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30 



The Fbrists^ Review 



Septbmbbb 23, 1920 



EstabUahed, 1S97. by Q. L. ORAITr. 



Published every llmnday by 

 Thb Florisis' Pcblishimo Co^ 



820-600 OaxtoD Bnlldln?, 



608 Soatb Dearbum St, OhlcaffO. 



Tele.. Wabash 8196. 



Rea[liBtered cable addrew, 



Florrlew, Ohlcago. 



Entered aa second claaa matter 

 Dee. 8, 1897, at the post-office at Ohl- 

 «f«ro, IlL, under the Act of March 

 8,1879. 



Subscription price, $1.60 a year. 

 To Oarntda, $2.60: to Europe, $3.00. 



Advertiaingr rates quoted apon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertlslnff accepted. 



n 



EESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Further easing of the labor market is 

 indicated by a rapid acceleration of im- 

 migration in late months. 



Care in grading blooms for market can 

 not be too great. Consistently well 

 graded stock wins buyers' constant at- 

 tention. 



Are retailers pleased or otherwise to 

 find chiffon coming down? No one, we 

 think, believes the retail trade has not 

 benefited by the circle of steadily rising 

 prices. But it could not go on forever. 



Every business house is glad to ac- 

 commodate regular customers by allow- 

 ing payment of bills at the end of the 

 month, but infrequent orders of small 

 amount should be accompanied by cash. 



The extremely high and still rising 

 cost of paper hits others besides pub- 

 lishers. Every florist is affected and 

 large numbers are doing what they can 

 to economize in the use of wrapping and 

 packing materials. 



According to U. S. government labor 

 bureau statistics, prices of nearly all 

 commodities fell in August and in most 

 large- industries the number of persons 

 employed showed a decrease. Fuel was 

 the principal commodity which advanced 

 in price during August. 



Reports of general business failures 

 last week indicated a decided increase 

 over the week before, though they were 

 not so numerous as in the corresponding 

 week of the last four years with the ex- 

 ception of 1919. The florists' trade is 

 in better condition than some others. 



"Every treasury," said J. Ogden 

 Armour the other day, "has need for a 

 good watch dog who knows the difference 

 between necessary expenditures and those 

 which are not essential, ' ' a remark which 

 applies at this time to the small florist's 

 business as well as to the big packer's. 



Next week the American Dahlia So- 

 ciety will hold its sixth annual exhibition, 

 September 27 to 29, at the Hotel Penn- 

 sylvania, New York, and its annual meet- 

 ing at the same place at 3 p. m., Septem- 

 ber 28. At that time much will be heard 

 concerning the trips to leading dahlia 

 growers which some members of the so- 

 ciety are making this week. 



Economy in greenhouse operation 

 doesn 't mean saving money by not spend- 

 ing it, but rather saving some of it by 

 spending the rest more wisely. 



Comparison makes $50 for a "Say 

 It with Flowers" billboard look like 

 cheap advertising. Every grower should 

 put one alongside his boiler shed. 



Speculation is an evil which cannot 

 be charged against the florists' trade. 

 Supply and demand alone regulate the 

 price the consumer pays, sometimes to 

 the florists' sorrow. 



The September issue of the S. A. F. 

 Journal, just sent to members, is in- 

 creased above the size of previous months 

 to accommodate the first installment of 

 the convention proceedings. 



When an hour of an employee's time 

 counts as real money the greenhouse 

 owner finds it more profitable to buy the 

 many labor-saving devices now manufac- 

 tured than to try to make his own. 



The smaller the business the greater 

 the need of keeping collections in good 

 shape at this time and exercising one's 

 careful business judgment. About eighty 

 per cent of present failures are of con- 

 cerns with less than $5,000 capital and 

 ninety per cent are those having less than 

 $20,000 capital. 



Six double-page advertisements in last 

 issue of The Eeview and six again this 

 week. With present costs of paper and 

 printing, these big, impressive ads are 

 cheaper as well as more effective than 

 circularizing and the trade is beginning 

 to appreciate it. It costs $120 for 1-cent 

 stamps to send the lightest circular to 

 as many florists as receive The Review, 

 to say nothing of the cost of printing. 



F. T. D. ABSANOEMENTS. 



Official headquarters for the F. T. D. 

 convention at Indianapolis, Ind., Octo- 

 ber 12 and 13 will be at the Claypool 

 hotel, where arrangements have been 

 made for the trade display in the Palm 

 room. There are a limited number of 

 tables 3x6 feet at $15 dollars each; 

 tables 3x8 feet will be $20 each and 

 round tables five feet across will be 

 $10 each. Table reservations should be 

 made with O. E. Steinkamp, 3800 Rook- 

 wood avenue, chairman of the hotel 

 committee. The rates at the Claypool 

 hotel are: One person with bath, $2.50 

 and up; two persons with bath, $4 and 

 up. Other Indianapolis hotels are the 

 Colonial, the Dennison, the English, the 

 Lincoln, the Royal, the Severin, the 

 Washington and the Williams. 



CHIFFONS AND BIBBONS. 



Trade reports from the textile in- 

 dustry have told of considerable recent 

 unsettlement there, but it takes quite 

 a while for a break in the market to be 

 felt by the retail florist who uses chif- 

 fons or ribbons. By far the greater 

 part of the chiffons used by the flo- 

 rists of the United States are manu- 

 factured in France. They were bought 

 many months ago, long before they were 

 manufactured. The French manufac- 

 turers know little of American ideas 

 of competition. They do not regard 

 competition as the life of trade; rather, 

 they look upon cooperation as being 

 the source of profits. Let an American 

 jobber undertake to cancel an order 

 he has placed and in the course of time 

 he learns that the reasons he gives have 



been passed upon by a council of the 

 French manufacturers and that, if 

 based on a falling market, he not only 

 is refused permission to cancel, but 

 also is refused the privilege of buying 

 from any other house. Consequently 

 it takes quite a while for a change in 

 the manufacturing situation in France 

 to be felt by the consumers of chiffons 

 in America. Nevertheless, orders may 

 now be placed in France at prices about 

 ten per cent lower than those insisted 

 on a month or two ago. 



The ribbon market in the manufac- 

 turing district in America also has ex- 

 perienced some degree of the drop 

 which has run throughout the textile 

 trades. Manufacturing prices and 

 jobbers' prices all are down perhaps 

 twenty to twenty-five per cent com- 

 pared with the high point. But flo- 

 rists' ribbons are a special commodity. 

 They are not to be found in mill stocks 

 or in ribbon jobbing houses in the trade 

 centers; jobbing houses in the florists' 

 trade are obliged to have florists* rib- 

 bons manufactured to order. They are 

 not in position to take immediate ad- 

 vantage of slight recessions in the 

 market. 



In case the present trend of general 

 business is continued, it is probable 

 that there will be gpradual decreases in 

 the cost of textiles used in flower 

 stores, but they will be relatively un- 

 important from the florists' profit point 

 of view, for the reason that the re- 

 tailer adds to the price of the arrange- 

 ment whatever the ribbons cost. 



BEADY FOB BEAL BUSINESS. 



Various lines of merchandise are de- 

 clining in price and in some industries 

 some unemployment is evident for the 

 first time in several years. But close 

 observers of conditions do not see, for 

 these reasons, a general slump in busi- 

 ness, such as woi^ld diminish the pub- 

 lic's demand for flowers. On the con- 

 trary, the belief is general that the 

 present readjustment is knocking off 

 from prices the unnecessary additions 

 caused by speculation, by extravagant 

 and careless buying and by profiteer- 

 ing. When these are removed, it is be- 

 lieved, industries will once more speed 

 up. As the head of the Federal Reserve 

 bank stated last week, "business gen- 

 erally is looking forward to a fall and 

 winter of at least average activity. 

 Sentiment is being helped by the botm- 

 tiful harvests, by the better outlook 

 for the railroads and by the knowl- 

 edge that many highly essential devel- 

 opments which have been long deferred 

 by force of circumstances, such as en- 

 largement of our transportation fa«il* 

 ities and additions to housing accom- 

 modations throughout the country, 

 must soon be undertaken. A broad de- 

 mand, which will probably extend over 

 a period of years, is opening up for the 

 products of our basic industries, and if 

 in the readjustments ahead of us any 

 lines of business should prove to be 

 overdone there is every assurance that 

 any surplus of brains and energy now 

 engaged in such lines can be readily 

 utilized in other fields of activity." 



BBIEF ANSWEBS. 



J. C. C, Ont. — Tagetes signats 

 pumila. 



J. P., Ohio. — The articles on chrys- 

 anthemum midge appeared in The Re- 

 view for January 1 and June 17, 1920. 



