30 



The Florists^ Review 



May 26, 1921 



Established 1H97, 

 by G. L Oraat. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Florists* Puulishino Co., 



500 560 Caxtcn Bulldlnpr , 



508 South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



Regrlstered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago, 



Entered as second class matter 

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

 cago, 111., under the Act of March 

 3.1879. 



Subscription price, $2.00 a year. 

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



AdvertlsInK rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 Tertlslng accepted. 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



Don't "spend money for'' advertis- 

 ing; buy it. 



Few florists Iiave failed to make money 

 this S(>ason ; in other lines losses still are 

 tiic rule. 



I )os 't let Memorial day end the sea- 

 son. There's i)lenty of business to be 

 done during summer. 



Reduction of sales effort is the most 

 expensive form of eeonomy. Under pres- 

 ent conditions its efit'eets are deadly. 



THf:KE seems to be no end to the call 

 for red geraniums and vincas. Looks like 

 all the world wants to fill window boxes. 



No railway rate cut until the spring ot 

 1922 is the exjiression of o|iinion obtained 

 from a nuiTdier of prominent officials ot 

 the roads. 



Attention to delivery costs always re- 

 jiays a retail tlorist. At best, they are 

 high, hut by study and thought they may 

 lie ai)]irecialtly reduced. 



What you pay for advertising isn't 

 spent; it's invested. So don't sink your 

 money in a two ]jer cent investment when 

 you can get eight per cent. 



If chrysanthemum cut blooms are as 

 scarce in' the fall as rooted cuttings have 

 'ecu this s])ring, the (|ueen of autumn 

 shoi.hl come into its own again. 



Don't get the idea and, most of all, 

 don't let your public hold it, that Memo- 

 rial day is an old or ex-soldiers' day. 

 Memorial day is for all. Kncourage every- 

 body to decorate the cemeteries that day. 



Mo.ST of the customers who ask for 

 .Vmpelopsis Veitchii will pay two or three 

 times as nmeh for ]dants started in jiots 

 as they will for dormant stock. You can 

 tell tliem they gain, two montlis' growth 

 by taking the started plants. 



Ocean travel is increasing at a rate 

 that will soon liring back the jirewar days 

 of truckloads of bon-voyage tokens at 

 steamer wharves. In the week ended May 

 12, iiccording to steamshi]! comjianies' re- 

 ports, 12,19(5 i)ersons sailed for Europe. 

 Two thousand of these were first-class 

 passengers, all of whom are possible re- 

 cipients of bon-voyage flowers, and 2,650 

 were second-class, many of whom might 

 be on the delivery list. Tell your patrons 

 aVtout telegraph delivery. 



The lesson of the seasons is that it jjays 

 to be early. The man whose stock is on 

 time has all the best of the business. 



The year book of tlie British Carnation 

 Society, just to hand, is an interesting 

 and well illustrated volume, under the ex- 

 l)ert editorship of J. 8. Bruntou. 



A SMALLER percentage of the retailers' 

 business of late has been for cash, neces- 

 sitating increased efforts in the collection 

 de]>artment to maintain the bank balance. 



Reports from dozens of those who use 

 the Classified ads in The Review as the 

 means of selling their spring plants state 

 they have had the best season on record 

 and were sold out all too soon. 



Every florist who has had a good sea- 

 son in bedding plants should now lay 

 j)lans for a fall season of shrub planting. 

 Shrubs of many kinds are in short supply, 

 but it will be possible to do as much in 

 autumn as in spring if the projjer effort 

 is made. 



Will readers of these lines please send 

 The Review oiie of .the post-cards they 

 use to acknowledge the receipt of or- 

 ders? Or send the best card you have 

 received in response to orders sent out. 

 This paper would like to give honorable 

 mention to those whose methods are 

 best. 



Users of the advertising section will- 

 render great assistance to the office staft 

 if they will state definitely on each adver- 

 tisement how many insertions are wanted. 

 On a large percentage of the ads the order 

 clerk must make the best guess possible 

 whether to insert one time or until fur- 

 ther notice, and many advertiseis give no 

 clue as to whether they want display or 

 classified advertising. 



TERMS OF SALE. 



In ordering plants, roots or bulbs from 

 an advertised list of prices or from 

 a catalogue, a buyer should note with 

 some degree of care tlie terms on which 

 the goods are offered to him. If there 

 is a difference between the price per 

 dozen and the price per hundred, or 

 between the price per hundred and the 

 price per thousand, as there usually is, 

 it is because the; seller is willing to gi\e 

 tlie buyer the difference in cost between 

 handling ten orders of 10() ea<di, let us 

 say, and one order of 1,000. To order 

 a ft'w bulbs or plants, figuring the re- 

 mittance at the hundred rate, if it is 

 not a l)ald att(Mii]>t to "get aw.'iy with 

 the difference,'' is a matter of careless- 

 iiess not easily coiLdmicil. it necessi- 

 tates c()rres]iondence that sliould not lie 

 necessary and <-auses bother and trouble 

 at a season when, at best, everyone has 

 his hands full. Read the terms of sale 

 (juoted in ;ui adx'crt iscmcnt or a cata- 

 logue before you write ;iii order, and 

 lie sure you figure your remittaiu-e from 

 the right c{dinnn of pri(-cs. 



NOT REPRESENTED. 



Slump from post-war easy business 

 was felt first by manufacturers. When 

 the retailers couldn't sell, they didn't 

 buy. The makers of goods had to do 

 business on lower jirices first. Then the 

 economical readjustment, as it is called, 

 reached the merchants. Those who Ijad 

 been too greatly enjoying a war demand 

 at war prices found their banker's and 

 creditors' pressure too heavy when the 

 money failed to roll in with the old- 

 time rapidity. And some failures re- 



sulted. The manufacturers occupied the 

 bankruptcy lists early in the year. They 

 have been succeeded by the merchants. 

 The list in April shows a marked in- 

 crease in number of failures among 

 traders, as the commercial agencies call 

 them. But, this trade is pleased to 

 note, those ainoiig florists were so insig- 

 nificantly few in number and small in 

 size that they are not noted in the tabu- 

 lation of Aj)ril failures listed by R. 0. 

 Dun & Co. 



In the following table comparison is 

 made of the number of cojnmercial fail- 

 ures in the United States in April, 1921 

 and 1920, by leading classes of mer- 

 chants and the liabilities reported in 

 each class for April this year: 



Number Liiibilities 



1921 19120 



General stores 182 3-1 $ 2,434.430 



IJrooery and moats... 240 111 2,704,953 



Hotels and res't 2.") 34 106,894 



Liciuors and tobacco.. 19 S 91,67r> 



Clothing ami fiirn 107 31 2,257,136 



IJry goods, carpets... 98 14 1, 524, 980 



Shoes and rubliors.... 55 7 .599,890 



Furn. and crockery.. 26 2 3.55,799 



H'ware and stoves... 25 4 1,. 580, 947 



Cliem. and drugs ;{2 1 421,003 



Paints and oils 4 2 34,571 



Jewelry and clo(-ks.. l(i 5 331,439 



Hooks and papers.... 3 1 29,000 



Hats and gloves 12 4 193,037 



AU other 159 54 4,341,262 



Total 1,003 312 .$17,066,816 



In this tabulation florists are well 

 pleased to be not represented. 



COSTS STILL GOING DOWN. 



The United States Labor Bureau's 

 compilation of wholesale prices for 327 

 commodities, the third of the familiar 

 "index numbers,", to be issued this 

 month, places the April average (based 

 on 100 for the pre-war year) at 154, 

 as coni|iaied with 1 1)2 for March, 189 

 for December and 272 for last May, the 

 high record. This would mark a decline 

 of not quite forty-three and one-half per 

 cent from that maximum. The Dun 

 compilation reckoned it at thirty-six 

 and three-fourths per cent, the Brad- 

 street index at forty-eight and one- 

 idghth ])er cent. 



BRIEF ANS"WERS. 



C. F. S., Ark. ---Viola papilionacea. 

 Many southwestern nurseries advertise 

 in The Review. 



NOT KNOCKING US, ARE THEY? 



Publishing a trade paper, like The 

 Review, on mail order lines entails u 

 large amount of <letail work and there 

 is no feature of the i>aper which makes 

 so much work as the Classified section- — 

 but the Classified ads are a wonderful 

 help to the trade and justify the effort 

 put on them. Like this: 



1 liail 10.000 viiK-M iiliiiils (at advertised price 

 they were worlli .$3.50 Ed. i : they ,-ire all gone 

 .mil I had to return riinni-y aad rel'iis,- i.rders for 

 .■S450. Tlianks, lio.vs, f,.i- tli.' liiisiiii^ss that little 

 ad (5 lines, c-ust !I0 ceiils -Ed. » hniiight. — Harrv 

 White. North .Mamhester. Ind., >Iay 23, 1921. 



That other plants than vincas are in 

 demand among lies iew readers is shown 

 by letters like this: 



.My salvia ad surely iliil sell'SO.ME plants: — 

 iliis. Oliermever, I'arkersliiirg, W. Va., Mav 23. 

 1921. 



Then listen to the large dealer who 

 used a series of full-page ads as well 

 as many Classified ads this winter and 

 spring: 



We are thnjngh for the season. We have had 

 tine snecess with yonr paper. — I". Vos & Son, 

 (irand Itiipids, Mich., -May 20. 1921. 



If you hear a man complain of the 

 cost of advertising you can be pretty 

 certain he spends a good bit of money 

 elsewhere than in The Review. 



