22 



The Florists^ Review 



June 28, 1917. 



Established, 1897, by O. L. GRANT. 



Publislieil every Thursday by 

 The Floiusts' Puijli.suinc; Co., 



520-560 Caxtoii BuUUIqk, 



508 South Dearborn St., Chicaf^o. 



Tele.. Wabash 8195. 



RefjlHtered cable address, 



Florvlew, Clilcaiio. 



^"ntered as second cliiss matter 

 Dec. 3, 1897, at the post-ottice at Chl- 

 caRo, III., under the Act of March 

 3 1879. 



SubS'-rlptlon price, $1.50 a year. 

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



AdvertlsinB rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



...Mj-r.i...^.. ....... ..fi -r^ 



NOTICE. 



It is impossible to g^uarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any advertisement 



unless instructions are received 



BY 4 P. M. TUESDAY. 



SOCIETY OF AUEBICAN FLOKISTS. 

 Incorporated by Act of Congress, March 4, 1901. 

 Officers for 1917: Preeident, Robert O. Kerr, 

 Honston, Tex.; yice-president, ▲. L. Miller, Ja- 

 OMilca, N. Y.; secretary, John Young, 63 W. 28th 

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

 Omaha, Neb. 



Thirty-third annual convention. New Y»rk, 

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



The iiiiin wlio offers his stock — jjood 

 stock — at old-time jirices, sells out in a 

 Jiffy, but lie Darely breaks even and is 

 out of business until he can jjrow another 

 crop. 



Fi.OKiSTS who have trouble with in- 

 sects in their soil will be interested in a 

 bulletin, No. 7!>!>, just issued by tiie U. !S. 

 Department of Ayricidtuie. It is en- 

 titled "Caibon Disulphiii as an Insecti- 

 cide. 



Plans are j;<>i"K foiward foi' the Inter- 

 national Flower Show to be held at the 

 (irand Central Palace, New York, March 

 14 to 21, lOlS. A ])relimiiiary schedule 

 has just been issued, co|>ies of whiidi 

 can be obtained by addit'ssinj; .John 

 Youn;,% secretary, .".'i West Twenty-eiirhth 

 street. 



IIkxky a. Bk.stkk A: iSONS, Haters- 

 town, Md., have sent The Review ])lioto- 

 graphs of their ranyc ma<le after the hail 

 storm of June (5. Heiiroduction of the 

 pictures would fail to show the extent of 

 the damajfe, for the hail knocked out 

 literally every pane of jjlass in 75,00(1 

 scpiare feet of houses; cleaned it out so 

 thoroughly that the )»hotogra]ihs look al- 

 most as thoujjjh notliinji; had hajjpened. 

 Nothing like it ever has been heard of. 



TiiosK enterprising .lajtanese are taking 

 advantage of the oi)portunity to accpiire 

 Germany 's export trade, a large num- 

 ber of arti(des handled V>y florists' supjdy 

 houses now coming from Jai>an. In- 

 cluded in the list are greens ])re])ared 

 and dyed as formerly done in Germany. 

 The work could as wcdl be done in Amer- 

 ica, except that wages are higher here, 

 and the ability to put })ainstaking atten- 

 tion on small things is not so highly de- 

 veloped. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



The use of sphagnum moss as an asep- 

 tic dressing for wounds is said to be 

 an ancient practice, and not, as is some- 

 times claimed, a modern discovery. Lin- 

 naius, in Flora Lapponica, records that 

 in Lapland it was used for treatment 

 of ulcers. Tradition tells that at the 

 battle of Flodden the Highland soldiers 

 stanched their wounds by means of bog 

 moss and soft grass. 



PLEASE NOTE. 



Each week a number of letters con- 

 taining advertising instructions reach 

 The Review while the paper is on the 

 press — just a few hours earlier and 

 they would have had attention a week 

 sooner than is possible. 



It is the aim to give prompt service, 

 but to secure it advertisers should note: 

 "It is impossible to guarantee the 

 insertion, discontinuance or alteration 

 of any advertisement unless instructions 

 are received by 4 p. m. Tuesday." 



LET'S STOP TALKING ABOUT IT. 



A man brought uj) among florists and 

 who meets many of the trade now% al- 

 though not actively engaged in the busi- 

 ness, says we all are like the boy pass- 

 ing through the cemetery at night — his 

 hair stood up, not at what he saw, but 

 because of what he had heard he might 

 see. Says our friend: 



I find as I KG amoii); llorists that most of this 

 luxury and economy talk is oriKinatin); with 

 themselves; for instance, if they have a dull 

 (lay, which is only natural at this season, they 

 are ready to blame it on the war. My observa- 

 tion among both growers and store people is 

 that it is not so much a <|uestion of liiKli |)rices; 

 the SJreat fear seems to be that if times (jet bad 

 the public will stop nsiiif; (lowers. They are 

 talkinK about it so much they are frlKliteniug 

 themselves. 



Let us take the hint, stop talking 

 an<l go to work — there is much can be 

 done that will increase the sale of flow- 

 ers. 



CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE. 



Last week Tiie Ri'view jninted letters 

 from Canadian florists in which the 

 writers jiresented interesting data con- 

 cerning the war's effect on the business 

 interests of Dominion florists. 



The correspondents jxiinted out that 

 the extreme uneasiness which accom- 

 panied the declaration of war in 1914 

 liad been succeeded by good business, 

 but that the uses to which flowers are 

 put lia\(' undergone sonu» change. Fur- 

 thermore, in 1!)1() tlie \alue of Canadii's 

 manufactured products advanced forty- 

 three i)er cent, despite the absence of 

 several hundred thousand workers from 

 a country of whicdi the po])ulation is no 

 larger than that of New York state. In 

 view of these facts, and that the United 

 States is better ])re])ared for war than 

 was Canada, thanks to several years of 

 big business and a large trade balance 

 in its favor, it is reasonable to assume 

 that florists in the United States need 

 have little fear of the war's effect on 

 their business. 



The business conditions in England, 

 close as it is to the theater of war, also 

 bear out the fact that the present war 

 has its benefits, that it does not neces- 

 sarilyannihilate business as it does men. 

 As in Canada, at first English business 

 men were nervous and apprehensive, but 

 soon the hai)])y slogan of "Business as 

 Usual" set the merchants at ease. To- 

 day that "Business as Usual" is being 



superseded by "Business Unusual." 

 Following is a portion, of an address by 

 an English business agent before a 

 Philadelphia business organization: 



' ' In weeks rather than months Amer- 

 icans will get a great reaction such as 

 Englishmen had, and business will enjoy 

 greater prosperity than has ever been 

 known in history. With us the busi- 

 nesses that were most apprehensive 

 have, singularly enough, been the first 

 to profit the most from war-time con- 

 ditions, particularly jewelers, dealers in 

 musical instruments and gramophones, 

 and luxury trades generally. 



"After all, this great reaction is only 

 the natural course of events, and it 

 must be patent to the perceptive Amer- 

 ican mind that since war brings billions 

 of extra money into circulation, and it 

 is human nature to spend, business must 

 be in for a record time. I cannot imag- 

 ine any farseeing American house be- 

 ing apprehensive of conditions, restrict- 

 ing their buying, stopping advertising, 

 cutting down staff and adopting other 

 such panic-strickened measures after 

 what has happened in England. Here, 

 as there, it is the firm that looks ahead 

 which will reap the big reward." 



LABOR TROUBLES. 



Labor that can be used in greenhouse 

 and gardening work never has been 

 plentiful and this spring it is more dif- 

 ficult to procure than ever before. Flo- 

 rists, however, are not the only ones who 

 have troubles of this kind, the largest 

 employers of labor finding the problem 

 one of the greatest of a perplexing mo- 

 ment. Labor is unstable and great loss 

 of efficiency results from the never end- 

 ing series of changes in a force of 

 workers. Recently a Chicago newspa- 

 per stated that to maintain an average 

 force of 9,000 workers Armour & Co. 

 find it necessary to hire 25,000 persons 

 per year, the average term of employ- 

 ment being less than six months. Also 

 a vice-president of the Pennsylvania 

 railroad told the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission the other day that "his 

 company felt it was not getting fifty 

 per cent efticiency out of its men be- 

 cause they were constantly changing. 

 Out of 150,000 men emjdoyed by the 

 Pennsylvania railroad on its lines east 

 of Pittsburgh 121,000 changed positions 

 in the last year. Althf)iigh his company 

 had imported Mexicans and negroes, he 

 said these men left as soon as they were 

 offered better paying jobs." 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Cool weather last week stimulated 

 business considerably and generally 

 speaking the week was a satisfactory 

 one for the wholesale cut flower market. 

 This week opened with much higher 

 temj)erature, increased su])ply and de- 

 creased demand. Tlie schools have 

 closed, the weddings are over and the 

 market has settled down to the regular 

 run of summer business. 



American Beauties are in fair de- 

 mand, with the supply more than 

 equal to the call. Although some of 

 the stock is fine, the quality for a good 

 part is only fair, much faded stock ar- 

 riving. Russell, the acknowledged best 

 hot weather rose, remains the leader of 

 the other varieties. Milady is prob- 

 ably in second best demand, with Kil- 

 larney Brilliant also proving a good 



