16 



The Florists^ Review 



Jdlt M, 1»19. 



BAI.TIMOSE. 



The Market. 



This week the market has been about 

 normal for the season. The demand is 

 good and the supply of summer stock is 

 all that could be expected. Boses are 

 plentiful, but, as is always the case in 

 midsummer, they are small and off color. 

 Gladioli are in large supply and of good 

 quality; Some are especially fine and 

 sell fast. There is plenty of all sorts 

 of miscellaneous stock to be had. Greens 

 of all kinds are plentiful, especially 

 plumosus. 



Funeral work is the principal thing 

 florists have to depend upon and this 

 line of work holds up well. It is not 

 confined to any particular section of 

 the city, so that all are getting a fair 

 share of the business. There is plenty 

 of money in circulation and a fair share 

 of it is finding its way into the coffers 

 of the florists. Everyone, from the most 

 exclusive stores down to the street men, 

 seems satisfied. 



Club Meeting. 



The Baltimore Florists' Club held its 

 regular meeting July 14 and, as pre- 

 dicted, it was one of the best meetings 

 ever held by the local club. The subject 

 of the meeting was "Publicity," and 

 although this campaign has been going 

 on for over a year, there were many of 

 our members who did not fully realize 

 just what was being done, and what the 

 publicity campaign meant to them as 

 individuals. 



Major O'Keefe, in his address, out- 

 lined this to his hearers and there is no 

 doubt that after hearing what the com- 

 mittee is doing and what it anticipates 

 doing, publicity got a boost in Baltimore 

 that will help the cause. 



Another thing that opened the eyes 

 of the club was the work outlined by 

 John Young, of the promotion bureau. 

 No one had any idea of the good work 

 being done by this branch of the cam- 

 paign. It was the first time that many 

 of us had met the genial secretary, but 

 the unanimous opinion, after the meet- 

 ing, was that he is the right man in the 

 right place. 



Indeed, after Major O 'Keef e and Mr. 

 Young had spent the evening with us 

 everyone seemed more optimistic and 

 enthusiastic over the campaign. For in- 

 stance, there were some who could not 

 understand why the campaign should be 

 put into the hands of an advertising 

 agency. After hearing about the duties 

 of the agency, such as selecting the 

 proper mediums, preparing copy, etc., 

 they changed their minds. One thing I 

 noticed that struck them most forcibly 

 was the fact that this agency is not be- 

 ing paid for its services directly from 

 the funds of the campaign, but by com- 

 missions from the publications that 

 carry the advertisements. In other 

 words, it would cost the S. A. F. just 

 the same to insert a page advertisement 

 in the Saturday Evening Post as it does 

 to do it now with the aid of trained 

 experts. Mr. Young, in his address, told 

 of meeting a man of fifty years' experi- 

 ence in newspaper work on a train in 

 the far west. Mr. Young remarked 

 that he was traveling in the interest of 

 publicity for flowers. He inquired: 

 "Have you anything to do with this 

 slogan I see, 'Say It with Flowers.' " 

 Mr. Young replied: "That is part of 

 our campaign." The gentleman was at 



once anxious to know who had origi- 

 nated it. On being told that the 

 O'Keefe Advertising Agency, of Bos- 

 ton, was responsible for it, and that 

 $50,000 per year was being spent in or- 

 der to popularize it, he replied that if 

 the O'Keefe firm did nothing else but 

 furnish this slogan it was $50,000 well 

 spent, for never in his experience had 

 he run across a slogan in any business 

 that meant so much or said fio much as 

 "Say It with Flowers." 



We all know that in the face of all 

 sorts of obstacles, such as short coal 

 rations, scarcity of labor, etc., last year 

 was one of the best in the history or the 

 florist's business, and, to use the slogan 

 of a well known coffee substitute, 

 ' ' There 's a Eeason. ' ' Take, for instance, 

 the woman's organizations and the Bed 

 Cross in the late war, with chapters in 

 every state of the Union. When Mr. 

 Young told us that at their request 

 20,000 signs had been prepared for them 

 with "Say It with Flowers to our 

 boys, * ' and that this was being followed 

 up by pasting such signs in every 

 women's college in the country, we can, 

 therefore, understand why last year was 

 such a good year. 



Another thing Major O'Keefe dwelt 

 upon was the importance of creating in 

 the minds of the public new uses for 

 flowers. This may seem vague upon 

 first thought, but did we ever stop to 

 think that new uses are coming into 

 existence every day for flowers! They 

 are being used for bank openings, and 

 it is a regular thing now at store open- 

 ings or anniversaries for the store to be 

 remembered by those from whom they 

 buy goods with flowers. Major O'Keefe 

 said they were now working on a plan 

 to have a certain day set aside in com- 

 memoration of the late war, either 

 Armistice day or Peace day; the object 

 of this day would be that everyone 

 might "Say It with Flowers." 



Before the meeting a banquet was 

 held at the Hotel Rennert. There were 

 no speeches at this, as they were all 

 saved for the main meeting. A delega- 

 tion from Washington was present, also 

 from the Philadelphia club, but owing 

 to vacation time there were not so many 

 present as we had hoped for. 



Among those at the banquet were 

 Robert L. Graham, R. L. Graham, Jr., 

 I. H. Moss, W. E. McKissick, W. F. 

 Ekas, J. J. Perry, O. R. Thomas, R. A. 

 Vincent, Richard Vincent, Jr., W. F. 

 Keys, C. H. Wagner, W. G. Lehr, G. W. 

 Stisser, F.'E. Cremer, J. De Groot, J. S. 

 Merritt, W. T. Baynes, J. A. Ritter, 

 George Eberle, John Young, Major 

 O'Keefe, W. F. Bauer, F. C. Bauer, 

 John Rider, Z. D. Blackistone, E. P. 

 Rodman, George C. Shaffer, George 

 Grillbortzer, A. Sehnell, George Muhly, 

 S. Uhlfelder, M. Siegwart, Robert Kift. 



The club decided to go after the con- 

 vention of the S. A. F. following that 

 in Cleveland; that will mean the 1921 

 convention will be held in Baltimore, 

 for we never go after anything we 

 don't get. Tate. 



MILWAUEEB. 



James J. Cummings, of 1131 West Bal- 

 timore street, and proprietor of several 

 large greenhouses at Ten Hills, left for 

 London July 17, where he will transact 

 business before he visits his old home in 

 Ireland. He will visit his father, who is 

 97 years old, and his mother, who is two 

 years younger. He will then make a 

 trip to Japan, France and Germany. He 

 expects to be away three months. 



The Market. 



Everyone seems to concede that busi- 

 ness is far ahead of last July thus far. 

 Prices have been firm for good stock, 

 and with a little rush business coming 

 along, second-class stock move* well. 



There are some excellent summer 

 roses being cut, chief of which are 

 Ophelia, Columbia, Shawyer, Milady 

 and Russell. They are not equal to the 

 demand, however, and clean up early 

 in the day. 



Asters are not of good eiae, but sell 

 readily for $3 per hundred. Zinnias are 

 among the good sellers. Their soft, 

 bright colors make them adaptable to 

 almost any line of floral work. 



The general run of garden flowers is 

 much better since the heavy rains of 

 last week. 



Various Notes. 



Some of the Milwaukee florists will 

 go to the Detroit convention via auto- 

 mobile. Some will go the entire way 

 overland and some contemplate cross- 

 ing the lake by boat and eontinuing 

 the trip by auto. 



Allen Humason, of Chicago, called on 

 the trade this week with his diversified 

 lines of florists' and growers' supplies, 

 and in the interest of the publicity cam- 

 paign. 



Mr. and Mrs. Herman Hunkel and 

 their two sons left Sunday, July 13, for 

 a pleasure trip through the east. A 

 pleasure trip of course, but the trade 

 expects Mr. Hunkel to find a number of 

 good ideas during his journey, which 

 all of us can share in this winter. 



Walter Maas has been absent from 

 his business the last two weeks, with 

 rheumatism. Miss Sheriffs has attended 

 to the buying and management of the 

 store. 



The Cudahy Floral Co. will soon start 

 to cut Premier and Columbia. 



Downtown florists had an unusual 

 rush of funeral work Saturday, July 19. 

 There were eight or nine funerals and 

 flowers of all sorts were cleaned up. 



Baumgarten, Inc., and the Edlefsen- 

 Leidiger Co. have their delivery cars in 

 the shop for the regular summer over- 

 hauling. Mrs. Ida Baumgarten was in 

 Chicago last week. A. H. M. 



BOSTON. 



The Market. 



Supplies of cut flowers are now com- 

 paratively small and are much lacking 

 in variety. Roses, sweet peas, gladioli 

 and carnations are about all we have 

 and the last named are few in number 

 and miserable in quality. Roses of the 

 new crop are coming in quite freely an*' 

 there has been a good market the last 

 few days for hybrid teas, with some ad- 

 vance in prices for Ophelia, Russell, 

 Columbia, Hadley and Miller. Ameri- 

 can Beauties are of good summer qual- 

 ity and have sold quite well. There is 

 a decided scarcity of good sweet peas 

 and many more could be sold at prevail- 

 ing prices. Growers complain that heat, 

 drought, fog and drizzle have combined 

 to spoil their flowers. 



Gladioli are coming in freely and 

 prices have a downward tendency. The 

 bulk sell at $4 to $8 per hundred. Asters 

 as yet come in but small lots; they sell 

 well now that carnations are practically 

 out of the running for a time. There is 

 a small supply of lilies and fair quanti- 



