22 



The Florists^ Review 



Jancabx 16, 1&20. 



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TAT&S TIPS 



PRICES AND THE PXTBLIC. 



Good and Bad Bustness. 



Although the trade had one of the 

 most successful Christmas seasons in its 

 history, the tone of the reports from 

 different retail dealers indicated that 

 "there was a fly in the ointment 

 somewhere." In every case, receipts 

 have been much larger, with a much 

 shorter supply of stock. Yet some re- 

 ported business unsatisfactory, not 

 through financial losses, but from the 

 number of complaints about the high 

 cost of flowers. There seemed to be a 

 general undercurrent of grumbling on 

 the part of the public. There were even 

 some florists who refused to handle cut 

 stock at all. Yet, in the face of all this, 

 when the stores closed on Christmas day 

 they were entirely cleaned up. This 

 would indicate that business had been 

 most satisfactory; from a monetary 

 standpoint not a single complaint was 

 to be heard. 



Keep Old Customers. 



But there is a limit in the price of 

 flowers beyond which the public that 

 buys most of the flowers will not go. 

 There is another class, and it was this 

 class that helped out in the recent hol- 

 idays. This is the class of the wage- 

 earners, who now have plenty of money 

 and feel that the higher the price the 

 more correct is their purchase. This 

 class is, however, an uncertain propo- 

 sition and there may come a slump at 

 any time; flowers would be one of the 

 first things that these buyers would 

 forego. The people who have been in 

 the habit of purchasing flowers are not 

 wage-earners, but people whose income 

 is derived, in most cases, from salaries 

 and investments. Their incomes have 

 not increased in proportion to the high 

 cost of not only flowers, but every com- 

 modity that is necessary for living. 



An illustration may be taken from the 

 experience of a prominent florist. An 

 old customer sent in an oraer for twelve 

 boxes of cut flowers, to be sent to dif- 

 ferent people. Each box was to con- 

 tain a dozen roses. As soon as the flo- 

 rist got the order, she realized that the 

 young man who gave it did tot under- 

 stand the situation; so she called him 

 on the ►telephone and explained. He 

 was most profuse in his thanks and at 

 once canceled the order, except for one 

 box which he sent to his mother. The 

 point is, that if this florist had filled the 

 order as first received, she would have 

 been paid, but the chances are that she 

 would have lost a customer with whom 

 she had done a satisfactory business 

 for years. Would it have been good 

 business f 



In some telegraph orders at Christ- 

 mas time the sender went to the ex- 

 pense of adding, "Let's take care of 

 our old customers on prices." 



Keep Within the Wise Liinit. 



One florist had some Premier roses 

 which cost him 35 cents each the Satur- 

 day before Christmas and which on 

 Monday of Christmas week had jumped 



to 75 cents. It is reasonable to sup- 

 pose that at 35 cents these roses were 

 produced at a fair profit and there is 

 but one factor that could be responsible 

 for the extra advance, namely, the sup- 

 ply and demand. 



There is a limit to the prices which 

 the public will pay for flowers; that 

 this limit was reached in some instances 

 was proved by the analysis of the 

 Christmas business. Some flowers many 

 of the public refused to buy at all, but 

 where they did buy them they took half 

 the amount they had been accustomed 

 to use. 



Satisfy and Succeed. 



That the florists' business is well es- 

 tablished was demonstrated by the vol- 

 ume of business done all over the coun- 

 try. But there is one fact that every- 

 one should learn from the last Christ- 

 mas business and that is that the pub- 

 lic was not satisfied, and we all know 

 that, in the final analysis, it is only sat- 

 isfied customers who will make any busi- 

 ness a success. 



There must be a remedy. Surely that 

 remedy is the application of modern 



business methods. Cut down the cost 

 of production in every way possible 

 without interfering with the quality of 

 the product, reduce all overhead ex- 

 penses without interfering with ef- 

 ficiency, and, last but not least, know 

 exactly what profit must be added in 

 both the wholesale and the retail mar- 

 ket and let this profit be fair. If this 

 is done, the florists will do a larger busi- 

 ness than ever before and the business 

 will be satisfactory both to themselves 

 and to those with whom they are deal- 

 ing. Tate. 



CAN BEPEAT IT SOON. 



If we only could eat our cake and 

 keep it, too, how fine this world would 

 be! And if we only could have a big 

 Christmas cut and stay in full crop 

 through January, wouldn 't rose growing 

 be just the finest business evert 



Of course, no rose grower would com- 

 plain if he had a Christmas cut of 24,000 

 roses from four houses, a little over 40,- 

 000 feet of glass, which was the number 

 the Lombard Floral Co., Lombard, HI., 

 sent to the Chicago Flower Growers' 

 Association Christmas week. The illus- 

 tration on page 23 was prepared 

 from a photograph made in the packing 

 shed December 22. It shows that day's 

 cut of 4,500 roses— 2,000 Premier, 1,500 

 Columbia and 1,000 Milady. Andrew 

 Benson, the manager, stands at the 

 right. The proprietor is Danford J. 

 Abrams. 



MOTT-LY MUSINGS 



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"With us, business in general and 

 holiday trade in particular was never 

 better," observed Frank J. Baker, of 

 C. F. Baker & Son, Utica, N. Y., "which 

 we attribute to many causes, especially 

 to the wave of publicity sweeping over 

 the country. The slogan, 'Say It with 

 Flowers,' has been displayed by this 

 firm ever since its adoption." Atten- 

 tion was called to the benches in the 

 show houses recently filled with poin- 

 settias and now planted with Boston 

 ferns, which are later to be potted up 

 to give place for Easter display. These 

 ferns are taken from old stock broken 

 up and make excellent plants for later 

 sale. Gigantcum lilies are looking fine 

 and a good crop is expected for Easter. 



• • • • 



W. A. Eowlands, of Utica, is much 

 pleased with Carnation Laddie. He ex- 

 pects to attend the American Carnation 

 Society's convention in Chicago, to see 

 if there is anything on exhibition to 

 beat it. • • • • 



Milton T. Jones, pioneer seedsman of 

 Utica, has retired in favor of Blatt & 

 Markle. Mr. Blatt was for several years 

 in the employ of Mr. Jones. 



. .... 



Joseph Traudt, of Canajoharie, N. Y., 

 is elated by the returns from holiday 

 sales and the continuing good business. 

 An adjoining farm with a fine site for a 

 range of glass is a future possibility. 



• • • • 



Ivar Kingdahl, of Eome, N. Y., in one 

 season has sprung into fame as a grower 

 of fine flowering plants, which the 

 Komans and Uticans cleaned up at re- 

 munerative figures. Thomas Roland, of 



Nah^nt, Mass., is justly proud of the 

 success of his former pupil. N. V. Bing- 

 dahl is equally pleased with his experi- 

 ence. Frank Baker mentioned the grati- 

 fying fact that several former em- 

 ployees, now engaged in other profes- 

 sons, gladly rallied to the assistance of 

 their old employer during the holiday 



rush. 



• • • • 



"Best season's business on record," 

 observed J. V. Laver, of Erie, Pa., * ' and 

 the holiday trade was exceptionally 

 good. It is worthy of record, even if 

 it is a little late, that the new rose 

 houses produced a fine crop of roses, 

 another of which will be in for Easter. 

 A large line of plants is being prepared 

 for this date. Lilies, both Harrisii and 

 giganteum, are promising well. The 

 call for decorations exceeds funeral 

 work and is especially acceptable at 

 this time, when flowers are so scarce." 



• * • • 



"Looking up to see what we owe is 

 fully as necessary as to total the amount 

 of business done," observed W. E. Day, 

 of Syracuse, Ni Y., adding that in vol- 

 ume the entire season was unsurpassed, 

 if equaled, while the question of corre- 

 sponding profits had yet to be worked 



out. 



• • • • 



The perplexing problem of help was 

 elaborated upon by Robert H. C. Bard, 

 who maintains that the business was 

 never in such a critical condition. "The 

 opportunity is here to place it on the 

 pinnacle of success or to consign it to 

 disaster, as the craft itself determines. 

 Confidence in one another and faith in 

 ultimate success are determining fac- 



