20 



The Florists' Review 



September 27, 1917. 



BALTIMORE. 



Jewish New Year Brings Business. 



Tlie Jewish Xcw Year last week 

 gave some of tlie stores their first rusli 

 (•f tiie sensoii. Tliis lioliday is fast l)o- 

 (•omiiijj- ;i llouer day to 1)0 reckoned 

 with, as ill the better Jewish districts 

 iiHire lh)wers are l)einj? used each year. 

 At Kol)ert Ti. Ciialiam's Xortli Avenue 

 store, for instance, tliere were two days 

 that wouhl liave compared favorably 

 witli Cliristinas or Easter. This year 

 the lioliday fell on Monday, Sej)teni- 

 l)er 17, and on the jireceding Saturday, 

 until 11 o'clock at night, the whole 

 (Jraliain staff was busy selling and de- 

 livering plants^ such as palms, ferns, 

 lie])jter jdants and Jerusalem cherries. 

 Bobert, Jr., told me the one great draw- 

 back was that there were no good 

 blooming ])lants to be had at this sea- 

 son, and blooming ])lants were one of 

 tlie items for which the call was 

 heavy. Monday was cut flower day 

 and a great many roses were used, to- 

 gether with dahlias, asters and gladioli. 

 At the Graham establishment baskets 

 of growing plants, such as are used at 

 Easter, were i>repared, and sold well. 



Saturday afternoon I was at the Leo 

 Xiessen Co. jilace and Mr. McKissick 

 told me they had so many orders that 

 they were liaving the stock shipped in 

 on Sunday, so they could get it in 

 water and give it a chance to harden 

 and be ready for the first call Monday 

 morning. 



Some of the stores which T visited 

 did not seem to know anything about 

 this holiday, and when asked if there 

 were many Xew Year orders, the re- 

 ]dy Avould sometimes be: ''We have a 

 few orders, but nothing to amount to 

 anything.'' Other stores, even with 

 extra help, had their hands full. In 

 these days when one hears so much 

 about puldicity and advertising cam- 

 ])aigns, it seems to me there is no bet- 

 ter day to start than on the Jewish 

 New Year. This is business which, 

 with little effort on the part of the 

 store ])eople, can be increased, and at 

 a season when everything is ])lentiful. 

 Anyoiu' who watched these ])eo])le buy- 

 ing flowers rould not help but realize 

 that they are jjcople who can be edu- 

 cated to be good flower customers. To 

 start with, they want the best; they 

 are quick to sec the (juality in an arti- 

 cle, and, in most cases, being good busi- 

 ness ])eople, they are reasonable and 

 not hard to coiniiKM^ that to ])rodiic(! a 

 good aiticle costs more than to ])roduce 

 an inferior one. I do not think there 

 is a holiday in the year, outside of 

 ("hristmas aiid Easter, that has the 

 ])ossibilities of the .Jewish Xew Year 

 to be worked into a big (lower day. 



Why Not Advertise the Day? 



IIowe\('r, tlie Indiday is ]iast for this 

 year, A'ith some stores doing a rushing 

 Inisiness and others doing nothing. 

 There is nothing that demonstrates, to 

 my mind, the need of team work along 

 the lines of juiblicity more than this. 

 The florists should forget trade jeal- 

 (uisies and get together, and the Flo- 

 rists ' Club would be the proper medium 

 througji which to do this. Do not think 

 of yourself as an individual, but boost 

 the trade with the whole city in view. 

 To illustrate, say that ]irior to the Jew- 

 ish Xew Year a contract had been made 

 with the company having charge of the 

 street car advertisements to carrv a 



card in each car, with the inscription, 

 "Send a floral Xew Year gift," ad- 

 vertising no one in particular. Let this 

 be the club's business, and the grower 

 and retailer alike will benefit by it. 

 (5et the day once established as a 

 flower day, and it will last. There are 

 jdenty of other ways, but the most 

 imi)ortant thing, in my estimation, is 

 coijjieration. Try to imagine the result 

 of a regiment advancing against the 

 enemy with every man on his own 

 ''hook," instead of working xxnder the 

 lirearranged plan of an officer. Let the 

 florists get together and work under 

 the guidance of a publicity expert, and 

 I am sure the results to the whole trade 

 will more than justify the expense. 



Various Notes. 



Robert L. Graham, Jr., has been 

 drafted and has passed the physical 

 examination. 



A visit to the wholesale houses last 

 week showed business on the mend. At 

 the S. S. Pennock Co. store Mr. Perry 

 was saying good-by to his son, Ward, 

 who is off to Anniston with the field 

 artillery. Mr. Perry said that business 

 had picked up during the week, that 

 there was plehty of stock and that 

 ])rices were holding good. 



At the Leo Niessen Co. store Mr. 

 McKissick said that business had been 

 fine all the week, and that if there had 

 been more really first-class stock there 

 would have been no trouble moving it, 



Tate. 



CLEVELAND. 



The Market. 



Business is quiet, with a steady sup- 

 ply of stock arriving daily. Chrysan- 

 themums have not yet apjieared, but will 

 be with us soon. Gladioli are jiracti- 

 cally gone and the asters are rapidly 

 waning. Dahlias, in especially good 

 varieties, are now cutting a figure in the 

 market. Valley is being offered regu- 

 larly, with the demand about equal to 

 the supply. Roses are of excellent sub- 

 stance and color, with cuts slightly de- 

 creased. American Beauties and Rus- 

 sells are especially good at present and 

 continue po])ular. There is a large call 

 for all outdoor flowers having color sug- 

 gestive of the autumn, and stock of this 

 kind is abundant. 



In tlie retail branch trade is normal, 

 and to stimulate business several stores 



held special sales of roses with gratify- 

 ing results. Dahlias, tritomas, hydran- 

 geas and helianthus are sought for win- 

 dow trimmings. 



Various Notes. 



A leading topic of conversation among 

 retail florists is the F. T. D. meeting to 

 be held in Detroit, October 2 and 3, and 

 ))rospects point to a goodly attendance 

 of Cleveland florists. 



The first fall meeting of the Florists' 

 Club will be held at the rooms in the 

 Hollenden hotel, October 1. Let every- 

 body turn out and give the new adminis- 

 tration a rousing send-oft'. 



M. A. Vinson, manager of the Cleve- 

 land flower show, announces that the 

 Xovember show will be staged in the 

 Grays armory instead of at the Statler 

 hotel, as previously planned. This gives 

 5,000 feet of additional floor space, to- 

 gether with twenty spaces along the 

 walls, which are to be sold to commer- 

 cial growers for display purposes. 



Charles X. Cotter, of the Lakeview 

 Rose Gardens, Jamestown, N. Y., called 

 on friends here last week. Mr. Cotter 

 reports business as satisfactory, and is 

 most optimistic as to his firm 's pros- 

 pects for the coming year. 



All retailers in Cleveland are urged to 

 attend the F. T. D. meeting at Detroit, 

 October 2 and 3, and it is suggested that 

 they plan to attend the club meeting 

 and then go direct to the D. & C. boat, 

 after the meeting. It is expected that 

 Cleveland will be well represented at 

 Detroit. J. McL. 



KENTUCKY STATE FAIR. 



The following awards were made in 

 the florists' section of the Kentucky 

 state fair, held at Louisville: 



Collection of jilants. — Xanz & Neuner Co., 

 Louisville, first; C. II. Kunzman Estate, Louis- 

 ville, second. 



Foliage plants — -Xanz & Neuner Co., lirst; C. 

 II. Kunzman Estate, second. 



Rustic stand — C. H. Kunzman Estate, flrst; 

 Nanz & Neuner Co., second; W. Korb, Louisville, 

 third. 



HanRinfj basket— C. H. Kunzman Estate, first; 

 Nanz & Neuner Co., second; W. Korli, tliird. 



Ferns — Nanz & Neuner Co., first; C. H. Kunz- 

 man Estate, second. 



Cut flowers — -W. Korb, flrst; Nanz & Neuni'r 

 Co., second; C. II. Kunzman Estate, third. 



Twenty-five roses — Nanz & Neuner Co., first; 

 C. 11. Kunzman Estate, second. 



Twenty-five pink roses-^-Nanz & Neuner Co.. 

 flrst; C. H. Kunzman Estate, second. 



Twenty-five red — Nanz & Neuner Co., first. 



Fifty dahlias— Nanz & .Neuner Co.. first; W. 

 Korb, second: Mrs. Helen Rruce, third. 



Fifteen Beauties — C. II. Kunzman Estate, 

 flrst; Nanz & Neuner Co., second. 



MOTT-LY MUSINGS 



William Mansfield, of Lockport, X. 

 \., called attention to the vacant chair 

 in which his father sat when making 

 cuttings, and memory brought back 

 many years of ])leasaiit visitations, 

 when the subject of heating was 

 tlireslied out. Our deceased friend was 

 :i boiler machinist by trade, and at 

 every convention expounded his theory, 

 wliicli, to his hearers, while highly in- 

 teresting, was rather o]>jiressive at that 

 heated season. He left, among many 

 good things, a seedling scarlet geranium 

 of exce])tional merit, of which sufficient 

 stock has been worked u]) for distribu- 

 tion next year. 



Charles Sandiford, of Buffalo, who foi- 



many years grew the finest strain of 

 cyclamens in the Bison City as a private 

 grower, says there is (juite a different 

 feeling when doing it commercially — 

 and he knows how. 



Manager Wallace Eiss, of the William 

 Kasting Co. , Buff"alo, expressed the 

 opinion that, judging from his experi- 

 ence in the Florists' Club, it is essential 

 to have a social gathering or offer some 

 attraction to hold the crowd. Several 

 of the members whom he had hoped to 

 meet a second time while at the conven- 

 tion had left early. Since his return 

 business has steadily improve<l, ship- 

 ments airiving keeping up with the 

 output. W. M. 



