1914. 
THE RURAi NEW-YORKER 
947 
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II Flower Growing For Women || 
Is It A Profitable Business? 
xmnmiAnswered By Paul L. Ward imiilll = | 
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I READ an article on flower culture in 
The R. N.-Y. and thought you could 
help me a little. Could you tell me 
where flower culture, for business, is most 
successfully carried on? I have grown 
Asters by thousands for four years or 
more, but find I can grow them easier 
than I can sell them. I have grown 
some fine large flowers and have been 
quite successful in my own way, but to 
grow flowers of perfection and special¬ 
ize is quite another thing. I live in 
country and have read and know quite a 
little of horticulture and general farm 
work. This is a sad country for gar¬ 
dens, corn patches or anything that wants 
to grow ; we seem to be in a frost belt; 
every year from June 5-14 there are 
frost indications and again August 21 to 
September 10 sometimes everything goes. 
Could you suggest any good locality that 
calls for market flowers, and is there a 
place where I could work and learn the 
ins and outs of flower culture in a busi¬ 
ness way. Miss E. L. 
Western, New York. 
The Profit In Flowers. —After hand¬ 
ing a florist a dollar for a dozen fine 
carnations or making a similar expendi¬ 
ture for other flowers, the purchaser is 
likely to think how fine it would be to be 
the seller of those same flowers. The 
seemingly splendid prices received for al¬ 
most everything in the floral world leads 
many to enter into the business of sell¬ 
ing or producing market flowers, or both. 
In the first place, the prices paid for 
flowers are not high. They are extremely 
perishable products, expensive to grow 
in perfection and subject to all kinds of 
calamity. Such being the case, only one 
who has a great liking for flowers, a 
known ability to produce them and mar¬ 
ket them, should attempt to make a liv¬ 
ing thereby. Like poultry raising, the 
profits will come largely in proportion as 
the one engaged in the business loses 
sight of the almighty dollar and throws 
heart and soul into the work for the 
work’s sake. It is a business you cannot 
turn over to a hireling and sit by and 
draw in the returns to the cash drawer, 
but you must be everlastingly on the job, 
and like it. 
Selecting Location. —The beginner 
who wishes to make an independent start 
may well select a location in a town of 
5,000 or upward, where he or she can 
obtain plenty of good land, preferably on 
the main road to the cemetery and as 
nearly central as possible. The factor of 
competition must be considered. If there 
are already local florists, it would be 
well to ascertain quietly if they were 
pleasing the people. If so, try another 
place, as I believe it is foolishness to try 
to build up such a business in competi¬ 
tion with one who has the business and is 
giving satisfaction. On the other hand, 
if no competition exists or of a harmless 
sort, you can be reasonably sure of suc¬ 
cess. 
Choosing Specialties. —Having chos¬ 
en a location, choose the phase of floral 
work you will enter. The general florist 
trade requires some capital to start, at 
least a small greenhouse and some knowl¬ 
edge of designing, for funeral work, so¬ 
ciety functions, weddings, etc., are the 
main market for strictly flower work. If 
you lack the ability to do design work, 
the growing of potted plants can be taken 
up. This phase of the work is not so 
much in competition as the growing of cut 
flowers. A good idea for this is to make 
it a point to have some blooming plants 
in first-class condition every day of the 
year. From December 15 to March, prim¬ 
roses and Cinerarias are wonderfully 
salable at from 25 to 50 cents each; from 
January to Easter, all kinds of potted 
bulbs, hyacinths, tulips, Narcissi, etc., 
find ready sale. Specimen geranium 
plants are very popular. The single ger¬ 
anium, Mrs. E. G. Hill, is a splendid sort 
to grow into specimens, sometimes pro¬ 
ducing ten or more clusters at once, 
with nearly 100 flowers to a clus¬ 
ter, and the clusters measuring about 
14 inches around. These go quickly at 50 
cents each. Calla and Easter lilies are 
quite popular with the better class of 
buyers. For Summer potted plants there 
are always the geraniums, Verbenas, 
marigolds, Gloxinias, tuberous rooted Be¬ 
gonias, and Fuchsias, whoch can be easily 
grown and had in bloom during the warm 
months. For Fall, potted Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, Obconica primroses and ferns are 
popular. And we must not forget that 
grand plant, the Cyclamen, taking nearly 
20 months to flower from seed but well 
worth the time and trouble. It sells from 
25 cents for a plant with a single flower 
up to ,$3 each for plants literally smoth¬ 
ered in bloom and in seven-inch pots. 
The list of potted plants is long, but the 
above are all popular, easy to grow and 
easy to sell. 
How to Sell. —Now for a selling 
campaign, having grown your plants and 
being ready to market them. First, get 
attractive stationery, the very best for 
your product goes to a class that demands 
the best. Then write a personal letter to 
the teacher of every Sunday school class 
in the city, the chairman or chairwoman 
of all flower committees in different fra¬ 
ternal societies, each minister, and all 
persons who, for various reasons seem 
likely to be lovers of flowers. The giv¬ 
ing of potted plants to the sick is a uni¬ 
versal custom and it pays and pays well 
to cater to this demand both in price and 
quality. Many of these classes and so¬ 
cieties are limited to 25 cents for each 
person who is sick. You can easily have 
a line of plants to sell at just that price. 
Lots of children will come in with ten or 
fifteen cents for a plant. Don’t turn them 
away. A single Narcissus in a four-inch 
pot will make you a good profit even at 
10 cents, and two in a pot for 15 cents. 
Cater to all comers in price but never 
lower your standard of quality. You 
have no idea what the advertising effect 
might be on your business to send out a 
bunch of sleepy carnations at half price 
just to keep them from being a total loss. 
Your entire florist business may be 
A POT OF CROCUSES. 
judged and found wanting by some one 
from that bunch of carnations. Throw 
all wilted and inferior stock into the 
furnace. Never sell a plant, no matter 
how well it looks, that you know will go 
to pieces the next day from having been 
in bloom too long. Your customer is en¬ 
titled to at least a week of bloom, and 
except for funeral work only freshly 
opened flowers should be sold. 
There are a lot of flower growers who 
have no greenhouses, who have no cold 
frames and little or no capital. These 
are the growers of Summer flowers, Gla¬ 
diolus, Aster, monthly roses, pansies and 
many others, including a long list of per¬ 
ennials. It is much easier to produce 
these flowers than the greenhouse kinds, 
and correspondingly harder to find a mar¬ 
ket for them. Local demand will always 
take a certain percentage of them if they 
are first-class, but the large cities must 
be depended upon to consume the main 
crop, and it is practically useless to send 
anything but the very best to a city mar¬ 
ket and expect to get a living price. In 
certain flowers there is always a glut in 
season and only the best is used at all. 
Growers of the following three varieties 
of Gladioli find a good profit by getting 
fine stock onto an early market. They 
are, America, Augusta and Mrs. Frances 
King. Dahlias are coming into favor 
and when well grown, carefully packed 
and shipped are profitable. Asters, most 
widely grown of Summer flowers, never 
glut the market very badly because it is 
so hard to produce first-class flowers. 
The finest Asters are grown under glass 
by disbudding, where they are not injured 
by violent storms. The growing of Gladi¬ 
oli is increasing rapidly and as yet the 
gladiolus is little known to the general 
public. You can both sell the flower and 
produce an increase from the bulb so that 
they are doubly profitable, and they are 
as easily grown as potatoes. Yes, the 
growing of flowers and flowering plants 
for market is profitable if one is able to 
produce the finest quality and become 
known as a grower of fine stock. 
Michigan. p. l. w. 
Good Words, 
1 AM very much pleased with the is¬ 
sue of June 27 of your paper. It is 
a decided improvement on an al¬ 
ready excellent paper. r. ii. s. 
Connecticut. 
T HE R. N.-Y. always was the best 
farm paper printed and since the 
Woman and Home Department has 
been enlarged it is almost perfect. I 
would be pleased if C. Allis or his wife 
would tell us just how she makes the 
curd for the cheese, and how long it can 
be kept before putting in the press. I 
tried with junket tablets and got it too 
soft. c. T. 
New York. 
Mrs. Allis tells about this on page 952. 
T HIS week’s issue is absolutely “bung 
full” of good things and I have sel¬ 
dom enjoyed the contents more or 
desired so much information. a. f. a. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
Rural New-Yorker and you’ll get a quick 
reply and a “square deal.” See guarantee 
editorial page. :::::: 
1 HAVE taken your paper over a year 
and enjoy it very much. My husband 
never cared to read much, but now 
on Sunday he takes The R. N.-Y. and 
reads it; says he thinks it a very good 
thing. MRS. p. s. 
New York. 
1 WANT to say just a word of appre¬ 
ciation of The R. N.-Y.; even in this 
western country it is more helpful 
than any other paper we have found. I only 
wish there were a paper dealing with 
Pacific Coast conditions, half as reliable 
and readable. mrs. r. w. williams. 
1 WROTE you early in Spring in regard 
to fertilizer on an acre of good bot¬ 
tom land. You advised certain fertil¬ 
izers, I followed to the letter, results so 
far best corn in the neighborhood, by 50 
to 100 per cent. It is higher than I can 
reach and beginning to tassel and this in 
spite of the greatest drought ever known 
here. I have cultivated with one-horse 
cultivator, every 10 days. No rain on it 
since it came up, but one shower that just 
laid the dust. e. t. t. 
Illinois. 
R. N.-Y.—We gave you a sure combin¬ 
ation of chemicals, though it might not 
pay a profit with low priced corn—one 
part dried blood, three parts fine bone, 
one part muriate of potash. 
I DO appreciate The R. N.-Y. and your 
straightforward course of exposing 
fraud, and the household department 
is a great addition. Among all the maga¬ 
zines I take The R. N.-Y. comes first. 
MRS. ALISON W. FALCONER. 
Massachusetts. 
w 
lows: 
The Bright Side. 
ALT MASON, the prose poet, gets 
after the Ben Davis apple as fol- 
Last Summer, when the hot winds 
blew, and wilted things on every hand, 
and when the sun. in skies of blue, shone 
down and blistered all the land, we mor¬ 
tals raised a bitter wail, and cried, “In 
this there is no sense, for all our cher¬ 
ished crops will fail! Oh, drouth dis¬ 
astrous, get thee hence!” Had any 
moral highbrow guys attempted to con¬ 
vince us then that back of all was pur¬ 
pose wise, we should have jeered and 
jeered again. But now that theory is 
fulfilled, for we’re informed ten thousand 
score Ben Davis apple trees were killed, 
by that fierce drouth, to bear no more. 
Ben Davis trees are standing dead 
throughout this glad and fertile land, 
and we regret the things we said because 
we did not understand. So, let’s be pa¬ 
tient after this when trouble dogs us, 
close behind, for sorrow’s but a cloak 
for bliss, and threat’ning clouds are sil¬ 
ver-lined. 
You have probably known people who 
have to be told exactly what to do. They 
are faithful as fate but have no imagin¬ 
ation or initiative. Hearst’s Magazine 
tells of a man who owned an animal 
show. One day, when the show was in 
New Jersey, I went out to Chicago to 
arrange some business. "While I was 
having dinner, a telegram was handed 
me. It read: “The leopard has escaped. 
Prowling about the town. What shall 
I do? Peter.” Pete was one of those 
fellows who had to have explicit direc¬ 
tions to do anything, even in the emer¬ 
gency. He was always afraid of making 
a mistake. I rushed from the table and 
sent, a reply. “Shoot him on the spot,” 
I wired. Being unusually busy, I for¬ 
got all about the affair until about two 
hours later, when I returned to the ho¬ 
tel, and another telegram was handed 
me. It proved to be from careful, con¬ 
scientious Pete, and asked: “Which 
spot?” 
M Y little girl is just beginning to go ; 
to school and does not know much 
about arithmetic yet. The other 
day the teacher gave her an example like 
this: 
Buy Direct For 7 
Factory Prices 
ifi if 2 H-P. $34.95; 4 HP. $69.75; 
6H-P.S99.35; 8H-P,$139.65; 12H-P.S219.90 ' 
All ready to run. Other sizes upto 22 H-P, 
equally low. Cash or Easy Terms. 
WITTE Engines 
Kerosene, Gasoline, Distillate, Gas. 
Stationary, Portable and Special Sawrig styles. 
Easy to start, without cranking:. Steady 
and reliable running guaranteed. Standard for 
27 years. Proven fuel savers over others. 
Thousands in use, in all parts of the world. 
LIBERAL five-year guarantee, 
, New Book FREE—(most under¬ 
standable yet printed) 
with Easy-Terms sales 
plan, by return mail. 
^ ED. H. WITTE,, 
Witte Iron Works Co., 
1893 Oakland Ave., 
KANSAS CITV, HO., 
$2.25 WORTH OF ROCK 
PHOSPHATE PRODUCED 
25 BUSHELS OF WHEAT 
At these figures an Illinois Farmer 
secured increased wheat yields at a 
cost of less than 10c per bushel, and 
three-fourths of the Phosphorus re¬ 
mains to be used by future crops. 
Write us for prices on Daybreak 
Finely Ground Rock Phosphate, and 
learn how other farmers are building 
up their soils and their bank accounts. 
FEDERAL CHEMICAL COMPANY 
(Ground Rock Department) 
No. 30 W. Main St., Celumbia, Tenn. 
Send Your Boys and Girls to 
The NewYorkState School of Agriculture 
at Morrisville, N. Y. 
Scientific and Practical Instruction in 
Agriculture and Home Economics 
Excellent Equipment in all branches. 200-Acre Farm. 
Most wholesome environments. Tuition free to resi¬ 
dents of New York State. Entrance requirement* 
moderate. For Catalogue write 
F. G. Helyar, Director, Drawer C, Morrisville, N. Y. 
ROOFING 
-85 CENTS ROLL- 108 Feet. 
Nails. Cement, RUBBER ROOFING 
CO., 5 Cortland! St., New York 
£ Q ROSE Farm Agency sells farms, 
w ^ send for new bargain list. 
STATE & WARREN STS., TRENTON, N. J. ESTABLISHED 1908 
Hardwood Ashes 
Best. Fertilizer in Use. 
GEORGE STEVENS, Peterborough. Ont. 
THE GASOLINE ENGINE ON THE 
FARM. Its operation, repair and uses. 
By Xeno W. Putnam. 
This Is the kind 
of a book every 
farmer will appre¬ 
ciate and every 
farm home ought 
to have. Includes 
selecting the most 
suitable engine for 
farm work, its 
most convenient 
and efficient in¬ 
stallation, with 
chapters on trou¬ 
bles, their reme¬ 
dies, and how to 
avoid them. The 
care and manage¬ 
ment of the farm 
tractor In plowing, 
harrowing, har¬ 
vesting and road 
grading are fully 
covered; also plain 
directions are 
given for handling the tractor on the road. 
530 pages. Nearly 180 engravings. 
Teacher: “If you had $3 and I should 
give you $2 more, how much money 
would you have?” 
Alta, aged six: “I should think I’d 
have four bushels.” mrs. e. w. p. 
Vermont. 
This book will be sent to any address prepaid for 
TWO NEW YEARLY SUBSCRIPTIONS 
or Twenty Ten-week Trial Subscriptions 
or Four Yearly Renewal Subscriptions 
or One New Yearly Subscription and Two 
Renewal Subscriptions. 
The Rural New Yorker, 333 West 30th **.. N. Y. 
COSTS LESS 
TO KEEP IN 
REPAIR THAN 
ANY OTHER 
DIGGER 
9 % 
Adjustable in every 
necessary way and 
easily controlled. 
IRON AGE 
Digging Potatoes 
with an 
is like finding money because the work is so easily and economic¬ 
ally done. You can dig in one hour all that a market wagon can 
carry to town. Saves time, saves labor, gets all the potatoes, helps 
you get to an early market when the price is right. 
Four styles from which to choose the one that suits your 
conditions best. You pay for, and your horses draw, only 
what you need. 
We have been making Diggers 10 years and know 
what to build tor this work. Our booklet tells the 
whole story in an understandable way. May we send it ? 
BATEMAN M>F*G CO• 
Box 102 D Grentoch, N. J. 
