20 



The Florists^ Review 



Ski>xiimbeu 4, 1919. 



Establtahed, 1897, by G. L. QRANT. 



Pablished every Thuraday by 

 Thb Fix)bists' Publishing Co., 



620-560 Caxton BulldlnRr, 



608 South Dearborn St., Cblcagro. 



Tele., Wabash 8195. 



ReRiHtered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



ft 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897, at the poet-oftice at Ohi- 

 caero, IlL, under the Act of March 

 3.1879. 



Subscription price, $1.60 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.50; to Europe. 53.00. 



Advertisinflr rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 Tertlslngr accepted. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Income taxes are due by September 15. 



Given an early frost and a fairly tight 

 market for flowers is in immediate pros- 

 pect. 



How can a florist make other than spas- 

 modic sales effort until he has a properly 

 organized office staff? 



Pacific coast shipments have been re- 

 sumed, as the railroad strike which tied 

 up transportation has been ended. 



Strike threats in the steel industry are 

 bad news at a time when as much green- 

 house building is contemplated as now. 



The new rules of the American Railway 

 Express Co. covering packing requirements 

 will not affect florists, who have been us- 

 ing the corrugated board containers now 

 advocated by the express company for all 

 shipments. 



Note that the price of coal is higher 

 now^ than during the war and likely soon 

 to advance again. The Fuel Administra- 

 tion is entitled to credit for keeping fuel 

 within the reach of florists even if it did 

 curtail our supply. 



Interpretation of regulation 14 of 

 Quarantine No. 37, under which plants 

 may be imported in limited quantities, is 

 given in the article headed "Loopholes in 

 Quarantine 37," which appears in the 

 Nursery Trade department this week. 



Labor day never did mean much to 

 florists, especially growers, and now that 

 labor no longer marches it seems to mean 

 nothing at all to any class of workers, ex- 

 cept the small number whose pay is not 

 affected by a holiday. So why not cut it 

 out? 



Several communications have reached 

 The Review as a result of the article de- 

 scribing A. Rasmusscn's profit-sharing 

 plan, representing other growers' em- 

 ployees ' point of view, but, unfortunately, 

 they are not signed and therefore can not 

 be published. 



F. M. Johnson says the one limitation 

 on the florists' trade lies in the restricted 

 number of items of resale merchandise 

 handled in flower stores. He comments 

 that if the average florist could overcome 

 his prejudice against selling other things 

 than flowers, it would be possible to find 

 other lines of goods in harmony which 

 would add materially to the profits. 



It costs as little as $2.25 per thousand 

 florists reached to put a full-page adver- 

 tisement in The Review. Is it any wonder 

 so many do it? 



There is no danger of overproduction 

 as long as present labor conditions last. 

 With workers drawing high wages and 

 spending them before the next pay day, 

 business will be good. 



It is said that the Joy Floral Co., of 

 Nashville, is pulling new business at the 

 rate of $25 to $50 per day by means of a 

 system of reminding individuals of the 

 birthday, wedding and other anniversaries 

 of their relatives and friends. 



The size of the railroad problem is in- 

 dicated by the number of solutions advo- 

 cated — a total of thirty different plans. 

 Only two, however, receive wide consider- 

 ation, that of the National Chamber of 

 Commerce and that of Mr. Plumb. 



CORRESPONDENTS WANTED. 



The Review wishes to receive a regu- 

 lar weekly news-letter from the follow- 

 ing cities: 



Washington, D. C Hartford, Conn. 

 Minneapolis. Portland, Me. 



St. Paul. Omaha, Neb. 



Louisville, Ky. Salt Lake City. 



Florists or their employees who are in 

 touch with the trade in their city and 

 wish to act as correspondent for The 

 Review are urged to write to the editor. 

 Correspondents in other cities not now 

 represented are also desired. 



THE PINK PART. 



In order to make space for those who 

 wish to use it, it has become necessary to 

 increase the Pink Part to twenty-four 

 pages each issue. 



It is not yet three years since the 

 Pink Part became a weekly feature of 

 The Review and its success has been be- 

 yond all expectations. It has, indeed, 

 caused indications that imitators might 

 turn green with envy. It was apparent 

 that the use of pink paper for the tele- 

 graph delivery cards, with a special in- 

 dex by towns, made them so easy to 

 find and to consult, no matter what mass 

 of matter the florist had on his desk, 

 that they were practically sure to be 

 the first resort of practically every flo- 

 rist, no matter what other reference 

 lists he might have at hand. Conse- 

 quently, the growth of the Pink Part 

 has kept pace with the increase in in- 

 terest in means for the telegraph de- 

 livery of flowers. Beginning with a 

 scant dozen pages, twice that number 

 now are well filled and it is apparent 

 that the volume of telegraph orders ex- 

 changed between members of the trade 

 this season also will break all records. 



HESITATINO PRICES TEMPORARY. 



That the check in the advancing 

 prices of commodities is only a tempor- 

 ary halt, due chiefly to the increased 

 supplies, and that shortages will hold 

 up quotations in most lines is indicated 

 by Dun's review of trade, which says: 



"There has been a check this week 

 in the steady advance in the prices of 

 commodities, marking a change from 

 the tendency which has prevailed al- 

 most continuously since the moderate 

 drop of last winter. The concessions, 

 which are slight, are most noticeable in 

 foods and some lines of textiles, and 

 may indicate a halt rather than a turn- 

 ing point. In foods, particularly meats 



and grains, increased supplies operate 

 for the time being to relieve the situa- 

 tion, but this cannot be said of dry 

 goods, for there is as great a shortage 

 as ever. 



"The approach of a crucial stage of 

 the negotiations between employers and 

 workers in the steel and railroad fields 

 of industry has accentuated this hesi- 

 tating inclination. The effect is felt 

 mostly in wholesale business, where, 

 however, the volume is still well ahead 

 of the large figures of last year. Retail 

 distribution of merchandise is not di- 

 minished. 



"Building activity, as indicated by 

 permits issued and contracts awarded 

 in the central states, is surprisingly 

 great, and but for the lockout of the 

 trades in Chicago would be unprece- 

 dented. Transportation conditions are 

 improved, and there is less complaint 

 about deliveries." 



NO SLOWING UP IN DEMAND. 



Reports from those who use classified 



ads in The Riview indicate that there is 



no slowing up in the demand for plants 



— everything sells briskly. Like this: 



The ad In The Review sold the plants and 

 we are busy returning money to those who 

 were too late. — Schmaus Bros., Paducah, Ky., 

 August 26, 1919. 



And the display ads, necessary to 

 those who want to flag the attention of 

 those not consciously seeking some cer- 

 tain article, also are doing their part 

 in trade prosperity. Like this: 



Will say that the orders for Insectonos are 

 coming In good and I am entirely satisfied with 

 the results of the ad.— Earl !>. Hempstead, 

 Bloomington, 111., August 27, 1919. 



If you hear a florist complain of the 

 cost of advertising you may be pretty 

 certain he spends a good bit of money 

 elsewhere than in The Review, 



CHICAGO, 



The Market. 



Labor day is like the Fourth of July 

 in business value to the trade — abso- 

 lutely worthless — but there is this dif- 

 ference: Whereas the Fourth ushers 

 in the summer, the day Labor doesn't 

 ma^e even a pretense marks the sum- 

 mer's close. We are accustomed to 

 speak of summer as though it were a 

 thing, in a business way, to be endured, 

 welcome only in its going; but this year 

 it has been different. There has been 

 business during both July and August; 

 not big business, to be sure, but far 

 different from the old days. Nearly 

 everybody in the business has made at 

 least a little money this summer, some 

 of them good money. The wholesalers 

 have had something to sell right along 

 and have sold it at fair prices, which 

 tells the story for the other branches of 

 the trade; if the wholesalers are doing 

 business, neither growers nor retailers 

 are suffering. 



August was not quite so good as July, 

 in percentage of increased sales in most 

 of the wholesale houses, although an ex- 

 ceptional one reports big gains. Where 

 the supply of stock was somewhere 

 nearly like that of last year, wholesalers 

 reached last year's August record early 

 last week and had the sales of the last 

 three or four days of the month to chalk 

 up as increase. The month ended well; 

 its last week was the best of the four. 

 Cool weather helped greatly. Septem- 

 ber started with a volume of shipping 

 orders which kept several of the prin- 



