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The Florists^ Review 



February 10, 1916. 



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Established, 1897, by G. L. GRANT. 



Published every Thursday by 

 Thk Floeiots' Publishing Co^ 



S30-660 Oazton BuUdlnir. 



606 South Dearborn St., OhlcaffO. 



Tele.. Wabash 8195. 



Registered cable address, 



Florrlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter , 

 Dec. 3. 1891. at the post-office at Chi- I 

 cago. IlL. under the Act of March 

 8, 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.00 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.00; to Europe. 13.00. 



Advertlslntr rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 ▼ertlsinc accepted. 



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NOTICE. 



It is impossible to guarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any advertisement 



unless instructions are received 



BT 6 P. M. TUESDAY. 



SOCIETT OF AKERICAN FLORISTS. 

 Incorporated by Act of Congress, March 4. 1901. 



Officers for 1016: President, Daniel MacRorle, 

 Ban Francisco; Tlce-presldent, R. C. Kerr, Hous- 

 ton, Tex.; secretary, John Young, 53 W. 28th 

 St., New York City; treasurer, W. F. Kastlng, 

 Buffalo. 



Thirty-second annual convention, Houston, 

 Texas, August 15 to 18, 1016. 



Besults bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



C. L. Baum, Knoxville, Tenn., has a 

 climbing sport of Ophelia rose. 



C. H. ToTTY jvill disseminate, in 1917, 

 Hugh Dickson's Irish rose that won the 

 thousand-dollar trpphy at the San Fran- 

 cisco exposition. 



If the recent tour of the Presidential 

 party did nothing else, it boosted the sale 

 of orchids. The First Lady was photo- 

 graphed early and late, but never without 

 her corsage of cattleyas. 



There is no lack of individuality 

 among florists; indeed, the florists' busi- 

 ness, in spite of its recent growth, still is 

 of such an individual character that the 

 conspicuous successes nearly all are built 

 on some one man's personal qualities. 



For a red carnation, Baur & Stein- 

 kamp made a happy choice when they 

 selected Merry Christmas as the name of 

 their seedling to be disseminated in 1916. 

 Surely any variety will travel farther 

 with such a name than it would if chris- 

 tened Mrs. Mulcahey. 



Whatever one does in the solitude of 

 his own workroom, in the presence of 

 others flowers should be handled at least 

 as carefully as we would expect one to 

 handle eggs. If we are seen to slam 

 stock around as though it had no value, 

 how can we expect others to think better 

 of it than we do? 



The newspaper publicity for the Na- 

 tional Flower Show was begun January 

 30 in the Philadelphia Record, which used 

 a half page illustration. This was the 

 first big gun. Shots will be fired one by 

 one in each of the Philadelphia dailies 

 until about March 10, after which a 

 broadside will be let loose daily. 



AGAIN, IT'S HARD TO BEAT. 



The Review has remarked in the past 

 that in the florists' business, especially 

 the wholesale end of it, sales are ob- 

 tained at so little cost that it almost 

 is inconceivable to those accustomed to 

 selling costs in other lines. iLast week 

 the illustration of the point was the 

 experience of a plantsman cleaned out 

 of cyclamens, selling $1,000 worth at 

 an advertising cost of $4.20. This 

 week's illustration is an extract from 

 a letter from a dealer in evergreens: 



We advertised three times in the Review and 

 one ad brought $2,900 worth of orders. It Is 

 the best paper 1 ever saw; we have been doing 

 a wonderful business and thank you for It. You 

 can use this If you want to. — Grant Presnell, 

 manager, John's Creek Evergreen Co., Cosby, 

 Tenn., February 2, 1916. 



The results this advertiser speaks of 

 were obtained through the use of a 

 1-inch display advertisement. Again, 

 can you beat it? 



When you hear a man complaining 

 of the cost of advertising you can be 

 pretty sure he spends a good bit of 

 money elsewhere than in The Review. 



GOOD WORK AT CLEVELAND. 



The florists of Cleveland long have 

 been known as a "live bunch," an ag- 

 gregation especially skilled in matters 

 of publicity. The flower business has 

 been better advertised in Cleveland the 

 last few years than in any other city in 

 the United States. And at no time 

 has better work been done there than 

 this season, when a committee from the 

 Florists' Club was given an appropria- 

 tion for the purchase of publicity. As 

 an example of its work, the front page 

 of the News the other day carried a 

 double column cut of two young ladies 

 admiring handsome bouquets. Under- 

 neath was this sane text: 



The girls are Just crazy over the valentines 

 florists are preparing for Monday, February 14, 

 St. Valentine's day. Each of them is hoping 

 that she will receive one. 



There is one creation composed of two hearts, 

 made of birchbark filled with llUes of the val- 

 ley, freeslas and tulips, with gold arrows tied 

 with pale pink ribbon. 



Then, there is the heart-shaped bouquet of 

 sweet violets with a white lace handkerchief 

 to protect the hands and long loops of ribbon 

 to suspend it from the arm while dancing. 



Long sprays may be used, instead of corsage 

 bouquets, to complete the effects of gowns. 



The sunshine of the last few weeks has 

 brought out the posies rapidly, so flowers will 

 be reasonable in price and lovely in quality for 

 Valentine day. 



Many florists are using the "Language of 

 Flowers" in selecting their flowers, so that any 

 sentiment desired by the purdiaser can l)e ob- 

 tained. 



One thing the committee carefully 

 avoids is the destruction of news value, 

 as would be the case if it tried to get 

 the same stuff into several papers. The 

 editors are liberal when they know the 

 features are not duplicated. 



THE WHITE MEDAL. 



The George Robert White medal has 

 this year been bestowed by the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society on E. H. 

 Wilson, whose achievements as a plant 

 collector are known to everyone in the 

 horticultural world. The George Robert 

 White medal of honor was founded 

 by George Robert White, of Boston, 

 for the purpose of giving suitable 

 recognition to those who have accom- 

 plished important work in horticulture, 

 and the fund was vested in the Massa- 

 chusetts society to make the award an- 

 nually. While the medal is intended 

 principally to recognize work accom- 

 plished by a resident of the United 

 States, it may also be awarded to a 

 person, commercial firm or institution 



of some other country, the result of 

 whose work in horticulture may be of 

 direct benefit to the interests of horti- 

 culture of the United States. The 

 medal is struck in 24-carat gold, is 

 two and three-fourths inches in diame- 

 ter, and weighs between seven and 

 eight ounces. The first award of the 

 medal was made to Prof. Sargent, di- 

 rector of the Arnold Arboretum, in 

 1911. 



A RECORD. 



While The Review is this season 

 carrying considerably more advertising 

 of all kinds than ever before, the in- 

 crease in Classified ads is particularly 

 striking. There are more than sixteen 

 full pages of these busy little liners in 

 this issue, all set in one kind of type 

 so that each advertiser gets an equal 

 show and all charged for at the same 

 rate; none run free as a bonus to those 

 who may thus be induced to order dis- 

 play space. 



WHY CUT PRICES? 



One of the tendencies of the trade, 

 the reason for which is not apparent, 

 is the steady reduction of prices. It 

 does not seem to be justified by con- 

 ditions. 



Practically every article used in 

 greenhouses has advanced in price with- 

 in the year and this is a reason why 

 all florists should maintain prices, if 

 not advance them, while of course 

 striving to give the best of quality 

 and service. 



There is no condition of oversupply 

 to force a fall in prices; indeed, it 

 looks as though the spring season will 

 see much the largest demand this trade 

 ever has enjoyed. It warrants the 

 maintenance of prices, if not an ad- 

 vance. 



Probably reductions in prices at this 

 time find their cause in the undevel- 

 oped state of the selling end of the 

 business. Few florists are expert sales- 

 men; many have price as their only 

 selling argument; they know of no 

 reason why anyone should buy of them 

 except that the price is lower. 



CHICAOO. 



The Market. 



Except for a little increase in the 

 supply of this item and a little decrease 

 in the other, there is little change in 

 Chicago market conditions from those 

 prevailing a week ago. To be sure, 

 the extreme cold of the last few days 

 has lessened the activity of the local 

 buyers, but shipping demand continues 

 strong. As a result of the floods in 

 the west and south, express companies 

 refused to take shipments to points be- 

 yond St. Louis on the Iron Mountain 

 railroad unless subject to delay. This 

 practically cut off trade in that quarter 

 for about three days. 



There is still a small supply of Beau- 

 ties available, but the quality is not 

 up to standard. As for other roses, 

 the supply continues distressingly short. 

 Assurance, however, comes from sev- 

 eral large growers that with seasonable 

 weather, rose crops will come on rap- 

 idly. Long, fancy roses are selling at 

 much lower prices, quality considered, 

 than are asked for shorts. 



Carnations are coming to the market 

 in larger numbers, but there is a differ- 

 ence. Of first-class stock there is none 



