24 



The Florists^ Review 



Fbbbuaby 19, 1920 



m 



Eatabllsheil, 1897, bjQ.Jj. GRANT. 



PabllBhed every Thanday by 

 Thk Florists' Publishing Co« 



620-S60 Oaxton Bnlldinir, 



606 South Dearborn St., Obicago. 



Tele., Wabash 8196. 



Reg'lstered cable address, 



Florriew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

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

 cago, IIU, under the Act of March 

 », 1879. 



Subscription price, fl.60 a Tear. 

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



Advertlslnir rates quoted npon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 Tertlslnff accepted. 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



A RISE in freight rates approximating 

 twenty-five per cent is among the early 

 probabilities. 



Lent has not been a welcome season 

 for retailers in years past, but this year 

 it may be. 



The railroad strike is averted, or at 

 least postponed. One worry is removed 

 for a time. 



Can you see and count your lily buds 

 todav? If not, you would better push 

 a little harder or you won't make 

 Easter. 



With Easter April 4 and Mothers' 

 lay May 9, the test of the stability of 

 the flower business will come in the in- 

 tervening weeks. 



Forty days from next Wednesday, 

 February 25, Easter will be with us. 

 Wonder if flowers will be scarce in Lent 



his year? If they are, it will be the 



irst time. 



Business is a healthy pursuit, but few 

 florists are in business for their health. 

 They are in it to sell their services, for 

 which they should get what those services 

 are worth. 



When one picks up a copy of The 

 Review of a year ago he realizes more 

 accurately what progress it has made. 

 The Review is the paper that has grown 

 with the trade. 



It is reported one greenhouse mate- 

 rial concern, anticipating a record season, 

 some time ago acquired options at the 

 factories on 15,000 boxes of greenhouse 

 glass. 



Always put street addresses on the 

 things you send by mail, express or tele- 

 graph. In the present state of affairs 

 the postoflSce, particularly, returns to the 

 sender large quantities of matter lack 

 ing street address which would have been 

 delivered promptly under the old order 

 of things. 



The Pacific Coast Department is be- 

 coming one of the most interesting fea- 

 tures of The Review. Many new things 

 have come from the coast and many oth- 

 ers will come, because trade interests 

 there are just entering upon that stage 

 of development which will be felt 

 throughout the country. It will pay to 

 watch the Pacific Coast Department. 



Few of us are pleased with the con- 

 tinuous rise in prices, but none of us 

 will be pleased when prices begin to fall, 

 because that will not be until there is 

 unemployment. 



It would be a mistake to go too fast 

 in the matter of advancing prices, but 

 any florist who grows really good stock 

 can get profitable prices if he asks just 

 a little more and then again a little 

 more until he has worked his trade up 

 to the necessary level. 



Florists who plant soft-wooded stock 

 in the busy spring miss a fine chance if 

 they do not plant hard-wooded stock in 

 the quiet autumn. Take orders all sum- 

 mer and fill them in the fall. Get ready 

 for it now by putting out some sample 

 shrubs on your own place this spring. 



The man who advertises "cash with 

 order" and gets more orders than he 

 can fill, need look for little sympathy if 

 he holds the checks. There is only one 

 course to pursue when a man receives 

 money for which he cannot send the 

 goods. It is to practice the golden rule. 



Large growers vexed with the unskilled 

 help problem find a little hope in the 

 report that immigration showed an in- 

 crease last year, small though it was. 

 Statisticians have little expectation of a 

 cessation of labor scarcity till foreigners 

 come in again as they did before the 

 war. 



Acting on a suggestion in these 

 columns, a subscriber investigated in his 

 local postoffice and found that the mail 

 sacks containing his Review reached that 

 postoffice on Friday, but often lay there 

 unopened until the following Monday or 

 Tuesday. A chat witti the postmaster 

 fixed it up so that city now gets its Re- 

 views delivered promptly. Suppose you 

 try it. 



A SUPEBFLUOUS HOLIDAY. 



Holidays are of particular value to 

 the florist because they furnish occa- 

 sions for creating an additional de- 

 mand for flowers. Under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances that additional demand is 

 much welcomed by the florist, bringing 

 him, as it does, increased business at 

 good prices. For that reason the trade 

 has made flower days out of certain 

 dates on the calendar, one of them St. 

 Valentine's day. 



This year, however, the efforts of the 

 florists to create additional business 

 were not great, nor, in most cities, were 

 they needed. Retailers have had all 

 the orders they could find flowers for 

 in most cases. Additional help and ad- 

 ditional flowers were wanted more than 

 additional demand. The prevalent 

 prosperity created a great many valen- 

 tine orders for florists on top of the 

 trade caused by the flu. Retailers who 

 did advertise for St. Valentine's day 

 found more business on their hands 

 tiian they could comfortably take care 

 of. In Milwaukee, where an increased 

 supply of stock seemed to warrant the 

 advertising committee's use of the 

 newspapers for the holiday, the result- 

 ing business was characterized as "like 

 a small Easter." 



The zero weather that hit a good 

 many centers St. Valentine's day and 

 the heavy snow in the east made de- 

 liveries a difficult task, also. So, what- 

 ever this day brought in additional 

 business to the retailers, they fully 

 earned by the efforts to handle it. 



Of course, stock is expected to be 



more plentiful by Easter, though indi- 

 cations are that there will be none too 

 much under any circumstances. If the 

 wave of sickness will have passed by 

 that date, florists may be able to handle 

 the business on that day. But if that 

 demand should still be of some strength, 

 stock will be all too scarce. It's but 

 a short time till the big day. Last 

 week's holiday should warn everyone 

 to get all the stock possible ready for 

 April 4. 



LOOKING AHEAD. 



Every grower must look into the fu- 

 ture to make the most of opportunities 

 as they come. Today he must look 

 pretty far ahead, for what was once a 

 long time is now a brief space, so fast 

 is the trade advancing. The prosperity 

 that is responsible for part of today's 

 flower buying may not endure forever, 

 but no one, even the economic prog- 

 nosticators, see the top of the hill and 

 the down-slope yet. The advertising 

 campaign is like a snowball growing 

 more rapidly as it rolls along; the mo- 

 mentum at present will be surpassed 

 even if the rate of acceleration is not 

 increased. In addition, local coopera- 

 tive campaigns are being organized in 

 a number of cities to ward off the spring 

 and autumn gluts. Though the flu will, 

 we hope, soon be over, the other factors 

 that augment the demand for flowers 

 are going to work more strongly. 



Under the circumstances, the grower 

 will seek to increase his production. 

 For this he must look ahead, too. For 

 the greenhouse builders are booking 

 orders far ahead. Materials cannot be 

 obtained on short notice. All lines of 

 manufacture, from the steel mills down, 

 seem to be working to capacity, filling 

 the orders as they come, with a slight 

 preference for those that are largest, 

 easiest and most profitable. For that 

 reason all lines that supply the florists' 

 trade must order far ahead in order to 

 meet the needs of a later date. 



The sure way to be certain of profits 

 when they are to be had is to plan far 

 enough in advance to be ready for the 

 occasion. 



BRIEF ANSWERS. 



D. F. C, Colo.— Don't try to pinch 

 the lilies. 



EASTEBN BEADEBS, NOTE! 



Numerous as the users of Classified 

 ads in The Review have become, there 

 still are many hundreds of other florists 

 who could use them profitably. And at 

 present any florist who has good stock 

 he does not need for his local trade is 

 conferring a benefit on others in the 

 business by advertising his surplus. 

 Particularly in the east, there are many 

 florists, relying principally on local de- 

 mand, who would be serving the trade 

 as well as making a profit for them- 

 selves by offering some of their stock 

 in the Classified section of The Review. 

 It works like this: 



Tlie little ads in The Review bring (rood re- 

 sults. — Hugo Kind, Hammonton, N. J., February 

 10. 1920. 



We are completely sold out of the snapdrag- 

 ons advertised in The Review. — J. C. Bigelow & 

 Sons, Utioa, N. T., February 10, 1920. 



Tlie Classified nd of geraniums has done its 

 worlj ns usual. Sold out. — William A. Murdoch, 

 Tltusville, Pa., February 12, 1920. 



If you hear a man complain of the 



cost of advertising you can be pretty 



certain he spends a good bit of money 



elsewhere than in The Review. 



