26 



The Florists^ Review 



JANUABT 6. 1921 



Publigbed every Thursday by 

 The Flokists' Puulishino Co., 



600 560 Oaxton Building, 



608 South Dearborn St., CblcaRO. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



ReKlstered cablo address, 



Florylew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at tlie post-ortlce at Chl- 

 caKo, III., under the Act of March 

 3,1879. 



Subscription price, $2.00 a year. 

 To Canada, $3.00; to Europe, $4.00. 



AdTcrttslni; mtos quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 Tertlslng accepted. 



'-•-'-^- 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Eeview brings results. 



A PESSIMIST is a florist who complains 

 of dark weather and doesn't clean his 

 greenhouse roofs. 



A GOOD head is worth as much as ever, 

 but a pair of hands can no longer demand 

 an exorbitant wage. 



Opportunity brings responsibility. 

 The former comes to him who is most 

 willing to slioulder the latter. 



The cost of securing a new customer 

 is so great, in most businesses, that most 

 of us can afford some expense in keeping 

 old ones satisfied. 



The Harvard University committee on 

 economic research says revival of gen- 

 eral business will begin early in the 

 spring — March or April. The committee 

 on statistics of the United States Cham- 

 ber of Commerce looks for an end of the 

 period of general depression in thirty 

 days. 



No system ever can be devised which 

 would "keep every fool and his money 

 in the same suit of clothes," according 

 to a contemporary, but in the florists' 

 . business there is no greater folly than 

 neglect of office detail. During the last 

 three years there have been practically 

 no failures in this trade, but there will 

 be many, now that profit margins are 

 narrower, if the trade does not watcli 

 credits, follow up collections and apply 

 the proceeds first of all to the payment 

 of bills. 



A LEADING Chicago banker who has 

 dealings with a number of florists told 

 one of them New Year's day it is his 

 opinion this trade has been particularly 

 fortunate. In explanation, he said florists 

 had made excellent profits since the ar- 

 mistice without overexpansion of produc- 

 tion facilities, that florists are not suffer- 

 ing the losses other lines have met in the 

 depreciation of merchandise, or buildings 

 and equipment no longer needed, and 

 that the autumn and lioliday sales of 

 florists seem more nearly to approach 

 last season's high record than do tliosc 

 of most other trades. The banker added 

 that the retention of the florists' profits 

 will depend on their individual ability so 

 to trim their sails that they can keep 

 their bills paid; the florist who lets 

 unpaid bills pile up against him, he said, 

 is likely to And the profits of the good 

 years have slipped away. 



While business expenses were tiigh and 

 profits were good the eye on expenditures 

 may have become lax. It must be more 

 vigilant now. 



If "A Florist" wishes to supply his 

 name, The Eeview will print his complaint 

 regarding high Christmas prices. A com- 

 munication which has not the backing of 

 the writer's signature is not deemed of 

 sufficient value to him or to others to be 

 printed. 



The management of the M. Rice Co., 

 Philadelphia, is so strongly of the belief 

 that a knowledge of how he stands finan- 

 cially is necessary for the continuous 

 success of a florist, that they have gone 

 outside their line to offer a business and 

 income tax record for the use of the 

 trade. 



It takes no prophetic instinct to foresee 

 that the return of normal business con- 

 ditions, be it soon or late, will result in 

 a boom in greenhouse building. Except 

 for a few localities, whatever increase in 

 productive glass there has been in the last 

 five years has been less than the increase 

 in population, in wealth, in the scale of 

 living or in any other factor affecting 

 demand. 



WHO WILL TELL? 



Some of The Review's advertisers, in 

 listing their gladioli recently, have 

 spelled the name of one of the varieties 

 in several ways — Von Binsing, Von 

 Binssing, etc. A natural supposition is 

 that the flower really was christened 

 Von Bissing, in honOT of the German 

 general of that name. Yet that suppo- 

 sition may be wrong; there is always a 

 risk in jumping at conclusions. Can 

 any reader state the name and origin 

 of the variety? 



WHO CAN HELP HIM? 



The goose flower which told its per- 

 suasive tale on the first page of The 

 Review December 23 accomplished that 

 queer creature's avowed purpose, that 

 of arousing curiosity. It has done it so 

 markedly that The Review asks the aid 

 of its readers to satisfy some of the 

 curiosity aroused.. The cultural direc- 

 tions given at the end of the article 

 comprise our available information. 

 Perhaps some of the few florists who 

 have grown this flower can more fully 

 reply to the following queries of a 

 reader: 



"As I am not up on all the flowers, I 

 should like some information about the 

 goose flower and the rest of the family. 

 "Where can I secure same? What are the 

 growing conditions for them? When 

 should I start them and about how long 

 after planting is it before the gosling 

 appears? I want to grow some to 

 satisfv mv curiosity." 



KEEP DOING BUSINESS. 



The advice of ]iromincnt bankers, 

 who urge that business men abandon 

 their attitude of waiting and begin to 

 buy freely without further delay, is in 

 line with that which has lately been 

 offered by some other well known ob- 

 servers of trade conditions. The theory 

 which underlies it is that inasmuch as 

 noteworthy reductions of prices have oc- 

 curred, buyers would do well to supply 

 themselves with their essentials while 

 sources arc abundant. The dictates of 

 "good business" are reinforced by the 

 considerations of "good patriotism," 



since immediate resumption of manu- 

 facturing jind trade on a normal basis 

 will reduce or end unemployment and so 

 put to flight some of the evils that are 

 most threatening at the present time. 



Of course, such advice applies in those 

 lines where price reductions have oc- 

 curred and sellers have taken the losses 

 necessary in the business readjustment. 

 And with that understanding it is good 

 advice for florists as well as others to 

 follow, for a prolongation of delay m 

 placing orders will change a healthy re- 

 adjustment to a most unhealthy depres- 

 sion. There is, however, no danger of 

 the latter if we make efforts to do busi- 

 ness ourselves and help the other fellow 

 do business too. 



WHAT'S GOING DOWN. 



The price decline during the month 

 of December was placed at eight and 

 one-half per cent by the Federal Re- 

 serve Board, which added the observa- 

 tion that the decrease in prices vvas 

 mainly confined to commodities which 

 had shown a decline previously rather 

 than an extension of price cutting to 

 other industries. 



The decline was reported as most 

 marked in agricultural products, tex- 

 tiles, hides, leather and iron and steel 

 products, while coal, petroleum, gaso- 

 line, paper, brick and cement remained 

 largely unaffected. Some reductions 

 were reported in the open market in the 

 latter] group of commodities, the board 

 "saidf^ut contract prices appeared to be 

 at the same level as in earlier months. 



BRIEF ANSWERS. 



L. G. B., Ind. — Your mums were badly 

 infested with midge. Destroy the stock 

 and secure clean plants. 



L. C. S., Wis. — Smith 'a Sensation. 



A. F., Mich. — Secretary John Young's 

 address is 43 West Eighteenth street. 

 New York. 



H. W., La. — Dr. Hitch, a white and 

 lavender sport of Yellow Mistletoe, 

 which is a sport of Mistletoe, can be ob- 

 tained of L. M. Smith & Co., Laurel, 

 Del. 



KIND WORDS FROM OLD FRIENDS. 



It is common to hear that readers of 

 The Review consider the paper worth 

 more than its subscription price, $2 per 

 year, but listen to this: 



The weokly arrival of The Review affords me 

 Breat satisfaction. If the price were TEN TIMES 

 aR much, the value of the information it con- 

 tains renders it indisponsahle. — C. F. Blair, Wich- 

 ita Falls. Tex., December 2.3, 1920. 



Mr. Blair has been a reader of The 

 Review for thirteen years and may be 

 credited with the knowledge necessary 

 for the formation of a well grounded 

 opinion. However, here's confirmation: 



Enclosed find $2 for renewal of my subscrip- 

 tion to The Review. I have had it for about fif- 

 teen years and do not think I oonld do without 

 it. — Mrs. Jennie S. Farmer, Florist Salem 111 

 December 30, 1920. . ■. 



Thirteen and fifteen, both old friends, 

 — but see this: 



Rusiness is not quite so brisk as last vear 

 hut with the aid of The Review we manace to 

 keep things movinR — T. H. Fuller, Battle Creek, 

 Mich., December 30, 1920. 



That's from an advertiser of many 



years' experience— and here's another: 



ni^^-n^I^ ,"*'." K^^tinS good results from our 

 Classified ads in Tlie Review.— The Pfoiffer Nurs- 

 ery, Winona, Minn., December 27, 1920. 



If 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 Review 



