30 



The Florists^ Review 



January 29, 1920 



nurseries with repellents. Mr. Eisele 

 asserted that less than 100 beetles had 

 been found in the nurseries at Eiverton. 

 He said the nursery at Locust Grove, 

 which is in the midst of the infested 

 area, from 1911 shipped millions of 

 plants to the establishment at Eiver- 

 ton, a distance of about a mile and a 

 half, and until last summer there was 

 not found a single beetle at the latter 

 place. Mr. Eisele himself found a cou- 

 ple of beetles in the Eiverton nurseries 

 and delivered them to the inspectors. 

 He said that he did not believe that any- 

 one believes that the beetle can be com- 

 pletely exterminated. 



Koster Fears Future. 



P. M. Koster, of the Koster Co., 

 Bridgeton, N. J., stated that Quarantine 

 No. 37 drove him out of business in 

 Holland. ' * I am attending this hearing 



with fear,"- he said, "as in case there 

 is a federal quarantine my second at- 

 tempt to make a living would be frus- 

 trated. What damage does this beetle 

 do? Some member of the board should 

 give some argument why they are con- 

 sidering such rigid restrictions! " 



Dr. Quaintance, answering Mr. Kos- 

 ter, said that the board should take 

 steps to guard against the damage that 

 would be done by a spread of the insect. 

 "We feel that the beetle should be 

 killed and not driven from pillar to 

 post," he declared. 



J. G. Sanders, director of plant in- 

 dustry of Pennsylvania, made a brief 

 statement, saying that the Japanese 

 beetle was not far away from Pennsyl- 

 vania and that he wanted authority 

 centralized if the quarantine was ex- 

 tended. T. O. M. 



DEMAND OUTSTRIPS SUPPLY. 



Need for Oreater Production. 



Since all outdoor stock was killed by 

 frost last fall, there has not been a 

 single instance when the supply equaled 

 the demand. To my mind, this condi- 

 tion should make everyone connected 

 with the business give this matter seri- 

 ous consideration. 



The first question that presents itself 

 is this: Are there fewer flowers being 

 produced or more being usedf I have 

 been watching this matter all winter, 

 and it is my belief that the shortage of 

 stock is due more to an unprecedented 

 demand than to lack of production. It 

 is true that the growers have been under 

 a handicap with cloudy weather condi- 

 tions, but, on the whole, I do not believe 

 that the supply of cut stock has been 

 much below what it has been in pre- 

 vious seasons. Among the various 

 ranges I know of none that is not run- 

 ning to capacity, and every retail store 

 seems to be handling as much stock as 

 ever. 



But here we are at the beginning of 

 February. Anyone should be able to 

 compare his books with those of pre- 

 vious seasons and tell just how much 

 stock has been short this season. If this 

 is carefully done, I think florists will 

 wake up to the fact that they have been 

 handling as much stock as ever, but 

 that the demand has been such that 

 there is not enough to go around. We 

 have never heard so much about high 

 prices; this is just the condition that 

 makes them high. If production were 

 equal to the demand, prices would be 

 normal. 



Only One Solution. 



There is just one solution to this 

 whole question: There must be more 

 flowers produced. We all know that it 

 takes time to do this, but the object of 

 this article is to get the wise grower 

 thinking about preparing for next win- 

 ter. It may take an addition to the 

 range, which will mean the laying out 

 of capital. 



There is just one question for the 

 grower to determine: Will an invest- 



ment for the production of more flowers 

 next winter be a wise move? Let us 

 look at this question from several angles. 

 The first one is the amount of money 

 that is now in circulation, the way the 

 public is spending it and the luxuries 

 that are being purchased (read Brad- 

 street's and Dun's reports). It is not 

 the necessities of life alone that are be- 

 ing purchased; there are more people 

 buying jewelry, fancy fur coats, auto- 

 mobiles, etc., than was ever known of 

 before. 



Ease of Advertising. 



I have just read of a woman in Chi- 

 cago who went into a china store to get 

 some dishes. She told the clerk that she 

 had always longed for some nice dishes, 

 but had never been financially able be- 

 fore to gratify this desire. The clerk 

 showed her various articles, and at last 

 they came to a dinner set, the price of 

 which was $450. She asked for some- 

 thing better and the clerk showed her 

 one at $650. Still she asked for better 

 and finally took one at $850, opening 

 her handbag and paying in cash. The 

 clerk got into conversation with the 

 lady and was told that there were four 

 men in her family and their wages to- 

 taled $700 per week. I am just citing 

 this case to show the incomes of the 

 wage-earners and what they are doing 

 with it. In the above case this woman 

 had no idea of the value of the dinner 

 set; had the price of the first set shown 

 her been put at $850, she would have 

 taken it and been as well satisfied. 



In the foregoing there is no doubt an 

 element of speculation, but when we 

 come to consider advertising we are 

 dealing with a staple business proposi- 

 tion. A committee of broad-minded 

 business men has been pushing our ad- 

 vertising campaign for about three 

 years. The florists' business came 

 through the war when other lines of 

 business were at a standstill, when ob- 

 stacle after obstacle obstructed the path 

 of the florists, yet they all did business 

 and made money. Now that the war is 

 over, and money is being spent in a 

 manner that was never heard of before, 

 the only complaint to be heard is that 

 they can't get enough stock to satisfy 

 the demand. 



I am familiar with the case of a flo- 

 rists ' club which appointed a local ad- 

 vertising committee to push this matter 

 in a certain locality. Among other 

 things, they canvassed the growers with 

 a petition to get them to pledge one- 

 half of one per cent on all their sales 

 for advertising. Ninety per cent of 

 the growers have already signed up and 

 the committee has not yet reached the 

 retailers. The commission men are to 

 do the collecting. At this rate, if every 

 large city in the country were to adopt 

 this method, think of the publicity that 

 could be given to our slogan, "Say It 

 with Flowers. ' ' The committee referred 

 to had no trouble at all in getting the 

 ninety per cent of growers, and any city 

 that will adopt this method will find the 

 same thing true. All that is required is 

 for someone to take the initiative; 

 everyone is willing to do his part. But 

 there is something else that has to be 

 done, which is just as important as ad- 

 vertising, and that is, produce the goods 

 you advertise. 



If things keep on at the rate they are 

 going it will be necessary for the S. A. 

 F. at its next convention to appoint a 

 committee to stimulate production. 



Tate. 



AGMCO USES NEWSPAPERS. 



Advertising seeks out new business 

 in all sorts of ways in these times, but 

 a method of selling greenhouses that is 

 distinctly novel is through the columns 

 of the daily newspaper. That is the 

 means now adopted by the American 

 Greenhouse Mfg. Co., in line with its 

 policy of expansion in all directions. 

 The advertisement which is reproduced 

 on this page appeared in the Sunday 

 Tribune in space just three times as 

 wide and three times as high as it is 

 shown here. 



There was doubt in the minds of some 

 as to the success of this sort of adver- 

 tising, doubt as to whether the returns 

 would be adequate returns oh the sum 

 invested, more than $300. This doubt 

 was cleared speedily, for Monday's 

 mail brought many inquiries, which 

 bore all the earmarks of interest and 



Selling Greenhouses in Newspaper. 



