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THANKSGIVING MAKES 

 ANOTHER GAIN 



It is easy^o see that flowers are iecoming a necessity in the lives of an 

 increasingly large number of people, as, with food prices the highest ever 

 known, the sales of decorations for the table have beaten the record of any 

 previous Thanksgiving. 



.Ml 



HOSE florists who chart their sales, so that 

 they need not base their plans on tricky mem- 

 ory, found at the opening of this week they had 

 need of the largest quantity of stock ever pro- 

 vided against Thanksgiving orders. In the an- 

 nals of the trade Thanksgiving has been known 

 for years as "an extra good Saturday" and 

 the week as "one with two Saturdays." The 

 estimate will have to be revised. Thanksgiving 

 has been on the up grade for several years. In 

 1914 we attributed the increase to a special 

 degree of thankfulness due to the recent shock 

 of the war in other lands. In 1915 we credited 

 the gain to the wave of returning prosperity, 

 a prosperity that is at high tide today. 



Flower-buying Is a Habit. 



But in 1916 let it be said that flowers have 

 become so fixed as a part of the needs of the 

 American people that they hold their place re- 

 gardless of the rising cost of living that has 

 an appreciable influence in other lines. 



In the provision trades they once spoke to 

 us patronizingly, commiseratingly, because, as 

 they said, flowers were "a luxury"; it was to 

 be expected that a florist would have harder 

 sledding than almost anybody else, for almost 

 everything was more necessary 

 than flowers. But we are en- 

 titled to look with sympathy 

 on, to deal gently with, the 

 man who says that now. Poor 

 fellow; he doesn't know! 

 Flowers today will grace many 

 a Thanksgiving table that 

 sees no turkey! Flow- 

 ers have become a ne- 

 cessity — if not to all 

 the people, at least to 

 a great many more 

 than ever before, and 

 not by any means all 

 of them wealthy. 



We will agree that at Thanks- 

 giving it is a case of "just a 

 few flowers for the table." But 

 there are over 20,000,000 tables 

 in the United States! So is it 

 any wonder the last Thursday in 

 November is one of the impor- 

 tant special flower days? Not 

 always has been, but is. 

 So we florists have a dou- 

 ble reason to be thankful 

 — the same reason everyone 

 else has and the extra rea- 

 son that ours is one of the 

 few trades that profits 

 increasingly by this hol- 

 iday, a holiday which 

 steadily becomes more 

 Sabbath-like. 



It is apparent florists 

 e V o ry where 

 have had a 



CHRISTMAS NUMBER 



OUT DECEMBER 14th. 



good Thanksgiving. There were plenty of flowers; they could 

 be offered at moderate prices; everybody bought some. It 

 was quite turning the tables on the provision man, who had 

 to pay so much for his stock he could sell less than usual 

 even though he cut his profit thin. 



Anyone reviewing the Thanksgiving business will be sure 

 to note that it was the moderate-priced stock that was in 

 demand, a little better grade than usual, perhaps, but still 

 the "sensible" length. It always is so when people buy 

 flowers for their own use. 



At Christmas one can count with reasonable 

 certainty on the call being for the more costly 

 grades of stock, but for Thanksgiving short to 

 medium roses, carnations and pompon mums are 

 the big sellers. 



A Difference in Demand, 



"You know before a customer tells you," 

 commented a thoughtful retailer the other day, 

 "what is to be done with the flowers selected. 

 The long-stemmed Beauties, the 4-foot Eussella 

 and the largest mums are gifts for somebody 

 who might think one 'cheap' if more useful 

 flowers were sent. But the flowers to go to 

 one's own home are 12-inch roses, a few carna- 

 tions or a bunch of pompons." 



One of the noteworthy features of this 

 Thanksgiving was that the 

 trade increased, the quantity 

 of flowers sold made a gain 

 practically without special ef- 

 fort on the part of the trade. 

 What would it have been had 

 everybody pushed the way 

 Mothers' day is pushed? Busi- 

 ness conditions have 

 been so good this au- 

 tnimn that many flo- 

 rists dealing with the 

 public have relaxed 

 their efforts to sell, 

 which makes the largo 

 volume of business 

 week look all the 



v^'/y 



done this 

 better. 



But here a word about Christ- 

 mas, now only a few days dis- 

 tant. Don't let Christmas go by 

 without some special advertising 

 of flowers for use as gifts. Let 

 it be known, also, that flowers 

 and plants are one com- 

 modity that still can be 

 bought at moderate prices 

 — at the prices one is accus- 

 tomed to pay, for the ad- 

 vances in this trade are 

 nothing like the in- 

 creased prices of other 

 Christmas gifts. It is 

 an argument we can 

 make much of. We can 

 give splendid 

 values and 

 make friends. 



