The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-04-21
pear from nowhere and ruin an he To-

pear from nowhere and ruin all the 10
mage
Then the grubs, Did yoa ever see
q grub. III never forget the first one
l saw. went to the greenhouse one
morning, and there was ny favorite
rose tree looking like a vilted collar.
II was utterly limp and ruined I
couldn't see anything to account for
ii. so my common sense told me to
dig. / dug, and down by the roots
found a fat white worm with zig,
vicious black eyes I'm positive it
glared at me. and vas In such a rage
against it that was sorry I could
kin it only once I met lots 0f the
Florists put tobacco stems all
around a greenhouse to drfve away
the green fly, but sometimes the little
wretch gets a hold, in spite Of the
precautions. Then one has to fu-
migate with tobacco smoke The
green flies descended upon my plants,
and | had 10 resort to fumigating.
but I hate tobacco smoke. and, every
time / fumigated the Mouse, I Was
desperately sick ~N.e - ~ = Z
Il never had any big catastrophes.
but the days were full of maddening
little ones. Violet culture is very diff
cult. You would think who are Eor 90
ing it, that it is. as simple as wearing
a bunch of violets: but il isn't Some
times one will have phenomenal LEX
with yiolets for several years, but it
doesn't last For some inexplicable
reason, blight will suddenly come
on the plants. As the florists say,
the yiolets will just go of. No one
seems able to explain the trouble.
when | first fell foul of it l was
in despair 4 had an expert scientist
analyze plant. and he told me one
thing. Then | consulted an expert
florist. and he told me another tnine.
Everybody advised me to go to an
old German florist who was wonder.
| went. He led me out and showed
me his violets in the same state es
mine. ---~E
What it iss?' he said. 1T is de
devil
Il guess that's about right No
florist can ward off the blight or cure
culture. There is big profit in sue
cessful violet growing, but the chan
ces of failure are perfectly tremen-
dous You don't hear about failures.
Carnations have a way of going
of too, from no perceptible cause
They just seem to die of anaemia,
sometimes. Then their calyxes burst,
and they are prey to rust Altoseth-
err. they fairly turn my hair gray.
but they are interesting, because
there has been such progress and
development in them a good car
nation isn't a cheap flower any more.
Roses are the easiest things to raise.
They don't often go to the bad en-
tirely, though the American Beauty
is a serions problem. Dull weather
will spoil fit, and any number Of for
lists have been ruined by the culture
of American Beauties. 35J
"a good many florists failed in
business last year because Of the
price of coal Fires have to be kept
going, night and day. buy my coal
by the hundred tons, and it makes a
pretty big item of expense. All ex-
penses are big.
''At the end of my second year,
had been successful enough to war
rant my spreading out. Now, have
eight houses. / pay over 500
month for expert labor. Then there
is the tobacco. the fertilizer, the
wear and tear and repair, the hand
ling and shipping. and the losses.
You have to get good prices to make
any profit.
But then. there is always q market |
and a high price for good flowers.
The trouble is that so many of ones |
flowers must, necessarily, fall below
first grade.
I've given you the seamy side OF |
the business. haven't Ia regular
tale of woe Well, it is a.. true, and !
no woman, without a strong constitu-
ton and stubborn courage, ought 10 |
try the wholesale flower business; |
but there's pleasant side to it.
THE work is never monotonous. |
There is never time when the green |
houses are really still. There IS coz
slant interest in the growing things. |
Now that most of the drudgery is done |
by my employees. and havee only the |
experimenting, I find the wholesale |
business fascinating, but dislike the |
retail business.
The latter is profitable and en- |
ploys woman's taste to advantage In |
the choice of paper for boxes. new
ideas for putting up flowers. table dec
Grafton, wedding decoration, &C. In |
spite OF high prices. the profits aren't |
so large as they used to be In the |
first place. the quality of the flowers
is better |
Fine lasting roses on thick. sturdy |
stems are procured by cutting long /
stemmed roses and SO leaving few |
eyes on a rose branch. Ali the strength /
viii go into the shoots and blossoms |
coming from those eyes. and the re-
sulting roses will be exceptionally I
fine. but good many roses have /
been sacrificed to make those few l
good ones and the price is naturally /
high Still. If buyers would only re-
alize 1t there is more satisfaction in /
two or three OF the fine roses than in /
a dozen Of the weak-stemmed. droop- |
ing sort
Handsome boxes and ribbons and /
all those things are a necessary part
Of the retail florists business now; |
and. except in the case of q big order, |
they cut down the profit considerably. |
I've often sent ont small orders on |
which there wasn't cent OF profit. |