26 



The Florists^ Review 



December 7, 1916. 



BstsUlshed, 1897. by a. L. GBANT. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Poblishino Co« 



630-660 Oaxton Bulldlnsr, 



neSoutb Dearborn St.,0hlcacOk 



Tele., Wabash 8196. 



Be^stered cable addrees, 



Florvlew. Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 8. 1897, at the post-office at Ohl- 

 caffo, IIU, under the Act of March 

 S. 1879. 



Sabflcrlptlon price, $1.00 a year. 

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



Adyertislng rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trada ad* 

 Tertlalnc accepted. 



(1 



NOTICE. 



It is imposaible to flpuarante* 



th« insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any advertisement 



unless instructions are receiTed 



BY 4 P. M. TUESDAY. 



80CIETT OF AHEBICAN FLOEISTS. 

 Incorporated by Act of CoBrress, Marck 4, 1001. 



Officers for 1016: President, Daniel MacBorie, 

 Ban Francisco; vice-president, B. 0. Kerr, Hens- 

 ton, Tex.; secretary, John xennf, 63 W. 28th 

 ■t.. Mew York City; treasurer, J. J. Hess. 

 Omnka. 



Officers for 1017: President, Bebert 0. Kerr, 

 Hooaton, Tex.; vice-president, A. L. Ifiller, Ja- 

 maica, N. T.; secretary, John Touns, 63 W. 28th 

 St., New Tork City; treasurer. J. J. Hess, 

 Oniaha, Neb. 



Thirty-third annual convention. New Tork, 

 N. T., Anrut 21 to 24. 1017. 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Eeview brings results. 



The messenger boy is the motor's 

 only competitor in the delivery of flow- 

 ers. The horse is long since out of it. 



This is a good season for the intro- 

 ducers of novelties, but someone should 

 wake up the man who expects the buyers 

 to elbow each other at his counter. It 

 takes a lot of noise to attract attention 

 even to the best of things in these busy 

 times. 



Ruscus in the natural, imported from 

 Italy for dyeing, is on the short side this 

 year, but those who hold quantities of it 

 say the higher prices, which are only 

 about ten or twelve per cent above those 

 of last year, represent only the higher 

 ocean freights they had to pay this sea- 

 eon. 



There are so many named varieties of 

 pompon and so-called single mums on 

 the market that no man knows their num- 

 ber, but the testimony of wholesale and 

 retail florists is that the list niiijht be re- 

 duced to a score without loss to their in- 

 terests. Not all the new sorts are an 

 acquisition marketwise. 



Ix spite of the large number of fine 

 new pompons that have come on the mar- 

 ket in the last few years, there seems to 

 be no more popular market variety than 

 the bronze most commonly known as Mrs. 

 Beu. The Chrysanthemum Society of 

 America says this is correctly called 

 Frank Wilcox, having been introduced 

 under that name so many years ago that 

 its origin is shrouded in the mists of 

 antiquity. 



In printing this issue of The Eeview 

 four and one-half tons of paper were 

 consumed. It is only a regular issue. 

 The Christmas Number comes next 

 week. 



It seems quite possible that this season 

 bouquet green may be scarce and high 

 enough to keep it out of the grocery 

 stores and turn the trade back to the 

 florists, where it belongs. 



Some people may not have considered 

 that the fluctuations in the price of steel 

 are of importance to florists, but steel 

 has become one of the principal mate- 

 rials used in a modern greenhouse — and 

 the rise in price now has reached 100 per 

 cent as compared with before the war. 



VIEWED FROM APAB. 



Beginning January 1 the subscription 

 price of The Review will be $1.50 per 

 year, but prior to January 1 subscribers 

 have the privilege of renewing at the 

 old rate of $1 per year. The fact that 

 large numbers are taking advantage of 

 the opportunity to secure the paper at 

 the old price for several years is an 

 eloquent testimonial to the value of 

 The Eeview and at the same time it is 

 an assurance that the circulation of the 

 paper in 1917, instead of declining on 

 an increase in rate, actually will in- 

 crease. This is a sample of the letters 

 that come: 



In sending my check for five years' subscrip- 

 tion to The Review, I "want to say it •will be 

 worth a hundred times this much to me.- — D. H. 

 Green, Boonsboro, Md., November 28, 1916. 



With the readers holding such a 

 view, is it any wonder that the adver- 

 tisers get good results? (Like this: 



Kindly discontinue our advertisement In The 

 Review, as the results have far exceeded our 

 expectations this year. — Jones, The Holly 

 Wreath Man, Milton, Del., November 28, 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. 



RAISING THE RETAIL PRICES. 



If florists who sell to the public do 

 not raise their retail prices they are 

 extremely short-sighted. In the first 

 place, everything the florist buys, with 

 the possible exception of cut flowers, 

 has gone up in price and the florist must 

 keep pace or lose his profit. In the 

 second place, the increases in price have 

 been so general that the public has be- 

 come accustomed to it and the man 

 whose prices are not advanced actually 

 is regarded with suspicion; either he has 

 reduced the quality of his merchandise 

 or else he was overcharging under the 

 old conditions. 



The retail florist who makes a reason- 

 able advance in his prices finds it actu- 

 ally is easier to sell at the new prices 

 than at the old ones. It is a general 

 experience in the business world that it 

 has been so easy to sell goods since 

 established price ranges wore destroyed 

 in retail channels that everybody en- 

 gaged in trade is astonished that they 

 ever allowed such habits to become part 

 of their existence. It has been the 

 common experience of sellers that sales 

 have come easier since the circle of 

 prices began to swing into higher 

 ranges. Nothing save a study of human 

 nature itself can explain the phenom- 

 enon. The average man whose wages 

 are raised will at once buy the thing he 

 wants or thinks he wants, and his wife 

 and children will do the same. That is 

 where the human equation comes in. 



Once a man is convinced that his wages 

 are higher than they have ever been he 

 ceases to balk at the habits of a life- 

 time, whereby he paid so much for a 

 shirt and no more, so much for his shoes 

 and not a cent over it and so much and 

 no more for the dozen carnations he 

 takes home of a Saturday night. 



LOCK UP THE POISON. 



In reporting several cases of acci-' 

 dental poisoning from drinking nicotine 

 extract by mistake, The Eeview has 

 cautioned its readers to keep the insec- 

 ticide under lock and key. This week's 

 issue contains an obituary note with 

 regard to an employee who drank nico- 

 tine with, the coroner said, suicidal in- 

 tent. Probably no amount of caution 

 will put an end to these occurrences, 

 but a greater degree of caution will re- 

 duce their number. 



LOSSES ARE DISTRESSING. 



Although the autumn has been 

 marked by unusually mild weather, its 

 very mildness appears to have been the 

 undoing of the azalea importers, as the 

 one cold snap which swept over the 

 country about three weeks ago seems 

 to have caused widespread loss. Al- 

 most every importer of azaleas who had 

 shipments on the rail at that time re- 

 ports more or less damage by frost. In 

 many instances shipments ordered made 

 in refrigerator cars appear to have 

 been forwarded from New York in ordi- 

 nary box cars, with the result that 

 plants in cases placed near openings 

 were frosted, while those in cases not 

 so exposed escaped. Under the circum- 

 stances there is no uniform proportion 

 of loss, the unpacking of practically 

 every case being necessary to deter- 

 mine the condition of the plants in it. 



Last year, also, the losses on im- 

 ported plants were heavy and a se- 

 rious condition has been created. The 

 consignee cannot break even if he 

 shoulders the loss and no more can the 

 shipper, while the insurance companies 

 in Holland withdrew from the field 

 after last year's experience. 



A more dependable system of han- 

 dling plant imports is necessary for the 

 extension of the business if, indeed, not 

 for its existence. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Thanksgiving trade was this year, by 

 general consent, the best the Chicago 

 wholesale flower market has ever en- 

 joyed. Large quantities of stock were 

 disposed of and, although prices were 

 not so good as some might have wished, 

 a fair price for stock was nevertheless 

 obtained. After the shipping orders 

 were out there was no decline, as buy- 

 ing continued right up until closing time 

 Thursday, by which hour every house 

 in the market was practically cleaned 

 out. Not a yellow mum could one find 

 anywhere and only a few white and 

 pink mums were left. All other stock 

 also cleared well. It was evident that 

 many retailers had underestimated the 

 magnitude of the business which was 

 in store for them, for many who had 

 boon down early to do their buying were 

 back on the market again Thursday 

 morning. That the retailers as a whole 

 cleaned out their stock well is further 

 proved by the fact that city buying 

 December 1 and 2 was heavy. Indeed, 



