22 



The Florists^ Review 



Fbbbcaby 10, 1921 



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FOR NEW PLAN 



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NEW PUBLICITY PLAN. 



Ammann Urges Adoption. 



Great interest has been manifested by 

 the trade in the new plan for carrying 

 on our national publicity campaign pre- 

 sented at the meeting of the National 

 Flower Growers' Association in Wash- 

 ington, full details of wliich were given 

 only in The Review last week. So far- 

 reaching is the proposal and so great is 

 its meaning to the trade that there is 

 much live discussion of it. In this con- 

 nection, some of the remarks of J. F. 

 Ammann, member of the national public- 

 ity committee and secretary of the Na- 

 tional Flower Growers' Association, in 

 introducing the committee's report be- 

 fore the executive board of the S. A. F., 

 arc enlightening. lie said: 



"We do not claim this plan will be 

 perfect. Neither do we want it under- 

 stood that the work as started and car- 

 ried on the past three years will cease 

 unless this above plan is adopted. What 

 the committee is really striving for is to 

 rebuild on a new plan with a better 

 foundation, so further additions may be 

 added without danger to the original 

 structure. 



"Personally, I have been in this work 

 for two years, first as cx-officio member 

 of the committee by virtue of my office 

 as president of the society for one year 

 and the last year as a member of' the 

 committee by appointment. During this 

 time, I believe I can frankly state, I 

 have made a careful study of the situa- 

 tion as it exists in the various communi- 

 ties and I have come to the firm conclu- 

 sion that there is a prevailing sentiment 

 almost everywhere in favor of the allied 

 trade plan for cooperative advertising. 



"It is by far the most equitable plan 

 that has yet been tried, not only in our 

 own trade but in that of many others, 

 and, l)ns(>(l ujifm the jKMcentago as rec- 

 ommended in this rejiort, a vast sum 

 could lie rai.sod with little effort and no 

 sacrific(> mi the part of anyone. For, 

 after all, the total investment l)y all the 

 combined branches of our trade in ad- 

 vertising would be less than three per 

 cent on the volume of business done and 

 this would include both local and na- 

 tional cooperative advertising. This, 

 I feel sure you will all agree, is an in- 

 significantly small sum as compared with 

 what other lines of business are invest- 

 ing in advertising; so, therefore, the 

 plan is equitable, it is reasonable, and it 

 is workable beyond any question of 

 doubt. 



"If you men here in session as repre- 

 sentatives of the great national body of 

 our allied trade organizations will put 

 your stamp of approval upon it, and 

 with that action recommend to the so- 

 ciety here in session next summer its 

 approval and adoption, and then if our 

 national society will instruct and em- 

 power its officers to devise ways and 

 means for organizing these allied trade 

 organizations for the purpose of co- 

 operative advertising in every flower 

 market center in the United States and 

 in Canada as well (if they choose to join 

 with us), then the great society will 

 have committed an act that will mean 

 far greater progress of floriculture with- 



in the next decade than we have made 

 in all the past, for the day of production 

 of American ornamental horticultural 

 products is no longer a question. This 

 is being advanced by leaps and bounds. 

 The one great duty, as I see it, that is 

 left open for American floriculturists 

 is that of disseminating information di- 

 rect to the people with reference to the 

 benefits and uses of these products by 

 judicious advertising. 



"According to the latest report from 

 Bradstreet, eighty-four per cent of the 

 commercial failures last year were firms 

 that did not advertise. We can no 

 longer, gentlemen, afford to stay out of 

 the educational program for this na- 

 tion. Our wares are a part of the prod- 

 ucts that make for better homes, better 

 lives, better citizens and higher ideals, 

 and so I feel that it is not only our duty 

 to continue our campaign for publicity, 

 but wo must with all earnestness and 

 determination strive to increase and 

 multiply it." 



In presenting this future plan, the 

 national publicity committee urges sub- 

 scribers to the national publicity fund to 

 continue the payment of all pledges 

 promptly. For until this plan is more 

 generally adopted the committee will 

 have to rely on the individual subscrib- 

 ers quite largely to help carry on the 

 campaign. 



TERRE HAUTE, IND. 



It has long been in the thoughts of 

 J. W. Davis, president of the company 

 bearing his name, to employ a part of the 

 big range at Davis Gardens in the flo- 

 rists' trade rather than all for cucum- 

 bers. Some time ago a start was made 

 with cyclamens and this has proved so 

 successful that C. G. Anderson, a well- 

 known plantsman, has been engaged to 

 develop a pot plant department. One 

 of the monster greenhouses — they each 

 contain about 50,000 feet of glass — will 

 be placed in Mr. Anderson's charge and 

 as rapidly as possible a complete line of 

 Christmas and Easter blooming plants 

 will be worked up, together with a large 

 assortment of decorative plants. The 

 idea will be to grow quality stock, as Mr, 

 Davis long ago determined to his entire 

 satisfaction that it pays best to grow the 

 best. 



AT LONG ISLAND GROWER'S. 



A visit to the establishment of A. L. 

 Miller, Jamaica, N. Y., is always inter- 

 esting, but at the present time one is 

 able to get an idea of the lines upon 

 which this "factory" is operated. 

 Christmas activities have left no trace 

 and everything is in apple-pic order 

 for the Easter rush. Tucked away in 

 various ])arts of the greenhouses are a 

 few things which Abe considers as his 

 quota for the international flower show 

 in March and ]iossibly he will not ob- 

 j(^ct to mention of them, so here goes. 

 First, there are some trained standards 

 of the old rose Marechal Niel, and 

 others of Gloire de Dijon, which, in 

 bloom, will certainly be pleasing to the 

 old folks. Then there is a collection of 

 begonias of no mean order and two 

 rather uncommon varieties of genista, 

 elegans and a Japanese variety, grafted 

 on standards of the ordinary forcing 

 variety. Of course, much other exhi- 

 bition material will be available from 

 the general stock. Ficus altissima is a 

 new rubber tree of which considerable 

 stock has been worked up. It is some- 

 thing between F. elastica and F. pan- 

 durata, pleasing in appearance and of 

 better branching habit than the latter. 

 There is a good stock of Easter heaths, 

 including some of the new Vilmorin 

 varieties, Prest. Carnot, King Edward 

 VII and President Faure. There are 

 plenty of heaths of the persoluta va- 

 riety, both alba and rosea, for basket 

 fillings, also of the Erica codonodes, 

 Vcitchii variety. Chorizemas are con- 

 spicuous, some of them already fully 

 flowered, as they sell right along. 



Genistas are in good supply in va- 

 rious forms and sizes. Easter roses are 

 in fine shape. The holiday is rather 

 early this year and in case Dorothy 



Perkins does not reach the flowering 

 point, there is a plentiful stock of 

 Tausendschoen to fill any gap. The 

 baby rose group is well represented in 

 sizes useful for basket work. There is 

 a nice line of acacias, among which the 

 variety longifolium in sizes three to 

 four feet high is conspicuous through 

 being now in full bloom and quite hand- 

 some. Other acacia varieties are 

 heterophylla, paradoxa and Drum- 

 mondii. Heterophylla is also seen in 

 small sizes suitable for box fillings and 

 edgings. Among the begonias, a new 

 French variety, Melanie, looks promis- 

 ing with its delightful flowers, white 

 centers and rose-pink edgings. Several 

 seedling begonias are under trial. 

 Primula kevvensis is showing a wealth 

 of bloom, but these plants seem to re- 

 quire careful handling on account of the 

 brittleness of the foliage. There are 

 not so many lilies at this establishment 

 as usual, but the stock is good. The 

 varieties formosum and giganteum, the 

 latter of the Miller superior strain, are 

 the only ones grown here. There is a 

 block of a new form of giganteum 

 being tried out and its superiority is 

 already noticeable. The plants are 

 twice as high as the ordinary gigan- 

 teum, and the flowers are said to come 

 larger. Blocks of oranges intended for 

 next Christmas are coming into bloom. 

 There is a plentiful stock of marguer- 

 ites, just right for Easter, and there is 

 no dearth of the newer varieties of 

 hydrangeas. Lilac plants, Marie 

 Legraye and Charles X, are well set 

 for Easter, grown cool so as to get good 

 foliage. Perhaps another novelty to be 

 seen is the dwarf iberis, or candytuft, 

 grown in pans, showing compact masses 

 of green, later to be covered thickly 

 with the small white flowers. 



