30 



The Rorists' Review 



DECEMBEtt 29. 1921 



II 



Eetabllsbed 1897, 

 by a. li Grant 



Pabllahed every Thursday by 

 The Florists' PuBLisHiNa Co., 



600 S60 OaztoQ BuUdlDK, 



BOB South Dearborn St., Ohlcago. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



Registered cable address, 



Florriew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897, at the poet-omce at Ohl- 

 cago, IlL. under the Act of March 

 8. 1879. 



Subscription price, $2.00 a year. 

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



Advertising rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad* 

 TertlslnK accepted. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get tLem. 



We both have them. 



Did you have a Merry Christmas? Hope 

 you have a Happy New Year, prospering 

 through all its 365 days. 



The Review looks forward to 1922 as 

 offering it even greater opportunities for 

 service than has the past. 



Trade is not "good" unless it brings 

 in the cash. If you haven't got it for 

 what you've sold, make sure you do. 



Don't stop pushing because Christmas 

 is past. Business will be good in Janu- 

 ary for those who try to make it so. 



Our December business leads the pub- 

 lishers of The Review to believe that 

 the first half of 1922, covering the trade's 

 spring season, will bring this paper the 

 largest business in its history to date. 



Unwillingness of part of the industrial 

 world to accept the changes necessary to 

 readjustment prolongs the time tiU equilib- 

 rium is reached. But it is certain that 

 those who last do their part in the res- 

 toration to normalcy will not be the first 

 to benefit. 



The meeting of the National Flower 

 Growers' Association and the coopera- 

 tion of the cut flower section of the Amer- 

 ican Rose Society will aid in making the 

 gathering of the American Carnation 

 Society, at Hartford, Conn., January 25 

 to 27, one of the most successful the 

 organization has had. 



The public shows increasing familiar- 

 ity with the telegraph delivery idea, 

 Christmas customers asking for the serv- 

 ice as a matter of course where once a 

 long explanation was necessary to secure 

 such an order. Many large retail stores 

 report that the Christmas telegraph or- 

 ders, in and out, were more numerous 

 than ever before. 



Credit men in general mercantile lines 

 throughout the country make no secret 

 of the belief that there will be a reduc- 

 tion in the number of retail stores by 

 February. High overhead and deflation 

 are expected to clear the field for the 

 stronger organizations. Florists, how- 

 ever, are on a firmer footing than most 

 other lines. Being in units of small aver- 

 age size, the retailing of flowers does not 

 have to carry heavy overhead and has 

 comparatively small liabilities. It is a 

 safer business, with few failures. 



Six weeks away is St. Valentine's day. 



Comparison with the Christmas busi- 

 ness done in this and in other lines leads 

 to belief that the florists are still ahead. 

 We shall not slip if we continue to make 

 the sales effort that was in evidence at 

 the holiday. 



Tidings of good times are seen in the 

 increase of sales forces by some large 

 concerns in other lines. A picking up 

 of business is looked for with the ad- 

 vance of spring. Preparations for it 

 must be made now. 



The grower who produces stock that 

 just "gets by" brings discredit to re- 

 tailer, commission man and ultimately 

 himself, but the injury to any or all is 

 little compared with that done the trade 

 as a whole. Flowers that fail to give 

 satisfaction drive away customers; those 

 that do bring us more business. 



In the florists' trade there should be 

 no attempt to profit by a falling labor 

 market; quite the contrary, the effort 

 should be to maintain wages. In years 

 gone by this trade paid too little'to make 

 it attractive to the better class of work- 

 ers. Under pressure of necessity, wages 

 rose until they compared favorably with 

 what the same people could earn in other 

 employment. To charge fair prices, 

 avoid waste and maintain wages will make 

 it possible eventually to attract more 

 efficient workers than this trade has 

 known since it passed the stage where the 

 owner of the place did most of the work 

 himself. 



CHRISTMAS BUSINESS. 



In general it may be said that florists' 

 business this Christmas exceeded ex- 

 pectations. It was apparent before- 

 hand that estimates of holiday sales 

 were being revised upward, as second, 

 third and fourth orders were received 

 by supply houses. Anticipation was un- 

 certain; retailers were in doubt just how 

 much business to expect. Last year had 

 set a record, yet conditions this Decem- 

 ber, it was obvious, were quite different. 

 Some florists, now that the holiday is 

 past, declare it to have been a record- 

 breaker. Almost all say it was better 

 than they expected. 



The disposition of the public to ask 

 prices and compare values was evident 

 even in holiday buying. Consequently 

 the call was primarily for stock of best 

 quality, though not of the most ex- 

 pensive grades. Growers who sent to 

 market "pickled" blooms, who held 

 for the holiday chrysanthemums which 

 should have been cut earlier and showed 

 it, and who included in their shipments 

 everything that could be called a flower, 

 may be dissatisfied with their returns. 

 There have been occasions when such 

 stuff was sold, but it was not this year. 

 On the other hand, growers who sup- 

 plied good stock in plants and cut flow- 

 ers sold all they had and sold them at 

 profitable figures. 



The demand was limited for highest- 

 priced stock. The longest roses could 

 not all be sold, though great numbers of 

 them were moved. And fancy plants, 

 such as large specimens of araucarias, 

 particularly big cyclamens and the like, 

 are in many stores still on hand. But 

 sales of moderate amount were many, 

 and the total in quantity of stock 

 moved and in dollars received was high. 

 Prices were lower than last year, and 

 the difference is just about equal to the 

 difference in the dollar totals for the 

 two holidays. Though it is early to 



state with definiteness the exact returns, 

 it seems likely that, when the figures 

 are cast up, the stock moved this Christ- 

 mas will prove in excess of that sold 

 a year ago. 



The demand for stock of moderate 

 price resulted in a strenuous call for 

 carnations, red in particular, in several 

 large centers. In view of the shortage 

 at the time, prices rose to top levels, 

 Poinsettias were red, but too expensive 

 for many buyers, and the long-stemmed 

 blooms were too numerous. The re- 

 quests for these flowers are not many, 

 at best, while their ease of culture led a 

 number of growers to fill up a bench 

 with them for a catch crop. Everything 

 else, as a rule, sold well. 



In plants cyclamens and poinsettias 

 were most in demand, with begonias and 

 berried plants popular because of their 

 moderate prices. 



All in all, it was a highly satisfactory 

 Christmas, and florists may congratulat9 

 themselves as having enjoyed a much 

 better holiday business than merchants 

 in most other lines. 



AGGRESSIVE SAI^S METHODS. 



The business readjustment, marked in 

 retail circles by the demand of the pub- 

 lic for lower prices, was not felt in the 

 florists' trade so soon as it was in other 

 lines of business. So we are in position 

 to profit by other fellows' experiences 

 and steer a course that will enable us to 

 escape some of the reverses that mer- 

 chants in other lines have undergone, 

 following the examples of those who 

 came through most successfully. 



In the cases of ihese latter, aggres- 

 sive sales policies stand out as the most 

 important aid to overcoming the apathy 

 of the purchasing public. 



"Establishments which are tendering 

 bargains and offer bargains day after 

 day and which also advertise these of- 

 ferings vigorously and constantly are 

 securing the business," reports a recent 

 review of mercantile trade. "The de- 

 partment stores are doing a most flour- 

 ishing business along the lines just de- 

 scribed. Up to October 1 they kept their 

 volume of business practically at last 

 year's level, with frequent special sales. 

 Unseasonal weather and more reluc- 

 tance on the public's part necessitated 

 more frequent bargains and of useful 

 goods. Bargains and advertising are 

 bringing out the shoppers." 



By equally vigorous sales effort we can 

 get out the flower buyers too. 



SELLING WELL. 



Fears have been expressed, by some 

 growers, that the so-called saturation 

 point might be reached this season with 

 gladiolus bulbs, but those who have 

 used the Classified columns of The Re- 

 view to list their stock have received 

 prompt evidence that the demand still 

 is strong. Like this: 



Please take out my advertisement under gla- 

 dioli; will probnWy have another later. — George 

 Hall, Adelphla, N. J., December 23, 1921. 



Please cut out my ad on bulblets and put iu 

 the new list.— W. P. Long, West Grove, Pa., 

 December 23, 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. 



BRIEF ANSWERS. 



F. J. G., Wis. — Primula obconica can 

 be had of any seed house in separate 

 colors or mixed, as desired. 



