30 



The Florists^ Review 



May 22, 1919. 



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Establlabed, 1897, by a. L. GRANT. 



Published every Tbarsday by 

 The Flouists' PuBUSHiNa Co., 



620-560 Oaxton BuildlnR, 



608 South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tele.. Wabash 8196. 



Refrii^tered cable address, 



Florvlew, CblcaKO. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3, 1897, at the post-ottice at Obi- 

 caRo, in., under the Act of March 

 3, 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.60 a' year. 

 To Canada, $2.50; to Europe. $3.00. 



Advertising rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 -vertislngr accepted. 



II 



Kesults bring advertising. 

 The Eeview brings results. 



It is not likely that there will be any 

 shortage of bedding stock, even gerani- 

 ums, after Memorial day. 



Some careless newspaper editors handle 

 the word ' * profiteer ' ' as though it were a 

 complimentary appellation. 



These are the weeks when the florist 

 works from dewy dawn to deepening dusk 

 and does not then get each day's duties 

 done. 



The sentiment back of the use of flow- 

 ers for Memorial day makes a specially 

 good opportunity for cooperative adver- 

 tising by florists. 



Send The Review clippings of the 

 flower ads printed in your local news- 

 papers for Memorial day, also a photo- 

 graph of your Memorial day window or 

 special Memorial day designs. 



There is an old saying that "Oppor- 

 tunity knocks once at every man 's door. ' ' 

 Don't get the idea that it is only once. 

 For florists, at least, Opportunity is beat- 

 ing a regular rat-a-tat-tat. 



To justify the present level of prices 

 and to keep the trade on its better basis, 

 we need an improvement in the average 

 quality of stock. It will pay the trade 

 as a body and the grower as an individual. 



If the trade suffered because of the 

 war, one most desirable object has been 

 attained. Credits have been restricted 

 and collections accelerated. The trade is 

 on a better financial footing than it ever 

 was before. 



There always are two sides to a story 

 and if florists were allowed the same lib- 

 erty in explaining why flower prices are 

 what they are as some newspapers take 

 in scoring the trade for "extortion," no 

 doubt the public would be less inclined 

 to place florists in the same classification 

 as Captain Kidd. 



There have been more complaints this 

 season than ever before, that young stock 

 shipped on mail orders was not up to 

 .description. While the stock sent out 

 certainly has destroyed for some shippers 

 whatever reputation for veracity they 

 ever possessed, there are other cases in 

 which at least a part of the responsi- 

 bility rests on the buyer's insistence on 

 early delivery. 



Do it better than the other fellow and 

 you will not lack for business. 



One of the plants which surely ad- 

 vanced in popularity this season is 

 Pelargonium Easter Greeting. 



The editor of The Review would like 

 to obtain two or three good photographs 

 showing the abundance of flowers in ceme- 

 teries on Memorial day. 



Unlike other industries, floriculture 

 has not fallen into the hands of rich and 

 strong corporations, excluding the little 

 man, but has at all times held opportuni- 

 ties for working up from the bottom of 

 the ladder. 



Professor Bertrand, of the Pasteur 

 Institute, has informed the Academy of 

 Science that the asphyxiating gases which 

 have been used in the war are likely to be 

 turned to account in the destruction of 

 insects harmful to vegetation. 



Two shows will be held this year under 

 the auspices of the Newport Horticultural 

 Society, at Newport, E. I., instead of 

 monthly exhibitions, as in former years. 

 The first will be held June 25 and 26, 

 while the second is scheduled for Septem- 

 ber. Numerous prizes, for both commer- 

 cial and amateur growers, will be 

 awarded. 



THE VICTORY LOAN. 



The trade has every reason to be 

 proud of the showing made on the Lib- 

 erty loans. The Fourth loan came at a 

 time when florists were ill prepared. It 

 was at the end of the hardest season this 

 trade ever had known. But the trade 

 responded nobly; its subscriptions to the 

 loan exceeded what we were asked to 

 do. The Victory loan found the trade in 

 better financial position. We had had 

 a season of heavy demand and good 

 prices. Some had suffered through fail- 

 ure to have much to sell, but on the 

 whole the trade had paid its debts and 

 put itself in shape to meet any obliga- 

 tion. Having acquired the habit of pay- 

 ing its bills, the trade was ready to pay 

 its share of the war bill. In New York, 

 which in many respects still is the big- 

 gest trade center, the Victory loan sub- 

 scriptions were $318,000. Chicago, not 

 so strong numerically, bought more than 

 $300,000 of the bonds. In other com- 

 munities the florists did proportionately 

 as well. We have no reason to be other- 

 wise than proud of our war record. The 

 trade has done its part. 



EAST OS WEST. 



One of the beauties of the business is 

 that it makes no difference where a flo- 

 rist is located, at least as far as the op- 

 portunity to do wholesale business is 

 concerned. The man who is located at 

 the center of the trade and the one out 

 on a radius have equal opportunity to 

 reach the buyers. Like this: 



The Review sells our stock faster than we can 

 ship it out. — Hammerschmidt & Clark, Medina, 

 O., May 14, 1919. 



I have almost completely sold out; The Re- 

 view did Its share and I thank vou. — R. T. Davis, 

 Jr., Wheatridge, Colo., May 14, 1019. 



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. 



Conn. A leading newspaper of Water- 

 bury prints the following at the top of 

 its editorial columns: 



George T. Ryan sends us a letter which we 

 present In our columns today with a word in be- 

 half of sanitary inspectors who may be obliged 

 to pay for their own uniforms. The letter is 

 headed with Mr. Ryan's well known catch 

 phrase: "Say It with Flowers." For a moment 

 we wondered whether Mr. Ryan were about to 

 advocate killing the Inspectors or whether he 

 was simply seeking a more flowery expression 

 of any ideas we might have in regard to them. 



The editor of the newspaper pays a 

 tribute to the efforts of the florists' 

 publicity committee when he writes of 

 the slogan, "Say It with Flowers," as 

 "well known." 



A STRENUOUS SEASON. 



This is a record season in the flower 

 business in more ways than one. Never 

 before have the special flower days come 

 with such rapidity. Easter was not later 

 in 1919 than in one other recent year, 

 but in 1916, when Easter was April 23, 

 Mothers' day had not assumed the im- 

 portance it now holds as a special flow§r 

 day. This year, with Easter April 23, 

 Mothers' day May 11 and Memorial 

 May 30, the trade has three days of big 

 special demand to be met and handled 

 within the space of forty days. It has 

 been almost too strenuous. The special 

 days have come so fast that it has been 

 impossible to meet the situation as fully 

 as will be done next year. In 1920 we 

 shall have, first of all, normal produc- 

 tion, with all our greenhouses in opera- 

 tion. Easter is April 4 and Mothers' 

 day is May 9. There will be five weeks 

 in which to prepare for the second big 

 day. Memorial day comes Sunday in 

 1920. May 30 is three weeks after 

 Mothers' day. The opportunity is there 

 for preparations which will make Moth- 

 ers ' day and Memorial day of greater 

 importance than ever before. 



BREAD IS RETURNING. 



A florist whose opinion on civic mat- 

 ters evidently has some weight is George 

 T. Ryan, of Byan & Powers, Waterbury, 



A DUTY TO THE TRADE. 



How many of us have given a thought 

 to the future of the trade, to the situa- 

 tion which will exist three, five, ten 

 years from now? 



Look ahead a few years and ask your- 

 self where the growers of that day will 

 get their skilled assistants, the men to 

 take charge of one end or another of 

 the business. 



The florists' business is absolutely 

 sure to grow, because nothing ever will 

 be found to take the place of flowers 

 in the great events of life, but the rapid- 

 ity and direction of growth depend first 

 of all on the men in the business today. 

 Are we training our successors f Are 

 we creating a body of skilled labor to 

 expand the business in coming years f 



It must be admitted that we are not. 

 We are not even developing the ex- 

 perienced help we need today and will 

 need worse tomorrow. 



We must have first-class help or the 

 business will develop slowly and in the 

 direction of one-man establishments. 

 To get first-class help we must train 

 it and to get men worth training we 

 must pay enough to make the business 

 attractive. 



It is up to every florist to pick out at 

 least one likely young man who finishes 

 his school education this spring, to bring 

 him into the business and, if he proves 

 adaptable to it, to pay him enough to 

 hold his interest, adding to his respon- 

 sibilities as his abilities develop. In 

 that way, and in that way only, can we 

 create the large body of responsible 

 assistants the trade so badly needs. 



