22 



The Florists^ Review 



Mat 20. 1920. 



O^CN Wrm^y^ DEADEDB 



IS THERE A SOLUTION? 



I noticed in The Eeview of May 6, 

 under the heading, "Open Letters from 

 Readers," one signed by S. S. Skidel- 

 sky, relative to Mothers' day prices. 



This gentleman calls attention to the 

 fact that prices are high for that day, 

 but does not give any way to prevent 

 this. He states that if there are any 

 profiteers among us inclined to "bleed" 

 the public, we, as a body, should repu- 

 diate such actions. I am of the opinion 

 that the majority who believe in the 

 slogan, "Say It with Flowers," give 

 the public all the value they can, based 

 upon the prices charged by the growers. 

 In my opinion, the fault lies entirely 

 with the producers. As an example, 

 carnations were selling under date of 

 May 3 at $1 per bunch of two dozen 

 and rose to $1.50 per bunch May 6 and 

 $2 per bunch May 8, 9 and 10. 



We, as retailers, are entirely in their 

 hands and there does not seem to me 

 to be any solution to the problem, ex- 

 cept to refuse to purchase when these 

 prices are asked. But when your cus- 

 tomer demands this particular flower, 

 you are up against it. Perhaps Mr. 

 Skidelsky can give us some better 

 method; at any rate, I should like to 

 have his opinion. Prank Smith. 



MOTHERS' DAY PRICES. 



I read with much interest a letter 

 by S. S. Skidelsky in The Review of 

 May 6. I fully agree with him. As I 

 see it, the public spend liberally for all 

 the holidays from Thanksgiving to and 

 including Easter. They pay the price 

 and make no complaint. They realize 

 that during the short days and cold 

 weather it costs more to produce. When 

 it gets to be May, the papers advertise 

 plenty of flowers and at greatly reduced 

 prices; then when it comes to Mothers' 

 ^lay, up go the prices beyond all reason. 

 I am not in a position to say who is to 

 blame, but something is wrong. 



Another bad feature is that some 

 growers and perhaps some wholesalers 

 hold the flowers for days before a holi- 

 day. I know one grower who would 

 not sell me anything but white carna- 

 tions from Easter until the Saturday 

 before Mothers' day; that day I want- 

 ed white for a special purpose, but he 

 would let me have nothing but colored. 

 Another grower sold me carnations 

 which he claimed were freshly cut, but 

 they did not stand twenty-six hours. 

 To be honest, I have cut out carnations 

 at such times all that I can. My expe- 

 rience is that the higher the price, the 

 poorer the flowers. 



Some will say that the price is justi- 

 fied. They will tell you that it costs 

 more to grow now than formerly. That 

 is true, but there is no great difference 

 from one week to the next. When I 

 can buy 18-inch to 30-inch roses for $15 

 per hundred from a grower all through 

 the winter and others ask $40 per hun- 

 dred for 16-inch to 18-inch roses at 

 the same time, there is something 

 wrong. This grower supplied me with 



everything but carnations for Mothers' 

 day at no advance in price; he does not 

 grow carnations. I did not advance 

 the price on anything but carnations. 

 If the grower can do as I have de- 

 scribed and add more glass at this time, 

 as he is doing, others make some over- 

 charge somewhere. What he does others 

 should be able to do. What I did for 

 Mothers' day others can do if grower 

 and retailer will work together. 



Charles M. Allen. 



has engaged the store at 182 High strr ^t 

 for his Memorial day trade. 



E. W. Breed is having a good spri; g 

 trade at his Four Ponds nursery and is 

 putting out a good deal of shrubbery. 

 He is laying out and planting the now 

 memorial park at Depot square, whi( h 

 has been planned by the town as a 

 memorial to the soldiers in the late war. 

 H. E. S. 



SPRINGFIELD, ILL. 



CLINTON, MASS. 



Frank P. Sawyer says that Mothers' 

 day was a big day for him. Everybody 

 has a mother, and it seemed as if every- 

 body remembered her that day, either 

 by sending flowers to her or wearing 

 flowers for her. Telegraph orders were 

 fairly plentiful, but flowers for home 

 delivery went beyond all precedent. 



Mr. Sawyer is getting settled in his 

 new store at 190 High street, where he 

 has an attractive place of business. He 



The Market. 



The trade has experienced a prosper- 

 ous season. The demand for Mothers' 

 day proved to be greater than ever be- 

 fore. The supply was good, but every- 

 one was sold out long before the de- 

 mand ceased. The public realized that 

 carnations were not plentiful enough to 

 go around; consequently roses were in 

 fully as large demand as carnations. 

 It seemed that everything that looked 

 like a cut flower was taken. Pot plants 

 and hanging baskets were also sold out. 

 There is no doubt that the business for 

 Mothers ' day was from fifty to seventy- 

 five per cent better than that of any 

 previous year. 



The bedding plant business is good, 

 but on account of the late season so 

 much work comes at once and must be 

 done in a, short time that it makes the 

 season quite strenuous. H. 



t^V»yjWJivs/ii^jlxgyjl\SWl\SW 



LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES. 



Illustrated in Baltimore. 



That florists are slow at times to arise 

 to their opportunities was never better 

 illustrated than it was in Baltimore last 

 week. Of course, there is some excuse, 

 for they are exceedingly busy at this 

 season, but the instance to which this 

 article is devoted shows the need of 

 eternal vigilance for such opportunities. 

 In the city referred to there is an or- 

 ganization known as the Women's Civic 

 League; the object of the organization 

 is the advancement of domestic condi- 

 tions in the city. Each year in the 

 early part of May these ladies, who are 

 the most cultured and refined women of 

 the city, hold at the base of the Wash- 

 ington monument, in the heart of the 

 most exclusive residential section, a 

 Flower Mart. Until this year most of 

 the florists looked upon this sale of flow- 

 ers as simply a fad and, aside from mak- 

 ing a donation of flowers to some of 

 their customers who were interested in 

 its management, did not know much 

 about it. But this year a direct appeal 

 was made to the florists, the president 

 of the organization going so far as to 

 appear before the Florists' Club and 

 make her appeal direct. This appeal 

 was not for donations, but for coopera- 

 tion and help in this work. When the 

 florists found out just what these ladies 

 were doing, they realized that this was 

 no fad, but constructive work, which 

 meant the betterment of the florists' 

 business. And right here let me add 

 that the thing which prompted the flo- 

 rists to join these ladies in this good 



work was nothing else than the coopera- 

 tive advertising campaign that is now 

 going on in our city. The florists are 

 becoming experts in the advertising 

 game and are always on the lookout for 

 opportunities to push the slogan, "Say 

 It with Flowers." 



Developing Customers. 



One of the greatest self-imposed prob- 

 lems these ladies have to solve in the 

 work of their league is to Americanize 

 the foreign element that is now taking 

 possession of every large city of our 

 country. Their claim is that the only 

 way in which this can be done is 

 through object lessons, and the fi-^t 

 lesson they are trying to impart is hoiie 

 building; that is, the true Americ n 

 home. In order to do this, they are ' )• 

 ing everything in their power to ere; a 

 the love of flowers in the hearts a "i 

 minds of these people. They are rea ;y' 

 to give you object lessons of the succ' -ss 

 of their plan, of a small flower garden in 

 the back yard of some humble hor o, 

 which is cared for and cultivated by i e 

 members of a family after their day 's 

 toil is over, in their effort to win t'le 

 cash prize that is offered for the b '~ t 

 such garden. There are many prii-S 

 offered. It is not long, any of tho;e 

 ladies will tell you, before an impro^o- 

 ment is noted in the interior of thi^^e 

 homes. This is a way to "Say It wilh 

 Flowers" that many of us had never 

 thought of. 



Florists' Partners. 



At this Flower Mart these people ar^ 

 permitted to buy their stock of plants 

 at actual cost to the league. The sale is 



