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Mauch 27. 1913. 



The Florists^ Review 



15 



A Davis House, 43 z 600, All in Sweet Peas. 



suitable for any crops which might in- 

 dicate that they would prove most prof- 

 itable. Cucumbers and tomatoes have 

 been the principal crops to date, but 

 sweet peas have been an important in- 

 tervening crop. One of the illustra- 

 tions shows one of the houses 64^x600 

 with the cucumbers just getting a good 

 start. In one of the other pictures a 

 house 43x600 in sweet peas is shown. 

 The photograph was made in January. 

 The pick in this sweet pea house aver- 

 aged 20,000 per day for some weeks. 

 The winter-flowering varieties were 

 used, Boddington's seed being planted. 

 The flowers were packed in the crates 

 ordinarily used for cucumber shipments 

 and most of them were consigned to 

 the A. L. Randall Co., Chicago. The 

 crop proved profitable, but it is figured 

 that better stems will be had another 

 season by less thick planting and that 

 better stems will produce more money. 

 The Davis Floral Co., a separate cor- 

 poration in which J. "W. Davis is inter- 

 ested, is now building a range of sim- 

 ilar houses just across the railroad 

 track from the present establishment, 

 to grow exclusively plants and cut flow- 

 ers for wholesaling. 



YOUNG SMUiAX PLANTS. 



I am planning to build another green- 

 house, and I have some smilax started 

 and want to establish it in the new 

 house, which I hope to have completed 

 by June 1. How shall I treat it? Some 

 of the plants are two inches high and 

 some are just coming through the 

 ground. B. A. A. 



The young smilax plants should be 

 potted ofif into 2-inch or 2%-inch pots 

 aijd kept at a night temperature of not 

 less than 55 degrees, or a little higher 

 than that would be better. If the plants 

 become crowded in these pots before you 

 are ready to plant them out in the bench 

 in the new house, it would pay to give 

 them a shift to a la^er pot. Smilax 

 requires plenty of moisture after the 

 plants become established in the pots. 

 The most serious pest that \w liable to 

 attack it during the summer is red 



spider, which is more likely to appear 

 when the plants are kept too dry. 



W. H. T. 



WHEEE TACT WOULD HELP. 



Will you answer this query through 

 your columns? A large wholesale and 

 retail florist was sending his wholesale 

 catalogue to a good many of our cus- 

 tomers who were not in the business. 

 We wrote to him asking whether, be- 

 fore sending his next catalogues, he 

 would look into the matter and not 

 send his wholesale list to those not in 

 the business. This happened some time 

 ago. Today one of our best customers 

 came in and gave us "down the coun- 

 try" for stopping her wholesale cat- 

 alogue. In a town of this size, many 



of one's customers are one's best 

 friends, from a social standpoint, and 

 in this case the lady was not only 

 angry, but had a feeling of real per- 

 sonal grievance against the manager 

 — a feeling of injured friendship. 



Now, being rather green as to busi- 

 ness policies, we want to ask: Was it 

 not an unbusiness-like act, on the part 

 of the florist, to inform his customer 

 that we were the cause of stopping her 

 catalogue? Should he not have writ- 

 ten that he sent his wholesale catalogue 

 to dealers only? He not only has lost 

 our trade, but probably our customer's, 

 also, and while tve are small fry now, 

 our opportunities are such that we shall 

 not be small fry always. Besides, we 

 always pay our accounts, and paid ac- 

 counts, even if small, mean something 

 more than large unpaid ones. 



A. F. C. 



A florist who deals both at wholesale 

 and retail must be possessed of tact, 

 patience and infinite good temper, or 

 he will find himself constantly at arms 

 with one or another of his sustomers. 



CANADIAN CUSTOMS. 



The following circular to importers 

 of cut flowers, issued by the Canadian 

 customs department, should be observed 

 by all who ship to the Dominion: 



Invoices of cut flowers should show 



the price, number and grade of each in 



the shipment, classed as the case may 



be as special or fancy, or as numbers 



1, 2 or 3, for example, as follows: 



Quantity Description and Class Price 



American Beauty Roses, Special or Fancy . . . 



No. 1 

 No. 2 

 No: 3 



Roses (other) Special or Fancy . . . 



No. 1 . . . 



No. 2 ... 



Carnations No. 1 



No. 2 



No. 3 



Violets 



Such cut flowers are to be regarded as 



having been shipped in good condition 



and are to be appraised at their fair 



market value as at the place of export 



in such condition. John McDougald, 



Commissioner of Customs. 



Iron Frame Cticumber House, 64^2 x 600, of J. W. Davis Co. 



