28 



The Florists' Review 



May 10, 1917. 



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Established, 1897, by G. L. GRANT. 



Published every Tliursday by 

 The Flokists' Puulishinu Co., 



620-560 Oaxton Building, 



508 South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tele.. Wabash 8195. 



Registered cable address, 



Fiorview, Ciilcago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3, 1897. at tlie post-oftlce at Chi- 

 cago, 111., under the Act of March 

 3 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.50 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.50; to Europe. $3.00. 

 - Advertising rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



NOTICE. 



It is^^impoaBible to fl^uarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any adTortiaement 



nnleas instructions are receiTod 



BT 4 P. M. TUESDAY. 



BOCIETT OF AHEBICAN FXOSISTS. 

 Incorporated by Act of Congress, March 4, 1901. 



Officers for 1017: President, Robert O. Kerr, 

 HonstOB, Tex.; vice-president, A. L. Miller, Ja- 

 maica, N. Y.; secretary, John Young, 53 W. 28th 

 St., New Yorlt City; treasurer, J. J. Hess, 

 Omaha, Neb. 



Thirty-third annual convention, New York, 

 N. Y., August 21 to 24, 1917. 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Reriew brings results. 



Why not a posterette campaign ' ' Wear 

 a Flower on the Fourth" this year? 



Steel prices were given another large 

 and, apparently, arbitrary boost last "week. 



If you can use a bargain in greenhouse 

 property, keep an eye on the For Sale 

 ads in The Review and you will find just 

 the place to suit you. 



There are localities in which $1.50 is 

 the established retail price for a dozen 

 geranium plants, but this year it won't 

 supply the florist's family with food and 

 fuel. The price should be not less than $2. 



One of the principal sources of supply 

 for glass and paint for greenhouse use 

 makes the following statement of the 

 present situation : ' ' There is no doubt 

 that the present high price of linseed oil, 

 together with that of white lead, is having 

 more or less of a retarding effect on the 

 buying of paint. The demand for glass, 

 however, seems to be pretty good ; in fact, 

 lousiness has been beyond expectations. 

 Our principal trouble this year is in get- 

 ting the material in greenhouse sizes; we 

 are not worrying about orders. ' ' 



Says a Rod Cross worker: "German 

 guns were pounding Verdun last summer 

 when I went to that stricken city with 

 the consent of the French government. 

 When I reached Verdun, it was the first 

 day of tlie annual sweet pea festival, and 

 with little attention to the German shells, 

 tlie people were paying tribute to their 

 beautiful flowers. Even the soldiers had 

 entries." The United Stttes isii^vieral 

 thousaf^ i^\e& r(|«ove||| . f rom tHi Nrar^ 

 zone — a cheering note^o those of the re- 

 tailers who are pessimistic as to the prob- 

 able effects of the war on the business. 



Good 4-inch geraniums are worth 10 

 cents this spring and the time-honored 

 standard price of 8 cents would better go 

 into the limbo of forgotten things. 



Everybody knows f. o. b. and c. w. o. 

 soon may be equally familiar in this trade, 

 as there is a continually strengthening 

 demand for prompt settlements in this as 

 in most other lines of business. 



The flower show planned for Pitts- 

 burgh, June 13 to 16, under the auspices 

 of the Garden Club of Allegheny County, 

 with Arthur Herrington as manager, has 

 been abandoned because the United States 

 has gone to war. 



The grower who first advanced the 

 price of grafted rose plants had no cause 

 to regret his self-reliance ; those who grow 

 good stock promptly followed and they 

 have all cleaned up in as good shape as 

 would have been likely at the old rates. 



HAVE YOU A SXTRPLUS? 



Look over the Classified ads in The 

 Review. If you have a surplus of some 

 item not offered there, quick cash' can 

 be had for it. Like this: 



You may discontinue my canna ad. One in- 

 sertion really was too much for me. It would 

 look as though no one else in the country had 

 any oannas. — Floyd Bralliar, Madison, Tenn., 

 May 7, 1917. 



When you hear a man complain of 

 the cost of advertising you can be pretty 

 certain that he spends a good bit of 

 money elsewhere than in The Review. 



IF FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED. 



' ' Collections are slow. ' ' One hears it 

 times without number, but in certain 

 quarters no complaints of this nature 

 ever are made and it leads to the con- 

 clusion that the reason collections are 

 slow with most florists is that sufficient 

 effort to get the money is not made. 



Only a small minority of those in the 

 business make a prearranged, continuous 

 effort to collect the accounts on their 

 books. In many cases even the mailing 

 of statements is an irregular matter, 

 and, with the mailing, effort ceases. No 

 attempt is made to follow up the debtor 

 with a request for the payment of the 

 neglected account, and a repetition of 

 the request as it becomes necessary. 

 With a small amount of system in any 

 part of the business, there is none at all 

 in the matter of collections. 



As the florists' business grows it will 

 become increasingly important for each 

 florist to organize the method by which 

 he secures the money due him. With a 

 business of even moderate size a florist's 

 purchases aggregate so large a sum that 

 the men from whom he buys cannot take 

 the risk involved in long credits; bills 

 must be paid monthly or one cannot buy 

 for long in the same place and the best 

 sources of supply soon are closed. To 

 maintain his own prompt payments the 

 florist must take steps to make collec- 

 tions from those to whom he sells. 

 There are not many florists who do not 

 pay if they have the money; the trouble 

 is they are poor collectors. Nowhere in 

 business is it better to apply the motto, 

 "If at first you don't succeed, try, try 

 agairi." 



A BLESSING IN DISGUISE? 



It is believed by many in the trade 

 tj^t the"' national propaganda for in- 

 creased production of vegetables will 

 result iri a curtailment of bedding plant 

 sales; but may not this intensified activ- 

 ity in gardening, this vast multiplica- 



tion of gardens, carry with it such a 

 demand for florists ' plants that the shoe 

 will be on the other foot? In some sec- 

 tions there may be a falling off in bed- 

 ding plant sales, but as a whole the 

 "back-to-the-land" spree is likely to 

 make for a wholesale education of the 

 public in garden-making and thereby 

 produce a larger use of plants. Perhaps 

 the retailer with a large quantity of 

 bedding plants may have to turn part- 

 time wholesaler, for the sake of dis- 

 tribution. 



Subjoined is an interesting editorial 

 clipped from a small-town newspaper, 

 which may be found suitable, as copy for 

 the back of a retail plant circular, letter 

 or postcard: 



WE NEED FLOWERS 



In all this enthusiasm about raising potatoes 

 and turnips and cabbage — and may it increase — 

 we should not entirely overlooli the need of 

 flowers. There's abundance of room for the 

 potato crop and the cabbage without giving up 

 the flowery window box to the rambling cucumber 

 vine and the geranium bed to the wandering 

 squash. Tliere is nothing else so restful for 

 tired nerves as a little stroll among the beauty 

 and fragrance of flowers. They give a source of 

 pleasure and refinement that nothing else can 

 supply. They serve a purpose quite as useful 

 and necessary as those things that are commonly 

 given a higher utilitarian value. What would 

 spring and summer be if there were no flowers 

 to hide the uglier places and to sweeten the air 

 with fragrance? 



Yes, we need flowers. And there will be time 

 and opportunity to grow tliem without slighting 

 the potato and the cabbage. If we do our duty, 

 the rain and sunshine will cause old mother earth 

 to produce food and fragrance enough for all. 

 Let us have potatoes, cabbage and flowers. 



WHAT DO YOU THINK? 



Almost as soon as Mothers' day be- 

 came an established annual event there 

 was call for a Fathers' day. To many 

 people it seemed that a Fathers' day, 

 following on the heels of Mothers' day, 

 would be more or less of a joke and that 

 it would react, destroying the sentiment 

 that is the appeal of Mothers' day. It 

 has been the opinion of The Review that 

 any attempt on our part to develop a 

 Fathers' day would be at the expense of 

 Mothers' day, especially as there seemed 

 no indication of an inclination to stop 

 with the parents; special days for uncles 

 and aunts, everybody but mother-in-law, 

 seemed a natural consequence. 



But Fathers' day does not down. 

 There is a Fathers' Day Association, 

 of which Mrs. John Bruce Dodd, of Spo- 

 kane, Wash., who says she is the Anna 

 Jarvis of Fathers' day, is president. 

 This association designates June 17 as 

 the special day in father's honor and 

 the method of observance is to wear a 

 rose, white for father gone before, etc.! 



The Fathers' Day Association states 

 that it has branches all over the country 

 and has invited the interests which this' 

 season have been booming Mothers' day 

 to do as much for Fathers' day. 



It may be the trade is overlooking an 

 opportunity by not lining up back of 

 father and giving his day a push. The 

 Review has thought otherwise, but opin- 

 ions from the trade will be welcome. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Business, both shipping and local, was 

 good last week, with a tendency tow^ard 

 higher prices manifest. The dark, cold 

 weather has made for a shortening of 

 crops, and by May 3 a distinct shortage 

 of stock began to make itself felt and 

 it bfecame necessary for wholesalers for 

 the most part to cut down on orders, giv- 

 ing to each customer a fair proportion 



