JANCART 9, 1919. 



The Florists^ Review 



11 



OPEN USTTCEa^^ READERS 



HAPPY NEW YEAR! 



It is an unwise florist who assumes 

 he role of prophet. There probably 

 s no business which fluctuates to the 

 ame extent that the flower business 

 loes. Therefore I have hesitated to 

 )rognosticate up to now. But I can 

 oretell, without the aid of crystal 

 fazing, to a certainty, that this is going 

 be the greatest year for corsages 

 iver known in the history of the trade. 

 Samuel Seligman. 



PRIMULA POISONING. 



We have had so many good things 

 Tom The Eeview that we will give one 

 n return by way of a cure for poisoning 

 Tom Primula obconica. It is a sure 

 iure, too. If, after handling the plants, 

 rou feel a stinging sensation, wash the 

 lands and wrists with warm water and 

 ioapsuds and only partly dry them. 

 Phen take common table salt and rub 

 t well into the skin. This will be 

 round a great relief. You may need to 

 •epeat the process several times. 



J. C. Bigelow. 



PLANTS SUBSTITUTE FLOWERS. 



Referring to a paragraph in the letter 

 )f your correspondent for the cities of 

 Davenport, Rock Island and Moline re- 

 ative to the use of potted plants in- 

 ;tead of cut flowers to the extent that 

 I hospital patient received seventy-five 

 3lants for Christmas and no cut flowers, 

 he reason for this was simply that cut 

 lowers were so scarce that the retailers 

 vere all pushing plants whenever pos- 

 lible in order to conserve the cut flow- 

 ers for funeral work. There were eTen 

 nstances where plants were used for 

 'uneral work, something which we have 

 lot heard of being done here before. 

 [t is preposterous to say that out of 

 leventy-five people sending remem- 

 jrances to the same patient, there would 

 lot be one who would send cut flowers 

 f they had been obtainable, even 

 hough the prices were high. Potted 

 slants were by no means cheap. 



As to our Christmas business, we will 

 lay that by the evening of December 

 J4 we were entirely sold out. Had the 

 iveather been favorable December 24 

 md 25, the shortage of cut flowers would 

 lave been decidedly more apparent, 

 ind there would have been no complaint 

 ibout high prices. L. Stapp. 



ALL SHARE THE VICTORY. 



The biggest business we have ever 

 lad! So it goes, down the line. Every- 

 fv'here we hear the same exclamation. 

 Fhe buying public has felt the spirit 

 jf the times and, elated by prosperity 

 ind the winning of the war, would let 

 lothing stand in the way of its having 

 whatever it desired. Among its wants, 

 flowers played a part, if we may judge 

 ^y the empty greenhouses and the de- 

 nand for flowers this Christmas. It 

 ?eemed as if the people had not had 

 my plants and flowers for years, the 

 ivay they bought them at prices far 

 ibove anything in the history of the 



trade, at least during my time and that 

 covers twenty-nine years. 



Everybody, grower, wholesaler and 

 retailer, shared in the biggest flower- 

 Christmas we have ever seen. 



Now, of cou,r|3e, the publicity cam- 

 paign is not going to claim credit for 

 this wonderful demand, but may we not 

 claim that since the publicity campaign 

 started, it has had the effect of making 

 retailers spruce up more than ever with 

 retail store advertising in all its phases? 

 And this in turn caused the retailers 

 to keep their stocks up to a higher 

 standard than ever before, in order to 

 live up to the claims of their advertis- 

 ing. So, while the wheels began to 

 move slowly at first under our slogan, 

 "Say It with Flowers," they were mov- 

 ing rapidly before the year ended. 



Do you not think the campaign put 

 pep into some men who were aware 

 that a little money properly spent in 

 national publicity would be the begin- 

 ning of big things for the florists gen- 

 erally, if the work be continued? And 

 continued it will be, for now that we 

 have felt its punch, nothing can stop it 

 until we ourselves say, "Enough." 

 But that time will never come. 



No less a personage than our friend 

 Thomas Roland said to me today that 

 he credited the florists' publicity cam- 

 paign with having a great deal to <}o 

 with making the year 1918 the flower- 

 year it has been, in spite of all we have 

 gone through. And now that we ac- 

 knowledge with him the fact that the 

 national publicity did help, may we 

 not at the same tinje expect that the 

 leading flower men will dig down this 

 year of 1919 for the annual appropria- 

 tion for this publicity campaign with 

 such vigor ^s^to cause those who hither- 

 to have not contributed also to come 

 forward? Thus we may make stiU 

 greater progress possible for all con- 

 nected with the craft. 



Henry Penn, Chairman, 

 National Publicity Campaign. 



THE RETAIL FLORIST 



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SCHLING'S TRANSFER ORDERS. 



Following his policy of making the 

 trade acquainted with the number of 

 orders his store transfers to florists in 

 other cities, so as to boost the F. T. D., 

 Max Schling, New York city, has given 

 out the figures on this business for the 

 months of November and December. Mr. 

 Schling already had made known the 

 number of orders of this kind sent dur- 

 ing October. The figures are as fol- 

 lows: 



Month. Orders Amount 



October 148 $1,179.00 



November 163 1.405.59 



December 667 5,482.50 



It will be noted especially that the 

 statements are only of- the orders sent, 

 no mention being made of those re- 

 ceived. 



While from these figures it will be 

 seen that transfer-of-orders business at 

 the Schling store was large during the 

 holidays, it also will be noticed that 

 November showed a healthy increase 

 over October. 



Mr, Schling is a consistent advertiser 

 and is doing an excellent work in show- 

 ing the retail florists of the country 

 what can be accomplished by persist- 

 ently familiarizing the public with the 

 workings of the transfer system. The 

 figures show that he is reaping the 

 reward for his efforts. 



it is compensated in the same measure 

 as other professions, and, while perhaps 

 a lot of us do some tall kicking at the 

 high prices, I want to say that they 

 are not at all out of proportion with 

 other industries, when you think our 

 production has been cut down fifty per 

 cent by the fuel shortage and various 

 other troubles that have come up dur- 

 ing the last few years. We all have 

 suffered, but not to a greater extent 

 than some other people. Let us be fair 

 and liberal." 



POCHELON ON PRICES. 



In a circular to members of the Tele- 

 graph Delivery Association, Secretary 

 Pochelon recently said in part: 



' ' Our profession has had a strenu- 

 ous time for the last few years; let 

 us all be thankful that we are almost 

 over it. The future can bring noth- 

 ing but the greatest benefit and never 

 was there a better chance to elevate 

 our profession in the eyes of the public. 

 Our work is coming to the front, where 



WHEN PLUMOSUS BROWNS. 



In one section of my greenhouses I 

 am having some trouble with my As- 

 paragus plumosus nanus, the cause of 

 which baffles me. The young growth 

 comes up and does nicely till just before 

 or about the time it fully matures, 

 when the tips of the fronds turn brown. 

 I shall be greatly obliged to you if you 

 can obtain any information for me as 

 to its cause and the remedy. Am send- 

 ing you a dozen sprays for inspection. 



T. P. D.— Fla. 



The specimens mentioned appeared to 

 be perfectly healthy, except that many 

 of the tips of the branches on the as- 

 paragus were browned and dead. The 

 first thought would b'e that these plants 

 had been allowed to get dry at the 

 root while the growth was young and 

 soft, but there are other possibilities 

 for such an injury, and among them are 

 certain fertilizing materials. Applica- 

 tions of nitrate of soda or sulphate of 

 ammonia in excessive quantities may 

 have caused such an injury to the 

 gn"owth, but if none of these conditions 

 have prevailed, then we are at a loss 

 to know the cause of the trouble, with- 

 out further information as to soil and 

 treatment. W. H. T. 



