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The Florists' Review 



SapTiMBaa 21, lt>lt. 



Last year was one of the hardest on 

 fleld-grown stock, on account of the 

 heavy rains in this section, that I have 

 ever seen. I have some low ground on 

 my place, and it happens that some of 

 my best varieties are located on this 

 area. Sometimes last fall the water 

 stood on this ground from one to four 

 inches deep. In the spring of this year 

 I had one of the finest looking sets of 

 irises that you would ever want to see. 

 The plants were covered with blooms. 

 It looked as if they had tried to see how 

 many flowers they could produce. 



Another incident to illustrate the 

 hardiness of the iris also happened here. 

 A shipment of I. florentina alba had 

 been ordered from a firm in the east, but 

 the roots were late in coming to me. 

 The ground outside had been frozen for 

 a week or more, and it was too late to 

 set the roots out. They remained about 

 the potting shed for a week or more 

 waiting for a chance to set them, but 

 that time never came, as Old King 

 Winter had frozen the ground for good. 

 Later on I took them out of the case 

 and placed them in a flat, put them in 

 a dry place in one of the greenhouses 

 and left them until spring. They were 

 finally planted out, and today all the 

 florentina alba irises on my place came 

 from those neglected roots. 



Let someone else give Mr. Harrison's 



idea a boost. The iris as a national 

 flower sounds good to my ears. 



John J. Hitz. 



MOVE TO BELEASE AZALEAS. 



Following the visit to the State De- 

 partment of William F. Gude and C. B. 

 Knickman, during which they solicited 

 the aid of government officials in secur- 

 ing relief from the stand taken by the 

 British and German authorities with re- 

 spect to the shipment from Belgium of 

 this year's stock of azaleas and other 

 plants of Belgian production, Mr. Gude, 

 as the Washington representative of the 

 S. A. F., has transmitted the following 

 letter to Secretary Lansing: 



Washington, D. 0., September 15, 1916. 

 The Honorable, 



The Secretary of State, 

 Washington, D. C. 

 Sir: 



On behalf of the Society of American Flo- 

 rists I respectfully but urgently request that 

 you take prompt action by cable with the 

 British and Grerman authorities to the end that 

 shipments of Azalea Indlca and other plants of 

 Belgian origin, now imder embargo by the 

 German authorities, be released, and that the 

 Belgian growers be permitted to forward these 

 shipments this fall to the American florists 

 who ordered them. 



These shipments consist principally of azaleas, 

 which are imported from Belgium to be forced 

 by American florists for sale at Easter and 

 Christmas. Nothing will take their place. They 

 are grown exclusively arcwind Ghent, Belgium, 

 and cannot be obtained from any other source. 

 The shipments of azaleas usuo.Uy leave Belgium 

 from September 1 to October 15. They are only 



In proper condition to be shipped at tkla time. 

 If they are not received here this fall, tha Iom 

 will fall heavily on many thousands of florists 

 who up to now have fully expected to receive 

 them. 



These shipments have come from Belgltim each 

 spring and fall with the consent of the British 

 and German authorities, but the German author- 

 ities now refuse to issue export permits to the 

 Belgian growers to ship to the United States, 

 unless the money is paid in advance to Belgian 

 growers. This plan is impracticable: First, be- 

 cause money cannot be sen.t Into Belgium; sec- 

 ond, because the British authorities would not 

 allow the shipments to pass if payment were 

 made to the Belgians, who are under coatrol of 

 the Germans. 



Since the British Order in Council went Into 

 effect in June, 1915, the payments for shipments 

 have been deposited to the credit of the Belgian 

 shippers in the Banque Beige pour TButranger, 

 London, with the understanding that they could 

 not withdraw these funds without the consent 

 of the British authorities. This plan must have 

 been agreeable to the Germans, since they have 

 permitted the shipments to leave, but they now 

 stop them for reasons which we can only sur- 

 mise. 



The fall shipment will consist approximately 

 of 1,200,000 plants of Axalea Indlca, bceldes the 

 bay trees, palms, etc., which come with them. 

 They will have a delivered New Tork value 

 of approximately $250,000, and be distributed to 

 6,S00 or more American florists. If shipments 

 are not made this season, most of the plants 

 in Belgium must be destroyed, and as It takes 

 many years to produce these plants no further 

 shipments could be expected for many years 

 after the conclusion of the war. 



As the outlook will be dark for thousands of 

 florists whom I represent unless these shipments 

 arrive, I urge that you take such action by 

 cable as will result in these fall shipments being 

 allowed to come forward. 



Yours truly, 



William F. OHde, 

 Washington Bepresentative. 

 C. L. L. 



RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT 



WHAT THE LEADERS IN THE TRADE ARE DOING 



OUT-OF-TOWN SERVICE WEEK. 



We are accustomed to an annual ap- 

 ple week, to a raisin week, to a made- 

 at-home week, and half a dozen other 

 kinds of weeks — there even has been a 

 cheese week, when all grocery stores 

 and others selling cheese were urged to 

 decorate their windows and make spe- 

 cial displays, the incentive being sup- 

 plied by an association of cheese- 

 makers. 



Perhaps it is due to. these facts that 

 Albert Pochelon, secretary of the 

 Florists' Telegraph Delivery, has con- 

 ceived the idea of all retail florists com- 

 ing in on an out-o^town service week. 

 Mr. Pochelpir*8^pTan is to have every 

 storekeejrSr do something on a desig- 

 nated ^ek to advertise the facilities 

 the trade now possesses in such adequate 

 meaatfre for handling orders for deliv- 

 ery -^t a distance. * ' Out-of-town serv- 

 ice" is an excellent title. It means 

 more to the man in the street than does 

 our "telegraph delivery" or "F. T. 

 D.;" the shorter we cut it the less it 

 means to the man who does not know. 



Mr. Pochelon is feeling the pulse of 

 the trade with the idea of asking every- 

 one to make a special effort during some 

 week in November to feature this part 

 of the business, either by window deco- 

 ration, by store decoration, in advertis- 

 ing literature, or by a combination of 

 all these methods. Mr. Pochelon, who 

 probably has given the subject more 

 study than any other one man, is of the 

 opinion that the million dollars' aggre- 

 gate business now handled by the out- 



of-town service will become two mil- 

 lions as soon as twice as many people 

 learn of the trade's facilities for de- 

 livering flowers at a distance. 



• • APITALXZING VANITY. ' ' 



In a popular weekly of recent issue 

 a clever writer relates how many mer- 

 chants become rich by capitalizing one 

 of the weaknesses of human nature — 

 vanity. He shows how the joy of being 

 different, the craving of human nature 

 for distinctiveness and exclusiveness, 

 are ' responsible for a world-wide ex- 

 travagance and higher selling prices on 

 commodities really not worth the money. 

 Large and small stores, he says, are 

 compelled to flgure on the human 

 tendency on the part of the rich to ex- 

 cite the envy of those not so rich, and 

 of persons in the lower ranks to imitate < 

 those of the higher plane. The author 

 narrates numerous incidents to sustain 

 his views, the first dealing with a retail 

 florist, as follows: 



"In a certain city the leading retail 

 florist has amassed a big fortune by 

 quietly utilizing a funny little phase of 

 everyday human nature. This man 

 charges perhaps thirty per cent more 

 than any of his competitors; yet much 

 of his stock could be duplicated right 

 up the street. Some of his flowers may 

 be a little better than those sold by 

 others, but rarely thirty per cent better. 

 They may have a longer ribbon on them 

 or prettier twine around the box, but, 

 on the whole, dollar for dollar, you 

 could get much better value elsewhere. 



' ' The main difference is in the selling 

 price. Because he asks more than 

 other dealers for the same article, this 

 man has grown rich. He sells more 

 flowers than any of his competitors and 

 does so more readily. And he believes 

 that his success rests to a large degree 

 on the fact that his place is known as 

 the highest-priced establishment of its 

 kind in town. 



"The young man, for example, who 

 "wishes to make a deep and lasting im- 

 pression upon a beautiful and talented 

 young woman by sending her flowers 

 likes to buy, if possible, at this most 

 expensive shop. She is flattered to think 

 that he holds her in such high esteem 

 as to get his flowers at the costliest 

 place in town. And his own inanity is 

 tickled because she now knows — ana he 

 knows she knows — that he is able to 

 .deal at such a high-priced store. 



"I do not say, understand, that any 

 merchant can increase his sales by rais- 

 ing his prices; but I do say that, so 

 long as human vanity is what it is at 

 this yriting, a great many persons will 

 derive much pleasure from showing 

 their ability to have nothing but the 

 best. And there is a tendency to meas- 

 ure quality by price." 



There are a good many florists who 

 will think this is from a fiction maga- 

 zine, but there is truth and fact 

 behind it. 



Of course every merchant is con- 

 cerned only with disposing of his goods 

 and pocketing the profits; he does not, 

 by any manner of means, sidestep the 

 straight and narrow path by catering: 



