January 11, 1917. 



The Florists' Review 



19 



salesmen to undersell the storeman. 

 Nothing is further from the truth. To 

 start with, the grower never forgets to 

 remind the commissionman that he must 

 have high prices in order to pay his 

 coal and labor bill. The commission- 

 man who ignores this soon finds himself 

 without shippers. That alone prevents 

 the wholesaler from sacrificing stock to 

 anyone. However, Mr. Commissionman 

 receives his flowers in the morning and 

 holds them all for what he thinks a fair 

 price, no matter which class the buyer 

 belongs to. Perhaps he does not clean 

 up that day and is compelled to carry 

 some flowers over until the next day. If 

 so, and the flowers are still in good con- 

 dition, he tries to get the regular price, 

 but if they finally have to be sold at 

 cheap prices to save dumping them, it 

 at least gives the grower something. It 

 will be seen from this that, except in 

 rare cases, the street men do not get 

 fresh flowers, or if they do they pay 

 full price. It would be the height of 

 foolishness to sell the faker good stock 

 at a low price when there is a chance 

 to sell it to someone else at a higher 

 price. That isn't human nature. 



A Partial Remedy. 



"Now as to a remedy. I frankly feel 

 that there is none, but I would suggest 

 one thing the retailers could do to rem- 

 edy this to a great extent and fully be- 

 lieve it is the only partial solution there 

 is. I also firmly believe it would be 

 the cheapest advertising a florist could 

 get. Buy up these flowers during glut 

 periods while they are still good (at a 

 cheap price, of course) and donate them 

 to customers and would-be customers. 

 Thus a box of a dozen carnations or 

 roses, including delivery expense, would 

 be not more than 1.5 cents. Could you 

 beat that as an ad?" 



^ 



Mi 



A 



DM* 



□ sio 



r 



Floor Plan for Trades* Display at the New York Convention of the S. A. F. 



THE NEW YORK EXHIBITION. 



Secretary John Young, of the S. A. F., 



has completed the plan of the floor 

 space for the August convention at New 

 York. The layout is shown herewith 

 and Secretary Young will supply a 

 larger copy with the rules, on request. 

 lie believes every foot of space will 

 be sold. 



"With reference to the Convention 

 Garden Mr. Young says: "It will be 

 the opportunity of a lifetime. Do not 

 delay in reserving space if you are in- 

 terested. The rate for space is only 10 

 cents per square foot. The garden will 

 be located in a most favorable section 

 of the Botanical Garden, Bronx park, 

 where the exhibits will be seen by thou- 

 sands of interested people daily. The 

 ])lantings will be under the supervision 

 of Dr. N. L. Britton, director of the 

 Botanical Garden." 



WILL LIMIT IMPORTS 



irrs<iirrsvirrs\irrSfir)«Yir«Yir«virrs>(ir<rsvirrsvir7Svirrsvi^ 



NEW YORK FIRM GIVES NOTICE. 



Will Accept No New Business. 



As a result of the unusual conditions 

 growing out of the war, importers have 

 had an extremely diflScult time, espe- 

 cially with plant shipments, but their 

 embarrassments have not been empha- 

 sized so forcefully as is done in an an- 

 nouncement, dated January 8, in which 

 McHutchison & Co., New York, state 

 that they will accept no 1917 import 

 orders for Belgian plants except from 

 those who imported through them last 

 season — that it is their purpose to re- 

 duce the volume of the business. 



The Notice. 



Here is the letter sent to customers: 



.Tan. 8, 1917. 



TIiouRh stiipmpnts from Belgium wore made 

 every sprinc and fall since the war began, the 

 tliree circnlnr letters we sent you last fall 

 Kave you some idea of the difficulties, uncer- 

 tainties and expense we had to contend with to 

 get them. What the conditions will l)e next 

 spring and fall, if the war continues, it is im- 

 possible to foresee. 



Up to now our organization in Belgium is un- 

 damaged and complete. Araucarias, kentias, 

 bays, azaleas, etc., are being grown and re- 

 ceive the same care from the regular staff 



of men as in normal times. Our i)n(kinK and 

 .sliipping facilities are iine(|unled in Itelglunt, 

 as is proven by our Belgian firm shipping tliis 

 fall over '2,(W) cases of plants within two 

 weeks after tlie German authorities issued ship- 

 ping permits. 



Vp to now sliipments were made with the 

 consent of tiotli the British and tiernian aiitliori- 

 ties. We expect to got these consents again 

 for next season's sliipments, and the canal 

 lioats will likely also be permitted to continue 

 to carry the shipments from Ghent to Rotter- 

 dam. Any difficulties that arise next season 

 will likely come after the shipments leave 

 tilient, and of course no Belgian can learn 

 iuiything about conditions which prevail in the 

 world outside of Belgium. 



Last fall most of the shipments arrived in 

 good condition. Some shipments arrived late as 

 a result of war con<litions and there was some 

 loss on them, mostly due to the congested 

 condition on our railroads, but whatever profit 

 was made (and the profit was large in man.v 

 instances) was made by the purchasers. Our 

 Belgian firm can make no profit under present 

 conditions, nor can we — our extra expenses in 

 getting tlie shipments through the lines and 

 nuickly forwarded from here puts the matter 

 of profit for us entirely out of the question. 



In view of these facts we will book orders 

 next season for Belgian stock from our regular 

 customers only — those who imported through 

 us from Belgium last season. We figure that 

 hy cutting down business to about one-third 

 of normal we can have shipments made by fast 

 passenger steamers and devote all our energy 

 and capacity to the service of those firms who 

 usually depend upon us for their Belgian goods. 

 We enclose special prices of Arthur de Meyer, 

 Ghent, Belgium, for spring and fall importa- 

 tion. Prices are lower than before the war 

 began, excei)t on some sizes of kentias. The 



stock will be as good and packed as well as In 

 normal seasims, but so there will be no later 

 misunderstandings we will clearly define the 

 conditions of sale, as we cannot issue a 1917 

 Belgian catalogue — nothing printed, or anything 

 written in Knglish can pass in or out of Belgium. 



As in normal times, all import orders are 

 booked under De Meyer's catalogue (191C) con- 

 ditions, the purchaser accepting shipment at 

 Ghent nurseries and it traveling from tliere 

 at his risk and expense. As it may he impos- 

 sible to cancei an order once placed, we re- 

 quire a deposit of twenty-five per cent with 

 order to guarantee acceptance of shipment at 

 destination. No order will be reported to Bel- 

 gium until these conditions are accepted and 

 the deposit made. All shipments are covered 

 by l)oth marine and war risk insurance to New 

 York, though it is of course impossible to get 

 any insurance to cover risks of damage to 

 perishables to destination. 



We have outlined the situation frankly to 

 you; you know what riskx you take, what 

 chances of large profits are yours. We will be 

 l>leased to book your order and urge you to 

 mail it as soon as jmssible, as the mails take 

 much longer to get into Belgium than the ship- 

 ments to come out of there under present con- 

 ditions. 



It is probable McHutchison & Co. 

 liave handled more Belgian stock than 

 any other importing firm. 



What It Means. ' 



Tlie principal importance to the trade 

 lies in the fact that a shortage of plants 

 is indicated — if the largest and jiossibly 

 the best equipped importer feels the 

 necessity of reducing the volume of 

 business to, as suggested, one-third the 

 normal size, other importers will be 

 likely to act along similar lines and in 

 the aggregate it will mean a large re- 

 duction in the supply of stock made 

 available for the trade in this country. 

 It is fairly certain that little if any 

 jirofit has been made on Belgian plants 

 the last two years, but their absence 

 will leave a void to be filled with other 

 stock. 



Elwood, Ind.— F. W. Blubaugh, who 

 opciied a store November 25 on one of 

 F^hvood's best business corners, says 

 that from the start business at the store 

 has been good, with the daily sales in- 

 creasing each day. 



Laurel, Del.— L. M. Smith & Co. al- 

 ways have found Mistletoe one of the 

 most satisfactory of white chrysanthe- 

 mums and have this season been pleased 

 to obtain a yellow sport. It is like the 

 parent in being a fine incurved flower 

 of good size, with stiff stem and a well 

 clothed neck. The color is almost the 

 sjinie as that of Chrysolora. Good blooms 

 can be had as late as January. 



