34 



The Florists^ Review 



January 12. 1922 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS. 



CLASSIFICATION OF DAHLIAS. 



As a result of the conference on the 

 classification of dahlias, held at Wisley 

 Gardens, London, England, last August, 

 the following sections of the flower have 

 been defined, based mainly on the form 

 of the flowers and the heights of the 

 plants. 



Class I. Single-flowered. — Single dahl- 

 ias have a single, regular, outer ring of 

 flatly expanded rays, which overlap 

 more or less at their edges; the center 

 forms a golden disk. For show purposes 

 single dahlias should not exceed three 

 inches in diameter, and the eight (only) 

 ray florets should be smooth, somewhat 

 recurved at the tips, broad and overlap- 

 ping, so as to form a perfectly round 

 flower. (See also cactus-flowered, class 

 XV.) 



Class II. Mignon single-flowered. — 

 Flowers similar in all respects to class 

 I, but the plants do not exceed eighteen 

 inches in height. 



Class III. Collarette. — Collarette 

 dahlias have an outer ring of flat rays, 

 as in singles, and just within this and 

 surrounding the golden disk a ring of 

 florets (the "collar") with deeply cut 

 petals, generally of a different color 

 from the outer, and only about half their 

 length. 



Class IV. Anemone-flowered. — In anem- 

 one-flowered dahlias the outer ring of 

 flattened rays surrounds a dense group 

 of tubular flowers, longer than the ordi- 

 nary disk florets of the single-flowered 

 class, and of a different color. 



Class V. Peony-flowered. — The peony- 

 flowered dahlias have large flowers, con- 

 sisting of three or four rows of flatly 

 expanded rays, somewhat irregularly ar- 

 ranged and surrounding a golden disk 

 similar to that of the singles. 



Class VI. Small-flowered peony. — The 

 flowers are in essentials like those of 

 class V, but are smaller and less than 

 four inches in diameter. 



Class VII. Dwarf peony-flowered. — 

 Similar to classes V and VI, but not ex- 

 ceeding two feet six inches in height. 



Class VIII. Decorative. — Flower- 

 heads like class V, but with centers 

 filled with ray florets and without a yel- 

 low disk, i. e., fully double. 



Class IX. Smail-flowered decorative. 

 — Like class VIII, but flower-heads 

 smaller and less than four inches in 

 diameter. 



Class X. Dwarf decorative. — The coun- 

 terpart of class VIII in everything but 

 height, which does not exceed three feet. 

 Class XI. Camellia-flowered. — Fully 

 double (without yellow disk), rays regu- 

 larly arranged with margins incurved, 

 so as to form wide-mouthed tubes, with 

 their mouths lengthened and tips gen- 

 erally pointed. (This new class has been 

 formed to contain the "decorative" 

 dahlias intermediate in form between 

 those in classes VIII to X with open 

 rays, and the "show" and "pompon" 

 dahlias in classes XII and XIII with 

 short, tubular rays. The name was sug- 

 gested by H. J. Jones.) 



Class XII. Show. — Fully double, over 

 three inches in diameter, almost globu- 

 lar, center florets like the outer ones, 

 but smaller, with margins incurved, tu- 



bular, short and blunt at the mouth. 

 This class includes the old "fancy" 

 dahlias, which had each floret tipped 

 with white or striped with a different 

 color. 



Class XIII. Pompon. — Like class XII, 

 but smaller. For show purposes the 

 flowers of pompon dahlias should not ex- 

 ceed two inches in diameter. 



Class XIV. Star. — Small, with two or 

 four rows of rays, not, or scarcely, over- 

 lapping at their more or less recurved 

 margins, and forming a cup-shaped 

 flower with a golden disk. A long, thin, 

 wiry stem is characteristic of this class. 



Class XV. Cactus. — Florets long, gen- 

 erally narrow, spreading, often twisted, 

 with their margins recurved. There are 

 three sub-classes: (a) Double, with 

 florets all alike; (b) semi-double, with 

 several rows of spreading florets sur- 

 rounding a central disk; (c) single, with 

 one, more or less, regular row only of 

 spreading florets around a central disk. 



Class XVI. Dwarf cactus. — The coun- 

 terpart of class XV, but not exceeding 

 three feet in height. 



Officers and Appointments. 



In the list of appointments made by 

 President Pennock, as published last 

 week, the name of Prof. Arno H. Nehr- 

 ling, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., 

 was accidentally omitted from the per- 

 sonnel of the committee on education, 

 of which Fred A. Wilson, Nahant, Mass., 

 is chairman. 



Among the clubs and societies asked 

 to recommend appointees for various 

 committee ofiices were several who 

 failed to have their recommendations 

 filed at the society's administration of- 

 fices in time for action by the presi- 

 dent, in accordance with the by-laws, 

 which provide for all appointments upon 

 the president taking office. This is 

 much regretted, as the president was 

 obliged to make appointments according 

 to his own judgment as to fitness of ap- 

 pointees, a judgment which he would 

 rather have left to territorial recom- 

 mendation. John Young, Sec'y. 



Waterloo, la. — The Agnes Thompson 

 Flower Shop opened in this city re- 

 cently. 



Toledo, O.— Mrs. E. J. Hall, of Clyde, 

 0., has sold her Toledo store, known 

 as Hall's Flowers, 424 Superior street, 

 to Edith Navarre, who took possession 

 December 27. 



SINGS PRAISE OF OUR SLOGAN. 



The mouthpiece of the advertising 

 profession, the weekly called Printers' 

 Ink, contains a page of an editorial 

 nature, headed, "The Little School- 

 master's Classroom." In the Decem- 

 ber 22 issue this page was devoted to 

 remarks concerning our slogan. These, 

 coming from outside our industry and 

 from a critic in a profession expert 

 in coining slogans, reenforce our own 

 belief in the outstanding excellence of 

 the exhortation, ' ' Say It with Flowers. ' ' 

 For the benefit of those readers of The 

 Keview who may not have seen the 

 remarks in Printers' Ink, they are 

 given below: 



The Sclioolmaster is not stretching the truth 

 in statinR tliat "Say It with Flowers" comes 

 close to being the most popular advertising slo- 

 gan ever coined. Certainly there never has been 

 one more extensively parodied. We are being 

 told "to s.iy it with" everything from "tack 

 hammers" to "lemons." There is a sign along 

 the Li.ickawanna railroad which advises us "to 

 do it with ice." Do what? Before the Eigh- 

 teenth amendment, we used Ice rather freely 

 in making it. In delivering a valedictory to the 

 persistent book agent, we often "say it with 

 ice." but there our experience with ice stops. 



Hut that shows how all-prevailing the slogan 

 and its parodies have become. It has been a 

 veritable Ijoon to vaudevillians, who have found 

 it a capital substitute for "Mary had a little 

 iamb." Columnists swear by it. Jokesmlths. 

 in seizing it, have at last been able to abandon 

 the seared mother-in-law reference and to cease 

 commenting oii the illustrious Senator Sorghum. 



So famous has the slogan become that many 

 are anxious to know who originated it. Like 

 Homer's birthplace, Santa Claus's nationality 

 and Shakespeare's Identity, the matter Is 

 shrouded in doubt. Henry Penn, the clever 

 Boston florist, is often given credit for the 

 authorship of the slogan. The Schoolmaster tried 

 to pin this honor on Mr. Penn the other day. 

 He modestly declined, saying that while he had 

 much to do with the slogan, it was not actually 

 the child of his brain. He passes the honor 

 on to a member of a Boston advertising agency. 

 To this unnamed gentleman, therefore, it seems. 



belongs the honor. It was first presented at a 

 meeting of the publicity committee of the So- 

 ciety of American Florists, held In Cleveland 

 four years ago. In commenting on its subse- 

 quent development, Mr. Penn declared: 



"I have used it practically ever since thai 

 time In all of my local newspaper, street-car 

 and outdoor advertising because of my desire to 

 tie up with the national campaign of the florists. 

 A few other Boston florists are now using It, 

 but not many of them. In other sections 

 of the country almost every florist realizes the 

 advantage of its use and is availing himself of 

 it. I believe It has certainly accomplished 

 wonders for the florists of this country. De- 

 spite the fact that during the war flowers were 

 in the so-called luxury class and despite the fact 

 also that the fuel supp!-, of the greenhouses was 

 curtailed about fifty p« cent by the fuel ad- 

 ministration — still in the face of all these ob- 

 stacles the flower business has kept up very well, 

 indeed, and I am sure that the national ad- 

 vertising, combined with the great amount of 

 local advertising for which the national ad- 

 vertising is primarily responsible, has done much 

 to bring about this very healthy condition in the 

 flower business. 



"The slogan 'Say It with Flowers' was the 

 backbone of the national advertising campaign 

 and the many ways in which It is imitated 

 proves to me at least that it is a slogan 

 of tremendous value." 



The Schoolmpster certainly agrees with Mr. 

 Penn in saying it is a slogan of tremendous 

 value. It would be impossible to conceive of any 

 other combination of words more expressive of 

 the reason for flowers. There is a flower for 

 every mood. Every sentiment, be it love or 

 hatred, joy or sorrow, can be adequately ex- 

 pressed with flowers. 



The conception of those powerful four words 

 was probably an inspiration of genius. Often, 

 though, these brilliant advertising phrases are 

 the result of perspiration rather than inspira- 

 tion. Frequently the most expressive argument 

 in behalf of a product will be found buried in 

 some obscure sales report or in the letter of 

 some unimportant correspondent. Advertising 

 men should constantly be on the alert for these 

 phrases. They may pop out of the most humble 

 source. 



It is said that another famous slogan, "Save 

 the Surface and You Save All." claimed to be 

 valued at $1,000,000 a won), was discovered by 

 the advertising agent handling the account In 

 the body of a piece of copy one of his men 

 wrote. He Jerked it out of its Inconspicuousness 

 and made It the basis of one of the most suc- 

 cessful codperatlve campaigns we have ever wit- 

 nessed. 



