.32 



The Florists^ Review 



May 12, 1921 



'pm 





Established 1897. 

 by a. li Grant. 



PnblUbed every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Publishino Co., 



eOO-860 Oaxton Building, 



SOS South Dearborn St., Ohlcatfo. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



Rairlstered cable address, 



riorrlew, Chicago. 



Entered aa second class matter 

 Doc. 3. 1897, at the po6t.ofllce at Chi- 

 cairn. III:, nnder the Act of March 

 3. 1879. 



Subscription price, $2.00 a year. 

 To Canada, $3.00; to Europe, $4.00. 



Advortlslner rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad> 

 Tertlalug accepted. 



BQaf^sBosBQExamaB 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



Some florists try to do too much busi- 

 ness. No money ever was made by filling 

 orders with stock that does not give satis- 

 faction. 



No florist can for long maintain a 

 reputation as prompt pay unless he 

 makes a continuous enort to collect Lis 

 own outstanding accounts. 



A KNOWLEDGE of costs is essential to 

 the grower who would reduce expenses, 

 in order that he may distinguish between 

 sane economy and unsafe parsimony. 



Overproduction is not one of this 

 trade's problems. The use of that effi- 

 cacious sales promoter, advertising, has 

 grown far faster than our glass area. 



There would be few, if any, contro- 

 versies regarding grades and quality if 

 florists filled orders only with such stock 

 as they themselves would wish to re- 

 ceive. 



The annual meeting of the Texas State 

 Florists' Association is announced for 

 July 11 to 14, at San Antonio. Plans are 

 being made to get up a comprehensive 

 trade's display. 



Politeness draws customers to a store 

 a second time and a third. It is a cheaper 

 way of advertising than spending money 

 to bring people in once and driving them 

 away,by inconsiderate treatment. 



If passers-by pay no attention to your 

 window, try another kind of display. If 

 they stop to look at it, your display is a 

 good one. If they stop to look and then 

 enter the store, it is an excellent one. 



Too many florists attempt to do busi- 

 ness without printed stationery. It is a 

 waste and a loss, as most of the houses 

 best worth while doing business with de- 

 cline to allow wholesale rates to those 

 whose letterheads do not show them to be 

 in the business. 



By increased express charges, florists 

 who did not read the article in The Re- 

 view at the time of the change, are be- 

 coming aware that most of the things the 

 trade ships are now in the first class. The 

 increase is from one-third to one-half 

 over the old second-class rates and seems 

 unjustified when sorts of merchandise 

 requiring more careful handling and in- 

 volving greater risk of loss are still in 

 the lower classification. 



When prices were high, not much no- 

 tice was given to increases in freight and 

 express rates. Now that they are ap- 

 preciable items, since other costs are be- 

 ing lowered and receipts are not so large, 

 there is a growing opinion that the S. 

 A. F. should use its influence for reduc- 

 tions. 



PAINT FOR PECKY CYPRESS. 



Has any reader of The Review, asks 

 one of them, any knowledge of there 

 being a paint on the market for new 

 benches of pecky cypress, which will 

 make them last longer? Of course, the 

 paint should be of a sort that will not 

 injure the plants when sun and steam 

 heat act upon it. 



DID YOU SEE ANY DANDELIONS? 



Read a newspaper dispatch May 4: 

 "Mount Vernon, N. Y., has declared a 

 boycott on profiteering florists and a 

 movement has been started by the Rev. 

 Otto F. Bartholow, pastor of the First 

 Methodist church, substitjiting dande- 

 lions for carnations for Mothers' day 

 next Sunday. ' Some of the florists have 

 boosted the price of carnations beyond 

 all conception of their worth and as a 

 result many will wear dandelions in- 

 stead of carnations,' said the minis- 

 ter." 



Did you see any dandelion bouton- 

 nieresf 



MOTHERS' DAY GROWS BIGGER. 



The only serious handicap felt by flo- 

 rists at Mothers' day this year was the 

 shortage of stock that prevailed in many 

 places. Of the depressed conditions 

 which affect other lines of business the 

 only indication was an aversion to high- 

 priced plants and flowers. Sales were 

 modest, but many. Some stores closed 

 early Saturday and remained closed 

 Sunday, not for religious observance, but 

 because the orders already taken con- 

 sumed every bit of available stock. In 

 localities where this happened, the as- 

 sertion is made that May 8 surpassed 

 both Easter and Christmas, excellent 

 as these two holidays have been. From 

 such enthusiastic report of this holiday's 

 business, accounts run down the scale 

 to statements less roseate, but still quite 

 favorable. Evidently the public viewed 

 Motheis' day as an excuse for eschew- 

 ing the widely preached admonition of 

 ^economy and spent gladly in flower 

 etores throughout the country. 



Largely responsible for the wonderful 

 business of this day was the publicity 

 given it in a general way in addition to 

 florists ' advertising. The front cover of 

 the Literary Digest of May 7, showing 

 mother and roses, brought the day strik- 

 ingly to the 1,300,000 readers of that 

 magazine. Mayors, business houses and 

 newspaper editors published encomiums 

 of mother, often referring to the observ- 

 ance of the day with flowers. And, of 

 course, florists themselves advertised 

 heavily in every city. 



MEMORIAL DAY NEXT. 



The interval between Mothers' day 

 and Memorial day is short, though this 

 year it is as long as it can be. Scarcely 

 two weeks away is the day of honor to 

 the nation's soldier dead. Observance 

 of the holiday in honor of those who died 

 in the recent great war in addition to 

 the veterans of the Civil war will in- 



crease its importance as a flower day. 

 The American Legion will decorate the 

 graves of the soldiers in this country 

 and conduct exercises in schools and 

 churches. Flowers will be laid on the 

 graves by members of their families and 

 their friends. The addition of this de- 

 mand to that of the day in previous 

 years should make this Memorial day 

 better than ever before. 



WILL WE GET BENEFIT? 



Announcement has been made to em- 

 ployees of the American Railway Ex- 

 press Co. to the effect that wages will 

 be reduced effective July 1 next and 

 that working conditions will be altered 

 to conform to the general situation at 

 the present time. The action taken by 

 officials of the company is expected to 

 affect about 80,000 men. It is estimat- 

 ed that the men will not accept the pay 

 cut suggested and that the matter will 

 be placed before the United States rail- 

 road labor board. Decision No. 3 of the 

 board, rendered last August, allowed an 

 increase averaging about thirty per cent 

 for all employees. It is expected that 

 the reduction to be made will eliminate 

 the increase granted by the Chicago 

 board. 



If the wages of 80,000 men of the 

 American Railway Express Co. are cut 

 thirty per cent, some reduction might, 

 without exceeding the bounds of prob- 

 ability, be expected in traffic rates. 



BRIGHTER PROMISE. 



Rifts in the clouds that loom on the 

 commercial horizon and threaten to cast 

 shadows on the flower business are in- 

 dicated in positive and unhesitating 

 terms by that unenthusiastic index of 

 the business situation. Dun's review. 

 It said last week: 



"A year has elapsed since the eco- 

 nomic readjustment began to gather 

 momentum, and the process is yet to be 

 completed. Forces of rehabilitation are 

 now operative, however, and the gen- 

 eral outlook is better. Gains are not 

 easily achieved and none at all appear 

 in some quarters, but the price and 

 wage revisions and the easing in money 

 are factors making for further improve- 

 ment in conditions. The strengthening 

 of sentiment, upon which business re- 

 cuperation so largely depends, has con- 

 tinued, and confidence in a gradual re- 

 vival of activities finds more frequent 

 expression. 



"Recovery has come first in those 

 trades and industries which were the 

 first to react from the boom of the 

 war years and afterward, and in iso- 

 lated instances enough new demand has 

 developed to bring a rally in prices. 

 The buying disposition and the buying 

 power are not yet such as to effect a 

 return to sellers' markets, although 

 there is a tendency to hold prices firmer 

 in some quarters after many months of 

 steady yielding. 



"A protracted period of restricted 

 purchasing by distributors has resulted 

 in depleted stocks of goods in not a few 

 cases, but consumptive requirements 

 have also diminished and nearly all 

 orders that flow to manufacturers are 

 of moderate size and mainly for fiU- 

 ing-in purposes. The fact that such 

 transactions are increasingly numerous, 

 however, is encouraging, and present 

 prospects, despite unseasonable weather, 

 labor troubles and other drawbacks, 

 are of brighter promise." 



