M 



■ V'' Vfl '-^ -iv** 



22 



^he Florists^ Review 



June 8, 1916. 



' ^!^ 



fi 



Eatatdlshed, 1897. by Q. L. GRANT. 



Pabllshed every Tbarsday by 

 The Florists' Publishing Co., 



630-660 Oaxton Buildln?. 



SOSSoatb Dearborn St., Ohicaffa 



Tele.. Wabash 8196. 



Regrlstered cable address, 



Florvlew. Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. S. 1897, at the post-office at Ohl- 

 cagro. 111., under the Act of March 

 8. 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.00 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.00; to Europe. $3.00. 



Adrertlstngr rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



, 



NOTICE. 



It' id impossible to (guarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any advertisement 



unless instructions are received 



BT 6 P. M. TUESDAY. 



SOCIETY OF AMEBICAN FLORISTS. 

 Incorporated by Act of Congress, March 4, 1901. 



Officers for 1916: President, Daniel MacRorle, 

 San FVanclsco; vice-president, R. C. Kerr, Hous- 

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

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

 Buffalo. 



Thirty-second annual convention, Houston, 

 Texas, August 15 to 18, 1916. " 



Besults bring advertising. 

 The Eeview brings results. 



There is considerably more than the 

 usual quantity of boxwoods in the coun- 

 try this season. Early sales were slower 

 than expected, but recently the stock has 

 been moving nicely. 



The first dahlias of the season to reach 

 The Review arrived June 2. They came 

 from Grohman the Florist^ Saginaw, 

 Mich., who grows the variety Camellise- 

 flora in pots for a summer crop. 



The hustlers of Houston are keeping 

 the trade well supplied with the printed 

 matter the south Texas boosters do so 

 well. If northern florists do not invade 

 Texas during August it wiU be no fault 

 of the publicity men. 



As usually is the case, the later the sea- 

 son becomes the more abundant bedding 

 stock seems to be. The reason is that 

 many growers always are behind and 

 have quantities of stock that becomes 

 ready after the demand has begun to 

 wane. 



It seems apparent that the closing of 

 the English market for bulbs and plants, 

 of whatever foreign origin, will have the 

 effect of insuring a large supply for 

 America. The only difficulty in getting 

 plenty of good stock this autumn doubt- 

 less will lie in transportation. 



The replanting of roses is practically 

 finished for the season and there is only 

 a small quantity of surplus young stock 

 for the late buyers. The fact seems to 

 be that the rose markets were so insatia- 

 ble during the winter that those who gen- 

 erally grow considerable quantities of 

 young stock for the trade this season did 

 not care to sacrifice the usual number of 

 flowers to obtain wood. 



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: 



FIVE YEARS. 

 Blank, Charles, Orange, N. J. 

 THREE YEARS. 

 TempUn, S. C, Garrettsvllle, O. 



TWO YEARS. 

 MlUigan, A. D., Springfield, Mo. 

 Hartman, A. C, Las Animas, Colo. 

 Bentzen Floral Co., St. Louis, Mo. 

 Purnell, W. Z., Snow Hill. Md. 

 Herrick, W. D., Downers Grove, 111. 



The Review stops coming when the 

 subscription runs out. The green no- 

 tice with the last copy tells the story; 

 no bills are run up; no duns are sent. 



NEXT NATIONAL SHOW. 



No action has as yet been taken by 

 the National Flower Show committee of 

 the S. A. F. with regard tp the loca- 

 tion and date of the fifth exhibition. 

 If the new exhibition building at Cleve- 

 land will be finished so that the S. A. F. 

 can open it with either a spring or a 

 fall show, the opportunity will be em- 

 braced, but at Cleveland it is as yet 

 impossible to say when the building 

 will be ready. The success of the open- 

 ing attraction is almost a foregone con- 

 clusion. 



WANTED— OPINIONS. 



William F. Gude, the energetic Wash- 

 ington, D. C, representative of the 

 S. A. F., whose difficult duty it is to 

 keep a keen eye on all congressional 

 or federal legislative matters touching 

 the trade, reports that a joint resolu- 

 tion was introduced in Congress June 1 

 for the purpose of making the mountain 

 laurel the national flower of the United 

 States. The bill was introduced by Con- 

 gressman Stephens, of Tennessee. Is 

 this not a matter in which the national 

 body should have a sayf Mr. Gude 

 iloes not want to commit himself one 

 way or another until he has an expres- 

 sion from the society. What is your 

 opinion? 



WHAT IS A FLORIST? 



The question who, what or which is 

 a florist at last seems likely to have a 

 legal answer in Pennsylvania. It is a 

 question many have sought in vain to 

 cover with an inflexible rule, especially 

 those who make an effort to grant 

 trade prices only to bona fide members 

 of the trade. The U. S. government, 

 in taking the last census, counted as 

 florists those who derived not less than 

 twenty per cent of their annual income 

 from the production of florists' stock, 

 but this definition obviously will not 

 suffice for business purposes. The 

 sellers' rule most commonly applied is 

 anyone who buys in trade quantities, 

 an easy rule to apply, but not exact. 

 The Review, in its efforts to limit its 

 circulation, classes as in the trade 

 those who grow to sell, those who buy 

 to sell again, and those who work for 

 wages at growing or selling, an elastic 

 rule, but more exact than any other 

 yet found. 



But the courts of Pennsylvania will 

 have to decide, because the State Work- 

 men 's Compensation Board, after long 

 deliberation, has given it up. Under 

 the compensation law it is necessary 



to know what is a farmer, a florist a 

 nurseryman. A ruling by the board 

 did not exempt from the provisions 

 of the act those engaged "in the busi- 

 ness of fruit growing, poultry and stock 

 raising, dairying and horticulture 

 (which includes floriculture), as a busi- 

 ness and not merely as incidental to 

 general farming." This rule now has 

 been abrogated and the courts asked 

 to decide. 



LESSONS OF MEMORIAL DAY. 



An observer of conditions as they 

 developed during the last few days of 

 May can not fail to draw certain con- 

 clusions: 



In the first place, the sources of sup- 

 ply have developed to the point where 

 no general scarcity of stock is possible 

 at this season except under most un- 

 usual circumstances. Many peony crops 

 usually on the market for Memorial day 

 were a few days late this year, but 

 there were enough other flowers so 

 that general 'conditions were not great- 

 ly affected. 



In the second place, it is dangerous 

 to attempt to hold stock back at this 

 season. The only chance for old flow- 

 ers to realize more than they would if 

 marketed while fresh is in case of a 

 general scarcity. As ^no general scar- 

 city ever again is likely to appear at 

 Memorial day, the reason for holding 

 stock disappears. Also, more often 

 than not there is a hot wave in the 

 last days of May. Even if of short 

 duration it ruins the held-back flowers, 

 especially carnations. Therefore, while 

 there is no longer any chance of profit 

 by holding for Memorial day, there is 

 excellent chance of complete loss. 



In the third place, high prices are 

 out of the question at Memorial day; 

 they restrain trade, and restraint of 

 trade everywhere is recognized as bad, 

 except perhaps by the man who is do- 

 ing the restraining — he has the dollar 

 so close to his eye he can not see what 

 is beyond. The needs of the markets 

 at Memorial day are best illustrated by 

 the general report as to roses; the 

 prices of the best grades fell while the 

 lower grades were advancing; short 

 roses made comparatively better prices 

 than long ones. 



OHICAOO. 



Tbe Market. 



With the passing of the holidays, 

 there is a marked cessation of activity 

 on the market. Lt)cal buying is light, 

 but the volume of s*hipping orders is 

 holding up remarkably well. To be 

 sure, weather conditions have some 

 bearing on the situation, for though 

 last week ended in perfect weather, 

 the early part of the present week was 

 none too conducive to a large city trade. 



There has been a strong demand for 

 really good Beauties throughout the 

 week, but first-class stock has been de- 

 cidedly scarce. Of unqualifiedly poor 

 stock there has been an abundance, but 

 hope is seen in the increasing receipts 

 of young Beauties. The demand for 

 other roses is limited to the best grades. 

 Cheap, short-stemmed stock meets with 

 little or no call. Poor stock is over- 

 abundant and is moved with great diffi- 

 culty. Perhaps the one exception to 

 the general conditions, both as to qual- 

 ity and demand, is Russell, but the sup- 

 ply is smaller than it was and the color 

 is off with some growers. 



