IS 
Gardeners and Florists’ Annual for t9f8 
Holland shipments of 
bulbs. First, the Dutch 
Government interdicted 
the export of 
Imports bulbs, and 
AZad 
earnest rep- 
resentation had been 
made as to the heavy 
losses that the seed 
and bulb trade would 
experience both in Hol- 
land and Americai, 
were shipments allowed 
to come through. They 
did not arrive until 
earl}* in October, when 
two ships, containing 
over 30,000 cases in 
tlie aggregate, arrived 
without, liowever, hav- 
ing the invoices for the 
cargoes. This led to 
further confusion and 
the necessary storing 
of the cases. Thou- 
sands of cases were 
also left upon the piers 
unclaimed, and there 
they remained, in some 
instances for several 
weeks. Xo Belgian stock had arrived at the time this Annual went to 
press, and no shipments were expected. 
After a long drawn out Winter and Spring, a rather cool Summer 
followed, with repeated rains. This was ideal for outdoor vegetable 
crops, as well as outdoor flowers, and gardens never looked better. This 
was fortunate, as hundreds of thousands of amateurs and 
beginners in gardening had broken waste land, while 
organizations for the cultivation of “war gardens,” con- 
taining jiarticularly such vegetables as Corn, Potatoes, 
Tomatoes, and Beans, were active in all parts of the country. It can 
be said that the season was a good one, and blessed the labors of the 
gardener. The canning and drying of fruits and vegetables in the Fall 
was on a scale certainly never before known in the history of this 
countrv. 
A Cartoon from the “N. Y. World,” Spring, 1917, 
When the Retail Prices of Vegetables 
Were Exorbitant 
The Season 
and the Crops 
The weather was excessively warm for a brief period in the first 
week in .Vugust, when record temperatures were experienced, and much 
suffering in cities was endured. The Autumn weather was of a mixed 
character, being raw and chilly in October and bright and seasonably 
cold in November. 
The aggregate of garden and agricultural crops throughout the 
countrv showed an enormous advance over the previous year. 
