24 



The Rorists' Review 



JCNK 2, 1921 



rr 



Fubllahed every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Publishing Co.. 



600-660 Oaxton BuUdlDK, 



608 South Dearborn St., GhlcaKO. 



Tel., Wabash 8196. 



R«<;lstered cable address, 



Ftorview, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

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

 cago, III., under the Act of March 

 3. 1879. 



Subscription price, 12.00 a year. 

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



Advertislniir rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 Tertislns accepted. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



If anyone else has a flower holiday to 

 propose, he should pick a date in June. 



Courtesy ia necessary before a sale is 

 made. It flatters after the order is taken. 



There are, as usual, a good many gera- 

 niums which will not be in bloom until 

 the middle or latter part of June. 



Good growers still are scarce. It will 

 be years before the trade can have a 

 auflScient body of experienced and capable 

 help. 



It is a conservative statement of fact 

 that the arrival of June never saw the 

 trade more closely sold out on bedding 

 stock. 



The spring business of 1921 gives the 

 trade every encouragement to go ahead 

 and work up a big supply of bedding 

 stock for 1922. 



As a trade we have every reason to con- 

 gratulate ourselves on our spring season. 

 In no other line of business has trade 

 held up bett«r and in few so well. 



Now that the warm days are here, put 

 in the cool windows that have brought 

 florists in many cities so much notice. 

 The Review has frequently told how. 



Your deliveryman can Ije a means of 

 transportation and nothing more, or he 

 may be a salesman, collector and com- 

 plaint-man in one. It 's worth a few extra 

 dollars to have one of the latter type. 



War profits seldom are permanent 

 profits. In the case of the seed trade war 

 profits are pretty much gone, but nursery- 

 men have held theirs thus far and most 

 florists still are in the accretion stage. 



Be sure that if you send out poor 

 stock today, you will never have the 

 chance of filling a second order from tlie 

 recipient. Present conditions allow 

 florists to pick and choose with whom 

 they will deal. 



Collections seldom arc jjooil in the 

 summer. The florist who does not get 

 after his money in June ]>robat)ly will 

 have to wait until autumn before he can 

 collect a good many of his accounts. There 

 are lots of people who will use their ready 

 «ash for summer pleasures and let the 

 florist wait for the pay for flowors long 

 since dead and gone. 



Don 't be satisfied to regard flowers as 

 so much merchandise to be sold. Know 

 enough about them to arouse your custom- 

 ers ' enthusiasm. 



It is interesting to note that some of 

 the growers who specialize on geraniums 

 for the trade have not been caught up 

 with orders in many months. 



If you show a fellow florist how to get 

 more business in his neighborhood and he 

 shows you how to get more in yours, both 

 of you have acquired something and lost 

 nothing. Do not hesitate to give the trade 

 the advantage of your ideas. 



Plan to propagate as much as you can 

 for next season, but see to it the stock is 

 good. If the season now closing is an in- 

 dication of what may be expected in 1922, 

 there cannot be too much good spring 

 stock, but there is sure to be too much 

 that is poor. 



ANOTHER BANNER HOLIDAY. 



Each succeeding holiday this season 

 has appeared to be even better than its 

 predecessor by comparison with the 

 same occasion in previous years. The 

 last one of them, Memorial day, has run 

 true to the form of the rest. The pre- 

 diction in The Review that the various 

 factors of interest in this May 30 prom- 

 ised to make it one of the best Memo- 

 rial days, for florists the country over, 

 proved quite accurate. 



Reasonably priced goods sold best. 

 Wreaths of all sorts were made up by 

 retailers in large quantities in advance, 

 and all sold well. Baskets of annuals of 

 moderate price proved popular. Bed- 

 ding plants, none too plentiful as the 

 result of a short supply and previous 

 brisk demand,' were in strong request 

 at the greenhouses of those florists lo- 

 cated near cemeteries. 



The army of the A. E. F. and its 

 dead, in this country, has renewed the 

 waning interest in Memorial day. The 

 silk poppies of the French orphans, so 

 widely commented on in the newspa- 

 pers, were of great value in turning the 

 public 's thoughts towards flowers for 

 this day. The florists assisted in the 

 )ioppy propaganda, in many cases, by 

 window decorations. The public became 

 interested in the poppies and bought, 

 not just poppies, but wliat the florist 

 had best to offer. Such is the power of 

 a bit of sentiment for advertising pur- 



])0S0S. 



The quickened interest in Memorial 

 day florists should strive to maintain 

 and increase. The holiday is not alone 

 a soldiers' day, but an occasion of re- 

 spect for all departed. All graves should 

 be decorated that day. 



JUNE IS HERE. 



.Tune is termed the month of brides, 

 and florists will feature wedding win- 

 dows, advertise their brides' bouquets 

 and circularize those whose nuptials are 

 announced in the local newspapers. 



Do not forget that commencement 

 time is here, too, and though there may 

 be a ban on flowers at the public school 

 graduation exercises in your city, there 

 are many private schools, where the 

 rule is the opposite. In either case, you 

 should suggest and advertise that this 

 notable occasion in each young life 

 should be celebrated by a gift of flow- 

 ers sent to the home. 



And, moreover, let your efforts be un- 

 diminished iif pushing business in gen- 

 eral. Though the holidays — so far as 



florists are concerned — are past till au- 

 tumn, the cash register still works and 

 expenses cut the regular hole in the 

 bank account. Let your store force go 

 away on vacation one at a time — don't 

 let them all vacation at once in your 

 store during the summer. Let's all keep 

 busy. The trade needs it; the times 

 demand it. 



FLORISTS MUST KEEP MOVING. 



A half -million-dollar advertising cam- 

 paign as a means of booming the candy 

 business was discussed at the annual 

 convention of the National Confection- 

 ers' Association at Atlantic City last 

 week. A committee of advertising man- 

 agers from four of the largest candy 

 concerns in the country was appointed 

 to act finally on the ideas and report 

 back at an early date. It is proposed 

 to use the newspapers and national pe- 

 riodicals as mediums. 



NEXT WINTER'S COAL. 



Coal men and transportation men 

 agree that the coal trade is flat on its 

 back. Mines are closed down and gon- 

 dola cars are standing empty on the 

 sidings because there is no market 

 outlet. 



This buyers' strike is a natural se- 

 quence to the period of profiteering on 

 the part of the producers and dealers 

 when they had the whip hand. That 

 coal consumers are not as yet relenting 

 indicates that they believe the bottom 

 price of fuel has not been reached or 

 that the excessive shipping rate will be 

 reduced by congressional action. 



But there is such a thing as intelli- 

 gent self-interest. Freight rates will 

 not drop overnight nor probably for 

 several months. Coal may be cheaper, 

 but, on the other hand, if everybody 

 waits until the last moment before go- 

 ing into the market it will take a jump 

 skyward. Common prudence and fore- 

 sight would suggest that greenhouse 

 men lay in a portion of their next win- 

 ter's supply now. They may gain a lit- 

 tle or lose a little by doing it, but the 

 latter is better than facing empty bins 

 and a coal famine when cold weather 

 arrives. 



BEST BY TEST. 



J. H. Alexander is the son of J. K. 

 Alexander, the widely known dahlia 

 grower at East Bridgewater, Mass. 

 Father and son, they are a pair of 

 hustlers and have built up what is, per- 

 haps, the world's largest business in 

 dahlia roots. They have advertised 

 widely, in trade papers and to the pub- 

 lic. They have kept close account of 

 expenditures and results, cutting off the 

 non-productive advertising and employ- 

 ing the funds thus saved in enlarged ad- 

 vertising in the publications showing 

 the best records. For several years the 

 Alexander account with The Review 

 has shown an annual increase. This 

 tells why: 



Sales have already depleted our surplus and 

 we start planting May 31, bo must discontinue 

 advertising until fall. The Review is the best 

 paying of the florists' papers, — J. K. Alexander 

 (dictated by J. H. A.), East Bridgewater, Mass., 

 May 28, 1921. 



It is interesting to note that New 

 England advertisers as well as those 

 nearer home get the bulk of their sales 

 through The Review, but whenever you 

 hear a man complain of the cost of ad- 

 vertising you can be pretty certain he 

 spends a good bit of money elsewhere 

 than in The Review. 



