24 



The Florists^ Review 



Mat 31, 1917. 





Established, 1897, by G. L. GRANT. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Flokists' Puijlihhing Co., 



520-560 Oaxton Building, 



508 South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tele., Wabash 8195. 



Regl8tei:ed cable address, 



Florvlew, Clilcaso. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897, at the post-ortice at Chi- 

 cago. 111., under the Act of March 

 3 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.50 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.50; to Europe, 53.00. 



Advertising rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



n 



NOTICE. 



It is impossible to §^uarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any advertisement 



unless instructions are received 



BY 4 P. M, TUESDAY. 



SOCIETY OF AMEBICAN FLOBISTS. 

 Incorporated by Act of Congress, March 4, 1901. 



Officers for 1917: President, Robert C. Kerr, 

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

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

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

 Omaha, Neb. 



Thirty-third annual convention, New Yorlc, 

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



Besults bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



There remains more bedding out to be 

 done in June than in any previous season. 



Another of the scarce items is insecti- 

 cides, and with these may be included the 

 chemicals of which weed killers are made. 



It can no longer be said that there is 

 a standard price for 4-inch geraniums, but 

 by next season it is to be hoped 10 cents 

 will be recognized as the standard price, 

 just as 8 cents was for years. 



Eastern growers, who are known to 

 be less quick to change than those of the 

 middle west, this season are following 

 the lead of the westerners, cutting down 

 on American Beauty and planting more 

 of Mrs. Kusscll. 



The outdoor tulips never gave more 

 show for the money. The cool season has 

 kept them in bloom weeks past the usual 

 time, and the general satisfaction result- 

 ing should make for easy selling in the 

 bulb season next fall. 



There are indications that canna roots 

 will be excellent property next winter. 

 The canna has been gaining in po])ularity, 

 but t!io excellent demand tliis season does 

 not ajipear to have encouraged the 

 Carolina growers, wlio produce tlie greater 

 part of the trade's supply, to increase 

 their acreage. 



The country is being warned that 

 preparation must be made for years, not 

 months, of war, and as time passes and 

 military needs increase it no doubt will 

 be the policy of tlie government to 

 squeeze so-called non-essential industries 

 for tlie men and mjitcrials necessary for 

 carrying on the great conflict. 



The dove, emblem of peace, is out of 

 favor just now, even on funeral flowers. 



The open season for the bombardment 

 of greenhouses with pellets of ice is 

 drawing near. How about that member- 

 ship in the Florists' Hail Association? 



The indications are that the summer 

 supply of cut flowers will be smaller than 

 in recent years. In the first place, mil- 

 lions of gladiolus bulbs failed to get by 

 the U-boat blockade. In the second place, 

 asters have discouraged growers and the 

 supply of seed practically was limited to 

 home production. In the third place, a 

 good crop of potatoes on the place will at 

 least feed the family. 



The other man's ideas always are worth 

 consideration; frequently they show the 

 way to better prices. For instance, there 

 are a number of retailers who are ready 

 to pay a little extra money for roses that 

 got their long stems without being 

 pinched. The idea is that the water does 

 not flow freely through the hard joint at 

 the pinch, as it does through a good, long, 

 straight stem that has not been stopped. 

 It is worth while separating the single 

 growths from the stock with the knots. 



LOGIC IN ADVERTISING. 



One of the things in England that 

 most surprises the American visitor is 

 the way Englishmen attempt to heat 

 their buildings. 



With few exceptions the English office 

 buildings and hotels, and with nearly 

 no exceptions English homes, are still 

 heated by open fires. This means that 

 a good deal of the heat goes up the 

 chimney, and what remains does not 

 get far away from the fireplace. 



Now, some advertisers waste their 

 advertising money in the way the Eng- 

 lishman wastes his heat. They scatter 

 it in several open fireplaces where it 

 does little good, instead of concentrat- 

 ing it in a central heater that would dis- 

 tribute it evenly and thoroughly 

 throughout the trade. 



Of The Review, 12,500 copies are 

 printed each week. How many florists 

 do you think there are who do not read 

 The Review? The results are big, at 

 small cost, like this: 



Please discontinue our salvia nd. We are get- 

 ting more orders than we can handle. — Simanton 

 & I'ence, Falls City, Neb., May 22, 1917. 



Stop our sweet potato plant ad. We are 

 swamiied with orders! — Kring Bros., Fairbury, 

 ni., May 22, 1917. 



When 3'ou hear a man complain of 

 the cost of advertising you can be 

 pretty certain he spends a good bit of 

 monev elsewhere than in The Review. 



ADMINISTERING BROMIDES. 



A Boston man advised the audience 

 at a mass meeting held recently at 

 Hingham, Mass., to "tear out the 

 flower beds and plant vegetables," and 

 expressed the hope tliat "every florist 

 would be put out of business." Need- 

 less to say, the remarks struck no re- 

 sponsive chord among his hearers and 

 later William N. Craig, who was in the 

 audience, "took pleasure," to use Mr. 

 Craig's own expression, "in helping 

 to spike the guns of the anti-florist 

 orator." 



This is the type of hysteria that the 

 best minds in the country are trying 

 to provide a sedative for. The doses 

 of bromides they are administering 

 come in the form of advising the peo- 

 ple to continue their daily activities 

 as in normal times. "Don't waste," 



is good advice in times of peace as weU 

 as war, but much of the so-called econ- 

 omy advocated by well-meaning, but 

 misguided orators, would bring about 

 the condition we are trying to avoid. 



Putty-colored buckskin or kid pumps 

 are not necessary to the welfare of the 

 women of the United States; flat- 

 heeled, broad-toed footwear would keep 

 the feet off the ground more effective- 

 ly and would cost some $7 or $11 less 

 per pair. Much of the prosperity of 

 New England, of which Boston is "the 

 hub," is due to the love of the femi- 

 nine member of the family for pretty 

 shoes. 



Why not tear out the machines for 

 making these shoes? Why not hope 

 that every maker of fancy shoes gets 

 "put out of business"? Because, if 

 this condition should come about, there 

 would be few now employed in the 

 shoe manufacturing trade with money 

 enough to buy flowers. Put the flo- 

 rists out of business and some thou- 

 sands of them would be unable to buy 

 shoes. 



Every business is a cog in the coun- 

 try's great economic machine. Break 

 one of these cogs and the machine will 

 be out of kilter. 



LABOR, NOW AND A YEAR AGO. 



Labor conditions in the trade, as re- 

 flected by the want ads printed in the 

 last issue of The Rovlew, are practi- 

 cally the same as they were a year ago. 

 That is, the calls for help are more 

 than double the calls for employment, 

 which was the situation in May, 1916. 

 Last week The Review contained 

 thirty-three help wanted and fourteen 

 situation wanted ads. In the corre- 

 sponding issue a year ago, there were 

 thirty-two help wanted and thirteen sit- 

 uation wanted ads. 



From these figures it may be con- 

 cluded either that the war has had no 

 effect upon the labor market as it af- 

 fects florists, or that it is too soon since 

 the declaration for the war to have an 

 effect. Because of the experience and 

 knowledge required, it may be assumed 

 that a majority of the expert growers 

 are men past the conscription age of 

 thirty; consequently not many of this 

 class of workers will be called. A large 

 per cent of the advertisements appear- 

 ing in The Review are for growers; 

 thus there seems to be little cause for 

 the range owner to worry over the sit- 

 uation as regards skilled labor. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



As sudden as was the fall in the con- 

 dition of the market after Mothers' 

 day, from a pinnacle of strength to the 

 depth of debility, so sudden also was 

 the change again to the former firm- 

 ness. The middle of last week found 

 the market in a weak condition, but 

 May 26, as the orders for Memorial 

 day commenced to pour in, prices stiff- 

 ened all along the line, stock became 

 somewhat shorter and the market be- 

 came possessed of snap and vigor. 



From all quarters come the reports 

 of heavy business for the holiday, ship- 

 ping and city trade alike being heavy. 

 The demand from out-of-town buyers 

 was so heavy that May 28 city buyers 

 found it diflicult to buy. Although, of 

 course, nothing can be stated definitely 

 until all the figures are on the books, 



