26 



The Florists' Review 



October 18, 1917. 



t(i 



EetabUshed, 1897, by O. L. GRANT. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Publisuino Co., 



620-660 Oaxtoa Bulldlnfir, 



608 South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tele., Wabash 8195. 



Registered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Sntered as second class matter 

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

 cago, III., under the Act of March 

 3 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.60 a jear. 

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



Advertising rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising 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. 



SOCIETY OF AUESICAN FLOSISTS. 

 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 Toung, 63 W. 28th 

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

 Omaha, Neb. 



Offlcen 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 

 IS, 1918. 



RESULTS, 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



If you can get coal, take it. 



The editor of The Review has received 

 an invitation to go fishing with a sub- 

 scriber lie never has met. Can you con- 

 ceive a stronger endorsement of editorial 

 policy ? 



Florists who read the Saturday Even- 

 ing Post enjoyed a large illustration in 

 the issue of October 13, which showed 

 William F. Gude, in his tall silk hat, 

 inarching Iteside President Wilson in a 

 Washington patriotic parade. 



Andkrs RASMissf;x, chairman of the 

 committee organizing the new Florists' 

 Mutual Casualty Association, which is 

 being started under the auspices of the 

 State Florists' Association of Indiana, 

 states that it is hoped to write insurance 

 on 4,000,000 square feet of glass b}' No- 

 vember ], which will enable the committee 

 to conij)lete the organization of the com- 

 pany in compliance witli the Indiana 

 laws. 



Si'NSET, the leading magazine of the 

 Pacific coast, in its October issue has a 

 special article, "It Beats the Dutch," 

 •with illustrations printed in colors, de- 

 scriptive of C. W. Ward 's enterprise at 

 Eureka, Cal. The material is familiar 

 to readers of The Review except for one 

 item; Mr. Ward is quoted as saying: 

 ' ' Holland growers are already moving 

 to America. One of the foremost grow- 

 ers there, De Graaf Bros., of Leiden, has 

 purchased a large block of Cottage Gar- 

 dens Nurseries stock." 



Apparently the trade has not been 

 willing to pay the price of Paper Whites 

 and there is a quantity unsold. The cost 

 of the bulbs precludes price-cutting un- 

 less the holder can make up his mind to 

 take a loss. 



The indications are that both bouquet 

 green and holly will be in light supply 

 and higher in price this season. The 

 gatherers of these articles have been paid 

 so little in previous years that they are 

 easily draAvn away to more lucrative oc- 

 cupations. The additional cost of crates 

 and cases is another factor. 



The editor's desk, seldom without its 

 decoration from some reader who has 

 extra quality or novelty blooms, this 

 week has been adorned by a vase of chrys- 

 anthemums from George Fountain, Wil- 

 mington, Del. The variety is a seedling 

 of Advance pollinated with Unaka. Mr. 

 Fountain has grown it for four years 

 and thinks it will prove a valuable addi- 

 tion to the list of early sorts. The color 

 is a good pink and there certainly is a 

 place for such a one beside Golden Glow 

 and Smith's Advance. 



THE BUSINESS OUTLOOK. 



Business continues in large volume; 

 but conservatism as regards future buy- 

 ing was noted by Bradstreet's in its re- 

 port for the week ending Ocjtober 13. 

 The disposition to wait until the gov- 

 ernment fixes the prices of commodities 

 has caused a falling off in some lines, 

 but government orders in other lines 

 have maintained a balance. The army 

 cantonments and the high price of cot- 

 ton are causing a boom in the south. 

 So far there has been little buying for 

 the holidays. 



Reports from among the retailers in 

 various trades assert that people are 

 showing tendencies toward economy, 

 but this, it is added, is undoubtedly 

 caused by the existing high prices of 

 commodities and the taking out of the 

 market of hundreds of thousands of 

 young men called for army service. 



The tone of the report is optimistic 

 over the outlook for fall business, and 

 intimates that as soon as the govern- 

 ment gets through with its price fixing 

 business will resume its boom. 



BEATING THE PRICE FIXING. 



From reports that have reached The 

 Review, the growers who are having 

 trouble to get coal are the ones who did 

 not make contracts until after the gov- 

 ernment had set the prices. If it is any 

 consolation, even the government is 

 having trouble getting fuel — a major 

 in the quartermaster's headtpiarters at 

 fHiicago last week told a representative 

 of Tlic Review that getting coal to the 

 cantonments is the slowest and hardest 

 job he ever tackled. On the other hand, 

 a large Chicago grower who was in 

 the office of The Review a day or two 

 later said he was having no trouble at 

 all getting Pocahontas coal, had got 

 in a lot during summer and is getting 

 it regularly now, three cars a week; 

 but instead of paying the price fixed 

 }»y the government he is paying nearly 

 twice as much, $3.4.j at the mine, on a 

 contract made last spring. 



This and other evidence seems to 

 show that the trouble for the man who 

 can not get coal is with the price. The 

 coal trade is afraid to sell coal now at 

 ])rices higher than those fixed by the 

 government, but as the price-fixing did 



not disturb contracts previously made 

 there still is a place to put the greater 

 part of the output where it will bring 

 the "Peabody" prices or better. 



The only hope of relief for the florist 

 short of fuel appears to lie in the 

 promise of the government that an 

 equable distribution of the output of the 

 mines will be required and this seems 

 too big a task to be accomplished soon. 

 When fuel control becomes a fact there 

 still will remain the question of supply 

 equal to the demand. The major above 

 quoted, who spent a quarter of a cen- 

 tury in the coal trade before he joined 

 the army, predicts that coal will be 

 harder for florists to get in midwinter 

 than ever before^ — and it was bad 

 enough last winter. 



PUBLICITY FUND PROGRESS. 



The committee in charge of the work 

 of raising the fund for the national 

 publicity campaign has nearly reached 

 the halfway mark toward its goal of 

 $50,000. The actual total of the money 

 subscribed is not available, but the com- 

 mittee 's preliminary report shows that 

 $14,262.50 had been pledged up to Sep- 

 tember 30. 



This report was issued previous to 

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

 more than $5,000 was subscribed, $2,500 

 by the association and $2,600 by indi- 

 viduals. Since that time the New 

 York Florists' Club has voted to give 

 $1,000, the florists of Baltimore nearly 

 as much, and pledges have been secured 

 in many other cities. 



Under the direction of the S. A. F. 

 committee, sub-committees are at work 

 soliciting contributions in practically 

 every good-sized city in the country. 

 Added to these efforts are the individual 

 activities of the leaders in the trade, 

 who are overlooking no opportunity to 

 swell the total. 



The puj)licity idea appears to have 

 struck a responsive note among the 

 florists, and there is no doubt that 

 the sum needed for the campaign will 

 be secured within a short time. Then 

 wuU the slogan, ' ' Send flowers — always 

 a good idea," be heralded to the people 

 of the countrv. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Good prices, scarcity of stock and 

 close trading have been the rule at the 

 wholesale cut flower market this week. 

 Both city and shipping trade held up 

 well and the end of the day generally 

 found the market pretty well cleaned. 

 The strong, constant demand, which was 

 almost always greater than the avail- 

 able supply, in many cases brought 

 prices even higher than the quality 

 warranted. The quality of stock, on 

 the whole, was satisfactory, with some 

 of it exceptionally fine. There was no 

 difficulty found, however, in moving the 

 inferior grades. Really fine stock was at 

 a premium. 



American Beauties were in moderate 

 supply and brought the top prices. All 

 other varieties of roses sold well, the 

 demand being exceptionally strong. The 

 supply generally was short of the de- 

 mand. The shorter grades were in larg- 

 est supply, and sold readily. Long and 

 .special length stems were a scarcity. 

 Russell maintains its place as the lead- 

 er, followed closely by the red roses. 



