August 30, 1917. 



The Flori$ts^ Review 



18 



View of the Trades' Display at New York with the Exhibit of Robert Craig Co., Philadelphia, in the Foreground. 



special committee to complete the rais- 

 ing of the funds. 



Credit and Collection Bureau. 



Patrick Welch presented a lengthy re- 

 view of the discussion which led up to 

 the appointment of a committee on a 

 bureau of credits and collections. The 

 need for such an institution in the trade 

 is well known and Mr. Welch's paper, 

 prepared originally to be presented to 

 a meeting of the committee August 20, 

 set out, not only the need, but the 

 methods by which the need can be met. 

 The committee had held three meetings 

 during the convention, but was unable 

 to recommend a definite plan to the 

 society. It recommended, however, 

 that a committee of five be appointed 

 by the president, with full power to 

 obtain a charter in any state in the 

 Union, if it is deemed advisable to or- 

 ganize a corporation to handle the 

 work; or to deal with any established 

 credits and collections agency if the 

 committee so desires. 



The recommendation was adopted and 

 the members of the committee say that 

 they do not propose to let the matter 

 slumber for another year, but to provide 

 the trade at once with a dependable 

 source of credit information and collec- 

 tion assistance. 



The War and the Trade. 



Robert Craig was on the program to 

 open a discussion on "The Florists' 

 Business in Its Kelation to War Times." 

 He said the war brings many unusual 

 conditions and addressed himself par- 

 ticularly to the possibilities of finding 



substitutes for the stock the importa- 

 tion of which is shut off. He said C. W. 

 Ward has invested $350,000 on the 

 Pacific coast in a nursery principally 

 to produce azaleas and other plants 

 heretofore imported. Mr. Craig passed 

 around photographs of Mr. Ward's 

 place, several of which have appeared 

 in The Review in connection with ar- 

 ticles on the subject. Mr. Craig said 

 he considers the so-called French 

 hydrangeas have wonderful possibili- 

 ties and predicted that in them we shall 

 find an excellent substitute for azaleas. 

 He also recommended the trial of an- 

 tirrhinums and campanulas as pot 

 plants. As a substitute for boxwood he 

 suggested small native evergreens. 



Max Schling spoke of numerous 

 plants witli bright variegated* foliage, 

 saying that an azalea never was other- 

 wise than a risky thing to sell to a cus- 

 tomer ignorant of its care. He said 

 that psychology is a wonderful factor in 

 salesmanship, and that we can make 

 customers take any view we wish by 

 merely making the suggestion that a 

 flower is suited to a certain purpose. 



J. F. Ammann, of Edwardsville, 111., 

 spoke of the patriotic and sentimental 

 side of the war, urging that no sacrifice 

 we as business men can make is equal 

 to the sacrifice made by the men who go 

 to France. 



E. G. Hill told of correspondence 

 with business associates in England, 

 who report that demand is good, that 

 prices are good and that the principal 

 trouble is in the supply of labor and 

 material. He predicted that our own 

 experience will be ft^ less endurable 



than that of the trade in England, who 

 are of good cheer. 



F. C. W. Brown, of Cleveland, spoke 

 of satisfactory business conditions in 

 Canada and asserted his confidence of 

 continued active demand here. 



Mothers' Day. 



O. J. Olson, chairman of the Mothers' 

 day committee, was not present, but he 

 sent a report, read by E. J. Fancourt, 

 showing the collection of $571 at a cost 

 to the committee of $516.50, leaving a 

 balance of $54.50. The report expressed 

 the belief of the committee that 

 Mothers' day offers the greatest oppor- 

 tunity now available to the trade, and 

 that its value came with the general ac- 

 ceptance of the couplet (it was coined 

 in The Review office) that makea for 

 the use of all flowers: 



In Mother's memory, flowers white; 

 For Mother at home, flowers bright. 



The committee expressed its regret at 

 the small success which had attended its 

 efforts to raise money to be turned over 

 to Miss Jarvis, the originator of Moth- 

 ers' day. 



The report was followed by a sharp 

 discussion, a number of those present 

 being unable to harmonize the repeated 

 requests, amounting almost to demands, 

 that the trade raise money for Miss 

 Jarvis, apparently for her personal use, 

 while at the same time that lady and 

 her Mothers' Day Association decry and 

 forbid the commercialization of the day. 

 Among those who spoke on the avibjeet 

 were S. S. Skidelsky, George Asmus, 

 Robert Kift, A. Farenwald, P. Welch, 

 Frank Gorly, F. L. Atkins and David 



