28 



The Florists^ Review 



Januauy 11, 1917. 



STS* 



Established, 1897, by G. L. GRANT. 



W% 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Publishing Co., 



620-S60 OaxtoQ Building. 



608 South Dearborn St., Ohlcago. 



Tele., Wabash 8195. 



Refiristered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicairo. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at tlie post-office at Ghl- 

 catro. 111., under tlie Act of March 

 8.1879. 



Subscription price, $1.50 a year. 

 To Canada, $2 60; to Kurope. $3.00. 



Advertising rat<>s quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertislngr accepted. 



NOTICE. 



It is imposaible to guarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of anj advertisement 



unless instructions are received 



BY 4 P. M. TUESDAY. 



SOCIETY OF AMEBIC AN FLOKISTS. 



Incorporated by Act of Congress, March 4, 1901. 



Officers for 1917: President, Robert C. Kerr, 

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

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

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

 Omaha, Neb. 



Thirty-third annual convention. New York, 

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



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



Why is the carnation falling behind in 

 the selling in flower stores of the bettor 

 class? 



Geraniums are selling splendidly 

 again, at wholesale, of course. The large 

 demand for young stock indicates general 

 confidence in a big spring business. 



There is a demand for an effective 

 soil pulverizing machine that can be man- 

 ufactured cheaply enough so that it can 

 be sold at a reasonable price and yet give 

 a margin of profit on which the maker 

 can afford to push it. 



The idea of one man is to trim his 

 service to fit his prices, while another 

 will give the best that is in him and 

 charge accordingly. Whether the men 

 are florists or publishers, it is easy to 

 tell which will make progress. 



One of the noteworthy features of the 

 Christmas and New Year 's trade was the 

 increase in telegraph delivery orders. 

 There will be a tremendous volume of 

 these some day; it needs only for flower 

 givers to know of the service to use it. 



The number of inquiries that come to 

 The Review requiring no other advice 

 than to use one of the standard nicotine 

 extracts according to the directions on 

 the can makes it clear the manufacturers 

 of these commodities are not thoroughly 

 tilling their field. 



Practically all the available wood of 

 Ophelia rose was used last year for prop- 

 agating purposes and there still was a 

 shortage of young stock. There will be a 

 strong demand for the variety again this 

 year, for many growers who have not suc- 

 ceeded with any other rose are doing well 

 with Ophelia. 



INDIANAPOLIS HOTEL BATES. 



In view of the hardware convention 

 to be held in Indianapolis at the same 

 time as the meeting of the Americ&n 

 Carnation Society, January 31 and Feb- 

 ruary 1, it has been deemed advisable 

 by the reception committee to have the 

 rates of the Indianapolis hotels pub- 

 lished, so that reservations may be 

 made in due time. There are plenty of 

 excellent hotel rooms in Indianapolis, in- 

 cluded in the following: 



Grand hotel, rooms ?1 and up; rooms with 

 bath, $1.50 and up. 



Washington hotel, rooms with bath, $1.50, $2, 

 ?2.50 and $3. 



Claypool hotel, single room without bath, 

 $1.50; with bath, $2. 



Severin hotel, room with shower bath, $1.50; 

 room with tub bath, $2 to $3.50 (European 

 plan). 



John Bertermann, Chairman. 



WE GET A SURPRISE. 



In the autumn it became necessary to 

 announce that after December 31 the 

 subscription price of The Review would 

 be $1.50 per year. With it vpas coupled 

 the statement that those whose subscrip- 

 tions did not expire until after that 

 date might renew before January 1 at 

 the old rate of $1 per year. At once 

 renewals began to come in, a fairly 

 steady stream of them. 



But in the closing week of the year 

 the stream became a flood, with a deluge 

 January 2, when subscriptions for 1,054 

 years were received — in the last ten 

 days of the offer a total of 2,934! 



There proved to be so many new sub- 

 scriptions in the unlooked-for inunda- 

 tion that 12,200 copies of the issue 

 printed January 3 did not sufiice to fill 

 them all! Many of the new subscrip- 

 tions could not be started until the is- 

 sue of January 11. 



Beginning with this i.ssue the press 

 room order will be to print 12,500 copies 

 of each issue. 



Many of those who took advantage of 

 the renewal offer wrote letters of ap- 

 proval like these: 



I think The Review is one of the best papers 

 poing nnd would not be without it. — Paul do 

 >'ave. Fall Kiver, Mass., December 29, 191C. 



I consider The Review mv best hired ninn. — 

 II. P. Myers, Delphi, Ind., "December 28, I'JK!. 



We could not get along without The Review 

 and it will he cheap at the advanced price, as 

 every issue contains something especially inter- 

 esting and instructive to us. — Weisell Green- 

 house Co., Ashtabula, 0., December 27, 1916. 



We often find an item carrying a suggestion 

 that is worth to tis, far removed from the active 

 centers, much more than the i)rice of a year's 

 subscription. For instance, this week's issue 

 carries an idea we are going to use in our new 

 store that we feel will be one of the big things 

 for us. — Forest Park Floral Co., Coffevville, 

 Kan., December 30, 191G. 



We think The Review is a very good paper, as 

 It keeps right up to date on all matters pertain- 

 ing to the business and our dealings with adver- 

 tisers In The Review always have been satis- 

 factory. — (1. L. Curry & Rros., Valencia, Pa., 

 December 29, 1910. 



So it is not surprising to find in the 



letters about advertisements the same 



story from the other viewpoint, like 



this: 



I have had much success advertising In The 

 Review and consider It the best paper for the 

 trade. — John Stammes, Kew York, December 

 31, 191C. 



The two insertions sold everj-thing I had. 



II. M. Morris, Rantoul, 111., December 28, 19i(!. 



We wish to take this opportunity to assure 

 you that owx dealings with your company have 

 l>een very sntisfnctor>- and that results obtained 

 from advertisements in your p.Tper were gratify- 

 ing. We wish you continued success during 

 1917. — Lochncr Bros., St. Louis, Mo., December 

 31, 191C. 



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. 



HOW CAN WE SAVE? 



There is no Adamson law for florists, 

 at least not for the man who is in 

 business for himself. The country flo- 

 rist rises at dawn and works under glass 

 till dark, after which he does his book- 

 keeping, correspondence and other inci- 

 dental details. In the middle of the 

 night he gets up and fires the boiler. 

 To such a man a law making eight 

 hours a day's work seems like an ex- 

 tract from Puck, so what will he think 

 of the proposal to gain another sixty 

 minutes of daylight next summer by 

 setting all the clocks ahead one hour? 



Daylight saving is one of the things 

 which have been adopted in Europe be- 

 cause of the war. Originally proposed 

 for the purpose of ending the day 's 

 work an hour farther before sunset 

 by starting it an hour nearer sunrise, 

 belligerent Europe adopted it as a 

 means of prolonging the day's work. 

 In every way it has operated so suc- 

 cessfully that there will be a deter- 

 mined effort to move American clocks 

 ahead next spring. It is an innovation 

 which probably will meet with the ap- 

 proval of all the members of the trade 

 who work in cities, but it holds zero 

 in interest for the gardener who labors 

 from sunup to sundown, with never 

 time to look at the clock. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Last week found the market experi- 

 encing the usual after-the-holiday reac- 

 tion, with both shipping and local trade 

 dull. By January 6, however, business 

 began to pick up, gaining strength 

 steadily up to January 8, on which day 

 a brisk business was done, especially in 

 shipping. On the whole there has been 

 plenty of stock to meet all orders, al- 

 though at times roses have been hard 

 to find in the desired length or variety, 

 and as the demand for other stock was 

 not pressingly great, prices naturally 

 slumped somewhat. 



Probably the stiffest market was on 

 American Beauties, which are still in 

 short supply. Stock coming in was 

 readily disposed of and quotation prices 

 were but little deviated from. Russells 

 again arrived in larger quantities, due 

 to the few bright days around the first 

 of the year, and the quality was also 

 improved. Prices, however, dropped 

 slightly. Roses in general are not over- 

 plentiful, but the principal scarcity is 

 on the shorter lengths of pink varieties 

 and on Ophelias. The demand for 

 shorter lengths now far exceeds that 

 for specials. Carnations have arrived 

 in large quantities and the latter ]iart 

 of last week found the wholesalers 

 struggling to avoid a glut. January 8 

 the situation was somewhat improved, 

 but wholesalers were, nevertheless, will- 

 ing to accept almost any reasonable nffer 

 and some large lots were shipped out 

 of town at cheap rates. 



Easter lilies are much more plentiful, 

 while valley remains the same as usual, 

 enough but not too much. Sweet peas 

 and double violets also arrive in larger 

 supply, the former being moved in 

 large quantities, though at somewhat 

 lower prices. The quality is good. Ca- 

 lendulas and mignonette are in small 

 supply. Paper Whites also are be- 

 ginning to shorten up. The quality 

 on the whole is not above the average. 

 Stevia is rapidly disappearing, while 



