58 



The Florists' Review 



Apbil 18, 1916. 



Established, 1867. by Q. L. GRAlTr. 



Published every Tbarsday by 

 Thk Florists' Publishing Co., 



S30-S60 Oaxtoa BnlldloR, 



808 South Dearborn St., OhlcaffO. 



Tele., Wabash 8196. 



Beglstered cable address, 



Florrlew. Ohlcaffo. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 8. 1897, at the poet-offlce at Ohl- 

 caffo, IIU, under the Act of March 

 8. 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.00 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.00; to Europe. 13.00. 



Advertising rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strlcUy trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



(1 



NOTICE. 



It is impossible t« guarantee 



the imsertiem, disceatinaanee er 



alteration ef any adTertisement 



unless instruetiens are receiTed 



BY S P. M. TUKSDAT. 



SOCIETY OF AJCEBICAK FLORISTS. 

 Incorporated by Act of Congress, March 4, 1901. 



Offlcers for 1916: President, Daniel MacRorle, 

 San Francisco; vice-president, B. C. Kerr, Hous- 

 ton, Ter.; secretary, John Young, 63 W. 28th 

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

 BsCTalo. 



Thirty-second annual convention, Houston, 

 Tens, August 15 to 18. 1916. 



EESULTS. 



We give them. Yon get them. 



We both have them. 



Why cut prices t Everything the trade 

 uses in the production of plants and cut 

 flowers has advanced in price. Why not 

 at least maintain our former standard 

 of prices to the public? 



Nominally the price of glass has held 

 steady for several vreeks, but jobbers' 

 quotations on greenhouse sizes are in all 

 cases dependent on the ability to get the 

 goods, which is not easy, since factories 

 are reluctant to cut small sizes. 



The average man goes in for quan- 

 tity production and depends on price to 

 J sell the stock. It leaves a splendid oppor- 

 tunity for the grower who keeps it con- 

 stantly in mind that quality is remem- 

 bered long after the price is forgotten. 



The war has hit the trade in another 

 spot, the crepe paper supply. Not only 

 has the price of every kind of paper ad- 

 vanced sharply in the last three months, 

 but green dye is unobtainable. Green 

 crepe paper is unobtainable in quantity 

 at any price and many houses that had 

 booked numerous orders for Easter have 

 been unable to make delivery. 



This is another record issue of The 

 Review. It is a record for volume of 

 classified advertising, for it contains 

 twenty-one pages of the "Little Won- 

 der Ads, " as a user calls them, a greater 

 number than ever before have been 

 printed in one issue. The issue also is 

 a record for the consumption of paper — 

 the' edition weighs 13,080 pounds, or 

 nearly seven tons, and readers know what 

 has happened to the price of paper in the 

 last few months. 



AGAIN, CAN YOU BEAT IT? 



West of ttfe great river the florists' 



trade is growing faster than in any 



other section of the United States; 



florists located there sell surpluses 



quickly when they advertise them in 



The Review, and eastern growers find 



the trade traffic flows westward, ever 



westward — that's where to look for 



mail orders: 



Our ad in The Review has sold all the cuttings 

 of Carnation Nebraska we shall have to offer this 

 season. — C. H. Frey Co., Lincoln, Neb., April 8, 

 1916. 



No use to continue the ad; we were all sold out 

 on one insertion. — Casa de Flores Gree'nhouses, 

 Corpus Christi, Tex., March 21, 1916. 



Kindly discontinue our classified ad of gladiolus 

 bulbs; we are swamped with orders. — G. D. 

 Black, Independence, la., April 6, 1916. 



When you hear a man complain of 



the cost of advertising you can be 



pretty sure he spends a good bit of 



money elsewhere than in The Review. 



HONORABLE MENTION. 



Not a few subscribers save them- 

 selves the bother of annual renewal by 

 sending The Review $2, $3, or some- 

 times $5, instead of the dollar bill that 

 insures fifty-two visits of the paper. 

 Among those who have this week en- 

 rolled themselves for more than one 

 year in advance are: 



TWO YEARS. 

 Gibbs Bros., Lynn, Mass. 

 MulhoUand. J. L., Deal Beach, N. J. 

 Bigler, G. E., Camden, N. 3. 

 Weaver, E. J., Honks, Pa. 

 Westbury, Sydney, Minneapolis, Minn. 

 Meine, Henry, Youngstown, 0. 

 Nissen, Albert, Oconomowoc, Wis. 

 Katzwinkle, B., Mendota, 111. 

 Wirt, W. J., Parsons, Ky. 



The Review stops coming when the 

 subscription runs out. The green no- 

 tice with the last copy tells th6 story; 

 no bills are run up; no duns are sent. 



IT'S ALL A BOOST. 



The Review has received a number 

 of inquiries from subscribers asking for 

 an opinion regarding the effects on this 

 trade of the new purchase-and-delivery 

 plan of the Western Union Telegraph 

 Co. 



Employing its nation-wide organiza- 

 tion, the 'Vyestern Union has been able 

 within a few days to let a large num- 

 ber of newspaper readers know that it 

 will execute orders for the purchase 

 and delivery of merchandise at any 

 point where the company operates its 

 money transfer system. Any proposi- 

 tion looking to the increased use of 

 flowers is' to the advantage of the 

 trade. Although the Western Union's 

 plan contemplates the purchase and de- 

 livery of many other things besides 

 flowers, it certainly will increase the 

 use of the merchandise supplied by our 

 trade. It will do this in two ways: 

 First of all, the advertising the com- 

 pany is doing is of much wider scope 

 than anything that has been possible 

 for florists; it is giving the suggestion 

 to many people florists never have been 

 able to reach. " Also, the Western Union 

 is making it easy for people to order 

 flowers; every blue-and- white sign car- 

 rying the telegraph company's well 

 known trade-mark now is the sign of a 

 flower shop. And telegraph offices are 

 much more numerous than flower stores 

 in the United States. 



When a telegraph office gets an order 

 for flowers, some florist gets an order, 

 the same order, right soon. 



Only in a limited sense can the tele- 

 graph company's operations be consid- 



ered as competing with any of the es- 

 tablished methods of delivering flowers 

 at a distance. It is true that Johnnie 

 Jones, who has removed to New York, 

 may go to the telegraph company to 

 order the Easter lily delivered next 

 Saturday to his mother back home in 

 Keokuk, instead of giving the order 

 to Blossom & Co., the society florists, 

 for delivery through trade channels. 

 Blossom & Co., therefore, will lose their 

 twenty per cent commission on the or- 

 der, but the florist in Keokuk, if he is 

 wise, will charge the telegraph com- 

 pany the full retail price and he will 

 get an order worth more to him than 

 it would be if it came from a florist. 

 The chances are the publicity work of 

 the telegraph company, while it will 

 bring it business to turn over to florists, 

 also will have the effect of increasing 

 the telegraph delivery business between 

 florists through the established trade 

 channels. This is a department of the 

 florists' business in which competition 

 surely will prove to be the life of trade. 

 Florists should encourage the tele- 

 graph companies to advertise the send- 

 ing of flowers as gifts. 



NATIONAL SHOW AT CLEVELAND? 



Cleveland wants the fifth National 

 Flower Show and purposes to hold it in 

 the spring of 1918. 



The following letter has been given 

 to the National Flower Show commit- 

 tee. April 25 the voters of Cleveland 

 will pass on a bond issue for $2,500,000 

 for a Municipal auditorium and exposi- 

 tion building. This will give Cleveland 

 plenty 'of room to handle the show in 

 a big way. The invitation reads: 



National Flower Show Committee. 



Gentlemen: Cleveland desires the honor of hav- 

 ing the next and fifth National Flower Show in 

 the spring of 1918. 



The central location of our city, making it of 

 easy access to the east, west, north and south, 

 does not have to be argued. This also means a 

 minimum of express and freight rates for the 

 exhibitors. 



We have an organization that is capable of 

 handling the undertaking and making good. For 

 reference: Cleveland flower show, 1916. 



Whatever financial backing is necessary will be 

 forthcoming from our interested organisations In 

 Cleveland. 



We ask for a favorable decision during the 

 present week if possible. 



Thanking you for considering the matter at 

 your earliest convenience, I remain. 

 Yours truly, 



H. P. KNOBLE. Chairman. 



Committee of Invitation Cleveland Florists' 

 Club. Ohio Horticultural Society. Garden Club of 

 Cleveland. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



So far as local trade is concerned, 

 there is no appreciable change in Chi- 

 cago market conditions. But lucky, in- 

 deed, is he who has worked assiduously 

 to build up a substantial list of out-of- 

 town patrons, for now the volume of 

 shipping orders is rapidly increasing, as 

 well as the size of the individual order. 

 If it were not for the activity of the 

 shipping trade there would be a glut 

 in even the short items on the market. 



The supply of Beauties continues to 

 increase, whDe the demand is for only 

 first-class stock. Any grade falling 

 below excellent is moved with difficulty. 

 Other roses, without regard to variety, 

 are moving slowly, and if it were not 

 for the shipping trade they would not 

 move at all. 



» Carnations are in light supply, but 

 are sufficient to meet all present de- 

 mands,. The Enchantress family still 

 drags. Another week, however, should 

 change the carnation situation for the 



