•T. ■■ ' i; fy- 



26 



The Florists^ Review 



Jolt 15, 1920 



Establlabed. 189T. by O. L. aRANT. 



PabUahed eyeir Thandar br 

 Thk Flousis* Publishinq Ck>« 



820-060 Outon Balldlnff , 



a08 Soatb Dearborn 6L, Ohloaso. 



Te]e..Wabaiii819S. 



Bflfflstered cable address. 



IloiTtow, Otalcago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Sec. 8. 1897, at the poet-office at Ohl- 

 «Mro, UU, onder the Act of llandi 

 «,187». 



Sabscrtptlon price, I1.S0 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.50; to Europe, 13.00. 



Advertising rates quoted upon 

 request. Only stttoUy trada ad- 

 Tertlslnc accepted. 



EESULTS. 



W* give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Hot weather will start some more 

 florists on the road to Sunday closing. 



Florists whose businesses are incor- 

 porated must make their capital stock 

 tax return by July 31. 



An English firm that offered Money- 

 maker daisies now presents Bentpayer for 

 the trade 's assistance. 



It's only a month till the big conven- 

 tion at Cleveland, August 17 to 19. Are 

 you a member of the S. A. Ff 



Bailroas officials give out reports that 

 the freight congestion is much reduced, 

 yet cars weeks in transit are ertill missing 

 at their destination. 



Next week the Lone Star state will 

 attract many southern florists when the 

 Texas State Florists' Association meets 

 at Forth Worth July 20 to 22, 



Failure of subscribers to the national 

 publicity campaign to meet their pledges 

 has caused much perplexity in the minds 

 of those who are conducting it as to the 

 reason for such lack of interest. 



A gradual decline in commodity prices 

 seems unlikely; when prices begin to 

 weaken nearly everybody stops buying, 

 with the result of a decided drop, or a 

 sharp advance when it is seen there will 

 be no drop at all. 



The fern pickers are having their 

 troubles to get workers to go into the 

 woodsf and the sphagnum moss market is 

 affected by the same influence. Bouquet 

 green probably will be in short supply 

 again this autumn, for the same reason. 



Coal reports sum up the situation as 

 less favorable last week than the week 

 before, showing a decrease in production. 

 While public utilities and factories are 

 crying for fuel for immediate needs, 

 greenhouse men will have small opportu- 

 nity to store it. 



The Carnation Yearbook for 1920, pub- 

 lished by the British Carnation Society, 

 contains among its interesting articles one 

 by C. Engelmann, on "Carnations in the 

 U. S. A.," and also a plate of the vari- 

 eties with which he won the American cup 

 at the society's last show, Peerless, 

 Matchless and Belle Washburn. Laddie 

 evokes enthusiastic praise from Mr. 

 Engelmann. 



The last week of June broke all im- 

 migration records since 1914, thereby rais- 

 ing hopes in those now troubled by the 

 labor scarcity. 



Trade society shows do not flourish in 

 a time of prosperity for growers. When 

 stock is not so valuable more of it will be 

 seen on the exhibition tables. 



If the coal and transportation difficul- 

 ties become so acute that manufacturing 

 industries are forced to shut down part of 

 the time, florists in many places foresee a 

 slump in next season's business. 



Shortage of present stocks has been 

 adduced to postpone the publicity cam- 

 paign discussed in British horticultural 

 circles. It is doubtful if enough favor 

 the move to insure a fund of $50,000, 

 which is set as the necessary sunount to 

 institute such a campaign. 



INTERESTED IN FBOGBESS? 



Have the florists had enough of the 

 national campaign! 



Have we had so little success with our 

 national publicity as to cause those who 

 have as yet not contributed to feel that 

 it is unnecessary to continue longer? 



Have we had lack of efficiency in our 

 publicity committee to continue I 



Have we had too little results to prove 

 the needs of furthering our campaign? 

 Have the florists had. too little or too 

 much business since the campaign was 

 inaugurated? 



Are we going to continue or discon- 

 tinue this part of the work, only just 

 budding out and just beginning to prove 

 itself? 



These are just a few questions that 

 come into the minds of those who are 

 interested in the work. 



Perhaps a little judgment on the part 

 of those who show indifference to the 

 work might assist those who have al- 

 ready contributed and who have been 

 interested since its inception, and might 

 solve our problem. 



What's the answer? 



Let us hear so we may know where 

 we stand. 



Henry Penn, Chairman, 

 National Publicity Committee. 



SUBE BOAD TO BANSBUPTCY. 



"Though in these times we are en- 

 joying a seller's market, the florist who 

 sends out immature plants, or substitutes 

 young stock for old or old for young, 

 or departs in any way from fair dejJ- 

 ings' with his customers, is on the sure 

 road to bankruptcy." These words of 

 a man well known in the trade, uttered 

 recently, composed a strong statement. 

 He emphasized his meaning by explana- 

 tion: "The day will come when in- 

 stead of hunting for stock we shall be 

 hunting for orders, when a weak de- 

 mand will cut our margin down far 

 below the generous percentage of today, 

 when a shrinkage of business will be 

 dangerous and a loss of many customers 

 will spell ruin. Then the man who has 

 followed his conscience when it has 

 meant returning money and turning 

 down orders will enjoy a patronage 

 which will maintain his business in all 

 weathers. But those who have trimmed 

 the corners here and hedged a trifle 

 there will find that those who sent them 

 orders when stock was scarce will not 

 even reply to offers when the supply is 

 to be had elsewhere. Eight treatment 

 of customers now means permanent and 



successful business; deviation from sueh 

 a course is the sure road to bank- 

 ruptcy. ' ' 



NEED FOB BOOKKEEPINO. 



In the presentation, in last week's 

 and this week's issues, of a simple sys- 

 tem of bookkeeping. The Eeview offers 

 the opportunity of establishing an easy 

 accounting method to the many, many 

 members of the trade who do not now 

 possess any such thing in an accurate 

 sense. The system outlined is not in- 

 tended, nor is it needed, for a large 

 business, since the florist whose busi- 

 ness is of good size has been compelled 

 to add a bookkeeper to his staff long 

 since. But the florist who has a small 

 annual turnover needs and, for his own 

 safety and success, must establish some 

 method of bookkeeping. 



A few years ago the Federal Trade 

 Commission made a careful study of 

 business in this country and found that 

 "only ten per cent of our manufacturers 

 and merchants know the actual cost to 

 manufacture and sell their products, 

 forty per cent estimate what their costs 

 are and fifty per cent have no method, 

 but price their goods arbitrarily." 

 Since then, mainly because of the com- 

 pulsion of the federal income and profits 

 tax regulations, many businesses have 

 been forced to find out something about 

 their own financial operations. A lib- 

 eral estimate of businesses which know 

 their costs is twenty-five per cent — and 

 it is probably less. This means that at 

 least seventy-five per cent are doing 

 business in a groping way — ignorant 

 and blind. That is why, at the time of 

 this investigation, out of the 250,000 

 business corporations in this country 

 other than banking, railroad and public 

 utility, 100,000 had no net income what- 

 ever. Less than $5,000 a year was the 

 income of 90,000 of these corporations 

 and the remaining 60,000, which were 

 the more successful ones, made $5,000 

 a year or more. 



The reason is painfully simple. Busi- 

 ness success, business progress, is based 

 on profit — the difference between cost 

 and selling price. Where cost is un- 

 known and price arbitrary, profit is un- 

 certain. Many florists' businesses seem 

 to prosper anyway — perhaps they de- 

 velop some mysterious sense to guide 

 them through — but few of us would 

 willingly be blinded just to possess this 

 sixth sense. An accurate set of books 

 are the best guide either grower or re- 

 tailer can have to business success. 



OVEBBUN WITH OBDEBS. 



Are you overrun with cutworms? Or 



with other pests that eat up your stock 



and put nothing into your pocket in its 



place? That's bad. But how is it 



when you're overrun with orders? They 



take your stock too, but they give you 



something in its place. That 's all right. 



Then the only money that goes out is 



other people's money, being returned to 



those who were too slow in answering 



an ad in The Eeview. It works this 



way: 



Please discontinue our Classified ad for dra- 

 reenas. We have been so overrun with orders 

 from this small ad that oiir stock In these sizes 

 is entirely sold np and we are having to return 

 the money to some of our latest replies. When 

 we have another siirphis, shall be only too glad 

 to send another ad to your valuable paper. — 

 Minge Floral Co., Mobile, Ala., July 1, 1920. 



When 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 Eeview. 



