ISS 



HOETICULTURE 



March 6, 1920 



HORTICULTURE 



EatabUihed by WiUiun J. Stewart In 1B04 



Vol. XXXI 



March 6, 1920 



No. 10 



FTJBUSHED WETEKLT BT 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

 78 Devonahire Street, Boston, Maes. 



EDWARD I. FARRINGTON, Editor. 



Telephone Fort Hill S6»4 



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At the recent convention o£ the Ten- 

 The Blackstone nessee Florists at Knoxville, Mr. Z. 

 plan Blackistone, of Washington, made an 



excellent address on local publicity. It 

 seems to us, however, that a few of the points which he 

 made should be given very careful consideration before 

 they are accepted by florists in general. Mr. Blackistone's 

 argument in favor of a better general and technical educa- 

 tion among all workers in the floral trade can hardly be 

 controverted. Likewise his proposal of a spring flower 

 week campaign for different communities is reasonable. 

 His third proposition which calls for a general newspaper 

 publicity campaign the year round with a "Say it with 

 Flowers" week in the fall can be endorsed by progressive 

 florists everywhere. It Is auite likely true that there is 

 grounds for the assertion that the ordinary florist is not 

 as well posted about his business as he should be and could 

 be. There are many factors entering Into the growing and 

 sale of flowers, designing of set pieces, the decoration of 

 homes and public buildings, and the proper handling of 

 cut flowers, which florists overlook to a large extent, in 

 the matter of publicity, too, the average florist, not having 

 had any training in the advertising field, finds himself at a 

 disadvantage. 



It is no doubt true that greater concerted and (»-opera- 

 tlve effort Is needed to build up a market for flowers, but 

 we seriously question whether Mr. Blackistone's plan Is not 

 open to criticism. Mr. Blackistone argues that the mission 

 of flowers is to spread beauty, fragrance, sunshine, happi- 

 ness, love, sympathy. All this is admitted, but when the 

 recommendation is made that the florists of each com- 

 munity for one week of the year. In the spring, assemble 

 their surplus flowers and give them away, we feel a little 

 doubtful. Presumably considerable advertising would be 

 derived from a "Florist's Spring Sunshine Week" as Mr. 

 Blackistone would call it. but isn't there the danger, on the 

 other hand, that flowers would be cheapened in the eyes 

 of the public and that selling would really be rendered 

 more difficult? It is argued that the flower business Is 

 founded on the gift idea. Well, so is the candy business to 

 a large extent, but how often do we find a candy store giv- 

 ing away confectionery? The surplus and damaged goods 

 and the stale stock may be offered at a lower price, but 



something is received for it. Nobody ever thinks of getting 

 candy from a candy maker for nothing. 



Mr. Blackistone says that it is one of the joys of the 

 florist's profession that they have the opportunity to im- 

 part pleasure by giving away flowers, and that if no busi- 

 ness returns come from it, yet the giver will reap heaps of 

 satisfaction. We admit all this, yet It seems to us that the 

 stability of the trade is threatened by a practice which 

 leads the public to believe that the florists can afford to 

 give away their products. It is human nature to begrudge 

 payment for anything that was once obtained for nothing. 

 If the flowers might quietly be taken to the poorer districts 

 of the city and given to weary mothers and lU-nourlshed 

 children to whom a blossom really comes as a ray of sun- 

 shine, there would be some source of satisfaction. Also 

 there would be good advertising in having mark-down 

 sales, with the explanation carefully set forth that these 

 sales were made possible only by certain temporary condi- 

 tions. All sentiment aside, we believe the public should 

 always feel that cut flowers in the shops are just as much 

 a merchantable product as (landy or stockings or gloves. 



It seems to us that a great opportunity 

 An opportunity for developing an increased flower 

 missed trade in Boston as well as disposing of 



an unexpected surplus was wholly 

 missed last week. Tlie matter Is brought up here because 

 It would seem as though florists in every city should be 

 prepared to meet such a situation and to turn it to advan- 

 tage instead of weakly submitting to a loss. As a result 

 of the weather conditions and transportation difficulties 

 the greatest surplus that has been known in the market 

 for many months was piled up. The ice-chests were full 

 and the benches were crowded. Naturally it was impos- 

 sible to dispose of large quantities of flowers before they 

 spoiled. Penn was the only retailer who made the most 

 of the situation by advertising a reduction in flowers, and 

 he did not reach the point of explaining to the public why 

 this reduction was made possible, which we think he ought 

 to have done. 



Now in almost any other line of business the trade 

 would be so organized that a situation like this could be 

 made of real benefit to the people in it. Suppose that the 

 florists' association had possessed a marketing committee 

 whose duty should include devising methods to deal with 

 a surplus. Suppose also that this committee should have 

 rounded up the wholesalers and proposed a general cam- 

 paign for increased flower sales. The next step would 

 have been to get in touch with the leading retailers and to 

 offer them a big reduction in price if they would do their 

 part, which would consist of taking space in the Sunday 

 newspapers to announce a special sale of flowers on Mon- 

 day. These advertisements should have stated the facts 

 plainly — that is. that because of the transportation troubles 

 an accumulation of flowers had piled up in the local mar- 

 kets. The advertisement should have gone on to say that 

 the flower merchants had got together and decided to give 

 the public the benefit of this situation, and that they were 

 doing this by cutting the prices in half or nearly that In 

 order that everybody might have flowers on that occasion. 

 We feel that with this frank statement and good sized 

 copy in the papers, there would have been a rush of busi- 

 ness the next morning that would have entirely cleaned 

 up the surplus and left retailers and wholesalers alike with 

 the jingle of coins in their pockets. Of course nothing of 

 this sort can be put through without organization ana 

 without having some good brains on the spot, but it is the 

 kind of program which would be of the greatest value to 

 florists. Not only would they clean up their stock, but they 

 would also get new people into their stores and lay the 

 foundations for future business. 



