46 



The Florists' Review 



Dbcehbbb 14, 1916. 



Esteblished. 1897. by a. L. GRANT. 



Pnbllahed every Thartftlay by 

 Thb Florists' Publishing Co» 



. 630-660 Oaxton Bulldlngr, 



008 South Dearborn St., ChlcagOb 



Tele.. Wabash 8196. 



Beglstered cable addrees, 



Florvlew. Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at the post-office at Ohl' 

 cago, IIU, under the Act of March 

 1. 1879. • 



Subscription price, $1.00 a year. 

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



Advertising rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertlalnff accepted. 



n 



NOTICE. 



It ia impossible to i^uarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any advertisement 



unless instructions are received 



BT 4 P. M. TUESDAY. 



SOCIETY OF AMEBICAK FLOKISTB. 

 Incorporated by Act of CoDcrcH, March 4, 1901. 



Officers for 1916: Presldeat, Daniel MacBorle, 

 Ban rranclsco; t1c«- president, B. 0. Kerr, Hous- 

 ton. Tex.; secretary, John Tounc, B3 W. 28th 

 St., New York City; treasurer, 3. J. Heas, 

 Omaha. 



Officers for 1917: President, Bebert C. Kerr, 

 Honston, Tex.; ylce-presldent, A. L. Miller, Ja- 

 maica, N. Y.; secretary, John Young, 63 W. 28th 

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

 Omaha, Neb. 



Thirty-third annual conyentlon. New York. 

 N. Y., August 21 to 24. 1917. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Glass now has advanced 100 per cent 

 as compared with prices of a year ago. 



That most enduring of plant's for in- 

 door use, the aspidistra, is one of the 

 scarce items, the principal supply being 

 imported from Belgium. 



One of the shortages with which grow- 

 ers soon will have to contend is that of 

 nicotine extract, the insecticide manu- 

 facturers in many cases being consider- 

 ably behind their orders. 



Where formerly the call was for early- 

 blooming varieties of chrysanthemums, 

 that demand seems to have been fully 

 met and the inquiry now is for late vari- 

 eties, to bloom after Thanksgiving. 



The fifth of the series of bulletins of 

 the American Dahlia Society made its 

 appearance last week. It contains sev- 

 eral interesting articles and the consti- 

 tution and by-laws of the organization. 



W. J. Keimel says he has kept careful 

 records for a sufficient length of time to 

 convince him that the rose grower who 

 pinches and makes a big plant will in 

 the end cut as many flowers as the one 

 who does not pinch, but who cuts short 

 stems. 



The trend of things is toward infor- 

 mality, which perhaps accounts for the 

 fact that most of the new exhibition 

 mums are of the reflexed type, but for 

 commercial purposes the incurved vari- 

 eties, like Bonnaffon and Champion, will 

 be hard to displace. 



Bouquet green probably never was so 

 scarce as it is this season. 



The premium list for the carnation 

 show at Indianapolis January 31 has been 

 issued. Copies may be had by addressing 

 A. F. J, Baur, secretary, Indianapolis. 



The man who has good azaleas this 

 season will be improvident if he rushes 

 them into flowelt and onto the market. 

 After such losses as have occurred in 

 transit, azaleas are sure to be excellent 

 property this season and should be held 

 for better retail prices than usual. 



There are many reports to the effect 

 that the chrysanthemum season of 1916 

 was one of the best ever. While prices 

 were low in most wholesale markets dur- 

 ing the first half of November, those 

 who grow for their own retail trade seem 

 generally to have had a continuously 

 brisk demand at good prices, while the 

 Thanksgiving clean-up in the wholesale 

 markets was unexpectedly good. 



SALVE. 



It may have been noted that the text 



pages of The Review are not filled with 



fulsome flattery for advertisers, the 



chief reason being that buyers neither 



will pay for a paper of that character 



nor read it if it is sent free. 



Enclosed find a three years' sabscription to 

 your valuable paper. I can't see how any wide- 

 awake florist can do without The Review. — 

 Charles Beyer, St. Louis, Mo., December 5, 

 1016. 



Whether or not the publication is 



bought to read is the real test of its 



value as an advertising medium: 



I wish to thank The Review for what It has 

 (Ump for me in the last year; it has sold over 

 2,000 bales of sphagnum moss and about the same 

 quantity of peat. — Joseph H. Paul, Manahaw- 

 kin, N. J.. December 6, 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. 



CHAEGING FOR PACKING. 



One of the results of the increasing 

 cost of doing business is the trial in 

 this country of the European method 

 of charging purchasers for packing and 

 packing materials. Practically all Eu- 

 ropean houses, in the plant line and in 

 other lines, always have charged for 

 boxes and other packing material and 

 sometimes have charged for labor also. 

 But in this country plantsmen hereto- 

 fore have done the packing without 

 charge. In some other lines of business 

 it has been customary to charge for 

 boxes or bags and present unprecedent- 

 ed conditions have resulted in a num- 

 ber of plantsmen announcing that in 

 the future they will make a charge for 

 packing. They mean thej will charge 

 for packing materials, not necessarily 

 cost, but something to help meet the 

 greatly increased expense. The pio- 

 neers have added 50 cents for each $10 

 worth of goods. 



Not many in the trade will object 

 to moderate charges for packing. It is 

 quite well understood that nearly all 

 packing materials, especially paper, 

 have advanced gieatly in price and the 

 cost is a serious item to large shippers. 

 But when a man charges for packing, 

 his customers may fairly demand good 

 packing. If the average American 

 house would charge five per cent for 

 packing and do the packing as well as 

 most of the European exporters do it, 

 it would be the cheapest part of the 

 purchase price of the stock in the pack- 

 age. 



DO IT NOW. 



Those who supply greenhouse build- 

 ing materials are unanimous in urging 

 florists to act at once in ordering every- 

 thing they need for 1917 additions or 

 replacements, basing their course on 

 their belief that building materials will 

 become much higher in price than they 

 now are. 



Prices of practically all commodities 

 have risen so rapidly in the last year 

 that it is a matter of general amaze- 

 ment. It seems quite true that the 

 prices of greenhouse materials have 

 risen no more, if as much, as other com- 

 modities have done. Not taking into 

 consideration the shortage in any one 

 line, it seems fair to suppose that any 

 further advance in commodity prices 

 will carry greenhouse building mate- 

 rials along with it — and in nearly all 

 lines of business it is the confident 

 assertion that the top has not yet been 

 reached. In several lines of greenhouse 

 building material there are well known 

 special reasons for an advance in prices. 

 By buying now at present price levels, 

 a grower is quite likely to save some 

 money; there is scarcely any chance 

 that he could save money by waiting 

 until toward spring. 



As to the policy of building green- 

 houses at the present price of materials, 

 it is not so much a question of what a 

 greenhouse will cost as it is what the 

 grower is able to take out of it after 

 it is built. The man who has a mar- 

 ket at a satisfactory price can afford to 

 build at any price. 



GOING UP. 



Pretty nearly everybody knows what 

 lias happened to the price of paper dur- 

 ing 1916 — the increase has been such 

 as to compel a revision of calculations 

 by all large users of paper. That the 

 necessity is recognized is shown by the 

 following press dispatch: 



Boston, Mass.. Dec. 7. — The Association of 

 National Advertisers at its annual meeting to- 

 day adopted resolutions approvinfr "reasonable 

 increases in the selling price of periodicals and 

 newspapers" because of the higher cost of white 

 paper. 



Some time ago Tlio Review announced 

 that after December ."^1, 1916, its sub- 

 scription price will be $1.50 per year. 

 Up to the last day of this month and 

 year subscriptions may be renewed at 

 the old rate of $1 per year. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



The last week was, on the whole, a 

 fairly satisfactory one in the whole- 

 sale flower market. As demand went 

 down, stock shortened considerably, 

 with the result that prices did not fall 

 so abruptly as they otherwise would 

 have done. City trade was considerably 

 slackened by the unfavorable weather 

 which prevailed during the greater part 

 of the week, but shipping business 

 came in briskly and again demon- 

 strated its value. 



The advent of cold weather has 

 further shortened the supply of all va- 

 rieties of roses. The demand continues 

 fair and stock is clearing well at mod- 

 erate prices. Russells are in especially 

 heavy demand. Indications are that 

 the highest prices ever attained by this 

 variety will bo reached this Christmas. 

 American Beauties continue scarce, ana 

 clear well at good prices. The supply 

 of carnations is large, but they are 



