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The Florists^ Review 



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T' 'IT'---:-,'!''.;' 



May 20, 1920. 





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Established, 1897, by Q. L. aRAITI. 



Published every Tharsday by 

 The Florists' Pcblishino CJo., 



620-660 Oaxtoa Balldlnflr, 



608 South Dearborn St., Ohlcaco. 



Tele., Wabash 8196. 



Re^stered cable addreoa, 



FlorTlew, Ohlcaffo. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec 3. 1897, at the poet-offlce at Ohl- 

 ouro, IIU, under the Act of Mimsh 

 8. 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.60 a Tear. 

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



AdTertlslnir rates quoted npoo 

 request. Only strictly trade ad* 

 yertlalnf accepted. 



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RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Forcing production up is a better 

 policy than forcing prices down. 



The weather man has not shown him- 

 self partial to florists this spring. 



Last autumn's prediction of a scarcity 

 of plants this spring has proved true. 



Hard winter and late spring have com- 

 bined to put a crimp in the bedding plant 

 trade. 



Don 't stop the season at Memorial day. 

 You can do plenty of business during the 

 summer. 



The cold weather is holding back the 

 outdoor crops usually available for Me- 

 morial day. 



Growers should get ready all the stock 

 they can for Memorial day. The supply 

 promises to be none too large. 



So rapidly have we progressed in the 

 publicity campaign that now the trade is 

 to have its own advertising movies. 



"Say It with Flowers," read a girl 

 from the lettering on the Chicago florists' 

 float. ' ' I wish, ' ' she sighed, ' ' that some 

 one would say something to me. ' ' 



If you can 't make your business attrac- 

 tive to your sons, how do you hope to 

 make it attractive to employees? The 

 trade must do beth in order to keep on 

 growing. 



Late freezes, cold weather and short- 

 age of help are cutting down the supply 

 of peonies to be available at Memorial 

 day. Looks like another shortage of 

 stock for that holiday. 



With third-class mail lying in post- 

 offices two or three weeks undelivered, 

 the use of circulars is losing much of its 

 popularity and trade papers have enjoyed 

 a corresponding gain in favor. 



A SURPRISINGLY large percentage of the 

 trade now pay all bills in full each month, 

 in marked contrast to the custom before 

 the war. In that respect at least there 

 has been a distinct gain to all. 



The breakdown of the railroads 

 threatens the life of all industry. If 

 growers can not get coal and publishers 

 can not get paper, all will be in the same 

 boat, including labor, which will be out 

 of a job. 



Now is the time to put up the S. A. F. 

 billboard to catch automobilists ' eyes 

 this summer. 



Every florist should urge his custom- 

 ers to plant gardens this year. There is 

 still time. 



Imitation is the sincerest flattery. A 

 Chicago bank is indulging in it by the use 

 of a slogan reading, ' ' Say It Avith a Sav- 

 ings Account." 



HOLIDAY SHORTAGE. 



Another holiday, the last of the big 

 spring days, is in the offing and still 

 the bountiful supply of flowers that 

 should come at this time of year is not 

 at hand. One expects a shortage at 

 Christmas and perhaps at Easter, but 

 this year Mothers' day and now Me- 

 morial day sees no abundant supply. 



The weather is largely responsible. 

 The backward spring, late frosts and 

 devastating storms have curtailed the 

 outdoor flowers usually counted upon 

 for Memorial day. The greenhouse 

 crops are, because of the dark weather, 

 backward too. 



And the scarcity of labor is also part- 

 ly accountable. Outdoor stock has not 

 been so largely planted as in some other 

 years because sufficient help is not 

 available. Peony orders are restricted 

 in some localities because hands enough 

 cannot be obtained to cut the blooms 

 that fill the fields. The pinch in green- 

 house help is known to all. 



Flowers are going to be in such de- 

 mand at Memorial day that prices are 

 likely to go up a notch or two. But 

 retailers should not allow the public 

 to place the blame for the increase on 

 the holiday. See that it is charged to 

 the factors that are most responsible, 

 the weather and the scarcity of labor. 

 The public and the press should not be 

 permitted the idea that holidays cause 

 the flower shortage this year. Florists 

 should set them right. 



FREIGHT TIE-UP HALTS COAL. 



The situation resulting from tile 

 switchmen's strike in the railroad 

 yards of the principal cities has been 

 steadily becoming worse. Florists in 

 some places are unable to get coal and 

 cannot extract promises or predictions 

 from fuel dealers as to when a supply 

 will be available. No alleviation has 

 been seen in the freight tie-up and em- 

 bargoes continue to prevent shipments 

 into the big cities. 



In the present circumstances the only 

 ray of hope comes in the appeal of the 

 railroad officials to the interstate com- 

 merce commission to take action as it 

 has done in previous emergencies. 

 Orders from that body are expected 

 which will give priority to food, fuel 

 and perishable commodities. In that 

 event cars of coal will be among the 

 first to move and if the florist will make 

 representations to local railroad authori- 

 ties, showing the necessity of his hav- 

 ing fuel, there is little doubt that he 

 can get it, just as he did in previous 

 emergencies. The only hope at present 

 lies in such a course, for the delibera- 

 tions of the wage board, on whose ac- 

 tion a settlement depends, are not ex- 

 pected to end until sometime in June. 



Not only does the present tie-up de- 

 prive florists of their present supply 

 of fuel, but it will also make the com- 

 ing season's supply costlier. Produc- 

 tion of late has been much below 



normal, since the coal cannot be mov d 

 from the mines. Consequently, t'le 

 available quantity for coming use will 

 be smaller and the price will continue 

 to climb. A coal trade journal in spejik- 

 ing of the black fuel outlook stat-d 

 last week: "Spot coal is selling 

 throughout the country at prices $1.,10 

 or more higher than those that obtained 

 under normal conditions. While tliis 

 has been the case the last few weeks 

 in the east, the west has now joined 

 the upward price march and the coun- 

 try can expect to pay abnormal prices 

 for coal until better transportation fa- 

 cilities permit a production higher than 

 that possible at present, which now 

 averages twenty-five per cent of normal 

 capacity." 



EARNING A COMPLIMENT. 



Since the time, several years ago, 

 when a half-dozen florists in a city 

 joined in a page advertisement for a 

 holiday, The Eeview has strongly en- 

 couraged cooperative advertising, be- 

 lieving it to be one of the greatest 

 factors in the trade's advancement, 

 combining two powerful forces, adver- 

 tising and cooperation. When Milwau- 

 kee undertook its pioneer plan, now 

 familiar to the trade throughout the 

 country, its possibilities were recog- 

 nized for what they have later proved 

 to be, and The Review reproduced the 

 Milwaukee florists* first cooperative ad- 

 vertisement, with a story of the organi- 

 zation which they had formed. As the 

 cooperative idea spread to other cities, 

 The Review lent the new movements its 

 aid, both by contributing information 

 regarding previous plans and by giving 

 liberal space to accounts of the under- 

 takings. Three months ago, when sev- 

 eral more cities were talking of coopera- 

 tive advertising. The Review invited 

 the active leaders in the three cities 

 whose plans had achieved decided suc- 

 cess — Milwaukee, St. Louis and Buffalo 

 — to tell readers in detail of the work- 

 ing of the scheme in their communities. 

 These articles proved highly helpful to 

 the men organizing campaigns in other 

 cities. Since that time cooperative ad- 

 vertising has advanced more rapidly 

 than ever before, Chicago and Balti- 

 more adding decidedly to the trade's 

 achievements and other cities making 

 progress towards cooperative cam- 

 paigns. Aside from permanent cam- 

 paigns, there were at Mothers' dny 

 more cooperative advertisements run in 

 newspapers this month than ever be- 

 fore. 



Beyond its satisfaction at the sprexl 

 of the cooperative advertising idea, T'le 

 Review finds it pleasant to receive su h 

 a compliment as was tendered at tie 

 meeting last week of the Florists' Cli h 

 of Baltimore, when the chairman of t'e 

 advertising committee proposed the f '^' 

 lowing resolution, which was una* i- 

 mously carried: 



That n rising vote of thnnks Yte pxtonrted to ' "" 

 editors of The Review for the splenrtirt wdv in 

 wliirh the.v h.Tve eoBpernted In the advertis; (f 

 ramp.Tijrn and for their free nse of spaoe in '' 

 hehalf. and that the serretnrv he instructed '" 

 write tliem and inform them of the rinh's acfi ' '■ 



In transmitting the resolution, t" e 

 secretary, after remarking that his ey s 

 "were opened during this discussion to 

 the educational work The Review is fik'- 

 complishing among the florists in betti'r 

 business methods," made the statement' 

 "It certainly makes one feel that one's 

 efforts have not altogether been in 

 vain." It certainly does. 



