16 



I The Florists' Review 



Deckmber 30, 1920 



the general run gave rise to expression 

 of the sentiment that the greenhouse in- 

 dustry, which lost ground during and 

 since the war, must accelerate its prog- 

 ress to keep step with the retail profes- 

 sion. The scarcity of help in months 

 past was reflected this Christmas, and 

 since this is over, there are hopes of 

 immediate improvement. 



Foliage plants sold better this Christ- 

 mas than on many past occasions, for the 

 simple reason that blooming plants were 

 lacking for desired purposes. This fact 

 is regarded with favor by all the trade, 

 for such sales promote the use of plants 

 the year around in the home. 



As an Augury. 



Interpreted as an indication of what 

 the trade may expect in the way of 

 business during the coming months, the 

 Christmas trade contained propitious 

 omens. As mentioned above, it showed 

 that the slump that had hit other lines 

 of business did not affect the sale of 

 flowers to the extent many members of 

 the trade feared. Indeed, it is believed 

 that the strain of high prices on the 

 salaried class is being somewhat re- 

 lieved and that the resumption of flower 

 buying by individuals so afEected will 

 offset the loss that will accrue as a re- 

 sult of the return of extravagant wages 

 to something like normalcy. This 

 Christmas trade also indicated what had 

 been earlier remarked, that supply was 

 falling behind demand, in plants as in 

 cut flowers, and that a real effort would 

 be needed to catch up. High price of 

 coal, now past, and scarcity of labor, 

 also at an end, were contributing causes, 

 and with them removed, the outlook is 

 more promising. Signs point, too, to- 

 ward a building boom in the greenhouse 

 trade next spring, which will better pro- 

 duction next year. 



For Easter, however, special efforts 

 must be made to prepare sufficient stock 

 by the early date on which it falls in 

 1921. Present indications are not for 

 an exceedingly large supply, though it 

 is yet early to prophesy. If general 

 business resumes its active advance, as 

 financial men forecast, then the big day 

 of spring will call for all the material 

 the trade can prepare. 



being that of the Fleischman Floral Co., 

 Thursday morning, Decen^b^ 23, which 

 occupied nearly an entire page. 



TAKE TIP FROM REVIEW. 



CHIC AGO 'S ADVERTISING. 



The early hesitation on tlie part of 

 flower buyers seemed to have been over- 

 come in Chicago by some means or 

 other, for last-minute business was ex- 

 ceptionally lioavy. The advertising of 

 the Allied Florists' Association was 

 doubtless instrumental in this. For the 

 occasion two advertiseinents. nrcui)ying 

 nearly one-quarter page encli, appeared 

 at the beginning of Christmas week. In 

 the two Sunday papers, December 19, 

 the Tribune and the Herald and Exam- 

 iner, appeared one advertisement sug- 

 gesting flowers as gifts and calling at- 

 tention to telegraph delivery service. 

 This advertisement was repeated in the 

 four afternoon paf)ers the following day. 

 December 21 and 22 appeared the ad- 

 vertisement reproduced on the preced- 

 ing page, three papers being used each 

 day. The total circulation reached by 

 the six insertions of these two adver- 

 tisements, according to Secretary H. V. 

 Swenson's estimate, is 4.000,000. That 

 means, approximately, that everybody 

 in Chicago had a chance to see florists' 

 advertising twice. 



Individual florists also carried con- 

 spicuous advertising the week before 

 Christmas, the largest and most striking 



Seek to Explain High Prices. 



A month ago, in the December 2 

 issue. The Eeview indicated how florists 

 could, in the words of the article's cap- 

 tion, "Check Complaints on High 

 Prices. ' ' The newspaper publicity given 

 this subject at Thanksgiving time 

 prompted the article and the suggestion 

 then made was that effective work of 

 this character could be done for Christ- 

 mas, when it would be notably needed. 

 The simplest procedure of getting this 

 explanatory material on the subject of 

 prices into the columns of the daily 

 press was illustrated by a letter from 

 The Eeview to the editor of the Tribune, 

 Chicago's largest daily, printed in the 

 latter at that time. 



The suggestion and the mode of pro- 

 cedure indicated at that time by The 

 Eeview were followed last week in Chi- 

 cago. Working in behalf of the Allied 

 Florists' Association of Illinois, Mrs. 

 Ella Grant Wilson, who had gone to that 

 city from Cleveland for the purpose of 

 getting articles into the daily papers, 

 succeeded in breaking into the Herald 

 and Examiner, the smaller morning pa- 

 per, in the department headed "Letters 

 from the People." Under the caption 

 ' ' Why ' Say It with Flowers ' Is Costly, ' ' 

 she developed the idea suggested by 

 The Eeview, giving a few interesting 



details for the public's consumptio 

 Her letter, which appeared in the Heral 

 and Examiner December 24, read as f o 

 lows: 



Becently there appeared In Chicago papers :. 

 article which gave the ImpresBlon that the II 

 riats ^re proflteering. Here are Bome of ti 

 facts: If a rose is a new variety it costs t! 

 grower anywhere from 26 cents to $1 per plan 

 It has to be cared for by a $5-a-day man 

 watered once each day, given air and ventil . 

 tlon, according to weather conditions, stakt" 

 pruned and fumigated at least weekly, soni' 

 times oftener. It requires expert treatment t 

 a man who understands roses. Then one or t\\ 

 shoots only are allowed to come up and matui 

 for flowers. 



Meanwhile, the coal that costs $12 a ton ha 

 been used to force these two roses into biooin 

 Bvery single thing that enters into the prodiir 

 tlon of the roses has advanced 100 to 3(» 

 per cent — glass, stakes, fertilizer, in8ectici(le^ 

 as well as labor and coal, and not one iten 

 has come down as yet. The same scale hold- 

 good for all flowers grown under glass. 



After the roses are grown they have to b.' 

 cut, put into water, packed and sent by truck 

 to a city wholesale house, where they an 

 graded into extra selects, selects, firsts, sec 

 ends and culls — all depending on the length am! 

 strength of the stems. Then they are sold to 

 the retail stores. Retail prices are governeil 

 entirely by the wholesale market, and the whole 

 sale market bases its prices solely on the ques 

 tlon of demand and supply. 



At Christmas time there is very little sun 

 to ripen and open the flowers; sometimes a rose- 

 bud will stay dormant for a week or two durin;: 

 such dark weather as we are having now, whereas 

 a bright, sunny day will bring them popping; 

 open. 



The retailer must recut the stems, etc. The 

 customer, told to "Say It with Flowers," thinks 

 be will, but when the high-salaried clerk tells 

 him these long-stemmed roses will cost him 

 from $8 to $18 a dozen, he thinks hard thlngn 

 of the florist. If the customer understood and 

 considered what it cost to lay that dozen long- 

 stemmed roses before him, he would wonder 

 how the florist could sell them as cheaply as 

 he does. One grower told me he had 105 men 

 employed and bad put in 60,000 tons of conl 

 and did not expect that would see him through. 

 And, besides, the city retailer has high rents, 

 expensive help and expensive deliveries to 

 make. 



^A^Mi^i^ii^^mmmM^y^^ 



WELL PLANNED 



^1rr*^1r?sVlr?'A^1r?'*^'^?-*^1r?s^lr4^1r?A^1,Y*^1l/'•S1^r^^^ 



HEAVY CHRISTMAS RUSH. 



Fails to Faze Fox. 



[I have never had even a few mo- 

 ments to spare on the day before Christ- 

 mas. Tliere was always too much to do. 

 So when an invitation came to see how 

 a flower shop in the center of Philadel- 

 phia is conducted during a holiday rush, 

 I just accepted and made the time. — 

 Phil.] 



It was a little after 11 on the 

 morning of Friday, December 24. The 

 time is of especial importance because 

 it signifies the peak of the Christmas 

 rush. Charles Henry Fox was standing 

 a few paces inside the door of his at- 

 tractive flower shop just below the Eitz. 

 He looked sercue-and cheerful, as though 

 he had not a care in the world, and after 

 a cordial greeting proposed a stroll 

 through the place. 



The shop was exquisitely clean and 

 neat. Many beautiful plants were ar- 

 ranged effectively; yet the impression 

 created was that they happened to be 

 there, as it were, by the merest chance. 

 Each plant was a perfect specimen and 

 was placed in a basket of a color that 

 harmonized best with its fruit or foli- 

 age. Mr. Fox favors plants at Christ- 

 mas, because their value and quality are 

 known in advance. Nothing raw is 

 sent out. Everything must be the fin- 

 ished product that will reflect credit 

 everywhere. Customers were coming 

 and going, yet there was no hurry or 

 bustle about the shop; rather an air of 



quiet elegance. The bookkeeping de- 

 partment, immediately in the rear of 

 the shop, was busily employed entering 

 the orders that had been filled. 



Departments for Everything. 



The shipping department was pack- 

 ing and tagging the orders preparatory 

 to delivery. As the order was wrapped 

 it was placed in its special compart- 

 ment with its fellows. A map of Phila- 

 delphia on the wall showed clearly all 

 the streets and to which route the par- 

 cels belonged. The city is for conven- 

 ience divided into sections, such as 

 central, north Philadelphia, German- 

 town, Chestnut Hill, the main line, and 

 so on. Each section is a route; each 

 route is assigned to a truck. Wherever 

 possible, delivery is made by messenger 

 rather than by truck. 



The next and most important depart- 

 ment was devoted to filling orders. W. 

 C. Harry was supplying both executive 

 and motive power, aided by able assist- 

 ants. Charts, alphabetically arranged, 

 were on the walls, showing the facts 

 concerning all the Christmas orders; by 

 whom sent, to whom, their contents, 

 when sent, where and the route. Each 

 order slip either had the card fastened 

 on it with the tag, or the words, "No 

 Card," were written on it. Beyond 

 the packing room is a natural cooling 

 room formed by the space between two 

 tall brick walls. It is filled with shelves 

 and is ventilated by means of a shaft 

 with an opening at the top at one end. 

 There is an opening near the floor at 



