■-l'.Y^".«7 Wr'a*' I "" ' •■-.'• 



JONB 17, 1920. 



The Florists^ Review 



21 



that are causiflpfche scarcity of plants 

 Ihis spring. Plants have been sold this 

 snring at prices thdt a short time ago 

 were thought Uppossible and far bet- 

 ter stock has b^^ thrown on the dump. 

 Anyone who will investigate honestly 

 vvill find that one crop is being sacri- 

 ficed for another and, in spite of this 

 sacrifice, there is still not enough to 

 meet the demand at all times. 



In the third instance, consult your 

 own books for the last season's busi- 

 ness. This, of course, is the final test; 

 the test that will prove if the condi- 

 tions mentioned are correct. Many 

 florists keep a record of their cuts, but 

 the large majority do not, and yet this 

 simple system of bookkeeping could be 

 (lone by anyone. 



Easy Bookkeeping System. 



A slate hung in each house, or a 

 scratch pad in a handy place, enables 

 one to jot down the number of a certain 

 flower cut on a given date. Then, at 

 one's leisure, this can be transcribed 

 into a record book. This information is 

 invaluable when you are computing 

 your cost of production. 



The time is not far distant when 

 every grower will be obliged to know 

 this with a fair degree of accuracy, for 

 the selling price of all lines of stock 

 will be based upon this information. If 

 what I have already read of the Na- 

 tional Flower Growers' Association 

 means anything, it means that the men 

 who are behind this movement have a 

 vision of the future of the business. 

 "Hit or miss" methods will have no 

 place, but, for the benefit of the entire 

 business, prices will be stabilized and 

 put upon a more equitable basis. 



Cause of Increased Demand. 



Now consider the foregoing and de- 

 cide for yourself if I have established 

 the claim that I made last winter, that 

 in most cases the demand is greater 

 than the supply. Then the question 

 naturally arises, what causes this in- 

 creased demand? This is the question 

 which I was often asked last winter and 

 I answered that the great amount of 

 money in circulation was the cause. 



But let us go a step farther than this. 

 Granted that part of the public has had 

 more money to spend upon luxuries than 

 ever before, let us remember that this 

 part of the public was a class that had 

 never been flower buyers; the old buy- 

 ers were those dependent upon incomes 

 Irom investments and upon salaries. A 

 itnolution has been enacted and a new 

 'lass of patrons has had to be educated. 

 If national publicity had not been 

 "Started when it was,' would the florist 

 have ^ecured his share of this increased 

 wnaltll,? Does this not demonstrate the 

 possibilities of advertising? And now, 

 ^vith local campaigns connecting with 

 '11'^ national campaign, your business is 

 LToing to grow faster. By all means ad- 

 ^'^rtise, but above all things have the 

 f^t'.ek when it is wanted. Tate. 



<^HICAG0 SEIZES OPPORTUNITY. 



Advertises Abundance. 



The hot days of early June brought 



|'"mendous quantities of flowers into 



.'"" Chicago wholesale market, just as 



j; brought them into almost all other 



'•'wer centers. No one was glad to see 



••''ni, for the growers foresaw low rc- 



^.'"ns, the retailers faced the obnoxious 



"rms of outside competition such con- 



TAe ft^ar/n ^eaf/iejr 



m^i'mmi 



"'.■■■/■■ I /''■ 







M 



. « *s 



^d"' 



has brought 



Millions of Flowers 



intio the Chicago Market 



which means that Flowera are 

 Cheaper now than at any other 

 time o£ the year. 



Buy Flowers Now 



You can "Say it with Flowers" most 

 generously. It's your opportunity 

 to send wonderful flower gifts. 



Have flowers for that dinner party 

 or luncheon — why not give a little 

 favor bouquet to each one of the 

 ladies? 



Z^/ u/ At uWt ^ Ttoweni 



ALLIED FI/IRIST?' ASS'N 

 OF ILLINOIS 



MUH* M^Mo. •<. 



■^^"ZJ^ 



Strikiogf Chicago Newspaper Advertisement Announciog Lower Prices. 



ditions engender, and the wholesalers, 

 besides perspiring in extra effort to 

 move the stock, faced the complaints of 

 members of both other branches. 



But the big supply did more than 

 evoke complaints; it stimulated the 

 leaders of the cooperative advertising 

 campaign to action. They regarded the 

 abundant stocks in the wholesale houses 

 not in the old-time regret, but as an op- 

 portunity to be used to their advantage. 

 At a time when backyard gardeners 

 and suburbanites have been busy hoe- 

 ing and spading with a vision of floral 

 enjoyments at a later date, here was 

 the chance to turn these visions of later 

 months into purchases to afford those 

 floral enjoyments at a comparatively 

 low expense immediately. And in parka 

 the beds, just coming into flower, arouse 

 the wishes of those who see them for 

 blooms to enjoy at home — at least they 

 would, in the opinion of the leaders in 

 the Allied Florists' Association of Illi- 



nois, if those folk knew they could buy 

 flowers cheap. 



Telling the PubUc. 



So a good-sized advertisement in the 

 Chicago Tribune June 15 carried these 

 facts in an emphatic way to the people 

 of the city. How emphatic it was may 

 be judged from the reproduction of the 

 advertisement on this page. 



Such advertising as this has been one 

 of the prime objects of the Chicago flo- 

 rists since they first undertook their 

 campaign — not promotion of holidays 

 which already keep all hands busy, so 

 much as urging and education of the 

 public to use of flowers in ways that 

 provide an outlet when stock is plen- 

 tiful and orders are not. While it is 

 too early to report results on this ad- 

 vertising, it is felt by those who have 

 undertaken it that it will greatly repay 

 the expense not only in increased busi- 

 ness but in the additional satisfaction 



