20 



The Florists^ Review 



Decembek 23, 1920 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Flokists' Publishing Co,, 



600 560 0axton Bulldlne, 



SOS South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



Registered cable address, 



Florvlew, Cblcago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897, at the post-olfice at Clil- 

 caKO. 111., under the Act of March 

 3.1879. 



Subscription price, $2.00 a year. 

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



Advertlslnif rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertlslnK accepted. 



niipmiiiiii 



EBOS 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



Merry Christmas! 



Quality pays best in times of scarcity 

 and of plenty. 



Despite the gloomy predictions, ad- 

 vance orders for Christmas flowers are 

 heavier in many markets than in previous 

 years. 



Waiting for "the turn of the year" 

 is the affliction of most lines of business. 

 Once the turn is passed, renewed activity 

 is looked for. 



No one, grower or store proprietor, be- 

 grudged a good workman his full due, but 

 all welcome relief from the exorbitant 

 demands of unskilled labor. 



Send clippings of your Christmas ad- 

 vertisements to The Review. Was there 

 some feature of this year's business 

 worthy of comment! Tell us of it. 



The man who does just enough to ' ' get 

 by" and no more, whether it be for his 

 employer or for customers, is headed in the 

 wrong direction on the road to success. 



Inquiries regarding houses for con- 

 struction next spring indicate a building 

 boom, say the construction companies. 

 Many large growers are planning addi- 

 tional glass area. 



Don 't wait for the other fellow to help 

 you cooperate in business improvement. 

 The golden rule, which is the essence of 

 cooperation, can be followed without wait- 

 ing for agreements or organizations. 



Such is the ironic lot of the greenhouse 

 man. He who congratulated himself two 

 months ago on ample coal for the winter 

 now bewails the fact that his bins are full 

 of high-priced stuff, while he who previ- 

 ously moaned his inability to get fuel is 

 now able to purchase his supply at, in 

 same cases, less than he paid last year. 



The production of plants and cut flow- 

 ers would have increased, in something 

 like the increase in production in other 

 popular lines during the last two years 

 of free spending, had it not been for the 

 scarrity of trained growers. The slowing 

 down of other industries has sent some 

 good help back to our trade, but other- 

 wise there has been little increase in the 

 trade's body of capable men. Conse- 

 quently, production is not likely to in- 

 crease rapidly, nor are the wages of com- 

 petent growers likely to fall fast or far. 



Skill comes from knowledge and should 

 be well repaid. If it is not, where is the 

 incentive to acquire the requisite knowl- 

 edge? 



It will not be long before California 

 will be supplying the trade with large 

 quantities of the stock heretofore ob- 

 tained from Europe. 



Tripling sums on a firm's books cause 

 as much work as large amounts and it is 

 a matter of business economy as well as 

 courtesy that they be paid promptly. 



Many well informed men in the plant 

 business believe that prices of both nurs- 

 ery stock and greenhouse plants are due 

 for an early drop in keeping with the re- 

 adjustment of prices in other commodities. 



With its December 4 issue the Garden- 

 ers ' Chronicle, of London, published a 

 colored supplementary illustration of 

 Carnation Gorgeous, which was raised by 

 Peter Fisher, of Ellis, Mass., who also sent 

 out Enchantress, Beacon and Benora. 



In the country towns a large number 

 of those who start in the florists' busi- 

 ness have previously been engaged in some 

 other occupation. At first they use the 

 letter-heads of the old business and then 

 they wonder why wholesale florists will 

 not accord them wholesale prices. The 

 first thing for any florist to do is to get 

 a printed letter-head. 



There has been heavy loss of cycla- 

 mens this season from a fungous disease 

 new to the growers. Some growers have 

 escaped, but where the disease has made 

 its appearance the destruction has been 

 from half to the whole stock. One plants - 

 man has stated that the plants lost on 

 his place, if he had them in good shape 

 now, would have brought him $15,000 to 

 $18,000 this week and his case is not ex- 

 ceptional in his locality. 



THE OHBISTMAS OUTLOOK. 



The doubt that delayed almost all or- 

 ders for Christmas flowers in the whole- 

 sale markets seemed to have dissipated 

 by a week before the holiday. Instead 

 of hesitation, there was such strong be- 

 lief in heavy Christmas business that 

 many houses had all the orders they 

 cared to take for most items. Plants- 

 men had sold all their available stock 

 and supply houses felt a strong call for 

 holiday materials. 



It was evident long ago that the va- 

 riety in plants for Christmas buyers 

 would not be large this year and it 

 proves to be scant indeed. Poinsettias 

 are not so numerous as they have been, 

 and cyclamens suffered heavily in some 

 sections from a fungous trouble no one 

 seems to have identified. Berried plants 

 were few. Solanums seemed to be the 

 only item of which the stock was gener- 

 ally large. Some stray araucarias com- 

 manded high prices. Ericas were well 

 done in many places. Begonias and 

 primulas were prepared for the moder- 

 ate-priced buyers, but no stress was 

 laid upon them for the holidays, since 

 it was felt they would be as good prop- 

 erty later. 



Cut flowers also showed a lack of va- 

 riety. Roses were in large supply, of 

 course, and the cuts were generally of 

 good size, although a greater number of 

 growers are making no attempt to crop 

 at Christmas, but counting on quality to 

 bring as good returns as the cut comes. 

 The longest-stemmed flowers were the 

 last to be moved, the demand being 

 keenest for medium lengths. Carnations 

 were affected by weather conditions in 



some localities, as were sweet peas to a 

 marked degree. Violets have seldom 

 been fewer. 



The shortness of the supply naturally 

 caused an increase in themse of artifi- 

 cial materials. Never have they been so 

 largely employed. Not only^did depart- 

 ment stores advertise baskets and 

 bouquets of artificial flowers from $2 to 

 $15, but florists in many cases filled 

 their windows with them. The many 

 effects to be made with the large variety 

 of stuff of this sort to be had attracted 

 the notice of many shoppers. 



As the big day drew nearer it became 

 increasingly apparent that this was not 

 to be the apathetic occasion many pre- 

 dicted, but a Christmas that would fill 

 the florist's store with buyers. 



THE POINT OF THE MATTER. 



The use of artificial flowers, painted 

 and dyed grasses, prepared foliages and 

 other materials whose use many in the 

 trade decry is more general and more 

 extensive this Christmas than has ever 

 been the case before. Growers of 

 plants and cut flowers have expressed 

 not only disapproval but alarm over it. 

 Some retailers deplore it, while others 

 shrug their shoulders and proceed, in 

 their own words, "to give the public 

 what it wants." 



The difference in the attitude of va- 

 rious members of the trade on this mat- 

 ter is one of reasoning methods. One 

 says the public is responsible for the 

 increase in the demand for artificial 

 stuff. The other says the florist is re- 

 sponsible because he educates the public 

 to the use of it. 



But the public hasn't so much to do 

 with the matter as the trade itself. Let 

 the public buy more artificial stuff if it 

 wants to. But florists' desire should be 

 to sell more flowers. If we don't sell 

 flowers, we lose our reason for existence. 

 The department stores and novelty 

 shops can sell artificial stuff, and if we 

 cater particularly to that trade we are 

 only losing our identity as sellers of live 

 flowers and plants. 



There is small reason for alarm, how- 

 ever. The public will always want and 

 always buy real flowers. The artificial 

 will not supersede the natural. Rather 

 will the reverse be true when the latter 

 become more plentiful. Production is at 

 present curtailed; the demand for plants 

 and flowers has rapidly grown, while 

 glass area has increased little, if at all. 

 Let's try to grow more flowers and bet- 

 ter flowers; then artificial stuff will as- 

 sume its proper place in the florist's es- 

 tablishment, as a useful accessory. The 

 urgent cry should be, not, particularly, 

 less use of artificial stuff, but greater 

 production of flowers and plants. 



EAST AND WEST. 



There are indications that the knowl- 

 edge there is an effective way of moving 

 surplus stock may be of increasing value 

 as time goes on, so letters like these 

 possess new value: 



Good results are coming in almost daily from 

 our Classified ad in The Review. — PfelfTer Nurs- 

 ery, Winona, Minn., December 12, 1920. 



The first ad cleaned out over 3.000 chrysanthe- 

 mum stock plants: had to return ten checks. — 

 I^inooln Gardens, Tama, la., December 11, 1920. 



I have used The Review's Classified ads for 

 nearly twenty years and they always t>ring or- 

 ders. —L. E. Williams, Exeter, N. H., December 

 11. 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. 



