24 



The Florists^ Review 



May 8, 1919. 



n 



Uatablished, 1897, by Q. L. ORANT. 



PabllBhed every Tharaday by 

 Thb Florists' Poblishino Co., 



620-660 Oaxton BuildlnR, 



608 South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tele., Wubash 8195. 



ReRlxtered cable address, 



Florview, Chlcafiro. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897, at the poet-offlce at Chi' 

 cago. 111., under tlie Act of March 

 8,1879. 



Subscription price, tl.60 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.S0; to Europe, 13.00. 



Advertlslnir rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertlsinff accepted. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Demand is juat a little ahead of the 

 supply. The desire to take advantage of 

 it leads to sending out considerable stock 

 before it is ready. 



All the growers seem to be rooting 

 as many cuttings as possible of Columbia. 

 In its second season it will jump into a 

 leading position in the rose markets. 



With European markets again open 

 for Japanese bulbs, it seems impossible 

 that there can be anything other than an- 

 other shortage of lilies at Easter in 1920, 



If lily bulbs cost mOre this season, it 

 will cost less to bring them over. (Jeneral 

 cargo rates have fallen, Yokohama to 

 Seattle, to $4.50 per ton and to San Fran- 

 cisco, $5 per ton. 



This is a season in which many a repu- 

 tation will be made or lost. The grower 

 who has the strength of character not to 

 send out stock until it is ready will profit 

 by it in the plentiful years to come. 



There will be large quantities of 

 French hydrangeas, grown in America, to 

 take the place of the quarantined azaleas 

 next Easter. It is reported that one 

 grower is propagating as many as 100,- 

 000 hydrangeas this seaspn. 



Last week The Review received, one 

 day too late for insertion in that issue, 

 one full-page, three half-page and one 

 quarter-page advertisements. It seems to 

 be a general failing to put things off till 

 the last moment — or even a little later. 

 Advertisements received after Tuesday 

 can not appear in that week 's issue. 



THE31E was a meeting of the S. A. F, 

 publicity committees at Cincinnati, May 1, 

 advantage being taken of Secretary 

 Young's trip in the middle west. The 

 work was considered as progressing splen- 

 didly in all respects save one, the raising 

 of funds. Only a small percentage of 

 the trade is contributing to the work, 

 although all are benefited. 



The price cutter always feels that his 

 course is justified and that, anyway, it 

 is nobody's business what he asks for 

 his own goods. It is an old theory, ex- 

 ploded in other lines of business. Today 

 the view is that any seller who does not 

 ask prices at least equal to the open mar- 

 ket cost of replacing the goods is retard- 

 ing the progress of the entire industry. 



Send The Review clippings of the 

 Mothers' day advertisements published in 

 the local newspapers by the fllorists in 

 your city. 



The telegraph delivery will be a big 

 feature of the business this summer. It 

 will be well worth while to pueA it as 

 soon as the dull months come. 



One of the trade's problems is to pro- 

 mote the one-time buyer into the regular 

 customer class. The latter is a retd as- 

 set, while the former may prove to be a 

 liability, because of the uncertainty of 

 his patronage. 



It is possible that the plant quarantine 

 will not do as much harm as some believe. 

 When this country, at the outbreak of 

 the war, found itself cut off from its sup- 

 ply of German dye, the domestic manu- 

 facturers rose to the occasion. Florists 

 surely will not allow themselves to be 

 bested by the dye industry. 



In the course of the next few weeks 

 the remaining giganteum bulbs of the 

 1917 crop will be used up and there prob- 

 ably will follow six months or more when 

 lilies will be practically unknown in the 

 trade. The 1919 crop from Bermuda will 

 arrive in Julv^ and August, with a few 

 bulbs soon aiser from the Azores and 

 a small quantity, ^rol^'^ Formosa in the 

 early autumn. The n^^ Japanese bulbs 

 are not due untU November. 



. There have been many ^^empts to de- 

 ' fine a standard for planti^]iust as there 

 is for the pots they are grown in. Even 

 a committee of the veterans of the 8. A. 

 F., told to define such standard grades, 

 tried it a few years ago and gave it up. 

 But there was unanimous opinion on one 

 point: To be describable as from a pot 

 of certain size, the plants must have had 

 sufficient time in that pot to have become 

 rooted around; the roots must permeate 

 the soil and show on the outside of the 

 ball. How many plants sent out this 

 season answer that description? 



GOOD BUSINESS. 



Business is good in. all sections of the 

 country. There is only one report from 

 those who use the Classified ads in The 

 Review. It is like this: 



We are cleaned up and have to return checks, 

 which Is hard to do. It pays to advertise in the 

 old reliable, Thf Review. — Tarentum Floral Co., 

 Tarentuni, Pa., May 3, 1919. 



We are well T)lea8ed with the business the 

 little ads have brought us this season. — George 

 Hammer, Van Home, la.. May 5, 1919. 



The ad has sold out our moonvines. — G. F. 

 Odor, lola, Kan., May 4, 1919. 



When you hear a man complain of the 

 cost of advertising you can be pretty 

 certain he spends a good bit of money 

 elsewhere than in The Review. 



MONEY FOB MAINTENANCE. 



The income tax is teaching florists 

 many improvements in business meth- 

 ods, not the least important of which 

 is better maintenance of greenhouse 

 property. 



In many, perhaps a majority of cases, 

 it has been the florists' preference to 

 spend little on maintaining his houses, 

 to use them as long as they would pro- 

 duce good crops without expense for re- 

 pairs and then to tear them dowa and 

 rebuild. But the income tax authorities 

 frown on large charges for depreciation ; 

 it has been ruled that four per cent is 

 the maximum annual depreciation allow- 

 able on buildings of average substantial 

 character and that no further allowance 

 can be made after the annual charge has 



equaled the first cost. Florists who 

 have been Charging off from seven to ten 

 per cent depreciation each year since, 

 the income tax law was passed find 

 themselves with fairly good houses and 

 little of the room for further deductions 

 from income for this account. 



But the law contemplates reasonable 

 charges into expense for the mainte- 

 nance of property. Owners of green- 

 houses as a rule can keep their places 

 up much better and prolong the •use- 

 fulness of their houses without courting 

 an investigation by the government. 



PBIOES. 



Any price is justified, resulting from 

 the operation of the law of supply and 

 demand. 



But it is not always expedient to let 

 the law of supply and demand operate 

 to its ultimate conclusion. 



Carried to the limit, prices rise until 

 demand subsides; then prices fall. 



It would be a serious mistake to ad- 

 vance the price of plants or cut flowers 

 to the point where the public would 

 stop consuming; in that case the trade 

 not only would be left with perishable 

 stock, but it would be necessary to re- 

 awaken the demand on a lower prfce 

 level, and in the hiatus there would be 

 a serious loss. 



Those who sell flowers at wholesale 

 must keep their customers in business. 



There would be more reason for sel- 

 lers holding prices dovra in times of 

 scarcity and great demand were buyers 

 not so prompt to beat prices down in 

 times of plenty. 



OOBBESPONDENTS. 



The Review would like to publish a 

 weekly news letter from every impor- 

 tant city in the United States — the only 

 reason why it is not done is that most 

 florists have writers' cramp. The 

 Editor will be pleased to hear from any- 

 one who wants to put his city on the 

 trade map. There are particularly good 

 opportunities in 



Detroit St. Paul 



Minneapolis Memphis 



Milwaukee Washington 



There are many smaller cities in which 



the trade interests are large enough to 



afford material for frequent letters. 



ELASTICITY. 



One of the problems confronting the 

 publishers of The Review grows out of 

 the fact that the trade has its sharply 

 defined seasons. In many lines of trade 

 paper publishing it is possible to sell 

 each advertiser a definite space for a 

 definite length of time. Florists, nurs- 

 erymen and seedsmen, however, want an 

 elastic arrangement, which will permit 

 them to increase and decrease the adver- 

 tising as the seasons come and go. Con- 

 sequently the publishers of The Review 

 never know more than a day in advance 

 how much space vnW be required in any 

 forthcoming issue. Advertisers go at 

 it like this: 



Your publication certainly has been a puller 

 this spring and we shall use it whenever occasion 

 demands. — Neosho Nurseries Co., Neosho, Mo. 



The Review aims to maintain suffi- 

 cient elasticity to provide for all comers 

 even in the busiest season, but adver- 

 tisers are urged to send in copy on 

 Thursday, Friday and Saturday when- 

 ever possible. If advertisements are not 

 received until Tuesday itJis necessary to 

 set the type at night and it costs double. 



