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32 



The Florists' Review 



December 12, 1918. 



(I 



Established, 1897. by O. L. GRANT. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Ploeists' Poblishinq Co., 



620-560 Oaxton Building, 



608 South Dearborn St, Ohlcasc 



Tele., Wabash 8196. 



Registered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. S. 1897, at the poet-offlce at Ohl- 

 cacro. 111., under the Act of March 

 8 1879. 



Subscription price, tlJSO a rear. 

 To Oanada, $2.00; to Europe, $3.00. 



Advertlslngr rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertlslnc accepted. 



n 



NOTICE. 



It is imposaible to guarantee the in- 

 sertion, discontinuance or alteration of 

 any advertisement unless instructions 

 Are received 



BY 4 P. M. TUESDAY. 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



It does not require a prophet to pre- 

 dict a profit for the plantsmen this Christ- 

 mas. 



The trouble with a considerable num- 

 ber of florists, wholesale as well as re- 

 tail, is that they are afraid they will do 

 some business. 



Chrysanthemums never brought the 

 trade so much money as they did this 

 season, nor were they ever so heavily pro- 

 duced. Those who were afraid of a glut 

 were needlessly alarmed. 



With prices where they are this season 

 the retail store men can revise their 

 percentages; it is not necessary to double 

 one 's money, or better, when transactions 

 run larger or numerously. 



Country florists transferring orders to 

 retailers in the larger cities should re- 

 member that $5 does not buy as much in 

 the big centers as it does in the small 

 towns, especially these days. 



It will be well to remember that the 

 least desirable coal will be the first to 

 fall in price. Many a mine produces such 

 low-grade fuel that nobody will buy it 

 when anything else is to be had. 



The trade frequently has been warned 

 in The Review that the Federal Horti- 

 cultural Board has every intention of 

 prohibiting plant imports after next 

 spring. If you want to stock up, get 

 busy. 



A retailer who pays 2 cents for car- 

 nations and sells them at 50 cents a 

 dozen has a margin of 26 cents, but when 

 he pays 10 cents and sells at $2 per dozen, 

 his margin is 80 cents. "Why fight high 

 prices? Why not go with the market 

 and put the effort on the selling end? 



Could it be that the oflSce at 1170 

 Broadway, New York city, from which 

 Secretary Young and his staff are con- 

 ducting the S, A, F. publicity campaign, 

 had anything to do with President and 

 Mrs. Wilson being showered with flowers 

 «fhen thejr llbarded the ship for Europe? 



There is a shortage of pot plants of 

 practically every kind, a shortage which, 

 cpmpared to the demand, is the greatest 

 in the history of the trade, 



A FEW months ago many florists were 

 trying to get out of the business, but, 

 now large numbers of people of many 

 kinds are planning to get into the trade. 



One thing can be said, there is no 

 shortage of red frieze. One wonders 

 how all this cheap, bulky material got 

 here in view of the embargo on many 

 more important items from Japan, 



It probably will be spring before there 

 are facilities which will permit the ex- 

 pansion of the trade, but in the next 

 two years The Review expects to see the 

 florists' business grow as never before — 

 and The Review expects to grow with 

 the trade. 



It is becoming apparent that there will 

 be great resistance to the operation of the 

 natural laws which otherwise would result 

 in a fall in commodity prices in general, 

 following the end of the war. Florists 

 need not expect cheaper costs of doing 

 business for some little time. 



Numerous propagators, cut flower 

 growers, etc., will welcome the approach- 

 ing quarantine against the importation of 

 plants, but on the other hand are a still 

 greater number whose business will be 

 disastrously affected at once — it may be 

 possible to rebuild on other lines. 



Our boys in France are sending home 

 large numbers of orders for flowers to be 

 delivered to their relatives and friends 

 for Christmas. In numerous cases flo- 

 rists in the service are taking charge of 

 the matter and are forwarding the orders 

 through former employers. Such a one 

 should not be long without employment 

 when he returns, as he has an eye to 

 business. 



After three months there probably will 

 be a steady easing of conditions in the 

 trade as supplies of stock increase, but it 

 is improbable that the old laxity in the 

 matter of credits ever again will come 

 into vogue. Some florists may again be 

 willing to take a chance when they find 

 themselves once more with surplus stock, 

 but the conservatives will stick to the 

 terms of settlement established during 

 the time of scarcity. 



Nurserymen are confident that all the 

 signs point to the approach of an un- 

 precedented sale of ornamental stock, for 

 hardy material for the improvement of 

 home grounds. There is none so well sit- 

 uated as the local florist to develop, 

 guide and profit by this demand. The 

 florist who supplies flowering plants for 

 summer bedding is the logical man to 

 furnish the hardy stock. He need not 

 grow it; there are numerous nurseries 

 from which he can procure good stock. 



In the florists' trade there should be 

 no attempt to profit by a falling labor 

 market; quite the contrary, the effort 

 should be to maintain or even increase 

 present wages. In years gone by this 

 trade has paid too little to make it at- 

 tractive to the better class of workers. 

 Under pressure of necessity, wages have 

 risen until they compare favorably with 

 what the same people can earn in any 

 other employment. ~ To charge fair prices, 

 avoid waste and maintain wages will 

 make it possible eventually to attract 

 more efficient workers than this trade has 

 known since it passed the stage where the 

 owner of the place did most of the work 

 himself. 



BOMBABDEH lifilTH JXOWESS. 



When the "Pr'esi'deftt land Mrs. Wilson 

 rp^ched the dock to take the steam- 

 ship for Europe December 4, lines of 

 yeowomen -"^bombarded" them with 

 chrysanthemums and roses. Chicago and 

 New York newspapers tOld of the bom- 

 bardment in headlines an inch high, 

 while evpry newspaper in the country 

 recorded the fact. 



When King Albert and his queen en- 

 tered Brussels, the Belgian capital, after 

 an exile of more than four years, they 

 were ^'bombarded" with flowers. 



When General Pershing and the first 

 of the American Expeditionary Forces 

 reached France, and Paris especially, 

 they were "bombarded" with flowers. 



Many such incidents that happened 

 during the war could be cited. Mo- 

 tion pictures of si(ck, wounded and 

 maimed prisoners being repatriated in- 

 variably showed the people showering 

 them with flowers. 



Bringing to mind the many times flow- 

 ers have been advertised as the means 

 of showing intense joy or heartfelt sym- 

 pathy during the four years of the 

 fighting will readily carry a realization 

 of what the war did to popularize flow- 

 ers. 



All of this publicity will be cashed 

 by the trade during years to come. 



A LAND OFFICE BUSINESS. 



"Enough is as good as a feast," we 

 learned long ago. "Too much is too 

 much," one of our advertisers tells us. 

 The supply will meet only a part of 

 the demand, is stated by many of our 

 correspondents. That is why stock ad- 

 vertised in the Classified columns of 

 The Review goes "like hot cakes." 

 The grower has only to let the trade 

 know what he has to offer and the law 

 of supply and demand will take care 

 of his output, as these growers have 

 found out: 



Please stop ad. Too much is too much. Profit 

 all going for return postage. — Frost & Spence, 

 Greenyllle, C, December 6, 1018. 



The ad for amaryllis sold all I had this season. 

 — H. W. Peterson, Poplar Bluffs, Mo., December 

 2, 1918. 



When you hear a man complain of 

 the cost of advertising you can be pretty 

 sure he spends a good bit of money else- 

 where than in The Review. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



The first ten days of December prob- 

 ably will go down in the history of the 

 Chicago market as the most unusual 

 ever seen here. The oldest inhabitant 

 does not remember a time when the 

 buyers of flowers have been so insistent 

 and the prices so high. The condition 

 is all the more remarkable because there 

 are large quantities of flowers coming 

 in and being sold each day. It may be 

 that the supply has not been quite so 

 large as it usually is in the first part 

 of December, but it nevertheless repre- 

 sents an important quantity of flowers; 

 if the demand were not extremely good 

 there would be an abundance of stock. 



Chrysanthemums were going out even 

 before the Thanksgiving demand ar- 

 rived and since that holiday there have 

 been comparatively few of these flowers 

 available, with the result that the de- 

 mand has centered on roses and carna- 

 tions. The supply of carnations this 

 year is not so great as in previous sea- 

 sons, but there nevertheless are many 



