38 



The Florists' Review 



Fdbrdabt 12, 1920 



A 



Established, 1897. by d. L. GRANT. 



Pabllshed every Tbaraday by 



ThK FLOaiSTS' PUBLISHINQ Co„ 



S20-560Oaxtoii BulldlnRT, 



606 Soutb Dearborn St., Chlcasro. 



Tele., Wabash 8195. 



Reifi'^tered cable address, 



Florvlew. Cblcaffo, 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at the post-office at Ohl- 

 cago. 111., under the Act of March 

 a. 1879. 



Subscription price, S1.60 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.60; to Europe, $3.00. 



Advertlslnflr rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 





RESULTS. 



\Ve give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Send The Beview a clipping of the St. 

 Valentine's day ad which you found pro- 

 ductive of results. 



If a florist finds collections slow, it 

 probably is because he has no system of 

 reminding debtors when money is due. 



"The voice with the smile wins" is 

 increasingly appropriate as the share of 

 business done over the florist's telephone 

 becomes greater. 



Enebobtic growers are working op 

 large stocks of plants for Easter and 

 spring. There will be good sale for all 

 the trade can produce. 



How would you be fixed for fuel if a 

 general strike should tie up the railroads 

 shortly after the government returns them 

 to private management? 



In 1918 it was figured that the Amer- 

 ican people were spending, on the aver- 

 age, about 50 cents per head per year for 

 flowers. Now it is perhaps $1. 



Heavier snowfall than has been expe- 

 rienced in many years tied up traffic along 

 the Atlantic coast last week, hampering 

 business to an unprecedented degree. 



A READER fears the public will pass up 

 flowers, because of prevalent prices, in 

 favor of candy. Wonder if that florist 

 thinks candy still sells at old-time prices f 



Numerous instances have been re- 

 ported, during the last few days, of rail- 

 roads confiscating florists' coal. Is it in 

 preparation for something the railroad 

 managers expect to happen soonf 



Present conditions, while they encour- 

 age those now in the trade to increase 

 capacity, do not tend to induce new 

 people to enter the business, either as 

 growers or retailers. It takes more cap- 

 ital to make a start at growing and good 

 retail locations are scarce at high rentals. 

 Present-day wages are better than a 

 business venture. 



Frequently The Review is taken to 

 task as favoring quarantines. How 

 foolish! They must hurt the newspaper 

 for years and years. But why waste 

 energy in vain protest! Today one might 

 as well buck organized labor as fight the 

 autocrats who run our government bu- 

 reaus. Some dav reason will rule again. 

 Better bide our tinMi 



Smiles are exceptionally necessary in 

 a florist's shop. Flowers and a grouch 

 do not go well together, and the latter 

 will never sell the former. 



* ' Why advertise when stock is scarce! ' ' 

 ask those not yet converted to the trade 's 

 publicity campaign. "The time to dig 

 bait," replies a wise man, "is before you 

 go fishing." 



The man who has his spring bedding 

 stock ready early will catch the fattest 

 orders. Production will be much larger 

 than last year, but many growers will be 

 late because of laek of help. 



No one can point out either grower or 

 retailer who has "got rich quick" in the 

 last two years. High prices for flowers, 

 unwelcome as they may be to customers, 

 are an economic necessity if the trade 

 is to exist. 



SHORTAGE OF EASTER STOCK. 



Easter is scarcely more than seven 

 weeks away. Florists have had little 

 time for thought of the nearness of this 

 big day. Just now they are doing all 

 the business they are able to do with 

 the available stock. How they are 

 going to do more the first Sunday in 

 April depends entirely upon the supply 

 of plants they are able to get. The 

 size of this will not be so great as in 

 former years, many think. Fewer lilies 

 were planted this season than before. 

 Every one of them will be sold at high 

 prices. Rambler roses are expected to 

 be few. The early date shortens the 

 time to prepare other kinds of stock. 

 The present demand for flowers is some 

 of it being diverted to pot plants by the 

 retailers in their efforts to hold cus- 

 tomers; this decreases the quantity 

 available for later use. So conditions 

 altogether point to a decided shortage 

 for Easter. Every florist who by any 

 means is able to add to his supply and 

 the trade's supply for this day wrill be 

 amply rewarded by the size of the re- 

 turns. 



DEItATED DELIVERY. 



Few publications, if any, feel the 

 necessity of each week 's issue reaching 

 the readers as quickly as possible more 

 than The Review and none makes 

 greater efforts to accomplish this desid- 

 eratum. At the present time the ob- 

 stacles are many. The deplorable con- 

 ditions of the postal service in general 

 form one handicap. To these are added 

 just now weather delays of trains, sick- 

 ness of postal employees from the epi- 

 demic of flu, the enormous size of the 

 mails in this period of lavish adver- 

 tising and other temporary vexations. 

 By persistent vigilance The Beview is 

 able to make certain that all copies 

 depart by train from Chicago by Thurs- 

 day night each week. So much can be 

 done by being "on the ground." Proper 

 dispatch at the postoffice of destination 

 is not so easy to secure, regardless of 

 efforts made from The Review oflice. 

 The subscriber, being "on the ground" 

 at that end, may accomplish a good deal, 

 perhaps, if he tries. The receipt of a 

 copy at his store sooner than at his 

 greenhouses is sure indication that the 

 delay in delivery is in his own post- 

 office, since both copies arrive there in 

 the same mailbag. In such circum- 

 stances an inquiry of the local post- 

 master is likely to result in prompter 

 delivery, or an explanation that will 

 give the subscriber an understanding of 



conditions and an assurance of when 

 he can expect better. So if you do not 

 receive The Review as soon as you think 

 you should, ask your mailman about it. 

 The chances are that, despite present 

 handicaps, you can get prompter de- 

 livery that way. 



SAME ON THE OTHER SIDE. 



The scarcity and high prices of 

 flowers is not a locals not even a national 

 condition. From England comes the 

 following statement of the market on 

 that side of the water: 



"Never were such prices obtained 

 for flowers as during this season. This 

 is to some extent due to the shortage 

 caused by the frost. Though the high 

 prices may entice growers to increase 

 their culture and flowers become more 

 plentiful, we shall never have prices as 

 low as they have been in the years gone 

 by. We have nothing to fear from 

 foreign competition. Every expense 

 connected with the business has in- 

 creased three or four-fold, pots, manure, 

 mold, labor, glass and repairs to houses. 

 Taking this into consideration, growers 

 will be wise to produce first-rate flowers 

 rather than larger quantities of them 

 of third and fourth-rate quality." 



BRIEF ANSWERS. 



G. & G., Pa. — Greenhouses running 

 east and west receive a greater amount 

 of sunlight than those running north 

 and south. It is the reason for the 

 practically invariable choice of east and 

 west houses where no other condition 

 controls. 



C. T. M., O.— You should make 

 Easter. See article page 34, issue of 

 February 5. 



M. J. W., Ind. — It does not pay to try 

 to perpetuate one's stock of freesias; 

 throw the old bulbs away and buy fresh 

 for forcing. 



B. F. C, Id. — As students of genetics 

 do not approve the mating of defectives, 

 neither do thoughtful growers propa- 

 gate from defective plants, which bars 

 blind wood. 



WHY THE REVIEW IS GROWING. 



The growth of The Review this season 

 has been so rapid that it has been neces- 

 sary practically to discontinue all solici- 

 tation and center effort on taking care 

 of the business now coming in unprece- 

 dented volume as the result of many 

 years of ceaseless endeavor to give the 

 trade as much as possible for its money. 

 Large as is the circulation of The Re- 

 view, the subscription list recently has 

 been growing faster than for several 

 years. The increase in the extreme east, 

 where there was some falling off during 

 the war, has been especially notable. It 

 has been the result of florists saying to 

 each other, "You are missing something 

 if you don't get The Review; it's worth 

 more to me than the $1.50 it costs for a 

 year. ' ' And of course trade conditions 

 are such that advertisers who make 

 direct offers get really remarkable re- 

 sults. Here is a novel way of putting it: 



The telefcmms commpnced soon after The R/»- 

 vlew left Chicago and have kept comlnjf as the 

 mail distributed the paper on the road to the 

 ends of the country. The latest Just now are 

 from the southwest and far east. If you sent 

 The Review out in relays, a few each day. maybe 

 we would he able to keep np with the orders. — 

 S. M. Harbison, Danville, Ky., February 1, 1920. 



If you hear a man complain of the cost 

 of advertising you can bo pretty certain 

 he spends a good bit of money elsewhere 

 than in The Review. 





