' customs and 

 the wrongful application of article 29, 

 page 24, of the classification. The ar- 

 ticle in question provides for the mer- 

 chandise rate on plants "growing in 

 pots or other receptacles, crated, and so 

 packed that they may be stowed with 

 other freight ana may be handled with- 



Bcrtrand H, Fair, Pretideat American Peony Society. 



out extra care, and without injury to 

 the plants." The express people con- 

 sider that the plants are "growing in 

 (paper) pots" or that the paper pots 

 are ' ' other receptacles. ' ' The matter 

 of fact is the paper pots are nothing but 

 wrapping material, used only while the 

 plants are in the hands of the express 

 company. The plants are not "grow- 

 ing" in the paper pots, were not grown 

 there, will not be left in them by the 

 consignee. As well consider that the 

 plants are "growing" in the old news- 

 papers most frequently used for pro- 

 tecting the ball of soil and roots while 

 the plant is in transit, or that the old 

 newspaper is an "other receptacle." 



Article 29, page 24, is not the one un- 

 der which to classify plants out of clay 

 pots with the balls protected during 

 shijiment by pot-shaped, paper, ready-to- 

 use wrappings. Article 13, page 18, ap- 

 plies to such shipments, as to other live 

 plants out of the pots in which they 

 were grown or are to grow. It gives 

 the "general special" rate, but there 

 are these limitations: The plants must 

 be * ' completely boxed or crated and 

 packed so that they may be stowed with 

 other freight and may be handled with- 

 out extra care." 



What to Do. 



In case plants in paper pots come 

 billed at the merchandise rate, ask for 

 the special rate, the correct one. In 

 some cities the driver can get telephone 



instructions from the office and adjust 

 the charge at once. If the local agent 

 disclaims authority and will not allow 

 the correct rate, pay under protest, 

 taking a receipt showing the facts, and 

 make a claim for the overcharge, point- 

 ing out that the plants in the so-called 

 j)aper pots are not "growing" in them 

 and that these are nothing more than 

 pot-shaped wrappers, ready for tempo- 

 rary use, not to be compared to the 

 l)lantsman 's clay pot but to the grocer's 

 paper bag. The district superintendent 

 will see that you get your special rate 

 when you show him how to look at it. 

 Some day the express companies will 

 see a big bright light and they then will 

 encourage the shipment of pots on the 

 jilants, instead of discouraging it as at 

 jtresent. The idea back of the classifi- 

 cation doubtless is that the pots are 

 liable to breakage, which would result 

 in claims for damages. But every 

 florist knows that clay pots are the least 

 valuable part of any plant shipment, 

 though heavy, and that the express com- 

 panies would gain in income and save 

 in claims for injury to plants by encour- 

 aging the shipjting of the clay pots by 

 allowing the general special to apply. 



Champaign, 111. — Gustave Johnson, 

 who began business at 306 East Spring- 

 field avenue about five years ago, now 

 has 18,000 square feet of ground under 

 glass. Part of his greenhouses are lo- 

 cated on McKinley avenue. 



