June, 1918 Obe Slower (Brower 
Millions in the Flower Industry. 
E. J. Farrington in Ohio Farmer. 
C -y ROWING CUT FLOWERS for market 
t has come to be a business of enormous 
proportions. Roses and Carnations are 
the most important commercial flowers, al- 
though immense numbers of Violets and Lilies 
of the Valley are also sold. The annual ex- 
penditure for Roses in the whole country 
runs to $6,000,000, which pays for 100,000,000 
Roses. Quite as many Carnations as Roses 
are grown but they are not quite so expen- 
sive, running about $4,000,000 annually. 
Of course, the larger proportion of these 
flowers is grown under glass. There are 
over 6,000 glassed-in flower farms in the 
United States, and the glass surface amounts 
to 68,030,666 square feet. More than half 
this glass is in the North Atlantic States, 
New York leading and Pennsylvania coming 
next. The largest Rose-houses in the world 
are in Southern New Hampshire, whose 
market is chiefly Boston, where retailers 
come to buy the gorgeous blooms. Chicago 
is also a big distributing center. And New 
Orleans is coming to be, for growing flowers 
for cutting in the South and shipping them 
North is being developed. The flowers are 
grown out doors in Louisiana and other 
southern States, and it is no more difficult 
to ship them North in refrigerator cars than 
it is to ship vegetables. 
Many big green- houses are given over to 
special flowers. Roses are the prime best 
sellers among cut flowers, and no flower 
seems likely to displace them in popular 
esteem. Sometimes a new variety sweeps 
the country, as did the pink Killarney. Dif- 
ferent varieties lead in favor in different 
cities. The American Beauty heads the list 
in New York, but the Killarney is preferred 
in Boston. It is the same with Carnations. 
The kinds which outsell all others in Phila- 
delphia may hardly be known in Buffalo. 
New York City is the center of the Violet- 
growing industry; more Violets are raised 
within a radius wide enough to include 
Poughkeepsie than anywhere else in the 
world. The Rhinebeck section on the Hud- 
son River is famous the country over, and 
there are some large Violet growing estab- 
lishments on Long Island. South of Balti- 
more Violets are grown in coldframes and 
covered with mats in winter, but heated 
houses are needed in the North. 
Violet growing is hard work, but a number 
of women have succeeded in the business. 
One such Violet grower in Michigan, who 
now has a prosperous little plant, was for 
many years a school teacher. 
Of course, there is a great demand for 
Lilies at Easter time. When the demand 
first began the beautiful Madonna or An- 
nunciation Lily (LiliumCandidum) was grown 
and this is, of course, the true Easter Lily. 
However, florists soon found that it is hard 
to get this variety into flower at Easter 
time, so they adopted the Lilium Harrisii, or 
Bermuda Lily. For years enormous quanti- 
ties were imported from Bermuda. But 
after a time the Bermuda stock of bulbs be- 
gan to deteriorate, then the florists turned 
to Japan, and now a very large proportion 
of the bulbs forced for Easter are of Jap- 
anese origin. Varieties of Longiflorum are 
used, and the average buyer sees no differ- 
ence between them and the old-time Ber- 
muda Lily. 
Many Calla Lilies and Lilies of the Valley 
are also grown under glass and are popular 
as cut flowers, and produced in great num- 
bers, the latter being favored for brides’ 
bouquets. Lily of the Valley pips may be 
kept in cold storage for months, until the 
flower grower gets ready to force them into 
bloom, which fact makes these lilies popular 
with growers as well as with buyers. 
In summer thousands of outdoor acres are 
given over to Gladioli, Dahlias, Asters and 
other garden flowers. Gladioli have achieved 
remarkable popularity in the past few years, 
because of their beauty and the fact that 
they can be kept a week or ten days when 
cut. A 100-acre farm in Berlin, N. Y„ is 
given over wholly to these wonderful flowers. 
There are over 6,000 farms or establish- 
ments in this country where flowers are 
grown commercially. All over the Eastern 
States there are Pansy farms, some large and 
some small. Most of the Pansy plants sold 
in New York city come from Long Island. 
Pansy plants are sold practically by the 
quart, little flat baskets holding six quarts 
each being used. One firm supplies Long 
Island growers with nearly 100,000 of these 
baskets. The number of plants actually 
sold by these growers will come close to 
9,000,000 each season. A number of women 
are succeeding with commercial Pansy grow- 
ing. The seed is expensive, the best about 
$1 per 100 or one cent each. 
Tuberoses are not so high in favor as they 
used to be. The trade is supplied almost 
entirely from Magnolia, a little town in 
North Carolina. Great numbers of Cannas 
are also grown there, for the climate is so 
mild that the roots will winter safely when 
only piled in ricks and covered with earth. 
Some Carolina farmers grow Cannas as a 
side line, some having as many as fifty acres 
given over entirely to them. 
As to the commoner flowers,, in Onondaga 
County, New York, H. B. Williams has about 
35 acres in Asters, a waving sea of crimson, 
blue, pink, white and lavender bloom. Mr. 
Williams was a dry goods salesman before a 
gas explosion blew the building of the firm 
he represented into flinders and incidentally 
blew him into the flower business. He had 
grown Asters as an amateur before, but now 
he made a study of Aster growing along 
scientific lines and after a few years found 
himself producing such fine flowers that he 
could sell all the seed he could raise. Now 
all his output takes the form of seeds, 
amounting to 1,500 lbs., all coming from flow- 
ers picked within 15 days. As many as a 
hundred women are sometimes engaged in 
the picking, and the flower heads are taken 
to a warehouse, where they are dried in a 
kiln. Then the seeds are threshed out in a 
machine invented by Mr. Williams. 
Eva Morris is a Cuyahoga county, Ohio, 
girl who has built up a nice business in 
Sweet Peas. Every day every single blos- 
som is removed from the vines. In Cali- 
fornia there is a farm on which 600 acres 
are developed to Sweet Peas. 
Flower Markets.— Most of the Northern 
cities have flower exchanges, the largest be- 
ing in Boston ; it is probably the largest in- 
door flower market in the world. It does 
an annual business of almost $1,000,000, and 
its whole purpose is to sell to the retail trade 
flowers brought in by growers. The enter- 
prise is co-operative. A large store is divided 
off into streets and alleys, the latter lined 
with stalls, which are auctioned off once a 
year, the highest bidder having his choice. 
At the end of the season the profits are di- 
vided up. The association has a secretary 
who is in general charge of the business. 
There is a big refrigerator for holding flow- 
ers kept over. In the early morning, when 
most of the business is done, the scene in 
the exchange is an animated one, with buyers 
coming from all parts of the city and subur- 
ban towns to obtain their stock for the day. 
One man does a business of nearly $400 a 
day simply in cut flowers. 
Mohamet once said: “ If I had but two 
loaves of bread I would sell one and buy 
Hyacinths to feed my soul.” The sentiment 
seems to actuate the people of the cities, 
63 
hence flower farming has been built up in 
the United States into a business the total 
products of which are valued at no less than 
$30,000,000 a year. 
Flowers for Tubercular Patients. 
The fraternal organization known as 
“The Modern Woodmen ” have an in- 
stitution at Colorado Springs, Colo., 
known as “The Woodmen’s Sana- 
torium.” An article in The Modern 
Woodman, the organ of “ The Modern 
Woodmen of America,” appears in the 
January issue entitled “The Therapeu- 
tic Value of Flowers.” This article 
was written by one of the physicians 
connected with the sanatorium, which, 
by the way, is exclusively for the mem- 
bers of the order who are suffering 
from tuberculosis in its early stages. 
We are pleased to give a part of the 
article as follows : 
Tourists, in passing through the sanatorium 
grounds, and visitors who come here, marvel 
at the wonderful beauty of the grounds, 
which has been created by the addition of 
flowers, shrubs and trees. The average per- 
son thinks that these are simply to add to 
the beauty, and to be admired by those who 
may travel this way. We have had occasion 
though, to look deeper than this for the in- 
centive to develop this work, and that is, 
the therapeutic value that flowers have in 
cases of sickness. 
It is pleasant to study and to dream of the 
language of flowers. The patient, for ex- 
ample, leaves his home, thinking he is com- 
ing out here, a thousand miles in the wil- 
derness. He comes here to the sanatorium, 
where all are strangers to him. The first 
lesson he learns is from the bouquet of 
flowers he finds on the stand in front of the 
bed, which tells him there is someone here 
who cares for him. It brings to the patient 
a message of friendship, along with fra- 
ternity. Many of the patients have told us 
that the bouquet of flowers, which greeted 
them on admission here, was the best anti- 
dote that could possibly be given to cure 
nostalgia, or homesickness. 
They learn to admire the beauty and 
fragrance of flowers, which satisfy the nerves 
and lull them into a restful sleep. The 
greatest cure of all cures for tuberculosis, 
that has ever been found, is rest, absolute 
rest, a complete rest ; and by this we mean 
mental as well as physical rest. By beauti- 
fying the sanatorium as we have, we culti- 
vate a desire for flowers, for beauty and 
harmony. 
Flowers bring messages from the giver 
to the receiver, and bring better and purer 
thoughts to the recipient. In the mystery 
that surrounds the spirit of the seed, the 
development of the plant, and the bursting 
of the bud into the beauty of the flower, 
messages are carried, especially to the sick, 
that are elevating, and they create a desire 
to live worthy lives; they give the patient an 
ambition not only to live, but to live sur- 
rounded by beauty, cleanliness and fragrance. 
The sanatorium has three greenhouses for 
the propagation and growth of flowers. The 
dining-rooms are supplied with flowers at all 
times; the bed patients always have a bou- 
quet of fresh flowers in their rooms, and each 
patient is remembered with a bouquet on his 
birthday. These all go to add cheerful- 
ness to the unfortunate patients who come 
to this institution to fight for their lives. 
There is room for additional sug- 
gestions from flower growers for the 
raising of funds for Red Cross work. 
If you have ideas please let us have 
them. 
