24 



The Florists' Review 



Septkmbeu 20, 1917. 



fffi 



Established, 1897. by G. L. GRANT, 



Publlahed every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Publishino Co., 



620-S60 Oaxtoa Building:, 



608 South Dearborn St., Chlcagro. 



Tele., Wabash 8196. 



Registered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

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

 cago, 111., under tlie 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 (guarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any advertisement 



unless instructions are received 



BT 4 P. M. TUESDAY. 



SOCIETY OF AMEBIOAH FLOBISTS. 



Incorporated by Act of Congress, March 4, 1901. 

 Officers for 1917: President, Robert 0. Kerr. 

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

 maica, N. Y. ; aecretary, John Young. BS W. 28tb 

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

 Omaha, Neb. 



Ofllcen for 1918: President, Charles H. Totty, 

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

 St. Louis; secretary and treasurer as before. 



Thirty-fourth annual convention and Fifth Na- 

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

 IB, 1918. 



KESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Don't object to paying for good pack- 

 ing — but insist on having good packing. 



How long will it be before the trade 

 is looking to California and the south 

 for palms, instead of to Belgium? 



There will be a large increase in the 

 production of the so-called French hy- 

 drangeas this year, because of their 

 amenability to early forcing to take the 

 place of azaleas. 



The man who does things a little more 

 painstakingly than his competitors never 

 has to seek long for customers. Those 

 who grow plants for the trade would do 

 well to remember it. 



The question of getting the usual sup- 

 ply of Manetti stocks this autumn is 

 beginning to worry the rose plant spe- 

 cialists. Labor shortage in England has 

 reduced the quantity available for export. 



The S. a. F. publicity program was 

 the subject of a leading article in last 

 week's issue of Printers' Ink, the most 

 widely read publication for advertising 

 men. The article was perhaps the first 

 of the many publicity by-products of the 

 undertaking. 



"The luxury trades are unusually ac- 

 tive," reports a big commercial agency; 

 "the people have money and are buying 

 things they want." As everything else 

 costs more than usual, including flowers 

 in a good many places, there seems to be 

 no reason for not charging what things 

 are worth. 



PLEASE NOTE. 



Each week a number of letters con- 

 taining advertising instructions reach 

 The Review while the paper is on the 

 press — just a few hours earlier and they 

 would have had attention a week sooner 

 than is possible. 



It is the aim to give prompt service, 

 but to secure it advertisers should note: 

 "It is impossible to guarantee the in- 

 sertion, discontinuance or alteration of 

 any advertisement unless instructions 

 are received by 4 p. m. Tuesday." 



THE THINa THAT COUNTS. 



You hire a boy to work in the green- 

 houses by his appearance and the size 

 of his ambition. But whei*:^u hire a 

 foreman it Ts his record of achievement 

 — of "things done" — that influences 

 you in your choice. 



When you advertise in a trade paper, 



you select the medium that has a record 



of achievement — of "things done." 



That is why The Eeview carries so 



much advertising — it achieves the object 



of the advertiser. Like this: 



Please discontinue our advertisement for fleld- 

 grown carnation plants, as we are all sold out, 

 thanks to The Review.— Hall's Greenhouses, per 

 B. E. H., Clyde, O., September 13, 1917. 



When you hear a man complain of 



the cost of advertising you can be pretty 



certaiu vhat he spends a good bit of 



money elsewhere than in The Eeview. 



OPTIMISM. 



The 1917 report on general business 

 conditions by a leading banking institu- 

 tion contains an item to the effect that 

 "dealers in articles of luxury report a 

 heavy trade, and in this respect repeat 

 the experience in England arising out 

 of the larger earnings of the people. ' ' 

 Here is information that should tend 

 to set at ease those who have feared a 

 possible slackness in the florists' busi- 

 ness on account of the economy wave of 

 wartimes. Another thing of optimistic 

 character is the forthcoming publicity 

 campaign of the S. A. F., one of the 

 aims of which will be to educate the 

 public to the idea that flowers should 

 not be regarded wholly as a luxury, but 

 as a necessity, and that as long as gifts 

 are gifts, flowers are suitable for all 

 occasions. 



THE PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN. 



The finance committee to raise about 

 $40,000 for the first year of the national 

 campaign of publicity for flowers has 

 been appointed by President R. C. Kerr, 

 of the S. A. F., and will at once begin 

 the task of securing the money. Sub- 

 scriptions of fixed sums per year for 

 four years are to be asked, the plan pre- 

 sented to the S. A. F. convention con- 

 templating that the publicity campaign 

 be continued for at least that length of 

 time. 



The committee, through local commit- 

 tees and florists' organizations, will, no 

 doubt, secure the money. The value of 

 publicity has become a known factor 

 in the business of selling flowers and 

 each florist believes in it. There is one 

 point, however, that should be empha- 

 sized so that the succeeding years' sub- 

 scriptions will be forthcoming. That is 

 that the contributor, especially the re- 

 tailer, should not expect too much. 



It is doubtful if he will feel the imme- 

 diate effects of this national campaign. 

 Practically no one, even though he be 

 induced to buy flowers by the magazine 



advertising, is going to walk into a lo- 

 cal flower store and say that the adver- 

 tisement he saw in such-and-suoh a mag- 

 azine influenced him to make that par- 

 ticular purchase. The test of the ef- 

 ficacy of the campaign will be at the 

 end of one or two years. Then when 

 florists go over their books and dis- 

 cover that business has been increasing, 

 a large part of that increase can be laid 

 to the publicity campaign. 



While its promoters have been com- 

 paring the campaign of publicity for 

 flowers with the advertising campaigns 

 of breakfast foods, musical instruments, 

 and the like, it would appear that a bet- 

 ter comparison would be to that of the 

 advertising of the Southern Cypress As- 

 sociation. This association is exactly 

 what the S. A. F. publicity committee is, 

 an organization designed to give pub- 

 licity to the uses and value of a com- 

 mercial article. Each manufacturer of 

 this article contributes a certain sum an- 

 nually. This money is spent in promot- 

 ing the uses of cypress lumber, not an 

 individual manufacturer's product, nor 

 for the benefit of any individual dealer, 

 but for the cypress mills as a whole. 



That is exactly what is intended by 

 the publicity committee of the S. A. F., 

 to increase the sale of flowers to the 

 benefit of the florists' trade as a whole. 



There are, of course, other features 

 of the plan which will be helps to the 

 florists. Cards, stickers, banners and 

 the other kinds of advertising matter 

 florists use will be available at cost. 



This publicity campaign is a move in 

 the right direction, but the contributor 

 should not make the mistake of expect- 

 ing a too definite or too quick return for 

 his money. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



The middle part of last week found 

 trading in the wholesale cut flower mar- 

 ket slow, both as concerns the city and 

 out-of-town buyers. With September 

 15, however, noticeably augmented buy- 

 ing on the part of local trade was no- 

 ticed. City trade held up well over 

 September 17 and although there was 

 a slight falling off September 18 there 

 was no great reason for complaint on 

 that score. 



Shipping trade has not been up to ex- 

 pectations. Outdoor flowers, w^hich are 

 still abundant, may be held partly re- 

 sponsible, as well as the fact that in- 

 creased supply of stock all over the 

 country has caused some out-of-town 

 buyers, who when stock elsewhere was 

 scarce bought in Chicago, to place their 

 orders in other markets. 



The weather, on the whole, has con- 

 tinued favorable to the growers and in- 

 creased supply and steadily improving 

 quality is to be noted. 



American Beauties continue scarce 

 and in good demand. Buying was espe- 

 cially heavy because of the Hebrew hol- 

 idays. The quality, on the whole, is 

 good. Of the other varieties of roses 

 Russell continues as the leader, followed 

 closely by Ward and the red roses. 

 Ophelia is plentiful and of good quality, 

 but is not selling so well as heretofore. 

 Rose crops have increased rapidly and 

 the supply has become larger than the 

 demand. 



Carnations are arriving in more plen- 

 tiful numbers and the quality also is im- 

 proved. Growers are now commencing 

 to cut their indoor stock. As asters 

 recede the demand grows better. 



