44 



The Florists' Review 



Mabch 22, 1917. 



Established, 1897. by G. L. GRANT. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Publishing Co., 



620-560 Oaxton Building, 



608 South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tele., Wabash 8195. 



Registered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chlcairo. 



EntiMvd as second class matter 

 Doc. 3, 1897. at the post-ortlce at Chl- 

 caRo. III., under the Act of March 

 3 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.50 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.50; to Europe, $3.00. 



Advcrtlslntf rat<'s quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



NOTICE. 



It is iaapoasibl* to §fuarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any adTortisement 



unless instructions are received 



BY 4 P. M. TUKSDAY. 



800IETT or AXEBIOAV rLOSISTt. 

 iBOorponted br Act •< OongrcM, Mareh 4. IMl. 



Offlcan for 1917: Pnaldent, Bobert O. Kerr, 

 Houston, Tex.; Tlce-xtrealdent, A. L. MUlor, Ja- 

 maloa, rf. Y. ; Mcretuy, John Toanff, 88 W. SSth 

 St., Now Toric Olty; troararor, 3. J. Hoaa, 

 Oinialia, Kob. 



Tklrtr-thlrd annnal conTontlon, Now Tork, 

 N. T.. Auciut 21 to 24, 1817. 



Besults bring adTertising. 

 The Bevisw brings results. 



Low prices are crushing nobody but 

 the man who does not believe his goods 

 are worth as much as others are able to 

 obtain. 



Anybody can sell goods bj cutting 

 prices, but once one gets the habit of 

 cutting it becomes the more difficult to 

 get straight prices again. 



A HANDSOME vase of Kudolph Fisch- 

 er's new lavender freesia, Splendens, dec- 

 orates the editor's desk. It came safely 

 by express in five days from the origina- 

 tor 's place at San Gabriel, Cal. 



Speaking of fancy frills for flower 

 festivals, there were several good ones at 

 this week's rose show at Philadelphia. 

 Among other features, Victor Herbert, the 

 composer, wrote a waltz in honor of the 

 festival and dedicated it to the American 

 Bose Society. It was played for the 

 first time at the opening session of the 

 show, the composer himself conducting 

 the first rendition. 



The daily papers of New York city re- 

 cently have been giving prominence to 

 the efforts of representatives of the Fed- 

 eration for the Support of Jewish Philan- 

 thropic Societies to cause the discontinu- 

 ance of the use of flowers at Jewish fu- 

 nerals, and the conversion of the money to 

 charitable uses. Every little while an agi- 

 tation of this character breaks out in 

 some city in which The Review has read- 

 ers who are alarmed thereby, but the 

 sentiment attaching to the use of flowers 

 at the time of death is so strong that no 

 Buch agitation ever has accomplished 

 more than a small part of its purpose, 

 and all heretofore have quickly subsided. 

 The less opposition the sooner the agita- 

 tion dies. 



One of the first duties of a show pub- 

 licity committee should be to provide 

 "features" that will serve as good ma- 

 terial for write-ups in the papers. Some- 

 thing original always makes a hit with 

 the reporters — hence, free publicity. At 

 New York's big show this week a carna- 

 tion named in honor of Major General 

 Leonard Wood, an orchid named for Major 

 General Pershing, a pair of orchids named 

 after the President and Mrs. Wilson, 

 were the "features" provided by the 

 show management as fodder for the news- 

 papers, a;id as a result the advance press 

 notices of the show were many. 



Since the nation-wide home-gardening 

 propaganda started, as a means to meet 

 the increasing cost of food, the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture at Washington has 

 been swamped with hundreds of thousands 

 of requests for free seeds. The free seeds 

 provided by Congress are distributed as 

 members of Congress themselves direct, 

 and this year's supply of about $200,000 

 worth was long ago exhausted. Evidently 

 hundreds of thousands of people who 

 wanted free seeds now will have to ex- 

 pend coin of the realm over the seeds- 

 man's counter. It is likely that retail 

 seedsmen this year will find it harder than 

 ever before to handle the counter trade 

 during the few big weeks. Perhaps many 

 a florist will get his finger in the pie, too, 

 providing he tells the people about his 

 seed department. 



CLUB PLANS PUBLICITY. 



The Chicago Florists' Club announces 

 that it will carry on a national plan of 

 cooperative advertising for Mothers' 

 day under the direction of F. Lauten- 

 schlager, 444 West Erie street, Chicago. 

 Full particulars will be given later. 

 Chicago Florists' Club 

 Publicity Committee. 

 F. Lautenschlager, Chairman. 



MAKR THE POSTMASTER KICK. 



When they advertise in The Eeview 

 they are pleased with the results and 

 the editor is glad they are pleased. The 

 only kickers are the postmasters. They 

 get tired handling the mail The Review 

 brings to advertisers. Read these: 



Please cut out my geranium ad, as I haye to 

 return checks and the postmaster is getting tired 

 handling my mail from only one week's ad. — 

 C. W. Seibert, Hlcksyille, 0.. March 9, 1917. 



Gently remove that Impatiens ad. It did the 

 work In abort order. Had 2,600 In stock and am 

 now returning the money. Hard luck. — W. W. 

 Rike, Le Roy, 111., March 13, 1917. 



Kindly discontinue writer's advertisement In 

 your "For Sale" columns, rendering bill for 

 same at the next Issue. We are pleased to ad- 

 vise that the results have been satisfactory and 

 that we will be glad to Insert another advertise- 

 ment July 1 for the fall heating system over- 

 hauling. — James V. Colpitts, Philadelphia. Pa.. 

 March 8. 1917. 



When you hear a man complain of the 

 cost of advertising you can be pretty 

 certain he spends a good bit of money 

 elsewhere than in The Review. 



WHO'S WHO? 



It is entirely proper that trade prices 

 be not given to those who are not en- 

 gaged in the trade as a means of liveli- 

 hood. The Review does its part by con- 

 fining its circulation, as closely as is 

 humanly possible, to those in the busi- 

 ness. But it would take a Solomon to 

 draw the line. When the government 

 took its last census it classed as florists 

 all those deriving twenty per cent of 

 their annual incomes from the sale of 

 plants or flowers. It is not a rule the 

 wholesale florist could apply. But it 

 shows why there is request for whole- 

 sale prices from those whose status is in 



doubt. There never is any question 

 about the man who is wholly in or whol- 

 ly out; the question is as to the price 

 to be made the man who is only on the 

 edge of the trade, part florist, part some- 

 thing else. 



A BIT OF OLD ROME. 



At the National Flower Show in 

 Philadelphia in March, 1916, the Public 

 Ledger offered a handsome silver cup 

 for the best arrangement of flowers 

 suitable for photographing and repro- 

 duction as the front page of the Sunday 

 pictorial section of that paper. The 

 prize was awarded to Charles Henry 

 Fox and the picture was a beautiful 

 feature of the Public Ledger of April 6, 

 1916. It is the title page of this 

 spring's Show Number of The Review. 



PARIS GREEN STILL GOING UP. 



Paris green advanced 2 cents per 

 pound in the wholesale market during 

 the last week. The causes for the rise, 

 given by the manufacturers, were the 

 high cost and smallness of the supplies 

 of basic materials, principally arsenic. 

 The new price basis for kegs is 34 cents 

 per pound. 



SYSTEM FOR FLORISTS. 



It has been said that the flower busi- 

 ness is a personal affair, not susceptible 

 of systematizing like a department 

 store; that the spasmodic character of 

 the demand and the feast-or-famine na- 

 ture of the supply make it impossible 

 to do business by rule. But we don't 

 see why it should. 



System has been the principal means 

 by which large establishments have been 

 developed in other lines of production 

 and merchandising and it seems im- 

 probable that any florist's business will 

 develop beyond the limit of one man's 

 capacity for detail or become a per- 

 manent asset until system has been ap- 

 plied to it. 



That system has not sooner become 

 a factor in the flower business has been 

 due to three factors: The good 

 margin of profit, which made conserva- 

 tion of resources unnecessary; manage- 

 ment by the founder, who was familiar 

 with all details, and limited size of the 

 business, permitting personal attention. 

 But even a small business without sys- 

 tem bumps along with many a jolt and 

 jerk that would be avoided if a little 

 thought were given to avoiding the 

 rough places. And today the florists who 

 are making the best prog^'ess are the 

 ones who are studying system. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



The railroad strike, which lowered 

 threateningly last week, sent a thrill 

 through the shipping business March 16 

 and 17. Out-of-town buyers, afraid of 

 not receiving their shipments, clamored 

 frantically and all possible means were 

 used to get orders out. City business, 

 though not so keen as shipping trade, 

 was nevertheless beyond complaint and 

 March 19, in fact, ^aw one of the best 

 days the trade has enjoyed in some time. 

 Reports on St. Patrick's day business 

 vary somewhat in character, but the 

 prevailing opinion has it that business 

 was good; better, however, in the ship- 

 ping line than with the local trade, the 

 day seemingly being observed more in 

 other cities than here. Many entertain- 



