20 



The Florists^ Review 



Decembbu 28, 1916. 



THE ULTIMATE NOTICE. 



ffr 



Eatabllshed, 1897. by G. L. GRANT 



Published every TlmrscJay by 

 Thk Flokists' Puuusm.No Co., 



620-560 Gaxton ButldlnK, 



608 Soutb Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tele., Wabash 8196. 



Registered eable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at the post-office at Chl- 

 ca«ro. 111., under the Act of March 

 3,1879. 



Subscription price, $1.^0 a year. 

 To Canada, $2 50; to Euroiie. $3.00. 



Advertlslnsr rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertlBlng accepted. 



n 



NOTICE. 



It ia impossible to guarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any adTertisement 



niiless instructions are receiTod 



BY 4 P. M. TUESDAY. 



SOCIETY OF AMEBICAN FLOKISTS. 



Incorporated by Act of Congress, March 4, 1001. 



Officers for 191G: President, Daniel MacRorie; 

 San Francisco; vice-president, It. C. Kerr, Hous- 

 ton, Tex.; secretary, John Young, 53 W. 28th 

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

 Omaha. 



Officers for 1017: President, Robert C. Kerr, 

 Houston, Tex.; vice-jresident, A. L. Miller, Ja- 

 maica, N. Y. ; secretary, John Young. 53 AV. 28th 

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

 Omaha, Neb. 



Thirtv-third aniuinl conventiou, New York, 

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



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings resulcs. 



There are reports that Ophelia rose in 

 many places has been making enormous 

 plants but that the growths came blind, 

 thereby disappointing the growers who 

 counted on it for Christmas. 



Our good friend, A. Jablonsky, of 

 Olivette, Mo., conducts a page of inter- 

 esting chat on all manner of subjects in 

 the St. Louis County Herald. The 

 Christmas issue was decorated with Mr. 

 Jablonsky 's portrait. 



This trade is like a rubber water bot- 

 tle, with an elastic body capable of great 

 expansion on special occasions, but with 

 a narrow neck through which the contents 

 can be discharged in only a limited 

 amount within a given time. 



There is absolutely no reason for sim- 

 ilar prices for articles of dissimilar value. 

 Everybody knows some carnations would 

 be dear at 3 cents where certain others 

 might be moderately priced at 4 cents; 

 why, then, not insist on getting each grade 

 at what it is worth? The reasoning might 

 well be applied to the purchase of every- 

 thing florists use in the business. 



Some persons consider that it is a joke 

 to report, year after year, the "best 

 Christinas ever"; that such reports are a 

 strain on credulity. Not at all! The 

 production of flowers in this country in- 

 creases every year; the new glass to bo 

 erected this spring will necessitate a still 

 wider distribution of flowers at Christmas, 

 1917. Only the cash returns to the indi- 

 vidual can decrease; on the whole the 

 business done must increase. 



Otherwise, the Last Chance. 



Because of the tremendous rise in the 



cost of paper The Review was forced to 



announce that after December 31, 1916, 



the subscription price will be $1.50 per 



year, instead of $1, as in the past: 



Enclosed Is my renewal; The Review Is worth 

 double the price. — W. F. Uichter, Cullman, Ala., 

 December 15, lOlC. 



But it was announced, also, that any 



member of the trade could extend his 



subscription at the old rate for as many 



years as he pleased by acting before 



January 1: 



Enclosed is a check for $7 for extension of sub- 

 scription seven years from date of expiration 

 (June 7, 1017), as we find The Review indispen- 

 sable. — Lyie E. Severance, Lansing, Mich., 

 December 7, 1916. 



So this is the last chance; no subscrip- 

 tion post-marked later than December 

 31, 1916, will be accepted for a full year 

 unless accompanied by a remittance of 

 $1.50: 



I am sending $3 for three years, to get In 

 ahead of the rise. — ^E. B. Washburn, Pasadena, 

 Cal., December 16, 1916. 



The assurance of even larger circula- 

 tion than ever, thus given for 1917, in- 

 sures the continuation of prompt re- 

 turns to advertisers: 



For $2.25 The Review sold fo^r me 32,000 bulbs 

 and I received many Inquiries for other stock 

 and for special prices on larger quantities than 

 I could supply. I have received orders from 

 almost all parts of the United States. This is 

 the first time I have advertised in The Review, 

 but you can see for yourself that you will be 

 sure to hear from me whenever I have stock to 

 oflfer. — Earl Edgerton, Lansing, Mich., Decem- 

 ber 16, 1016. 



When you hear a man complain of 

 the cost of advertising you can be pretty 

 sure he spends a good bit of money else- 

 where than in The Eeview. 



"WATCH YOUR WORDS." 



There is something particularly irri- 

 tating in the guard's admonition to 

 "Watch your step," but it is a wise 

 thing to heed. Also, if everyone who 

 writes a little could have printed on 

 his blotter, "Watch your words," it 

 might do a lot of good. For he is a 

 rare man who can put his thoughts on 

 paper as he would have them under- 

 stood by the person to whom they are 

 addressed. 



There are, of course, the men who do 

 not care — their case is hopeless. Of the 

 man who does not care how he sounds, 

 any more than how he looks or acts, 

 nothing further need be said. This is 

 of and for the man who cares but has 

 not thought. 



Among florists, probably as among 

 others, the most common fault of cor- 

 respondents is ambiguity or incomplete- 

 ness, the lack of definiteness which 

 leaves the recipient to guess at what 

 the writer meant. It is the cause of 

 many misunderstandings. 



But the most aggravating correspond- 

 ent is the one who, particularly in mak- 

 ing a complaint, employs unwarranted 

 language. In a recent instance which 

 came to the attention of The Review a 

 buyer wrote a first-class wholesale 

 grower, upon the arrival of a first ship- 

 ment, that he evidently had "fallen 

 among thieves and robljers"; that he 

 demanded his money back, although he 

 had no reason to expect he could get 

 it out of "a bunch of crooks." 



Does any reader marvel that the man 

 who got that letter was too angry for 

 several days to trust himself to 

 answer? It was an extreme case, but 



there are many complaints put in such 

 intemperate language that they bar ad- 

 justment and make further business 

 relations impossible. 



But it is not all one-sided. In an- 

 other instance an inquiry, as to why 

 goods .'ad not arrived or letters been 

 answered, brought a buyer a reply to 

 this effect: "The goods havQ^^one 

 forward or would return your money; 

 don't annoy yourself by sending us any 

 more orders." And that same letter 

 contained the good, practical informa- 

 tion that "You can catch more flies 

 with molasses than with vinegar!" 



Still another case, but of a different 

 nature: A retailer of the highest 

 standing sent a telegraph order for a 

 funeral spray to cost $6. In the course 

 of time came a letter, "I hope you did 

 not rob that order, because these were 

 millionaires and the spray was quite 

 insignificant beside others there." Did 

 he "rob" it? What a way of calling 

 attention to a possible error! Do you 

 wonder the first retailer could see 

 nothing in it but an insult? 



A business house boasting a careful, 

 concise, considerate correspondent 

 should treasure him as one of its price- 

 less possessions. 



STANDARDIZINa TRADE TERMS. 



A committee of the Ornamental Grow- 

 ers' Association is preparing a report in 

 the endeavor to standardize trade terms 

 and trade practice in the nursery busi- 

 ness. This report would apply also to 

 all horticultural trades and professions, 

 covering particularly florists', seeds 

 men's and fruit growers' activities. In 

 compiling a list of trade terms both as 

 to description of plants in catalogues, 

 grading of plants in the field, and for 

 sale, shipping tags and marks, foreign 

 trade terms, import and export custom 

 and usage, the committee desires to make 

 a report as comprehensive as possible. 



Harlan P. Kelsey, chairman commit- 

 tee on standardization, whose address is 

 Salem, Mass., says that so far he has 

 "failed to locate any published list of 

 such trade terms other than those given 

 in the current catalogues of the day. If 

 anyone knows of any such lists and will 

 kindly give me the references it will aid 

 the committee in its work. A list of 

 trade terms in any line of business would 

 help us out considerably." 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. , 



The Christmas business was the 

 largest and, on the whole, the most satis- 

 factory the Chicago wholesale cut flower \ 

 market has ever seen. Everything ■* 

 seemed to combine to foster a good busi- 

 ness. The weather for the greater part 

 of the week was bright and not too cold, 

 helping the growers to get their crops in 

 on time and making for a good local 

 demand. The marked shortage of aza- 

 leas and other blooming plants made 

 buyers look to cut flowers to fill their 

 needs. Orders booked in advance were 

 unusually numerous, and from out-of- 

 town they kept coming steadily, so that 

 it was midnight December 2.'? before the 

 shipping came to an end. December 22 

 was the big day. 



There is some trouble^ now on hand, 

 however, because of the unprecedented 

 express congestion, which caused delay 

 on nearly all shipments. It brought some 

 stock in too late to be Pold, and many ship- 



