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18 



The Florists^ Review 



JPLT 1, 1920 



does not cut any flowers for a week 

 previous to any of the big days. He 

 makes one big cut — but many of the 

 flowers are then pass6 and "cause a 

 shrinkage if the grower has a conscience 

 and examines them before shipping. 

 The retailer receives them and the next 

 day still more<>have passed on, a loss 

 which opens an argument between the 

 wholesaler and retailer. The retailer 

 passes the flowers on to his customers 

 and, while his intentions may be of the 

 best, there is a possibility of there being 

 one or more "sleepers" in each -dozen, 

 a condition which means that the pur- 

 chaser will probably return them to the 

 retailer and demand an explanation, 

 with the consequent dissatisfaction of 

 all concerned. When the ultimate 

 shrinkage is taken into consideration 

 the grower would be money in pocket 

 to cut his carnations regularly and sell 

 only such as would prove satisfactory. 

 That plan would shorten the supply, 

 but would boost the selling price of 

 first-class stock. 



Pot plants are, as a rule, satisfactory, 

 because they are almost certain to last 

 a week or two in good condition. The 

 trend of the demand seems to be to- 

 wards pot plants and artificial stock 

 and the demand for cut flowers will be 

 on the increase only when the buying 

 public feels that it is getting its 

 money's worth. 



Publicity in Time of Gluts. 



In view of the new organizations 

 which are being formed in our business, 



the following idea has come to the 

 writer, but whether it would come under 

 the jurisdiction of the S. A. - F. or of 

 the National Flower Growers' Associa- 

 tion can be settled later. About May 

 20 business in the flower market in 

 Boston was completely flat, with carna- 

 tions selling at $2 per hundred, wonder- 

 ful long-stemmed sweet peas hard to 

 move at $1 per hundred, roses at a 

 standstill — all flowers of fine quality, 

 but with no sale for them. It seems 

 as though there should be in each city 

 ah advertising committee, part of whose 

 duty should be to watch the market in 

 time of .gluts, with the authority to 

 place advertisements in the leading 

 papers at such times, letting the public 

 know that flowers were never more 

 plentiful or beautiful or fragrant. 

 Where would the funds for this adver- 

 tising come from? If it were possible 

 to figure the loss occasioned by gluts 

 and balance it against the gain from 

 such advertising, the result would amply 

 justify the amouifT spent in advertis- 

 ing. Growers should be willing to share 

 equally with the retailers, if not to 

 take a larger share, in the cost of any 

 advertising. See how "big business" 

 does things. William Wrigley has sj/ent 

 $20,000,000 in the last twelve years in 

 advertising his gum. If he had waited 

 for all those who retail his product to 

 do his advertising for him, where would 

 lie be. today? That is the point of view 

 the growej' should take in our business. 

 Blow your own horn! 



Eobert S. Edgar. 



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LOOKING BACK OVEB THE YEAR. 



Review the Work. 



Another year's history has been writ- 

 ten in the florists' business and, to my 

 mind, this would be an opportune time 

 for us to stop for a brief period and re- 

 view the last year's mistakes -tnuiy fail- 

 ures, so that, instead of being charged 

 up to us as failures, they may be 

 transferred into valuable assets. This 

 can be done if we will be honest with 

 ourselves and look the situation fear- 

 lessly in the face. Now that the season 

 is over, get down to brass tacks and 

 liquidate your business. You can do 

 this on paper for your own information, 

 but you should meet every item square- 

 ly and see where you stand and what 

 the season has meant for you. Have a 

 thorough house-cleaning and see if you 

 can't discover leaks that might have 

 been eliminated. There is no time to 

 do this like the present, when they will 

 be fresh in your memory. ^' 



In these times of prosperity it is 

 well for us to remember that frequently 

 "things are not what they seem." We 

 are all familiar with the man from 

 Missouri; use his methods and majse 

 your business for the last year "show 

 you." This can easily be done, be- 

 cause there is no part of it that you 

 are not familiar with. For instance, if 

 some particular house in your range has 

 fallen behind another in production, all 

 things being equal of course, there is 

 certainly a reason. The fault may have 



been with you or it may have been with 

 the house itself; perhaps the heating 

 outfit may have been at fault. Above 

 all things, locate the fault and eradi- 

 cate it. Don 't start another season 

 under the same conditions. 



Conditions Changed. 



The day wlien you can go along in 

 this business with your clutch in neu- 

 tral is forever gone. In these days of 

 business efiiciency there is just one po- 

 sition for the man who grows flowers 

 for a livelihood and that is with a 

 steady nerve, a strong hand on the 

 wheel, eyes ever ahead and the clutch 

 in high gear. This may sound like joy 

 riding, but it is that quality of busi- 

 ness joy riding that will not bring dis- 

 aster instead of joy. 



As we look back over the last year 

 there is one word that holds a most 

 conspicuous place in this history. It is 

 "shortage." All of us can recall that 

 from the time the chrysanthemum crop 

 closed last fall the cry has been from 

 Maine to California, "More plants, 

 more cut flowers." Solomon in his 

 proverbs tells us, "The horseleach hath 

 two daughters, crying, 'Give, give'." 

 It is not my intention to liken the re- 

 tailers to these daughters, but anyone 

 who spent much time around wholesale 

 florists ' establishments last winter will 

 realize that they were in much the same 

 positioiv and, like the daughters, were 

 not satisfied. 



The point I wish to emphasize is, can 

 you not increase your production next 



season? No doubt some of you have 

 read the signs of the times and will en- 

 ter next season with more glass, but 

 if for one reason or another you 

 have not done this, can you n'ot by in- 

 tensive cultural methods speed up pro- 

 duction? Now is the time to at least 

 map out your plans. 



Scarcity Last Fall. 



Remember the scarcity of blooming 

 plants last Christmas and the prices 

 they brought? Well, there is just one 

 person who will keep history from re- 

 peating itself and he is the grower. 

 While the extremely high prices of last 

 season were most attractive and easy to 

 obtain, and I am charging no one with 

 profiteering, it was simply a case of 

 supply and demand regulating the mar- 

 ket. The florist was simply lucky that 

 there was so much money in circulation. 

 But let us remember that conditions are 

 going to be more normal during the 

 coming season and values are going to 

 be studied more. It will be up to the 

 grower, if he wants to see the industry 

 prosper, to meet these changed condi- 

 tions. This can only be done by a pro- 

 duction in keeping with the demand. 



Let us remember that there are more 

 flowers being used today than ever be- 

 fore in the history of the business. 

 There are two reasons for this: The 

 first is, no doubt, the war and the 

 greatly increased circulation of money. 

 Big profits and high wages gave a class 

 of people the opportunity to indulge in 

 flowers who never could to any extent 

 before. This class became patrons of 

 the florists and are today a part of the 

 flower-buying public and we want to 

 keep them as such. But money is not 

 flowing into their coffers with the same 

 ease that it did a year ago. They are 

 becoming more prudent and experience 

 has taught them something of values. 



The second reason is advertising. 

 How muc^ has the national advertising 

 campaign had to do with making this 

 great army of flower buyers? While I 

 am a stanch . believer in local adver- 

 tising, at the time that this part of the 

 public was being taught to "Say It 

 with Flowers" the national campaign 

 was the only systematic one in the 

 country. 



These are just a few hints. I could 

 go on indefinitely. You are in an in- 

 dustry that bids fair to be one of the 

 greatest in this country. The Rubicon 

 lias been crossed. The future will be 

 just what you choose to make it. 



Tate. 



MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL. 



The Market. 



Outdoor flowers are beginning to 

 come into the market, although not in 

 great numbers. Business has been good 

 during the last six weeks. Excessively 

 hot weather damaged stock somewhat 

 and hurried some kinds along too fast. 

 Peonies were good for only a short time 

 because of the heat. 



Three Flower Shows. 



-J Three small flower shows were held 

 in the Twin Cities in June and were 

 good advertisements for the trade. 

 The Northwestern National bank, of 

 Minneapolis, put on a good iris show 

 and the following week the First Na- 

 tional bank, of St. Paul, put on a good 

 peony show for two days. D. W. C. 



