March 1, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



in; 



THE FLORICULTURE OUTLOOK FOR J919 



A Paper Read by S. S. Pennock before 

 the New Yurk Federation of Horticultural 

 Societies and Floral Clube at Cornell Uni- 

 versity. Ithaca, N. Y. 



The subject assigned to me on this 

 auspicious occasion, namely, "The Out- 

 look for Floriculture in 1911V is a 

 pleasing one to me for more than one 

 reason. In the first place, as you are 

 mi doubt aware, floriculture has been 

 my business from boyhood but it has 

 been more than that to me it has 

 been my pleasure also — and my spare 

 hours have mostly been spent in the 

 delightful company of my roses and 

 other denizens of my garden, and my 

 next best delight to communing with 

 my flowers is to talk about them to 

 my friends. 



Another reason why this subject is 

 a pleasing one to me at this time is 

 because the world has been passing 

 through such a cataclysm the past five 

 years that mankind had but little 

 thought to spare for the beautiful In 

 life. But now that the dark cloud is 

 passing and the sunshine is beginning 

 to glimmer through, once more, the 

 outlook is so much improved that one 

 can discourse with a clear conscience 

 on the subject of floriculture. We may 

 even have a spray of apple blossoms 

 on the breakfast table in 1919 — a thing 

 taboo during the war. The idea back 

 of the taboo was, of course, an eco- 

 nomic one — namely, that the apples 

 were the important thing, and that 

 food for the body was more desirable 

 than a feast for the soul. 



Now the indications all along the 

 line in ornamental horticulture — trees, 

 shrubs, flowers, conservatories, land- 

 scaping, and the many allied industries 

 appertaining thereto, show signs of 

 awakening, and good judges are of 

 opinion that the year will be the 

 greatest ever experienced, and that 

 the pent up soul of man will rebound 

 from long confinement and so a-gar- 

 dening once more with redoubled en- 

 ergy. Cabbage has been King but 

 Queen Rosa will now ascend the 

 throne. 



In regard to the branch of floricul- 

 ture in which I am most intimately 

 associated in a business way, that is, 

 the wholesaling of cut flowers, I may 

 say that it has been a long time since 

 we have had more encouraging pros- 

 pects than the outlook for 1919. 



The trade has gone through a great 

 many vicissitudes: labor and coal 

 troubles probably being the florists' 

 most serious troubles. The conditions 



have been very materially changed 

 since the signing of the armistice, and 

 everything is getting back to a better 

 businesslike basis. The cost of doing 

 business, though, remains high, and 

 probably will remain high for some 

 time to come. The only thing that 

 will bring prices down very materially 

 would be a panic, and that, of course, 

 we do not want, but we do think the 

 cost of doing business will lessen as 

 the months and years go by, but there 

 will not be any marked decrease for 

 some little time to come, not much of 

 any in 1919. 



With the returning of the men 

 who have been in the war, it is bound 

 to bring more business, and more gen- 

 eral business, to the florists of this 

 country. These boys will want to be 

 entertained by their relatives and 

 friends, which will mean flowers. 



This war condition has brought into 

 the market a new class of buyers; buy- 

 ers who will soon feel that flowers are 

 not a luxury but a necessity in their 

 homes, and that the home is not com- 

 plete without a few flowers which give 

 an added touch of joy and pleasure 

 that cannot be brought into the home 

 in any other way, so flowers come to 

 be a necessity and not a luxury. 



The Society of American Florists, 

 In launching the publicity campaign 

 last year, some felt it was an inoppor- 

 tune time to conduct such a campaign, 

 but those who had charge of this cam- 

 paign felt it was one of the best times 

 to get the flower business before the 

 public, and there is no doubt that the 

 campaign has worked a wonderful 

 amount of good, and will make for 

 better results as it progresses. 



The thought is for the coming year 

 to raise, instead of $50,000, $100,000— 

 just double the publicity as planned 

 for this year. No commodity, if ad- 

 vertised judiciously and regularly, can 

 but be helped in the sales of that 

 commodity by this advertising, con- 

 tinually bringing before the public the 

 slogan which the publicity committee 

 Is using, "Say it with flowers," and 

 will be stamped indelibly, I think, in 

 the minds of everyone as other trade- 

 marks, such as Cream of Wheat, 

 Uneeda Biscuit, and other trade- 

 marks that we are all so familiar with. 

 "Say it with flowers" means so 

 much, and it is a wonderful slogan for 

 each and every florist to use in his 

 local advertising. This local advertis- 

 ing coupled with the national advertis- 

 ing cannot help but benefit every live 

 and up-to-date florist. 



Some of our more optimistic friends 

 in the flower business feel that the 



flower business today Is only in its 

 infancy, and in a few years with 

 this publicity campaign in good work- 

 ing order will bring the business up 

 to a point undreamt of. 



The publicity campaign is very ably 

 managed, and there is no question 

 that the money will be judiciously 

 spent, and spent where it will do the 

 most and the best good. 



This publicity campaign, and the busi- 

 ness generally getting on a better and 

 more sound business basis, is going to 

 mean that we are going to have not 

 the old-fashioned ways of doing busi- 

 ness, not a slip-shod way, but up-to- 

 date business methods right straight 

 through, both in the growing, whole- 

 sale and retail ends. 



Each florist will realize that it Is 

 absolutely essential and necessary 

 that he keep things up in a business- 

 like manner in order to live, and stay 

 in the swim. 



Another point that is being worked 

 up, which will result in good and be 

 nation wide in its benefits, is a sys- 

 tem of credits. The credit business 

 In the past has been very lax, and in 

 fact, anyone who was a good fellow 

 could get credit. The S. A. F., back of 

 the Collection and Credit Committee, 

 In starting a campaign of education 

 along credit lines, will eliminate all 

 the old loose practices which have 

 been used in the past. This habit was 

 to run up a bill on one man, stop buy- 

 ing from him, and run a bill on the 

 next one, and then, when they had 

 gone the rounds, start in paying the 

 first one, and then so on down the line 

 again. 



There is no reason why every flor- 

 ist cannot pay his bills promptly when 

 they become due. Other lines of busi- 

 ness do it, and it has come to the point 

 where, if the florist wants to live and 

 do a prosperous business, he will have 

 to pay his bills promptly or go out of 

 business. 



This is going to make one more 

 careful in the credits he gives, and 

 going to give him an incentive to 

 watch up his collections very much 

 closer and not have so much dead 

 wood on his books. Then, too, it will 

 give him an incentive to organize his 

 establishment in a more up-to-date 

 way. In fact, it will be absolutely 

 necessary for him to organize his es- 

 tablishment in such a way that he can 

 keep abreast of the times. 



The growers, wholesalers, and re- 

 tailers have passed through the last 

 five or six months of very good busi- 

 ness, probably giving them as pros- 

 perous a season as they have ever had, 

 particularly for the fall and mid-winter 

 months, and I can see no reason why 

 the spring should not be equally as 

 good and with a large increase in the 

 volume of business. Summer business, 

 as usual, probably will not be any- 

 thing wonderful, but it ought to be 

 fully up to other years; in fact, better. 

 The fall starting in, in good shape. 



I cannot see but that the flower 

 hnsiness for 1919 will be a very 

 healthy one in every way. 



