40 



The Florists' Review 



FlBBUABY 3, 1921 



M 



Establlslied 1«97, 

 by a. li Grant. 



Published every Thursday by 

 Thu Fix)uists' Puhlishincj Co., 



600 seo Caxtcn Bulldlnjf, 



808 South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



Refflstered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dcc.3. 18y7.attliepost-offii-e at c;iil- 

 caRo, 111., under the Act of March 

 3. 1879. 



Subscription price, $2.00 a year. 

 To Canada, $3.00; to Euroi>c, $4.00. 



Advei-tlslnir rat<-s quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad 

 vertislnK accepted. 



"'■'•"■ ■'■ 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



Let's push; 1921 will reward all ex- 

 cept the lackadaisical. 



The florist who does bedding work 

 misses an easy profit if he docs not also 

 plant shrubs. 



Some florists call their competitors 

 names just because they are competitors. 

 When all get to know one another, they 

 find each a pretty good sort after all. 



Work, tolerance and faith are three 

 needed business attributes just now — lots 

 of hard work, tolerance of otliers' short- 

 comings and faith in the florists' future. 



Retail florists should do unusually well 

 for the rest of the winter and spring. If 

 demand is not quite so active as a year 

 ago, the margin of profit will be bett<?r. 



The new leisure class does not include 

 many who were regular flower buyers. 

 That is why unemployment has affected 

 the florists' trade seemingly less than 

 it has most others. 



Our chief trade conventions are as- 

 suming the aspect of a 3-ring circus, so 

 many are the bodies who hold meetings. 

 Those in attendance do not know all that 

 went on till they go homo and read about 

 it. 



There is more than one explanation 

 advanced for the fact that florists arc 

 being heard of in places not previou.sly 

 on supply hou.scs' maps. But the situji 

 tion is clear — ^a trade growing both xi\> 

 wards and sideways. 



The more favorable aspect of the flo- 

 rists' trade, in comparison with slow busi- 

 ness in oth(>r line.s, is attracting to this 

 field those who have ceased to find highly 

 jiaid employment in industries boomed by 

 war activity. New florists are springing 

 up in many places. 



Compared with that of any normal 

 time, the business now being done would 

 size up favorably. It is only when com- 

 parison is made with the cxtrn ordinary 

 activity of tlie years of war nnd its after- 

 math tliat anything discouraging in pres- 

 ent trade figures can be found. 



The price of coal continues to fall. 

 Testifying in a licaring at Wnshingtoii 

 last week, an official of one of tlic liirgc 

 operating companies in Illinois stated 

 that the day he left home his company 

 liad 207 cars of Franklin county coal on 

 track at Chicago seeking sale at ,$-.Sii 

 per tfm. 



The Packard and Pierce Arrow stage 

 of the florists' business may be passed, 

 l)Ut the little old Ford always got us 

 there and brought us back. 



You can spend saved money, but you 

 cannot save spent money. The thrift 

 advocated by the national government is 

 as wise in business as in personal affairs. 



Credits are being more closely scruti- 

 nized than at any time in the previous his- 

 tory of the florists' business. The man 

 who does not pay can not play the game. 



Better business is likely to be the 

 result of the present shake-up, or rather 

 shake-down. Keener and more enterpris- 

 ing methods will be developed to stir a 

 public that is apathetic if not backward. 



Everything the average florist uses in 

 (juantity except rent is coming down in 

 price more or less rapidly. If plants and 

 flowers have to be sold somewhat more 

 cheaply, the margin of profit should soon 

 equalize itself. 



The bulletin of the Dahlia Society of 

 California, the November issue of which 

 has just been mailed, contains a great 

 (leal of material regarding amateur and 

 professional dahlia growers on the Pacific 

 coast in its thirty-two pages. 



' ' The real trouble with the world today 

 is a moral trouble, ' ' said a thoughtful 

 man recently. "A large proportion of 

 its people have lost all conception of what 

 it means to render an adequate service 

 in return for the wages they are paid." 



The editor's desk has been adorned by 

 a vase of sweet peas and f reesias from L. 

 D. Fisher, of Sterling, Kan. Perhaps it 

 is the famous Kansas sun that was re- 

 sponsible, but the flowers gave evidence 

 that Mr. Fisher is a grower of more than 

 ordinary ability. Finer peas have not 

 been seen this season. 



The supply houses report a sudden in- 

 crease in the sales of baskets. For months 

 the trade has bought sparingly, while sell- 

 ing has gone on steadily. The result is 

 that retail stores have smaller stocks of 

 baskets, and probably of other accessories, 

 than in many years. They are beginning 

 to buy liberally for Easter. 



No subject seems to interest the trade 

 more keenly than does that of credits 

 and collections. A good many say col- 

 lections arc bad, but the fact seems to be 

 tlint quite a few sellers want to give 

 credit to everyone who comes along and 

 expect then to get their money nearly in 

 lull and promptly without making an 

 I'fifort nt collection. With such, collec- 

 tions are bad. During the boom time 

 )iearly everybody paid, because he easily 

 could and to get more goods. Today it 

 is different. Now one must work to sell 

 nnd work to collect. Tliere was plenty 

 of warning of the impending change. 



HOPE FOR PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN. 



Not since our publicity campaign was 

 inaugurated has any proposal carried so 

 much importance for the trade as that 

 made at Washington last week. In it lies 

 the opportunity for florists to continue 

 tlieir national advertising on a basis that 

 will insure continuity and adequate vol- 

 ume. It contains the means of raising 

 the funds for that purpose in an extensive 

 ;nid equitable way. 



The proposal made by the national pub- 

 licity committee is that the financing of 

 tlie campaign be placed in the charge of 

 tlie new National Flower Growers' Asso- 



ciation, as representing the producers in 

 our trade and therefore the ones who 

 should do its national advertising. The 

 details are contained in the report of 

 that organization's meeting in Washing- 

 ton last week, on another pagie of this 

 issue; read them carefully. Though the 

 outline of the plan may seem somewhat 

 intricate, its working would be simple. 



The allied florists' associations now es- 

 tablished and those to be instituted would 

 collect from the growers of their districts 

 one per cent on sales instead of one-half 

 of one per cent, as is now general. From 

 the retailers would be collected one per 

 cent on purchases, as now, and from the 

 wholesalers one per cent of their commis- 

 sions. Of the total collected, seventy-five 

 per cent will be expended in local adver- 

 tising. Twenty-five per cent will be sent 

 to the National Flower Growers' Associa- 

 tion. Not to exceed ten per cent of this 

 amount will be applied toward executive 

 expense. The other ninety per cent will 

 be turned over to the national publicity 

 committee for advertising. 



Growers outside the flower centers 

 where allied florists' associations are 

 organized will join the association by 

 paying dues on a glass area basis. One- 

 half of the receipts from these growers, 

 of which the number will be large, will 

 be paid to the committee for publicity, 

 the other half devoted to the association 's 

 work. With these funds the association 

 expects to solve its members' problems. 



The Chicago campaign will raise about 

 $35,000 its first year, that in St. Louis 

 this year about $6,000, Milwaukee $8,000 

 and Buffalo $10,000. The total ap- 

 proaches $60,000. When campaigns are 

 started in New York, Philadelphia, Pitts- 

 burgh, Cleveland, Detroit and other cen- 

 ters, that total is expected to be more 

 than tripled. Expectations of adequate 

 returns from this source seem well calcu- 

 lated as they appear on paper. 



Those who are most experienced in the 

 trade's problems have put their thoughts 

 on this plan and esteem it highly. It 

 deserves study by all florists. If we are 

 to carry forward our national publicity, 

 this plan, or its equivalent, is necessary. 



BRIEF ANSWERS. 



J. E. H., 111.— 1. Staphylea trifolia, 

 or American bladder-nut. 2. Viburnum 

 Lentago. 3. Tecoma or Bignonia radi- 

 cans, or trumpet vine. 4. Smilax ro- 

 tundifolia. 5. Amorpha canescens. 



C. W. P., Can. — Chrysosplenium 

 nmericanum. 



SOMEWHERE. 



This is a large country and in it there 

 are men of many needs. Somewhere 

 there is someone who needs just the 

 thing you have in surplus. The Review 

 reaches that someone and he probably 

 is watching the Classified ads to find aia 

 offer of the things he needs. It works 

 like this: 



Kindly stop my ad; it has donp the work iis 

 usual. Thankinu ton for the good work. I am. 

 etc. — Ira H. Ljindis, I^anciistcr, Pa., Janiiarv 

 23. 1921. 



You may discontinue our advertisement of 

 Begonia PriJe of Newcastle, as we are unable to 

 meet the demand it has created. — Frew & Jack- 

 son, Conneaut, 0., January 22, 1921. 



AH our surplus stock as per those Classifii'd 

 ads has been disposed of. — The McGregor Hros. 

 Co., Springfield, O., January 26. 1921. 



Kindly cancel our ad under Campanula, as we 

 are sold out already. — Weller Nurseries Co., 

 Holland, Mich., January 25, 1921. 



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. 



