240 



HORTICULTURE 



Februaiy 15, 1913 



THE FLORIST AND HIS MARKET. 



(A paper read lie£ore the Florists' Club of 

 Philadelphia, Feb. 5, 1913, by 

 Wallace K. PiersonJJ- - 



(Continued /rem page l8^) . 



Let US consider briefly what tiiis 

 society means to the average florist. 

 It means a picnic and a vacation in 

 the summer, free lunches and a social 

 time with a lot of kindred spirits 

 (and other spirits), and a feeling when 

 he gets home that the florists are after 

 all a Jolly bunch and a lot of pretty 

 good spenders. But that is not all. 

 There is creeping into that organiza- 

 tion a feeling that as a National So- 

 ciety there is a purpose to accomplish 

 and that purpose is the elevation of 

 the florist profession from the huck- 

 ster standard to the dignity of a busi- 

 ness. The meetings should be to bet- 

 ter business conditions and not to set- 

 tle seedsmen's arguments with the rul- 

 ing that votes are power. That feel- 

 ing has brought about the National 

 Flower Shows to teach the people of 

 the world that we are alive to some of 

 the opportunities of horticulture as a 

 profession in America, to instill Into 

 our minds confidence in ourselves as a 

 whole as American business men, and 

 to teach us to respect our calling in 

 life by showing us public opinion of 

 horticultural achievements. 



The S. A. F. and Its Possibilities. 



I look forward to the day when we 

 shall be in reality not only a Society 

 of Florists but an organization of flor- 

 ists with serious intent and business 

 betterment the sole interest, and with 

 such a spirit we will have the co-oper- 

 ation not of one florist out of ten but 

 of the entire profession. There are, of 

 course, features in every exhibition 

 that are wholly trade features but they 

 all have instructive value and more in- 

 structive to the public than to the pro- 

 fession. Any flower show properly ad- 

 vertised educates the public to the 

 flower industry and anyone who falls 

 to support the next National Flower 

 Show in the Grand Central Palace will 

 be doing himself and his profession 

 an injustice, and deserves to lose his 

 share of the benefits which must result 

 to the business as a whole. It is up to 

 the newspapers to make or break this 

 show financially, but aside from the 

 financial end they will be doing a great 

 injustice to the people of the country 

 as a whole if they do not give an edu- 

 cational exhibit of this character all 

 the prominence it deserves. It is one 

 of the many unexplainable things, that 

 newspapers crave to give the American 

 people glowing accounts of insignifi- 

 cant celebrations and scandal and fall 

 to give prominence to that which is 

 not only interesting to many but in- 

 structive to all. 



Ideal "Publicity." 



This brings us to the question, Are 

 we putting the material before them 

 in such shape that it can be used? We 

 certainly are not. What then, is the 

 solution? At the last convention in 

 Chicago a motion was passed provid- 

 ing for a Publicity Committee of the 

 Society of American Florists and there 

 is reason to believe that at the call of 

 President Farquhar there will be a 

 meeting in connection with the Na- 

 tional Flower Show and that a reso- 

 lution will be drawn up to present to 

 the Society in convention at Minneap- 

 olis to have the Society appropriate 



annually for a term of years a sum 

 large enough to insure a fitting start 

 for this work. The balance of the 

 necessary funds must come from the 

 Florists' Clubs and private individu- 

 als. No man can head a Publicity 

 Bureau who does not have his entire 

 time devoted to it and be successful 

 and accomplish the purpose. No man 

 can be obtained to fill this position for 

 a small salary; it takes money to 

 make it go. Would not the S. A. F. 

 with its $3.00 a year membership be 

 doing the right thing to make it a 

 business organization if every florist 

 in this country could become a mem- 

 ber on the grounds that two-thirds of 

 his yearly donation would be used to 

 advance his profession and benefit his 

 business? I believe so, and that prop- 

 erly canvassed they could be induced 

 to join. Then a Publicity Bureau 

 could have a chance to become a power 

 and a few of the good things it could 

 do would be the dissemination to the 

 papers of proper information relating 

 to flowers and plants and teach the 

 public what flowers are used for and 

 how; bring to public notice special 

 flower days and make them national; 

 teach the florist how to properly con- 

 duct his local advertising; show polit- 

 ical parties that a flower is an ap- 

 propriate party emblem; bring pres- 

 sure to bear on the government to 

 teach home beautifying, to enhance 

 value as well as to improve the farm 

 land; assist magazines of national 

 scope to obtain articles that relate to 

 flowers; aid in advertising National 

 Flower Shows; teach the people that 

 the parks are their property and their 

 gardens, and instill in them local pride 

 in their parks and flowers; make our 

 big days like Memorial Day — national 

 in their scope — and teach some sec- 

 tions of the country that flowers at 

 Easter are a necessity as they are in 

 the East. Perhaps I am painting this 

 too rosy but it is worth the thought. 



Co-operation, Not Competition. 



We want co-operation rather than 

 competition and unless we have it 

 there will be more florists selling their 

 own product direct to the real market 

 and that is — "the people." Consider 

 the possibilities of the parcel post and 

 the demand that has come from the 

 people. "Buy from the producer" is 

 the watchword of modern times and 

 they are doing it more and more in 

 every line of business. It is to be re- 

 gretted that p_lants are not included 

 under parcel post rates as well as cut 

 flowers. Consider the possibility of 

 an organization of growers with a 

 chain of stores spending the money 

 they are now paying for commissions 

 in proper publicity and advertising, 

 catering to the people direct, bidding 

 for parcel post shipments to be made 

 direct from the greenhouses. This 

 class of business would be a big fea- 

 ture. The people enjoy buying from 

 the real source of supply and they like 

 to buy direct from the greenhouse as 

 experience has proven. Parcel post 

 has aided in making such an arrange- 

 ment possible. 



I tell you, gentlemen, we arc all in 

 the same boat. We do not want com- 

 petition. We want co-operation but 

 unless there is co-operation of retail- 

 ers, wholesalers and growers there will 

 be competition and plenty of it. Some 

 of us may then realize that we allowed 

 the goose that lays the golden eggs to 



starve to death for lack of business 



sense. 



The Mission of the Florists' Club. 



A link in the chain that binds us 

 all together is the local florist club. 

 It is to be hoped that the Florists' 

 Club of Philadelphia has proven this 

 to the local people, — that the florist 

 business in Philadelphia is on the 

 level; that it has educated them to the 

 fact that you are producing for them 

 the best products of American floricul- 

 ture; that you have made Philadelphia 

 and the State of Pennsylvania proud 

 of its flowers. If not, your mission 

 has not been accomplished, but you 

 have the foundation to work with right 

 here in the Club. Every dollar that 

 you spend collectively to boom your 

 business and put it before the public 

 in its true light will come back to you 

 individually many times over. You 

 have a new organization here in Phil- 

 adelphia, the Retail Florists' organiza- 

 tion. Let us hope that it will be con- 

 ducted as an organization of business 

 men, in sympathy with the grower and 

 his problems, willing to meet with you, 

 becoming a part of your organization, 

 ready to aid in solving the problem 

 of getting flowers to the real market 

 — "the people." 



I am not under the impression that 

 this talk to you tonight is going to be 

 a heal-all, that everything will follow 

 the course I have mapped out, but if it 

 gives you the basis tor thought and 

 aids in strengthening the bond of fel- 

 lowship and helps to impress on you 

 the fact that our interests are mutual, 

 I shall be satisfied. 



PERSONAL. 



John T. Neville has leased his green- 

 houses at Chester. W. Va., to J. E. Col- 

 ton. and has secured a position in 

 Hartford. 



N. F. McCarthy and daughter of Bos- 

 ton, are planning to sail for Bermuda 

 on Tuesday of next week, for a stay of 

 a month or more. 



Robert Macdonald, superintendent 

 of the Johnstone estate, Hamilton, 

 Mass., has some sensational entries in 

 the big dog show at the Grand Central 

 Palace, New York, next week. 



Miss Lizzie Dirwanger and Mrs. 

 George Coyle, daughters of the late 

 Jos. A. Dirwanger of Portland, Me., 

 have been in Boston for the past week 

 on account of the illness and death of 

 their little niece, daughter of Joseph 

 Dirwanger. 



New York visitors: John Bodger, 

 Los Angeles, Cal.; H. E. Philpott. Win- 

 nipeg, Man., en route to England; Geo. 

 Wyness, Prides Crossing, Mass. 



Boston visitors: George Hendry, 

 Whitinsville, Mass.; W. W. Tracy, 

 Washington, D. C; Wni. Jurgens, 

 Newport, R. I.; F. E. Conine, Strat- 

 ford. Conn.; R. O. King, North Tona- 

 wanda, N. Y.; A. F. Faulkner, New 

 York, N. Y. 



Cincinnati visitors: E. E. Stewart, 

 Rives Junction. Mich.; Mr. Frank, 

 Portland, Ind.; S. S. Skidelsky, 

 Philadelphia; Mr. Goudy of Dreer's; 

 Peter Weiland of New Castle, Ind.; 

 Myer Heller, New Castle, Ind.; Wm. 

 Dittman and daughter, of New 

 Castle; Fred Rupp, of Laurenceburg, 

 Ind. 



