26 



The Florists^ Review 



AU0U8T 28, 1919. 



ff 



Established. 1897, by Q. L. ORANT. 



PnbllBhed every Tharadar by 

 The Flokists' Pdblishing Co., 



621 seoCaxton Bnlldlnfr, 



606 South Dearborn St., ChtcaffO. 



Tele., Wabash 8195. 



IteiTlotered cable address, 



Fiorvlew. Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1KU7. at the post-office at Ohl- 

 caRo, IlL. under the Act of March 

 8.1879. 



Subscription price, $1.50 a year. 

 To Caimda. $2 GO; to Europe. $3.00. 



AdTeitlsinir rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



n 



BESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Two admonitions from the convention : 

 Buy coal today and close on Sunday. 



A SUEPLUS of field-grown carnation 

 plants is almost like money in the bank. 



As the purchasing power of a dollar de- 

 creases the incentive to spend it expertly 

 increases. 



Scarcity of experienced help requires 

 more careful planning of work to get the 

 best results with what one has. 



The shrinkage of the wheat surplus of 

 North America to one-half that expected 

 in June is another factor in holding up 

 prices. 



It costs as little as $2.25 to put a full- 

 page advertisement in the hands of each 

 thousand florists through The Review. Is 

 it any wonder so many use itf 



Those who have made adequate prepa- 

 rations for the season's heavy business 

 will not feci the lack of help as much as 

 those who have not. 



Railroad strikes no sooner lifted on the 

 Atlantic coast than they struck the Pacific 

 seaboard. Los Angeles and San Fran- 

 cisco are completely tied up. 



If Manetti stocks cost a nickel instead 

 of only a little more than half a cent, it 

 may soon alter the opinion that rose 

 stocks can not be grown in America. 



It is hoped the railroad men will listen 

 to President Wilson's appeal to stay at 

 work. A nation-wide strike would be se- 

 riously damaging to the trade at this time. 



The French Society of Chrysanthemum 

 Growers is resuming activities, now that 

 its members have been demobilized, and 

 its journal, The Chrysanthemum, appears 

 once more under the direction of Philippe 

 Rivoire. 



The factories making hand-blown glass 

 are operating only a small part of the time 

 and, as greenhouse sizes are cut only 

 from parts of sheets which will make noth- 

 ing larger, the output is so small prices 

 have an upward tendency. 



New England growers of gladioli, 

 dahlias, geraaiuais, chrysanthemums and 

 herbaceous perennials are regarding with 

 much anxiety the Federal Horticultural 

 Board's proposed quarantine of the sec- 

 tion on account of the corn borer. 



THE DETROIT CONVENTION. 



All things considered, the thirty-fifth 

 convention of the S. A. F. is entitled to 

 first rank in the society's annals. It 

 was high-water mark, displacing the 

 Chicago convention of 1912 as the stand- 

 ard by which future conventions, or at 

 least next year's convention, will be 

 measured. 



The Detroit convention set a new 

 record for attendance; the circumstances 

 were favorable to attract many for 

 purely business reasons, many who made 

 the trip a vacation and many who com- 

 bined the two. There must have been 

 close to 1,500 florists and their families 

 from out of town. The increase in the 

 attendance of women was especially no- 

 table. 



While the trade 's display did not num- 

 ber quite so many exhibitors as at Chi- 

 cago and the space used was consider- 

 ably smaller, still if you ask any ex- 

 hibitor he will tell you it was the most 

 successful exhibition on record. He 

 judges by the volume of business done. 

 The change in attitude was remarkable. 

 Whereas in other years the salesmen 

 trailed the buyers, this year they had 

 time only to enter the orders of those 

 who asked to be waited on. The volume 

 of business done probably equals the 

 combined sales at all the conventions in 

 the five years preceding. 



In the matter of the business sessions ' 

 of the society not so much can be said. 

 While they were well handled, brisk, in- 

 teresting and moderately well attended, 

 the real work of the society is done else- 

 where. It would be as well to shorten 

 the program another year; to invite men 

 to address the society and then, for lack 

 of time, not to read the papers they pre- 

 pare is not just as it should be. 



Shortening the convention to three 

 days meets with general approval. 

 There is time in three days for sufficient 

 entertaining, as the Detroit florists 

 proved, and the revival of the old-time 

 fourth-day picnic should not be encour- 

 aged. The trade has progressed beyond 

 that point. 



BUSINESS IN HIGH GEAB. 



Were there not a shortage of labor 

 and materials, business would reach an 

 enormous figure, according to the report 

 of business conditions issued by the Fed- 

 eral Reserve bank of Chicago. 



"Business, according to all reports, is 

 going forward on high gear," the report 

 says. "Jobbers cannot get goods fast 

 enough to supply their retailers and 

 store shelves are depleted. There, how- 

 ever, is a noticeable increase in the 

 tendency to 'wait a while before buy- 

 ing.' This is noted in shoes and clothing 

 especially; but it is not noted in luxury 

 lines. But for labor and material short- 

 age, business would be enormous. Ad- 

 vanced prices make no difference. All 

 classes of workers insist on costly and 

 elegant apparel, regardless of wearing 

 quality, and are reckless of prices. 



"Mercantile stocks are admittedly 

 very low. This is partly due to the 

 efforts of jobbers to protect their cus- 

 tomers against possible slumps, partly 

 due to the shortage of freight cars and 

 partly to the desire of the people to 

 spend their money as fast as possible. 

 Retail conditions are described as 

 healthy, but there is complaint on ac- 

 count of the large amount of money 

 needed to do business. 



"The labor crisis, which was giving 



general alarm a fortnight ago, appears 

 to have passed. Efforts have been fairly 

 successful to cause labor to assume a 

 more contented attitude and cooperate 

 in increasing production. All these 

 things, taken in conjunction with the 

 vigorous federal campaign against food 

 profiteers, with nation-wide libel seiz- 

 ures of hoarded food supplied by the 

 government, have effected a summary 

 and surprising improvement in the 

 popular frame of mind." 



DATUGHT SAVING BEPEAXED. 



Overriding the veto of President Wil- 

 son, Congress last week repealed the 

 daylight saving law. While the scheme 

 has many adherents in the cities, it has 

 many opponents in the rural districts, 

 and whether the popular voice, as its ad- 

 vocates affirm, is sufficiently strong to 

 cause congressmen to change their mind 

 later is an open question. The trade 

 has, as a whole, found no strong reason 

 to favor or to condemn daylight saving. 

 So the fluctuation of the congressional 

 mind will not bother it in this regard. 



EUBOPE OPEN AGAIN. 



After October 1 passports will be is- 

 sued to tourists going to France, Bel- 

 gium, Spain, Portugal, Italy and north- 

 ern Africa, except Egypt, Secretary Lan- 

 sing has announced. Applications may 

 be sent in before September 15. 



This announcement, which removes 

 the ban which has deprived florists of 

 the large and profitable steamer trade 

 they enjoyed before the war, restores 

 the opportunity, if not the business. 

 That it will increase ocean travel is 

 scarcely possible, since the steamship 

 lines have been sold up on accommoda- 

 tions two months ahead for some time 

 past. Vessels for European and South 

 American ports have no cabins unsold 

 for the months of September and Octo- 

 ber. Ocean travel is strong again; the 

 trade, however, must bring back the 

 voyagers and their friends to the 

 steamer flowers habit. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



There is some difference of opinion as 

 to last week 's business, but none at all 

 as to the supply of stock. Apparently 

 last week 's demand was limited to flow- 

 ers for funerals, which resulted in some 

 good days and some poor ones, with 

 some houses busy at times others were 

 doing little. The result is a few houses 

 report better business than a year ago, 

 while more of them say it was about 

 the same as then and one or two admit 

 ii falling off. It is about the first 

 time in 1919 that sales have not been 

 considerably ahead of the same period 

 of 1918, but we now approach the time 

 of last year at which business began to 

 boom. 



The market has been and is heavily 

 supplied with stock in two lines, with 

 scarcely anything available in other 

 standard items. Roses have been on the 

 increase for several days and there are 

 more than the demand calls for. Three 

 classes of stock are readilv identifiable. 

 Mest numerous is the short-stemmed, 

 small, soft stuff, the first crops cut from 

 young stock. The supply of this class 

 of roses is much ahead of the require- 

 ments, because such stock is of little 



