HORTICULTURE 



April 14, 1917 



NEWS ITEMS FROM EVERYWHERE 



CHICAGO. 



A. Miller calls attention to the short- 

 .age ot good lilies for Easter and advo- 

 cates "preparedness" for next season 

 by placing orders tor bulbs with his 

 firm now. 



Kennicott Bros. Co., whose house 

 has the distinction of being the oldest 

 cut flower commission house in Chi- 

 cago, reports one of the best Easters 

 in its history. 



H. C. Blewett has the sympathy of 

 the trade in the loss of his wife Mar. 

 23, at their home in Desplaines, where 

 they have lived 28 years. A more ex- 

 tended notice will be found in another 

 column. 



Another member of the trade was 

 relieved of his auto by thieves last 

 week but the car has been recovered. 

 Edward Leonard of the Leonard Seed 

 Co. was the owner and the car was 

 taken from in front of the store. 



Anton Then, one of the stock holders 

 of the Chicago Flower Growers' Assn., 

 and Mrs. Then left Friday for the 

 South, where they will spend some 

 time at Magnolia Springs, Ala., where 

 Mr. Then hopes to regain his health. 



The new addition to the salesroom 

 •of the Poehlmann Bros.' city store is 

 now ready for occupancy. It practi- 

 cally doubles the floor space, is light 

 and will give customers a very con- 

 venient place to trade. Accessories 

 have become such an important part 

 of the retail florists' business that it 

 needs almost or quite as much atten- 

 tion as the cut-flower stock, and this 

 new room affords the opportunity of 

 doing all the buying in one place. 

 B. J. Warren is now in charge of their 

 credit department. 



Wm. J. Smyth reports an Easter 

 business that exceeds anything in re- 

 cent years. Their extremely large 

 show windows sold the fine stock be- 

 fore customers came into the store, 

 and they had only to indicate the par- 

 ticular hamper or basket of plants 

 they desired. This method may not 

 make so artistic a picture of a window, 

 for It must necessarily be constantly 

 changing, but it does facilitate sales. 

 The upper half of the windows were 

 trimmed with apple blossoms, so the 

 artistic features were not wholly lost 

 sight ot. 



Another Easter has become history. 

 Every one connected with the trade is 

 tired and a little glad that it is all 

 over. Few have their books in shape 

 now to make comparisons, but the gen- 

 eral impression prevails that it was a 

 splendid harvest time with plants again 

 running ahead of cut flowers. In the 

 retail stores hundreds of hampers 

 were ready for the order of the cus- 

 tomer and their attractiveness made 

 them move quickly. Quantities of cut 



flowers were sold, prices keeping up 

 much better than a year ago, though 

 there was little tendency to go to ex- 

 tremes. The great question seemed to 

 be good lilies, and right here reports 

 will differ. Some firms had just enough 

 first class lilies to supply their cus- 

 tomers and so report no shortage, while 

 others were disappointed in not re- 

 ceiving all they had expected and' so 

 had to cut short in their shipping 

 trade. On one point all agree and 

 that is, that good lilies were not In 

 over supply. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



President Wilson has just issued a 

 proclamation under the provisions of 

 which the German insurance agencies 

 in the United States will be permitted 

 to continue in business. It is under- 

 stood that a number of florists have 

 sought fire protection with these com- 

 panies. It was at first feared that be- 

 cause of their being branches of Ger- 

 man companies they would be forced 

 to suspend business. In view of the 

 fact that they keep their assets in this 

 country and that large sums of money 

 are involved, they will not be molested. 



Postmaster General Burleson has 

 sent out a notice to postmasters 

 throughout the United States inform- 

 ing them that all mail communication 

 with Germany has been suspended 

 and that all mail matter addressed to 

 people in that country must be held 

 up and sent to the dead letter office in 

 Washington for return to the senders. 

 In another order Postmaster General 

 Burleson directs the suspension of the 

 exchange of postal money orders be- 

 tween Germany and the United States, 

 and postmasters are instructed to re- 

 fuse the payment of all orders drawn 

 against their offices by offices in Ger- 

 many on and after April 6. 



EASTER IN ST. LOUIS. 



In Wm. C. Smith's wholesale mart 

 there was an unusually high class sup- 

 ply. Best of all, the stock was cut 

 right, not hoarded up, and keeping 

 qualities were of the very best in con- 

 sequence. 



All the wholesalers report a rushing 

 Easter business in all lines. Geo. H. 

 Angermueller was especially busy in 

 florists' supplies. A heavy shipping 

 trade was done by C. A. Kuehn and 

 H. G. Berning. 



C. Young & Sons' windows were su- 

 perbly decorated with blooming plants 

 and cut flowers. This house did an 

 immense trade in blooming plants, 

 many orders coming from a long dis- 

 tance away from town. 



F. H. Weber's store was a scene of 

 great beauty. Cut flowers were staged 

 in ornamental vases in very artistic 

 fashion. The greenhouse adjoining 

 was filled with a splendid supply ot 

 blooming and decorative foliage plants. 

 The beautiful effect produced was en- 

 tirely without artificial material, rib- 

 bons or other accessories. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Some half-witted boy burned up 

 Commodore Westcott's hay shipment 

 at Waretown Station the 2nd inst. 

 It will take a hundred to pay for the 

 hay, the platform and the tires and the 

 R. R. Co. refuses to settle because they 

 had not yet loaded and receipted for It. 



I just received my copy of the 

 American Rose Annual for 1917. It is 

 so full of good things that it is impera- 

 tive to say a word even it I am not a 

 rose man except as an adherent. J. 

 Horace McFarland has certainly done 

 himself credit. Send in your name 

 and your dollar. The American Rose 

 Society is the livest proposition on the 

 footstool today. 



Some of the ill-advised critics of 

 the late National Rose Festival here 

 are making comments on the tact that 

 a lot ot money was not made out ot 

 it. What do these people suppose a 

 guarantee fund of five or six thousand 

 dollars was put up for? To make 

 money? No. To make an artistic 

 success regardless of gate receipts. 

 We wish in this connection to correct 

 our own dear paper agiinst calling 

 this the "Phila" Rose Festival. It 

 was truly national in its scope. 



G. C. Watson. 



MOTHERS' DAY PUBLICITY. 



The Publicity Committee of the Chi- 

 cago Florists' Club has been instructed 

 to carry on a national co-operative ad- 

 vertising campaign to stimulate and 

 create a greater demand for flowers 

 and plants ot every description for 

 Mothers' Day, Sunday, May 13, 1917. 

 This movement is strictly a national 

 co-operative advertising proposition, 

 whereby this committee plans to de- 

 vote the net proceeds ot this campaign 

 to the purchase of a full-page adver- 

 tisement announcing Mothers' Day in 

 one of the leading magazines with a 

 national circulation of 600,000 or over. 



To carry out the plan as formulated 

 will be quite an undertaking, and to 

 do so it will be necessary to dispose 

 ot a very large number of stamps and 

 window posters. Now then, if every 

 florist in this country does his share 

 to support this movement, this com- 

 mittee will be able to make an an- 

 nouncement of this kind. 



Time is short — act at once — 

 State amount ot money you wish to 

 subscribe for stamps and window 

 posters; forward your check immedi- 

 ately to F. Lautenschlager, 440 W. 

 Erie Street, Chicago, Illinois. Make 

 all checks payable to O. H. Amling, 

 Treasurer, Chicago Florists' Club. 



The stamps and window posters to 

 be used in this campaign will be 

 printed in two colors with a border of 

 forget-me-nots. They are a work of 

 art, and should be used by every one 

 in the florist business. The stamps 

 will measure 2% inches high; the 

 window posters, same color and design 

 as stamps, 7% inches high; stamps 



