14 



The Florists' Review 



February 20, 1919. 



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THE TRADE OUTLOOK FOR 1919 



iHE subject assigned to me 

 on this auspicious occasion, 

 naipely, "The Outlook for 

 Floriculture in 1919," is a 

 pleasing one to me for more 

 than one reason. In the first 

 place, as you are no doubt 

 aware, floritjulture has been my business 

 from boyhood, but it has been more 

 than that to me — it has been my pleas- 

 ure also, and my spare hours have most- 

 ly been spent in the delightful company 

 of my roses and other denizens of my 

 garden and my next best delight to 

 communing with my flowers is to talk 

 about them to my friends. 



Another reason why this subject is a 

 pleasing one to me at this time, is be- 

 cause the world has been passing 

 through such a cataclysm the last five 

 years that mankind had but little 

 thought to spare ior the beautiful in 

 life. But now that the dark cloud is 

 passing and the sunshine is beginning 

 to glimmer through, once more the out- 

 look is so much improved that one can 

 discourse with a clear conscience on the 

 subject of floriculture. We may even 

 have a spray of apple blossoms on the 

 breakfast table in 1919— a thing taboo 

 during the war. The idea back of the 

 taboo was, of course, an economic one — 

 namely, that the apples were the im- 

 portant thing and that food for the body 

 was more desirable than a feast for the 

 soul. 



Future Holds Promise. 



Now the indications all along the 

 line in ornamental horticulture — trees, 

 shrubs, flowers, conservatories, land- 

 scaping, and the many allied industries 

 appertaining thereto — show signs of 

 awakening and good judges are of opin- 

 ion that the year will be the greatest 

 ever experienced, and that the pent up 

 soul of man will rebound from long con- 

 finement and go a-gardening once more 

 with redoubled energy. Cabbage has 

 been king, but Queen Rosa will now as- 

 cend the throne. 



In regard to the branch of floricul- 

 ture in which I am most intimately as- 

 sociated in a business way, that is, the 

 wholesaling of cut flowers, I may say 

 that it has been a long time since we 

 have had more encouraging prospects 

 than the outlook for 1919. 



The trade has gone through a great 

 many vicissitudes, labor and coal trou- 

 bles probably being the florists' most 

 serious troubles. The conditions have 

 been materially changed since the 

 signing of the armistice, and everything 

 is getting back to a better businesslike 

 basis. The cost of doing business, 

 though, remains high, and probably will 

 remain high for some time to come. 

 The only thing that would bring prices 

 down materially would be a panic, 

 and that, of course, we do not want; 

 but we do think the cost of doing busi- 

 ness will lessen as the months and years 

 go by, though there will not be any 



By SAMUEL S« PENNOCK. 



marked^ecrease for some little time to 

 come, not much if any in 1919. 



Soldiers Want Flowers. 



With the return of the men who have 

 been in the war, it is bound to bring 

 more business, and more general busi- 

 ness, to the florists of this country. 

 These boys will want to be entertained 

 by their relatives and friends, which will 

 mean flowers. 



This war condition has brought into 

 the market a new class of buyers; buy- 

 ers who will soon feel that flowers are 

 not a luxury but a necessity in their 

 homes and that the home is not com- 

 plete without a few flowers, which give 

 an added touch of joy and pleasure that 

 cannot be brought into the home in any 

 other way, so flowers come to be a 

 necessity and not a luxury. 



Some members of the Society of 



The Editor is pleased wiien 

 a Reader presents ids ideas 

 on any •object treated in 



As experience is tiie best 

 teaciier, so do v»e learn 

 fastest by an exchange of 

 experiences. Many valuable 

 points are brought out by 

 discussion. 



Oood penmanship, spelling and 

 grammar, though desirable, are not 

 necessary. Write as you would talk 

 when doing your best. 



WE SHALL BE GLAD 

 TO HEAR FROM YOU 



This Is a paper read before the New York 

 Federation of Horticultural Societies and Floral 

 Clubs at Cornell University, Ithaca, N. x., 

 February 11. 



American Florists, in launching the 

 publicity campaign last year, felt it 

 was an inopportune time to conduct 

 such a campaign, but those who had 

 charge of this campaign felt it was one 

 of the best times to get the flower busi- 

 ness before the public, and there is no 

 doubt that the campaign has worked a 

 wonderful amount of good and will 

 make for better results as it progresses. 



Favors Larger Fund. 



The thought for the coming year is 

 to raise, instead of $50,000, $100,000, 

 just double the publicity as planned for 

 this year. No commodity, if advertised 

 judiciously and regularly, but can be 

 helped in the sales of that commodity 

 by this advertising, continually bring- 

 ing before the public the slogan which 

 the publicity committee is using, "Say 

 It with Flowers," which will be stamped 

 indelibly, I think, in the minds of every- 

 one, like other trade-marks, such as, 

 ' ' Cream of Wheat, " " Uneeda Biscuit, ' ' 

 and other trade-marks that we are all 

 so familiar with. 



"Say It with Flowers" means so 

 much and it is a wonderful slogan for 

 each and every florist to use in his local 

 advertising. This local advertising, 

 coupled with the national advertising, 

 cannot help but benefit every live and 

 up-to-date florist. 



Some of our more optimistic friends 

 in the flower business feel that the flow- 

 er business today is only in its infancy 

 and a few years, with this publicity 

 campaign in good working order, will 

 bring the business up to a point un- 

 dreamed of. 



The publicity campaign is ably man- 

 aged and there is no question that the 

 money will be judiciously spent, and 

 spent where it will do the most and the 

 best good. 



Modem Methods For Future. 



This publicity campaign and the busi- 

 ness generally getting on a better and 

 more sound business basis, is going to 

 mean that we are going to have not the 

 old-fashioned ways of doing business, 

 not a slipshod way, but up-to-date busi- 

 ness methods right straight through, 

 both in the growing, wholesale and re- 

 tail ends. 



Each florist will realize that it is abso- 

 lutely essential that he keep things up 

 in a businesslike manner in order to live, 

 and stay in the swim. 



Another point that is being worked 

 up, which will result in good and be 

 nation-wide in its benefits, is a system 

 of credits. The credit business in the 

 past has been very lax; in fact, any- 

 one who was a good fellow could get 

 credit. The S. A. F,, back of the col- 

 lection and credit committee, in start- 

 ing a campaign of education along 

 credit lines, will eliminate all the old 

 loose practices which have been used in 

 the past. This habit was to run up a 

 bill on one man, stop buying from him, 

 run a bill on the next one, and then, 

 when they had gone the rounds, start 

 in paying the first one and so on down 

 the line again. 



There is no reason why every florist 

 cannot pay his bills promptly when they 

 become due. Other lines of business do 

 it, and it has come to the point where, 

 if the florist wants to live and do a 

 prosperous business, he will have to pay 

 his' bills promptly. 



Other Changes Necessary. 



This is going to make one more care- 

 ful in the credits he gives, and going 

 to give him an incentive to watch his 

 collections much more closely and not 

 have so much dead wood on his books. 

 Then, too, it will give him an incentive 

 to organize his establishment in a more 

 up-to-date way. In fact, it will be abso- 

 lutely necessary for him to organize 

 Ills establishment in such a way that hfl 

 can keep abreast of the times. 



The growers, wholesalers and retailers 

 have just passed through five or six 

 months of excellent business, prob- 

 ably giving them as prosperous a sea- 

 son as they have ever had, particularly 

 for the fall and midwinter months, and 



