28 



The Florists^ Review 



August 11, 1921 



Egtabllshed 1897. 

 byO. L. Grant. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Fi.oiusTs' Puni-isHisG Co., 



500 560Caxton Building, 



808 South Dearborn St., Chicaco. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



Reerlstered cable address, 



Florvlew. Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1H97, at the post-office 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. 



Advertising rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



E.\RN a reputation for growing and 

 .shipping good geraniums and you never 

 will lack for orders. 



Pot plants seem to be in such con- 

 stant demand that the growers of them 

 never have too many. The trade can 

 use a considerably greater quantity of 

 good stock than is now produced. 



It seems unquestionable that the ap- 

 preciation and desire for flowers has in- 

 creased, in the last five years, much faster 

 than the production of them. Isn't there, 

 tlien, a boom in prospect as soon as gen- 

 eral business returns to normalcy? 



WHO WILL TELL? 



Can some one of your readers in- 

 form me -what the eurica fern is, where 

 it grows and how it is prepared for 

 market? Is it in its natural state when 

 we receive it? Is it the same as what 

 has been advertised as the coontie 

 fern? Mrs. M. Baryclow. 



BESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We. both have them. 



The time is not far distant when the 

 seller who does not give a square deal 

 will find no one wlio will do business with 

 him. 



Send at least a post-card acknowl- 

 edgment of every telegraph order to 

 the sending florist, the more particularly 

 if he is unknown to you. 



The trade's new slogan, "Make the 

 Summer Pay, ' ' has proved effective wher- 

 ever accompanied by suitable effort. 

 Wishing is not enough ; one must work. 



Please rcmemlior tliat The Review em- 

 ploys no subscription canvassers. Its rep- 

 resentatives all are well known in their 

 communities. Don't i>ay nioiiej' to strang- 

 ers. 



If one stops to calculate the cost of a 

 first sale, he will soon understand that 

 it is the repeat orders wliich make the 

 profit. Those are brought only by satis- 

 faction. 



One florist has made the summer pay 

 by house to house visits, ostensibly ' ' to 

 see how the bedding plants are doing," 

 but really to book orders for fall plant- 

 ing of shrubs and trees, whicli he later 

 will procure from a nursery in the total 

 quantity needed. 



It will pay those who use quantitiestii 

 of sphagnum moss to stock uj) without 

 delay. The summer has been favorable 

 for gathering moss and large lots are on 

 hand, offered at low prices. As soon 

 as fall rains begin, harvesting will cease 

 and prices are almost certain to ad- 

 vance. 



The American Gladiolus Society will 

 meet at St. Thomas, Ont., August 24 and 

 25, somewhat later than in preceding 

 years. The premium list of the exhibition 

 is the largest ever arranged for the society 

 and Madison Cooper, Calcium, N. Y., act- 

 ing secretary, predicts the largest display 

 ever staged. 



Proceedings of the thirtieth annual 

 meeting of the American Carnation Socie- 

 t7, held at Washington last January, are 

 now in book form for the members' use. 

 The volume shows Secretary A. F. J. 

 Baur'a customary care. A portrait of the 

 new president, C. W. Johnson, and illu- 

 strations of the medal-winning vases at 

 Washington, S. J. Goddard's Laddie, and 

 Strout 's Rosalind and Donald, are shown. 



SHORTAGES. 



There are many scarcities with which 

 the trade must contend this season, 

 among them: 



Japanese lily bulbs, 



Candidum lilies. 



Paper Whites, 



Carnation plants. 



Rubber plants. 



Money. 



LOWER RATES NEEDED. 



Though not immediately and directly 

 of benefit to the trade, the notion of 

 the railroads, in a conference with grain 

 shipper.s at Chicago last week, in agree- 

 ing to a reduction of freight rates on 

 grain, gives hope of relief from the 

 high transportation -rates, now the 

 cause of complaint from florists, seeds- 

 men and nurserymen as well as from 

 other industries. 



The red'uction, wliich amounts to ap- 

 proximately twenty -five per cent, is not 

 iustified under the present high cost of 

 transportation service, said the railroad 

 representatives, but the pleas of the 

 farmers have been so urgent that acces- 

 sion was made in the hope of aiding the 

 readiustment of business conditions so 

 much needed now. 



There is no hope held out that simi- 

 lar accessions will be made to demands 

 from other industries, but the precedent 

 has been set and may be followed later. 

 If cause for complaint is considered, 

 ther(> seems none greater than that of 

 florists regarding the hin;h transporta- 

 tion charges on ferns and other greens. 

 Great dissatisfaction has been ex- 

 pressed ever since florists' commodities 

 were shifted from the second to the 

 first class. Some of it has found ex- 

 pression in these columns. Much of it 

 has been directed toward the express 

 companies and some at the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission. 



One statement of our complaint, made 

 to the last-named bodv bv Alnha Elber- 

 field. proprietor of the Alpha Floral Co., 

 Kansas Citv', Mo., puts the case plainly. 

 He said : 



"I do believe there oucrht to be some- 

 thinc done towards makincr ferns sec- 

 ond-class. It is the most absurd thing 

 in the world to make a commodity that 

 a florist gives away take a first-class 

 rate. Ferns are, in a way, bought for 

 a small sum. but yet they amount to a 

 great sum when given away in large 



quantities. It seems ridiculous beyond 

 all reason." 



Perhaps nothing can be accomplished 

 immediately, but the matter should be 

 pressed by florists, individually and 

 through their organizations, so that ere 

 long the express companies will deem it 

 wise to accede to demands of shippers 

 as the railroads have done. 



CHICAGO TO WASHINGTON. 



B. & O. Changes Schedule. 



Those florists who are planning to 

 travel to the Washington convention 

 next week should note that the time 

 has been changed on the trains going 

 over the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. 

 The new schedule, which is effective 

 Sunday, August 14, is as follows, ac- 

 cording to standard time: 



Ijchvo ChicaKO 



»;.S0 a. m. 



]L':n."> II. 111. 



i'>:'2Ti p. m. 



9:riO p. m. 



Arrlvp Wasliiiigton 



7:."0 a. 111. 



!t:2."> (1. 111. 



4:42 p. 111. 



II); 30 p. m. 



The time of departure would read an 

 hour later according to Chicago day- 

 light-saving time. 



The train party organized by the 

 transportation committee of the Chi- 

 cago Florists' Club will leav(>, under 

 the new schedule, at 9:30 a. m., stand- 

 ard time, Monday, August l-l. arriving 

 in Washington at 7:50 a. m. Tuesday. 



SHOOT, GOLF AT CONVENTION! 



Those wishing to participate in golf 

 and shooting at the Washington con- 

 vention are urged to communicate with 

 Z. D. Blackistone, chairman, for both 

 events; golf players sliouhl register 

 their handicap. The golf tournament 

 will begin at 7 a. m., at the East Poto- 

 mac park golf course, Wednesday, Au- 

 gust 17. Players have the privilege of 

 jilaying over the course any time ^Ion- 

 day or up to noon Tuesday. 



The shooting tournament will be held 

 Wednesday, August 17, at .3:. 30 p. m., 

 at the range of the Washington Gun 

 Club, Wisconsin avenue, beyond Brad- 

 ley lane. There will be a 1.5J 20 and 25- 

 target shoot. A prize will be given for 

 the high gun over all and for each of 

 the three individual events. All ties 

 will be shot off at ten targets. Only 

 one prize can be taken by an individ- 

 ual. 



"JUST AS EASY." 



About the easiest thing any florist 

 has to do is to wholesale any quantities 

 of good stock not needed in his local 

 retail business. No florist has taken 

 full advantage of his opportunities so 

 long as he has failed to produce some- 

 thing for the wholesale market. The 

 disposal of it is "just as easv," like 

 this: 



Wire ordors rpcoivod today from first iiispr- 

 tion of our ad oleanod up the surplus. Unther 

 quick work, we'd say. — .T. S. Wilson Floral Co., 

 DCS Moines. la.. .Tuly 29. 1921. 



Ilavo lind wonderful sucppss with (lie ada in 

 your Classified columns. Generall.v have had to 

 return more or less money, — Rell Floral Co., 

 Temple. Tex.. July 26. 1921. 



Please diseontinne For Sale ad in Tlie Review, 

 as we have had so many mils we hardly have 

 time to answer the letters. — Itentzen Floral 

 Co., St. Louis. Mo.. July 2«. 1921. 



Tlie Classified .id di<l the triek; our bench 

 roses are all sold, also the Bninners from 3-inch 

 pots. — Walter Armacost & Co., IjOS Angeles, 

 Cal., July 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. 



