12 



The Florists^ Review 



Janoabt 18, 1917. 



and the great blocks of slat houses now 

 going up at the Eden Nursery, with the 

 hundreds of thousands of stock cuttings 

 now in full, healthful growth, seem to me 

 to be an assurance of an immense in- 

 crease in the demand for American- 

 grown Indian azaleas in the near future. 

 The cultural methods at Eureka are 



practically the same as at Ghent. Leaf- 

 mold and plenty of it; pure rain water 

 in abundance; an even growing tempera- 

 ture; a rigid selection of grafting stocks 

 and vigorous scions, and a steady, vig- 

 orous, healthful growth from graft to 

 fully budded plant finished for ship- 

 ment, are the essentials. 



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THE CHICAGO PLAN 



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FLOWERS FOR VALENTINES. 



How All Florists Can Help. 



The publicity plan of the Chicago Flo- 

 rists ' Club, announced in these columns 

 last week, has developed rapidly under 

 the direction of Chairman F. Lauten- 

 Bchlager and has become national in its 

 scope. 



The Chicago Florists' Club now in- 

 vites organizations of florists everywhere 

 to join with it in its St. Valentine's day 

 advertising. The plan of the Chicago 

 committee is as follows: 



A heart-shaped red stamp, 2x2^4 

 inches, has been designed for the use of 

 florists who can reach the public. The 

 idea is to put one of these bright red 

 stamps on everything that goes out of 

 the store during the early days of Feb- 

 ruary. The stamp should be on every 

 statement that is mailed February 1. It 

 should be on every parcel that is deliv- 

 ered. It should be on every piece of ad- 

 vertising matter. In addition, a large 

 sized reproduction has been made, ly^x 

 7% inches, to be used on store windows 

 and in the store. Both the stamp and 

 poster are gummed and ready for use. 



The wording is, "Let Your Valentine 

 Be Flowers; Leave Your Order Now." 



The More the Merrier. 



This plan of advertising could not by 

 any possibility be otherwise than good. 

 If one florist uses it, it will be good for 

 that one florist; If ten florists use it, it 

 will be ten times better, and the further 

 the plan can be carried the better it 

 will be for the trade as a whole. It is 

 reaching the flower buyers in the right 

 way. The suggestion ' ' Let your valen- 

 tine be flowers" is psychologically cor- 

 rect. It is a plan for increasing the 

 use of flowers for a special purpose. It 

 is an effort by the retail end of the busi- 

 ness to help that end of the business, 



but it deserves the encouragement of all 

 .others in the trade for the reason that an 

 increased demand at retail will be felt 

 throughout trade channels. 



Codperation Desirable. 



If only one florist in a community uses 

 the Chicago stamps it will be good for 

 that florist, but it will not make a ripple 

 in the trade in a big city. To get good 

 action a considerable number of florists 



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The Chicago Club's Valentine's Stamp. 



should use them. It already is assured 

 that several of Chicago's largest florists 

 will help the work along and the com- 

 mittee in charge wants to put the thing 

 through in a number of other cities. It 

 is urged that where there is no florists' 

 club to take action, or no time for action, 

 individual florists get together, pool 

 their orders and take advantage of the 

 low prices that are to be obtained by or- 

 dering the stamps in quantity. As with 



everything else in the line, the greater 



the quantity produced, the cheaper it is 



possible to make the prices. 



The committee will deliver the stamps 



at these prices: 



100 stamps | 0.76 



500-stampB 8.00 



1,000 stamps 6.00 



2,000 stamps 0.00 



6,000 stamps 20.00 



10,000 stamps 36.00 



15,000 stamps 60.00 



25,000 stamps 70.00 



50,000 stamps 126.00 



100,000 stamps 200.00 



500,000 stamps 600.00 



1,000,000 stamps 800.00 



The posters are 5 cents each, or 50 

 cents per dozen. 



F. Lautenschlager, 444 West Erie 

 street, Chicago, is in charge for the 

 Florists' Club. He will fill orders or 

 answer inquiries. 



In the Future. 



If it develops that sufficient quantities 

 of the stamps can be sold to reimburse 

 the club for the $100 appropriated for 

 the use of the committee, a similar ef- 

 fort will be made for the next special 

 flower day. Any profits which may re- 

 sult are to be used for future publicity 

 work. No one is to get an individual 

 profit except the profit which is to come 

 from the increase in sales that will come 

 with a first-class success. 



COST ACCOUNTING IS VITAL. 



[The following Is an extract from an address 

 by Edward N. Hurley, chairman of the Federal 

 Trade Commission, at Chicago January 14, x817.] 



We are a new country and a few years 

 ago we did not have the keen compe- 

 tition that we now have and the neces- 

 sity for watching the new details of our 

 business was not required. But, gentle- 

 men, the days for "happy-go-lucky'* 

 business methods are past. We now 

 have keen competition and we must real- 

 ize that we are going to have even 

 keener competition. 



It is recognized that a business man 

 must be concerned not only with the ci- 

 ficiency of his own business but ;'th 

 the efficiency of his competitor's busi- 

 ness, and realize that unhealthiness any- 

 where in his industry will react seriously 

 on him. 



Ignorance a Menace to All. 



It is a fact well understood among 

 business men that the general demorali- 

 zation in a large number of industries 

 has been caused by firms who cut prices 

 not knowing what their goods actually 

 cost. The cost of selling, which is 

 equally important, often is almost lost 

 sight of. 



Are those who are cutting prices right 

 and left, irrespective of their costs, fair 



Lath Frames and Slat Houses are Used for Azaleas* Although Azalea Indica is Practically Hardy in the Climate of Eureka. 



