22 



The Rorists' Review 



Septembeu 6, 1917. 



fffl 



Established, 1897, by G. L. GRANT. 



Publlslieti every Thursday by 

 The FLoitisrs' Puulishing Co., 



620-560 Oaxton BulldlnK, 



608 South Dearborn St., Clilcago. 



Tele., NVabash 8195. 



Registered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter' 

 Dec. 3. 1897, at the post-oHice at Chi- 

 cago. 111., under the Act of March 

 3 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.50 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.50; to Kurope. $3.00. 



Advertising rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad 

 vertlslng accepted. 



"■"■'■ ""■"•■ ■ 



NOTICE. 



It is impossible to g^uarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any advertisement 



unless instructions are received 



BY 4 P. M. TUESDAY. 



S0CIET7 OF AHEBICAN FLOBISXS. 

 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. Hess, 

 Omaha, Neb. 



Officers for 1918: President, Charles H. Totty, 

 Madison, N. J.; vice-president, Jules Bourdet. 

 St. Louis; secretary and treasurer as before. 



Thirty-fourth annual convention and Fifth Na- 

 tional Flower Show, St. Louis, Mo., April 6 to 

 15, 1918. 



Eesults bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



The antirrliinuin rust seems to liavo 

 been giving many growers trouble this 

 summer. 



Thkkk jirobably never has l>een a year 

 when September fouiul the retailers as a 

 class so conlident of good business soon 

 to come. 



It is an old .saying that the only dif- 

 ference between the rut and the grave is 

 the length and breadth, so it is wisdom to 

 keep out of the rut. 



Th?: West Floral Co., London, Out., has 

 been forced by increase of business to 

 double the size of its store since the war 

 began. Tliis should be reassuring news 

 to tlie trade in tlie United States. 



Private gardens are said to have pro- 

 duced vegetables valued at .$350,000,000 

 this summer. Those of the vegetable 

 gardeners wlio usually grow flowers will 

 be extra liungry for blooms this fall. 



The first 1918 calendar to reach The 

 Review arrived August 28, from A. W. 

 Warren, of Corry, I'a.. who each year 

 sends liis customers, and customers only, 

 he says, the jirettiest calendar he is alile 

 to find. The 1J>18 subject is W. Haskell 

 Coffin's "The Girl of My Dreams." 



TiiK trade might as well make up its 

 mind to do without European or other 

 imported stock for the duration of flie 

 •war. With eml)argoes on every side and 

 freight space difficult to ])rocure, the 

 risks are greater than the probable ])rofit 

 for the man viho does not protect himself 

 with the aid of much experience. 



UNANIMITY. 



The old grouch was dying, 



"Are you ready to go?" asked the 

 minister. 



"Yes," was the reply. 



"Then that makes it unanimous." 



The florist now is ready to buy goods 

 for a good fall and winter business. 

 Wiien tiie man with something to sell 

 the trade has placed his ad in The Re- 

 view telling the florists that he is ready 

 to sell, that makes it unanimous, with 

 results for the advertiser like this: 



Kindly discontinue my carnation ad in The 

 Review. I had splendid results; in fact, I sold 

 out. — Jacob Schulz, Louisville, Ky., August 24, 

 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. 



F. T. D. AT STATE FAIKS. 



That the annual state fairs offer an 

 exceptional opportunity for acquainting 

 the public with the trade's facilities for 

 the telegraph delivery of flowers is the 

 ])elief of Samuel Seligman, who has 

 written the following letter to Albert 

 Pochelon, secretary of the F. T. D.: 



Having the welfare of F. T. D. at heart, you 

 may tind it of interest to follow out my siisiRes- 

 tion in taking advantage of the many state fairs 

 throughout the United States this fall. I en- 

 close a complete list of these state fairs, their 

 dates, etc. 



I sincerely believe the representative florists 

 in the towns or cities in the vicinity of these 

 state fairs will gladly cooperate with you by 

 putting over one of the greatest F. T. I), pub- 

 licity stunts without any actual financial ex- 

 pense other than giving up some of their em- 

 ployees' time for the state fair. The florists 

 have enough prestige in their local communities 

 to get the local Western Union or Postal Tele- 

 graph manager to cooperate in placing some sort 

 of telegraph booth, and in this way explain to 

 the public the wonderful possibilities and the 

 actual service rendered by the F. T. D. in de- 

 livering flowers the world over. Not only this, 

 but the live, wide-awake florist can work up an 

 eflfective telegraph F. T. D. window during state 

 fair days, without interfering with his usual 

 Moral displays, as in these days he is in want of 

 an attractive window, and be can follow out 

 such ideas and F. T. D. windows as heretofore 

 shown in the trade paper. 



In The Review for August 2 the lead- 

 ing article had to do with F. T. D. 

 windows and a half-page illustration 

 showed a Kemble & Goodman state fair 

 display readily adaptable to either use. 



A SORE SPOT. 



Even as a certain kind of grocer 

 substitutes saccharine for sugar, or 

 some clothiers sell cotton mixtures to 

 the man who pays for all wool, so some 

 florists are said to have their own little 

 get-rich-quick game. The pastime pop- 

 ularly known as "getting away with 

 it" may bring a fat ])rofit at the mo- 

 ment, but anybody with half a mind 

 knows that it will eventually lead a 

 business to the graveyard of dead pat- 

 ronage. Methods of the circus grafter 

 fortunately are knoAvn for what they 

 are, but the unfair tactics of some mer- 

 chants do not even have this commend- 

 able feature of carrying a red light. 



One of the lighter habits of a few 

 retail florists is to use stale, poor stock 

 when the l)uycr jtays for the best in the 

 market; and some deluded tradesmen 

 seem even to consider it proof of their 

 (deverness to be able to dress up old 

 stock so that the goods look, in the eyes 

 of the buyer, worth the price. It is im- 

 material what is the reason — whether 

 the use of poor stock is forced because 

 of tlie lack of good stock, whether the 

 wholesale sujiply is too far away or 

 wliether the retailer is guilty of greed — 

 for as long as the customer pays for 



something he does not get, lie is not 

 dealt with fairly. Of course, when the 

 customer discovers that he is being vic- 

 timized, he tries the ' ' other fellow. ' ' 

 One retailer loses a customer, another 

 retailer gains one — the operation that 

 separates business success from plain 

 business. 



Of all the black sheep, the one who 

 specializes in peddling poor values as 

 good values is the most damaging to the 

 florists' business. He provides the trade 

 in general with a succession of black 

 marks. Funeral work is white meat for 

 such as he, probably for the reason that 

 in many cases the poor keeping quality 

 of old or inferior stock rarely has a 

 chance to develop its true character be- 

 fore the eyes of the customer. 



Years ago, the story goes, one retailer 

 jiarticularly adept in "tricks of the 

 trade" substituted red peonies for 

 American Beauty roses in a $50 funeral 

 wreath, thinking that no one, not even 

 the buyer, would know the difference. 

 The retailer got his money in advance, 

 for it was a collection fund, but a few 

 hours later, while thinking what a 

 clever bird he was, he was called up by 

 the buyer, who demanded to know why 

 red peonies were used instead of Amer- 

 ican Beauties. The florist kept the 

 money, but he lost forever the patron- 

 age lie had received from that source. 



Of course there are comparatively 

 few men in the trade who do not deal 

 fairly and those few seldom are with us 

 long. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



The arrival of September has brought 

 the customary signs of the reawaken- 

 ing of demand. Business is noticeably 

 better than it has been in recent weeks, 

 although it has been a summer of more 

 than usual activity. The shipping 

 trade, especially, has shown a pleasing 

 increase, but the city retailers also are 

 buying more freely and the market is 

 in a healthy condition. 



The supply of stock is not especially 

 large for this time of year. Last week 

 gladioli began to pile up and there were 

 times when the retail stores that like to 

 sell their flowers at a few cents per 

 bunch were able to do business 

 for the first time this season. 

 Otherwise the market was not so 

 heavily supjdied in any line that it 

 was necessary to sacrifice values. Quite 

 the contrary, in nearly all lines prices 

 \^ere well maintained, demand being 

 fully equal to the supply of good stock. 



With September there has come a 

 considerable increase in the supply of 

 chrysanthemums. Golden Glow is seen 

 in considerable quantities, with a few 

 Smith 's Advance for white. Weather 

 conditions have been favorable and the 

 quality of the stock is excellent for so 

 early in the season. The demand, none 

 too strong in August, shows considerable 

 improvement. The growers of early 

 mums are hoping for just one good, 

 sharp early frost. 



The late asters are excellent. They 

 leave no reason for hunting for carna- 

 tions, which are in extremely small sup- 

 ply. Easter lilies are abundant, but are 

 selling steadily because they are the 

 general utility flower between seasons. 

 Valley is in moderate supply, equal to 

 the somewhat increased demand. Cat- 

 tleyas continue on the short side, being, 

 indeed, a negligible item. 



