24 



The Florists^ Review 



Jdlt 29, 1920 



II 



Eatabliahed, 1897, by G. L. GRANT. 



Pabliahed eyery Tbaraday br 

 The Flokists' Publishinq COw 



820-660 Oaxton BnlldlnK, 



606 Soatb Dearborn St., ObicaffO. 



Tele., Wabash 819B. 



Rea^tered cable address. 



FloiTiew, Obicago, 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 8. 1897, at the poet-omce at Ohl> 

 ofefo. 111., under the Act of Marah 

 S. 1879. 



Sabscrtptlon price, 11.60 a year. 

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



AdTertislngr rates quoted npoo 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



fl 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Have you installed your summer win- 

 dow display? 



There are only two weeks left to pre- 

 pare to go to the S. A. F. convention at 

 ■Cleveland, August 17 to 19. 



Neither flowers nor plants can be 

 wholesaled cheaper next winter without 

 inflicting a loss on the growers. 



Any man who can maintain the pro- 

 duction from his greenhouses next winter 

 should have no trouble making them pay. 



A TEAR ago many florists said another 

 season could not be so profitable as the 

 one then ended, but the prediction proved 

 not to be the fact. 



So strongly are retailers developing 

 telegraph business that the list of those 

 in the Pink Part keeps right on growing 

 in the summer time. 



All talk of an approaching panic has 

 •ceased. Business men now feel assured 

 that there will be nothing more than a 

 slight'business recession between now and 

 election — and then prosperity for all. 



> Quarantine 37 has been in operation 

 fourteen months. Will its advocates 

 please point out some place, even one, 

 in which real progress has been made in 

 developing a home supply of the stock 

 shut out? 



German exporters of florists' supplies, 

 who have not been heard from in six 

 years, are seeking to reopen the American 

 outlet. They find this country now well 

 equipped to supply its own needs and busi- 

 ness is possible only on a price basis. 



Many florists lay the showing of in- 

 creased business on their books to higher 

 prices, and express preference for a larger 

 turnover at lower figures. Larger and 

 more economical production seems the 

 only answer for them till costs come down. 



It is distinctly unfair to hold remit- 

 tances for weeks when one is sold out of 

 stock, at the same time failing to acknowl- 

 edge receipt of order or to reply to in- 

 quiries. Any plantsman who so conducts 

 his affairs, no matter what his excuse, 

 is driving away customers he would be 

 glad to have a little later. Things won 't 

 always be as they have been the last two 

 years. 



"Thank yoxj" at the end of a sale is 

 the beginning of another sale. 



The dealers in florists' supplies are 

 unanimous in reporting more active sum- 

 mer business than in any previous year, 

 indicating the trade's general confidence 

 in another big season. 



What we need in this trade is a higher 

 standard of quality. Too much "bum" 

 stuff is shipped, particularly by plantsmen 

 who have obtained cash with order. A 

 nimiber of them seem never to have heard 

 of the golden rule. 



Watch the Want Ads. They are full of 

 opportunities. You can buy there any- 

 thing from a split tee to a going con- 

 cern; you can find a job or hire a helper. 

 The value of the department to the trade 

 is shown by the steady growth in the 

 number of ads there each week. 



There will be another shortage of 

 plants next spring, no doubt, but it will 

 be a mistake to try to increase produc- 

 tion if quality will thereby be impaired. 

 More money can be made on 10,000 first- 

 class 4-inch geraniums than on 20,000 

 which are likely to be refused when the 

 buyer opens the box. 



There is a general belief that economic 

 conditions, especially as concerns fuel and 

 labor, will result in closing many green- 

 liouses during the .approaching winter, 

 producing a great shortage of stock. But 

 it would not be wise to risk too much on 

 that assumption. In this trade that which 

 everybody expects frequently fails to hap- 

 pen. 



- ' BEWABE THIS SWINDLER. 



Unknown persons who ask loans of 

 florists are more likely to be swindlers 

 than members of the trade, and char- 

 itable florists would do well to make 

 certain the identity of such individuals 

 if they wish to see their money returned. 

 A young man recently represented him- 

 self as a son of William F. Dreer to se- 

 cure a loan from a florist in the east, 

 perhaps the same individual who has 

 secured money that way several times 

 during the last few years. The late 

 William F. Dreer, however, left no male 

 relatives and none, assuredly, of either 

 sex in need of soliciting funds in such 

 a manner. This device to defraud is one 

 of which florists should beware. 



NOTHING BUT CLOUDS. 



Tliough New England growers find 

 comfort in the plans of the interstate 

 commerce commission for caring for 

 that section's fuel supply, the green- 

 house trade in the central states sec 

 darker clouds than before in the sky — 

 nor are they clouds of smoke. The day 

 men in almost all of the Illinois mines 

 have struck, not because their per diem 

 wage of $6 is not already sufficient as 

 a daily income, but because it is not 

 sufficient for support when they can 

 earn it only two days per week. More- 

 over, the operators say their hands are 

 tied because the contract was made by 

 a government commission and they 

 might be guilty of violating the Lever 

 act if they acceded to the men's terms. 

 So the buck is passed to Washington, 

 where various officials are about to do 

 something, but nothing has yet been 

 done. A fuel administrator may be 

 appointed, an embargo may be placed 

 on coal for export, and some other 

 things may be done, but none of them 



has l)een done. In shorty the grower is 

 still waiting for the price of coal to 

 come within reaching distance and, in- 

 stead, sees the prospects of getting any 

 at all receding farther away. This is 

 as anxious a summer as the greenhouse 

 trade has spent in* a long time and 

 easier moments do not appear to be 

 near. 



SEBVICE THAT SEBVES US. 



This summer Alex. Lurie, of the Blu- 

 Maize Blossom Shop, Ann Arbor, Mich., 

 has been engaged by the Cleveland 

 board of education to give a course 

 of lectures on gardening to a number of 

 school teachers who are acting as super- 

 visors of home gardens. The course was 

 started by G. H. Pring, horticulturist 

 of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and 

 was completed by Mr. Lurie, who for- 

 merly occupied the same position in St. 

 Louis. 



It is interesting to note in this con- 

 nection that, through the efforts of the 

 supervisor of school gardens of Cleve- 

 land, this close coordination between 

 the practical man and the teachers has 

 been obtained. It is a thought that may 

 well be given consideration by the many 

 florists in various cities who are capable 

 of serving the public needs in this 

 fashion and yet who make no effort to 

 bring before the public the great bene- 

 fits derived from the"^ystem of public 

 school gardening as it obtains in Cleve- 

 land. 



Cleveland aims to give the children 

 some insight into gardening as a house- 

 hold necessity and an occupation for 

 spare time, but more than that, the 

 school garden department is preparing 

 boys and girls to go into the business 

 as a life work. Practical training is 

 given in the high school greenhouses, 

 the nursery and the perennial gardens 

 of the board of education. 



To the supervisor, O. M. Eastman, is 

 due great credit for instituting the work 

 and bringing in a high level of effi- 

 ciency. The entire work, including the 

 large tracts as well as the small home 

 gardens, is not surpassed in other cities. 



Cooperation of this kind cannot but 

 result in a great commercial benefit on 

 account of the many factors involved in 

 the scope of the work. Not only can 

 florists increase the public's interest in 

 their own products, but they can also 

 provide in this fashion the recruits so 

 sadly needed for the further develop- 

 ment of our trade. 



BEVEAL PHILADELPHIA FBAUD. 



As an aftermath of the disclosure in 

 last week's issue of The Review of the 

 fraudulent offers of low-priced chiffons 

 by the T. Franklin Co., Philadelphia, the 

 postal inspectors, in whose hands the 

 matter was placed by the M. Rice Co., 

 are undertaking the apprehension of 

 those implicated. It was definitely es- 

 tablished that the offer of 6-inch chiffon 

 bands in 500-yard lots at 7 cents a yard 

 was a fraud, in which more than fifty 

 florists were losers to the extent of $35 

 to $600. 



There is no likelihood that the money 

 of these florists will be recovered, since 

 the persons involved seem to have left 

 for parts unknown several days before 

 the postal inspectors took the case. 

 Their departure is fortunate for a num- 

 ber of florists whose remittances came 

 later, for the accumulation of letters 

 contained manv remittances not cashed. 



