Fbbbuaby 27, 1019. 



The Florists^ Review 



23 



Eatabllsked, 1897. by Q. L. GRANT. 



Published every Tharaday by 

 Thk Florists' Pubushinq Co., 



620-S60 Oaxton BnlldlDK, 



SOB South Dearborn St., Ohicaffo. 



Tele.. Wabash 8196. 



Resrlfitered cable address, 



Florvlew. Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at the post-oftlce at Ohl> 

 cago. 111., nnder the Act of March 

 3.1879. 



Subscription price, $1.50 a year. 

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



Advertlslnor rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 Tertlslnff accepted. 



iiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiniiirtB 



NOTICE. 



It is impoMible to guarantee the in- 

 •ertion, discontinuance or alteration of 

 any advertisement unless instructions 

 are received 



BY 4 P. M. TUESDAY. 



Besults bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



What you do, do well. You can charge 

 what your work is worth. 



Prohibition should not hurt the flo- 

 rists' business. Who ever saw flowers on 

 a barf 



Post this in your workroom : ' ' Quality 

 is remembered long after price is for- 

 gotten. ' ' 



L. F. Darnell, of Cleveland, has been 

 appointed traveling representative of the 

 F. T. D. 



Europeans seem to understand the 

 slogan, "Say It with Flowers," even 

 better than do we Americans. 



As a subject for worry, the income 

 tax is better than that of lack of busi- 

 ness, all florists will agree. 



One-third of the wealth of the world 

 is in the United States, but far less than 

 one-third of the florists' business is done 

 here. 



Barracks and bivouac have not been 

 beautiful to the eyes of the soldiers. The 

 trade will profit by suggesfing the use 

 of flowers when the conquering hero re- 

 turns. 



Waste is just as destructive of profits 

 as it was last season, only the income 

 being better the loss through waste is 

 not so apparent. But waste always comes 

 directly out of the profits. 



It is not wise to * ' hide your light under 

 a bushel." Put your bargains on dis- 

 play in the window, where the prospective 

 customer will see them, and arrange them 

 so that he must see them. 



The first instance of florists* advertis- 

 ing on record, so far as we can determine, 

 was back in Bible times, when some enter- 

 prising florist — ^it must have been a flo- 

 rist, though perhaps Bible students will 

 not agree — in speaking of "the lilies of 

 the field," declared that "Solomon, in 

 all his glory, was not arrayed like one of 

 these. ' ' 



An effort will be made to bring azaleas 

 to America this spring, to get them here 

 ahead of the quarantine, but recent ad- 

 vices from Belgium do not afford hope 

 that it will be possible to accomplish much 

 on such short notice. There is a scarcity 

 of stock in Belgium. 



The prices of cut flowers stUl are 

 above the average of recent years, but the 

 period of high prices is ov^r, except for 

 some of the items that are scarce because 

 of the effects of the war. In most locali- 

 ties prices now are at a level which 

 should be maintained at least as long as 

 the cost of doing business and of living 

 are at the present peak. 



Give the growers a season or two of 

 comfortable profits and the quality of 

 their output will show average improve- 

 ment. No man who has a struggle to 

 make ends meet can do things as well as 

 he would like to^ do them, but, given a 

 competence, the average man w£u start 

 a competition with his neighbor to see 

 which can do things better. , 



The first issue of the Journal of the 

 Society of American Florists, dated Feb- 

 ruary, 1919, has made its appearance. It 

 is to take the place of the cumbersome and 

 little read volume of annual proceedings of 

 the society, and is to be issued monthly 

 from the office of the secretary. The first 

 issue contains greetings from the ]^resi- 

 dent, a review of 1918 by ex-President 

 Totty, and the first installment of the 

 proceedings of the St. Louis convention. 

 It is a pamphlet of thirty-two pages, the 

 only advertising admitted being that of 

 the publicity bureau of the society. 



A£E YOU MABEENa TIME? 



It is better for a company of soldiers 

 to mark time than to stand perfectly 

 still. It is better to run a one-inch 

 "rate holder" than not to advertise 

 at all. 



In other words, according to an ad- 

 vertising authority, keep your name 

 before the public. Keep your card go- 

 ing to ' ' mark time ' ' aim then, as often 

 as business warrants, make a dash with 

 large space and see the result. 



The "marking time" with the small 

 card keeps your name in sight and helps 

 a lot when a special "drive" is started. 



COAL MARKET SLACK. 



In reviewing the coal situation, the 

 Coal Age states: "The output of both 

 anthracite and bituminous coal from 

 week to week continues to reflect the 

 stagnant condition of the coal market. 

 Not a mine in the country is working at 

 full-time capacity. Furthermore, hardly 

 a day passes that does not see an addi- 

 tion to the already long list of opera- 

 tions forced to shut down because of the 

 lack of demand for coal. The produc- 

 tion of soft coal for the week end Febru- 

 ary 8 (the latest statistics available) 

 amounted to only a little more than 

 8,000,000 net tons. 



* ' This is a drop of more than 2,500,000 

 net tons when compared to the output of 

 the similar week of 1918, and a decrease 

 of over 6,000,000 net tons when set 

 against the high peak reached during the 

 week ended July 13, 1918. 



"Certain grades of bituminous coal 

 are still reported as being sold at con- 

 cessions from the government maximum, 

 though the high-grade coals are being 

 sold at from 15 cents to 45 cents above 

 the maximum prices, with perfect satis- 

 faction to the consumer. Operators are 



adhering to their policy of shutting 

 down rather than sell at a loss. Hav- 

 ing virtually done a winter business dur- 

 ing the summer, most operators are con- 

 tent to do a summer business this winter, 

 biding their time until the demand again 

 becomes active. Little contracting is re- 

 ported, most large consumers awaiting 

 the outcome of the railroad fuel contro- 

 versy. ' ' 



FOBEIQN FLORISTS PROSPER. 



Florists of Europe have not suffered 

 because of the war, but have prospered, 

 according to correspondence of Bassett 

 Digby, on the staff of the Chicago Daily 

 News. A letter written in Stockholm, 

 Sweden, says: 



"One might imagine that in times of 

 great world stress, of war and anarchy, 

 privation and pestilence, a luxury trade 

 like flower selling or the vending of 

 curios would go to the wall. But from 

 many points in north Europe one hears 

 of their enjoying boom times. 



"Spanish influenza has made a for- 

 tune for several flower shops in Scandi- 

 navia. The business up in the snowy 

 north has to be carefully regulated as 

 regards keeping the balance between 

 supply and demand. The high death 

 rate from influenza has already practi- 

 cally exhausted the winter's supply of 

 blossoms. When the great demand for 

 wreaths came in late October and early 

 November hothouse plants were forced 

 and induced to blossom earlier than 

 usual. Gifts of flowers on birthday and 

 other occasions are common in Sweden; 

 so the demand still prevails, though 

 there is little with which to meet it 

 but flowering bulbs. A single carna- 

 tion now costs in Stockholm 4 kroner, or 

 about $1.20, probably the highest price 

 for an ordinary carnation in any city in 

 the world. 



' ' In Eussia the flower shops are going 

 strong despite the general desolation." 



CHICAGO. 



Tbe Market. 



For the first time in n>any weeks there 

 is enough stock to answer the traders 

 immediate needs. This condition, how- 

 ever, is not due to the slacking up of 

 shipping business or to a falling off in 

 city trade, but to increased quantities 

 of stock coming into the market. The 

 larg^ cuts which always arrive at about 

 this date are coming in as per custom, 

 perhaps a few days earlier than usual on 

 account of the mild winter. 



Business continues brisk and prices 

 better than heretofore at this date, the 

 increased production not yet having 

 broken the market. 



The present change in the rose situa- 

 tion is welcomed by the buyers, as stock 

 in all lengths of stem has become equal 

 to the demand. Beauties, however, still 

 are on the short side. Prices on roses 

 continue as in the last few weeks, al- 

 though iceboxes seldom are empty. 

 Carnations still are cleaning up and 

 even the poorest grade of stock is in 

 demand, almost exclusively for funeral 

 work. Everything sells and, in fact, 

 there is a shortage of extra fancy stock, 

 but on the average prices have dropped. 

 ^ There also is a change in the condi- 

 tion of the supply of spring flowers. 

 Tulips are coming in more plentifully, 

 there being enough to answer present 

 needs. Jonquils, which have been meet- 



