under-cloth” deal is not one for amateurs 
or the poorly financed. 
A carefully-budgeted deal at this stage 
is estimated to require around $20,000 an 
acre! But an acre will produce 40,000 
chrysanthemum plants. 
Among advantages of the mums, from 
the retail florist’s viewpoint, are constant 
public demand at good prices and long 
keeping qualities. 
Hoenshel himself has not yet gone into 
“mums production. After retiring as 
successful manager of the giant Bessemer 
properties farm and grove at Port Mayaca, 
he entered the gladiolus field three years 
ago, last fall developed an acre of China 
asters inside Stuart city limits. 
A scientific farmer, he ditched the 
property, a former mud-hole, put in a 
20,000 gallon an hour Jaeger gasoline 
pump for irrigation and flood protection 
and a 3,000 gallon an hour automatic 
electric pump to take care of seepage. He 
VERNON L. WATTS 
CEMENT POTTERY 
ROUTE 2—BOX 1-W 
West Palm Beach, Florida 
PHONE 9713 
Manufacturers of Light Weight Reinforced 
Ornamental Cement Flower Pots 
JOHN D. WATTS 
is prepared to handle rainfall of an inch 
an hour. With only half an acre in 
actual production of asters, he began cut- 
ting in late November, expects to pro- 
duce till June “and will greatly exceed 
my original estimate of 250) 000 market- 
able blooms,” he said. 
As an example of what _ intensified 
flower growing can mean to an area, this 
one acre is employing three persons 
steadily and half a dozen more at periodic 
thinning operations. While happy over 
the aster deal, Hoenshel pointed out that 
asters suffer severe competition from 
greenhouse grown carnations which some- 
times seriously affect the market. 
According to him, the big thing in 
South Florida flower picture now is a 
four-letter word “mums,” which can out- 
run their greenhouse competition and 
don’t have to worry about California out- 
doors production. 
And the big Northern florists are speed- 
ing here to get in on the ground floor. 
GERe Es Ee eINIGES 
30th Annual Convention Florida State Florists’ Association 
WINTER HAVEN NURSERIES, Inc. 
1320 So. Lake Shipp Drive 
Winter Haven, Florida 
Wholesale Only 
Growers of Azaleas, Camellias and Gardenia Veitchi 
Dave Stabler, Manager 
R. O. Blackwell, Jr., President 
