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A BIG CHRISTMAS 



UNLIKE ANY OTHER 



That supply and demand regulate the prices of cut flowers never was so 

 well demonstrated as this Christmas, when supply was short and demand 

 was the largest ever known : Prices went up, in some places to the point 

 where buying was checked; then they went down until buying began again. 



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HBISTMAS, 1918, has gone 

 on record as the most un- 

 usual in the history of the 

 florists' business; as a 

 Christmas the like of 

 which we probably never 

 shall see again, for the 

 many remarkable features 

 were the direct result of 

 outside influences working 

 on this trade. They were caused by war, 

 restricting the supply, and by peace, 

 witrf prosperity, increasing the demand. 

 The only measure of the extent of the 

 demand and the shortage in supply is 

 the price asked — and prices were higher' 

 than ever before. Therein abided the 

 somewhat numerous causes for dissatis- 

 faction, which were individual, depend- 

 ing on how the prices affected one 's own 

 business. 



There are few florists who would wish 

 to see repeated the conditions of this 

 Christmas. We all should be better off 

 if there had been more stock, permitting 

 lower prices and more sales. The best 

 interests of the trade do not lie in few 

 sales at large prices, but in many sales 

 at rates that admit of a reasonable profit 

 on each sale. 



Retailers Besisted. 



There are many 

 strange features of the 

 Christmas business, but 

 the strangest of all is 

 that the chief opposi- 

 tion to the prices estab- 

 lished by supply and 

 demand came, not from 

 the public, but from the 

 retail florists. It is 

 quite true that numer- 

 ous retail florists over- 

 bought. They mis- 

 judged their ability to 

 sell certain kinds of cut 

 flowers at the prices 

 they asked and they 

 had stock left, costly 

 stock, to work up in 

 funeral orders after the 

 holiday. But numerous 

 retailers took the situa- 

 tion so much to heart 

 that they lost sight of 

 the fact that their own 

 interests are inextrica- 

 bly wound up with the 

 future welfare of the 

 trade as a whole; they 

 openly deprecated the 

 price of their princi- 

 pal every-day stock-in- 

 trade and advised peo- 

 ple to buy something 



else! Of course a majority of those who 

 felt that the wholesale prices were un- 

 warranted, even in face of the great 

 shortage and unprecedented demand, re- 

 served their denunciations for the ear 

 of their wholesaler, but many went 

 much farther. The illustration on this 

 page, while it should not be taken as 

 typical, shows how keenly some florists 

 felt. It is from the Christmas ad a mid- 

 dle-western retailer printed in the news- 

 papers of a city which has many florists. 



The Public Paid. 



As for the public, while many un- 

 questionably were deterred from buying 

 cut flowers because of the prices asked, 

 there was no charge of unfairness and 

 little complaint; the customer merely 

 turned to something else, a plant if 

 available, or a basket of boxwood and 

 ruscus. Perhaps it took a little better 

 grade of salesmanship, but not many 

 sales were lost. 



Another aspect of the average retail 

 attitude was the general belief that the 

 retailer should make the same margin 

 of profit under the abnormal conditions 

 that is necessary under ordinary condi- 

 tions. Where a man grows the stock he 

 retails he usually bases his prices on 

 what his competitors charge, frequently 



asking just a little less instead of just a 

 little more, but where a retailer draws 

 his stock from a wholesale market the 

 rule is to double the wholesale price, or 

 just a little better. To maintain sol- 

 vency this has been found imperative in 

 the ordinary run of business, where the 

 sale of a dozen carnations affords a 

 margin of only 35 to 75 cents. It seemed 

 to be the almost unanimous opinion that 

 the same rule should be applied on ear- 

 nations which cost 10 to 15 cents each, 

 giving the retailer a margin of $1.20 to 

 $1.80 on each dozen sold. Here and 

 there a retailer, doing a good volume, 

 was content with something less — and 

 he had a record Christmas business. 



The most difficulty was had with car- 

 nations. While all cut flowers and bloom- 

 ing plants were scarce and higher than 

 usual, the prices were not advanced so 

 much on other things as on carnations. 

 Unprecedented conditions early in De- 

 cember had sent carnations up above the 

 usual Christmas level. The same situa- 

 tion existed everywhere, although prices 

 went higher in some markets than in 

 others. Nearly everywhere they went 

 high enough to check buying. In some 

 places it extended to what might be 

 called a carnation "boycott." 



Then Prices Fell. 



ILLUSTRATING SOME RETAILERS' ATTITUDE 



TOWARD CHRISTMAS CUT FLOWER PRICES 



A Shopful of ^Christmas Cheer 



at prices that blend with live and let live policies 



For Various 

 Reasons 



advanced pricef will be 

 asked for roses and other 

 Christmas cut flowers this 

 year. 



Why Should You 

 Pay Two Prices 



for cut flowers that only 

 last a day or two when 

 you can get many other 

 attractive FLORAL gifts 

 which will give weeks of 

 beauty and pleasure in the 

 home at 



Half the Price 





See Our Special Christmas Display 



The newsletters in 

 this issue reveal that in 

 many cities carnations 

 brought more money 

 the week before Christ- 

 mas than they did the 

 day before Christmas. 

 After the break buying 

 was resumed, prices ad- 

 vanced, steadied and 

 have held on a level 

 with the value of other 

 flowers. 



There is scarcely any 

 statement as to the 

 Christmas business not 

 contradicted by some- 

 one's experience, but it 

 generally was true that 

 the prices of the best 

 grades of roses were 

 not more than forty to 

 fifty per cent above the 

 prices of other years, 

 which surely was not 

 out of line with the 

 prices of manufactured 

 and non-perishable mer- 

 chandise. Lower grades^ 

 of roses were a little 

 higher, comparatively, 

 because the demand 



