40 



The Florists^ Review 



August 23, 1917. 



pm 



*B7£f^ 



Established, 1897, by G. L. GRANT. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Flokists' Publishing Co., 



620-B60 Oaxton Bulldlner, 



608 South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tele., Wabash 8195. 



Registered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at the post-offlce at Chi- 

 cago, 111., under the Act of March 

 3 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.60 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.60; to Europe, $3.00. 

 - Advertising rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



NOTICE. 



It is impossible to^gruarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of anj adTortisement 



unless instructions are received 



BY 4 P. M. TUESDAT. 



800IETT OF AXESIOAV FLOKISTS. 

 Incorporated by Act of CongreH, Marck 4, 1901. 

 Ofllcora for 1917: Preaideat, Robert 0. Kerr, 

 HonatoB, Tex.; vice-prealdeBt, A. L. Miller, Ja- 

 ■alea, N. Y.; aecretary. John Toung, S8 W. 28t]i 

 ■t.. New York City; treasurer, J. J. Heaa, 

 Omaha. Neb. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Early mums have appeared. They are 

 to the florists' fall business what the 

 robin is to spring. 



The grower who has valley is for- 

 tunate, as nearly every city reports a 

 scarcity. 



Because so many people forget, it is 

 repeated here that anonymous inquiries 

 cannot receive attention. If subscribers 

 will sign their full names and addresses, 

 no incjuiry will go unanswered. 



The handsomest piece of printing that 

 comes to The Review each year is the 

 report of the board of park commissioners 

 at Minneapolis. The 1916 volume, just 

 to hand, is in keeping with the high stand- 

 ard of its predecessors. It is a >»ook of 

 164 pages, with many beautiful illustra- 

 tions. 



The annual convention of the Associa- 

 tion of American Cemetery Sujierintend- 

 ents will be held at Barre, Vt., August 28 

 to 31. The Barre Entertainment Associ- 

 ation, organized to arrange for the con- 

 vention, announces that the visitors will 

 be tlie guests of the New Englantl superin- 

 tendents at Boston the last day of the 

 convention. 



An object which should be in the mind 

 of every liorist not so situated is the 

 accumulation of sufficient capital so that 

 bills can be paid monthly with unfailing 

 regularity. There is just one way to reach 

 such indei)endence — liy spending a lit- 

 tle less than one's income, by conserv- 

 ing the })rofit. About the hardest thing 

 most of us have to do is to keep from 

 spending at least as fast as we make, 

 but it is worth the effort. 



Dutch bulbs, a large part of t"he sea- 

 son's supply, are on the water, according 

 to the New York office of the Holland- 

 America line, which this week notified 

 several importers that one of its steamers 

 sailed from Rotterdam August 18 with a 

 cargo consisting principally of bulbs. 



EVERYBODY HAPPY. 



An advertiser who has been carrying 



a 1-inch business card in The Review 



writes to double his space, and says: 



The results have been very gratifying. — Mis- 

 souri Pottery & Supply Co., St. Louis, Mo., Au- 

 gust 10, 1917. 



When you hear a man complain of 



the cost of advertising you can be 



pretty certain he spends a good bit of 



money elsewhere than in The Review. 



CONFIDENCE. 



"The retail florists of the United 

 States never were more confident of a 

 good season's business." The speaker 

 was B. Eschner, president of the M. 

 Rice Co., Philadelphia, at the New York 

 convention this week. "I am not talk- 

 ing generalities," continued Mr. Esch- 

 ner, ' ' but I have the fact in the most 

 definite and exact form — in the largest 

 number, size and value of orders for fall 

 delivery ever on the books of our house. 



"These orders do not come from any 

 one part of the country, but from all 

 over the United States. Practically 

 every traveler we employ has had a 

 record summer trip. It seems to me to 

 be the most conclusive evidence that 

 business will be good with florists this 

 fall — it isn't possible everybody is 

 wrong, and they all are buying more 

 heavily than ever before." 



GOOD AND BAD ACCOUNTS. 



The receiver for a St. Louis floral 

 company, in winding up its affairs^ dis- 

 covered that there were many unpaid 

 accounts on the books. The fact that 

 the company had turned its business 

 over to the court for liquidation would 

 tend to show that these accounts were 

 uncollectable. The receiver found that 

 not only were a majority of these ac- 

 counts collectable, but many of them 

 were paid promptly upon notification. 



Every account that the florist loses 

 comes out of his net profits. When credit 

 is given there is bound to be some loss. 

 But many times there would be less loss 

 if the florist would make a continuous 

 effort to get his money. That old feeling 

 that to insist on payment might "in- 

 sult" the customer and drive him from 

 the store, is not in accord with modern 

 business methods. No person can be 

 insulted if asked in a proper manner to 

 pay an account he has contracted. 



Care in extending credit and vigi- 

 lance in collecting accounts are two 

 prime requisites in the successful con- 

 duct of the florists' business. 



SUBSTtl^UTION AN ERROR. 



In the early days of the trade th«^-e 

 may have been justification in substi- 

 tuting when one could not fill an order 

 exactly as given, but today the case is 

 entirely different. 



When local supjdies were small it may 

 have been excusable, or even eouimend- 

 able, to send something that might 

 ])ossibly be iised in place of the stock 

 ordered. Now, with much larger local 

 supplies, it is to be presumed that a 



man who orders a definite article wants 

 just that thing; if a substitution is to 

 be made he can make it himself from the 

 stock he naturally has on hand or can 

 get at home. Or, if the stock ordered 

 is not for immediate consumption, the 

 man who orders is entitled to the chance 

 to say whether or not the substitution 

 will be satisfactory to him. It is not 

 enough to give value for money re- 

 ceived. If the exact stock cannot be 

 supplied, the money should be returned 

 or a chance given to order a substitute. 



The other day a florist sent 2,000 jnilos 

 for 150 strong 3-inch smilax plants, be- 

 cause he needed just that. When ho 

 opened the box it contained 316 smilax 

 plants from 2-inch pots. They may have 

 been worth the same monev, but tJiey 

 did not serve the same purpose— the 

 buyer had plenty of that grade of stock 

 right at home. 



When a substitute is shipped it fre- 

 quently is a total loss; the plants are 

 worthless if returned and the express 

 company will not accept them for re- 

 turn unless the victim of the substitu- 

 tion will guarantee the return charges. 



PLAYING ONE HORSE. 



Diffused advertising in the several 

 trade journals of one field is considered 

 an extravagant method in that there is 

 a certain amount of overlapping of cir- 

 culation. It is called the duplication 

 of advertising, as distinct from the rep- 

 etition of advertising. 



Therefore the cleverest advertisers 

 concentrate their advertising in the 

 dominant trade journal of the trade 

 they want to reach. Instead of back- 

 ing every horse in the race, they are in- 

 terested in one, the leading publication, 

 the one with the largest circulation and, 

 tlierefore, the most advertising. 



Of The Review there have been 



printed not less than 12,000 copies 



of any issue in the last two years. How 



many florists do you think there are 



who do not subscribe to The Review? 



The Review also leads in advertising 



volume because it brings business to the 



advertiser at the lowest cost per sale, 



like this: 



Ple.Tsp do not print my ad of snapdrnjrons in 

 tlip next issue, as I requested. I am sold out and 

 the orders are still cominK in. I must say, 

 for <|uick results, advertise in Tlie Ueview. — 

 L. H. Curry, Koseville, 111., August ir.. 1917. 



When you hear a man complain of the 

 cost of advertising, you can be ])retty 

 certain he spends a good bit of money 

 elsewhere than in The Review. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Taken by and large, the condition of 

 the wholesale cut flower market is not 

 unsatisfactory. It is true that city 

 trade the last week has lieen exceed- 

 ingly quiet, but the demand from out of 

 town, which has been strong and 

 steady, easily made up for the lethargy 

 of the loc^l trade. 



Probably the ])rliKii)al feature of the 

 market is the great quantities of asters 

 which arrived during the last week. 

 Although it was said that many plants 

 had been killed this year by stem-rot, 

 the tremendous quantities which ar- 

 rived indicate that the damage done 

 could not have been extensive. Al- 

 though much inferior quality stock is 

 arriving, there are certainly enough 

 good asters to meet the demand, which 



