26 



The Florists^ Review 



Febbuabt 24, 1921 



fpm 





Established 1897, 

 by a. L Grant. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Puislishing Co., 



600-560 Caxton Buildinf?, 



508 South Dearborn St., Chlcaf^o. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



Ref^istered cabin address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Doc. 3, 1897, at the post-oftlce at Cli I- 

 caKo, 111., under the Act of March 

 3,1879. 



Subscription price, $2.00 a year. 

 To Canada, $3.00; to Euro|>e, $4.00. 



Advertlslnir ratos quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 TertisioK accepted. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 

 We both have them. 



Easter is only a month away. Are you 

 getting ready for it? 



By the unexpected size of St. Valen- 

 tine's day business, many florists are 

 led to predict banner Easter sales. 



Are you booking orders for spring 

 plantings? Now is the time when a land- 

 scape department is a profitable adjunct 

 to a florist's business. 



Credit is the groundwork of successful 

 business and faith is the foundation of 

 credit. Good business methods and fair 

 dealing are necessary to gain one and 

 both of these. 



Says the Agricultural Almanac, the 

 first issued by the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture: "Keeping accounts 

 never worried Adam; but he was only a 

 gardener.' ' A good many ' ' gardeners 

 under glass'' follow the tradition. 



A NEWSPAPER paragraph, relayed l)y 

 Daut Bros., reads, "The florists have now 

 taken over St. Valentine's day, which 

 leaves the Fourth of July as the only 

 world they haven't conquered." Wash- 

 ington's birthday, however, was not llo- 

 lally noticeable. 



Mo.sT of our national society's work is 

 porfornied, not in oi)en convention, but in 

 its board meetings, and members will find 

 much of interest in the report of the 

 Washington sessions, beginning on page 

 (58 of this issue and continued on page 

 100. 



Of all the guardians of law and order, 

 the United States post office inspectors 

 seem the most respected. Complaints 

 made by florists who have sent money by 

 mail but received nothing in return are 

 investigated by them with salutary re- 

 sults, no matter how impervious the re- 

 cipient of snich money seems to be to 

 other influences. 



Kemarked a banker the other day: 

 ' ' The depreciation in business morals 

 should concern us more than the deprecia- 

 tion in commodity values. Many financial 

 l)ankrupt<ies are preceded by and result 

 from moral bankruptcies. And it is just 

 as essential for business men to have a 

 moral rating as a financial rating. It is 

 as true today as ever that character is the 

 best basis for credit." 



Unless all signs fail, the call for bed- 

 ding plants this spring will break all rec- 

 ords, weather permitting, but it- would be 

 just as well to refrain from boosting 

 prices, the favorite indopr sport of recent 

 seasons. ' . 



The reason vfhy some florists achieve 

 more than others is because they attempt 

 more. Effort never yields 100 per cent 

 returns, and only the man who does more 

 than he thinks is necessary to keep trade 

 moving makes his business grow. 



Proceedings of the 1920 convention of 

 the Tennessee State Florists' Association, 

 at Memphis last November, fill a good- 

 sized volume. It is an interesting account 

 of a live meeting, and the book shows 

 hard work by Secretary-treasurer G. M. 

 Bentley. 



"Bear in mind always," says Ira C. 

 Harper, "that a satisfactorily adjust- 

 ed complaint is one of the best advertise- 

 ments you can have." Unfortunately, 

 not all florists as yet believe in that form 

 of advertising. Especially if they ob- 

 tained cash with order, they are inclined 

 to sit tight and let the complainant com- 

 plain. 



"Do the florists realize their good for- 

 tune?" The question was that of a 

 business man and bank director who is in 

 touch with many lines of business. "It 

 seems strange that those who produce or 

 deal in flowers — something which appeals 

 only to the senses — should be prospering 

 to a greater degree than are those who 

 deal in the necessities of life. But so it 

 appears to be. ' ' 



The florist who cannot keep a file of 

 The Review should tear out and save 

 pages containing cultural or other infor- 

 mation he will want for later reference. 

 These he can either paste in a scrapbook 

 or place in a loose-leaf folder by pasting 

 a strip of stiff paper along one edge and 

 punching holes in it at the proper places. 

 By this method he will rapidly acquire a 

 practical cyclopedia. 



TO EXTERMINATE MILLEPEDE 



"To exterminate millepedes," writes 

 B. J. P., "spread about one-half inch of 

 chopped fresh tobacco stems on the 

 beds and dampen well. This will put an 

 end to your troubles." And he adds, 

 "I should like to hear of your results." 



KNOWING COSTS WOULD HELP. 



If a customer asks a florist how niucli 

 flowers arc going down and when, the 

 florist is likely to be stumped for an 

 answer. Everything else is dropping 

 in price and why not flowers? That is 

 the customer's view. It is a fair one 

 in these times and one' held by the ma- 

 jority of buyers. What is the florist's 

 answer? 



To tell the truth, few florists know 

 whether they can afford to lower the 

 price of flowers. The retailer who pays 

 his wholesaler less than he used to, is 

 able to do so. But the florist who grows 

 his stock has but a vague idea, if any. 



This is the time when, if we knew 

 what our producing costs were, we could 

 speak more positively in answer to the 

 customer's question. If a greenhouse 

 owner knew what the output of it cost, 

 then he could definitely decide how 

 much he need charge for the product to 

 meet the cost and pay himself ade- 

 quately. He would know whether a re- 

 duction in the price of coal, fertilizer, 

 labor or some other item warranted a 

 decrease in the price of his blooms, or 



whether he must endeavor to maintain 

 prices as high as he can \inder the cur- 

 rent conditions of supply and demand. 



Nowadays few florists know how they 

 are coming out until they foot up their 

 books at the end of the year. A more 

 thorough study of those figures after the 

 income tax return is completed will tell 

 the florist a good many things about hia 

 business. A pencil and paper, and a 

 few hours' figuring in the evening may 

 help to devise a system whereby you 

 can approximately estimate your costs. 

 Then customers' questions will not so 

 completely stump the florist. 



ORDER EARLY. 



Not often does Easter come so early 

 as it does this year. There is usually 

 a considerable interval of time between 

 St. Valentine 's day and the big holiday 

 of spring. This season the florist has 

 not long between the two. He must 

 begin preparing at once. 



With this in mind, he should make up 

 his orders of supplies for the big day 

 and get them off soon. The earlier the 

 better. Everybody gives better service 

 and makes fewer errors when not under 

 the strain of a last-hour rush. Plants- 

 men and supply houses look for a big 

 Easter and are preparing for it. Re- 

 tailers should prepare, too, and prepare 

 early. 



BRIEF ANSWER* 



J. W., N. Y.— No. 1, Anthurium An- 

 drseanum. No. 2, Epiphyllum truncatum, 

 commonly known as crab cactus or 

 Christmas cactus. 



CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATION. 



Announcement is made by the United 

 States civil service commission of an 

 open competitive examination for the 

 position of scientific assistant, either at 

 Washington, D. C, or in the field. The 

 examinations are to be held, in most 

 cases, at the post office buildings in the 

 larger cities throughout the country, 

 April 13 and 14. The salary of such a 

 position ranges from $1,320 to $1,620 a 

 year, with persons standing the highest 

 in their examinations receiving up to 

 $1,800 and a bonus of $20 a month. 

 The examinations are open to persons 

 between the ages of 20 and 70 years. 

 The subjects to be examined upon in- 

 clude horticulture, landscape gardening, 

 plant breeding, plant pathology, plant 

 physiology, pomology, seed testing, soir ^ 

 bacteriology and soil surveying. 



BUSINESS EMBARRASSS£BNTS. 



Holyoke, Mass. — Jame<^ P. Roobins 

 has filed a voluntary pemi<m iniaimk- 

 ruptcy, at Boston. Mr. Robbins' debts 

 are given at $1,662.66 and he is with9ut 

 assets. A number of creditors hold 

 claims against the petitioner. The lead- 

 ing ones are: Forestdale cemetery, 

 Holyoke, $290.37; Boston Florists' Sup- 

 ply Co., Bost(Vn, $228.11; Charles H. 

 Todd, of Granbv, Mass., $311, and H. 

 Baversdorfer & Co., Philadelphia, 

 $189.86. 



Boston, Mass. — A receiver was ap- 

 pointed by Judge Anderson February 18 

 for the Waban Rose Conservatories, at 

 Natick. This establishment became 

 famous under the managership of Alex- 

 ander Montgomery, but of late years its 

 career has been somewhat checkered. At 

 one time Moorfield Storey was .president 

 of the corporation and Charles Russell 

 was treasurer. 



