28 



The Rorists^ Review 



Septembkr 1, 1921 



ft 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Publishing Co.. 



600 560 Oaxton Bulldlnflr, 



608 Soath Dearborn St., Ohica^o. 



Tel., Wabash 8196. 



Registered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago, 



Eatered as second class matter 

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

 caffo. 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- 

 vertlslntr accepted. 



Eesults bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



There are so many shortages of stock 

 that even moderate demand seems likely 

 to create a brisk market this winter. 



No florist who expects to buy or sell 

 through the mail sliould attempt to do 

 business without a printed letterhead. 



Uncertainty concerning the three 

 "T's" continues. Taxes are not set- 

 tled, the tariff is still argued upon, and 

 transportation rates are without prospect 

 of change. A congress that knows not its 

 own mind tinkers with all three. 



After having made twenty-six trips 

 to Europe, J. D. Eisele now looks on the 

 Pacific coast as affording, under present 

 conditions, greater interest for American 

 horticultural traders. Mr. Eisele recently 

 lias visited most of the leading establish- 

 ments in California. 



There will be much building of resi- 

 dences this fall, offering an opportunity 

 for the city florist to sell shrubs to plant 

 around them. Florists in the smaller 

 places have made more of their opportuni- 

 ties in this respect, showing how gratify- 

 ing a business can be done. 



Because of weather conditions, the 

 field-grown carnation plants available 

 are not so good as usual; they are smaller 

 and, as the result of the heat and 

 drought, there is a lot of red spider. 

 Some growers who did not care to bench 

 their own stock have been unnecessarily 

 surprised to find the plants they ordered 

 by mail were little if any better. 



Bituminous coal output declined 

 slightly during the third week of August. 

 The total for the week ended August 20 is 

 estimated at 7,704,000 net tons, a decrease 

 of 52,000 tons compared with the week 

 preceding. How greatly the present rate 

 of output must be increased to regain 

 anything like normal may be judged from 

 the figures of output in the corresponding 

 week of other recent years. In the third 

 week of August, 1920, there were pro- 

 duced 11,040,000 tons; in 1917, the fig- 

 ure was 10,590,000 tons, and in 1918, over 

 12,470,000 tons. In 1919, a dull year for 

 the coal trade, the corresponding week 

 showed 10,675,000 tons. Even in 1914, 

 the last preceding year of marked busi- 

 ness depression, the August rate was 

 8,700,000 tons a week. Another 1,000,000 

 tons must be added to the present weekly 

 rate before it can equal even that of 1914. 



Never nurse a grudge; it doesn't get 

 you anywhere in business. 



Flowers are reported scarce in some 

 localities, though it is a time of customary 

 abundance. If the supply is insufficient at 

 a dull season, what will it be when buy- 

 ing is stronger? 



As important as the return toward 

 pre-war prices is the return to standards 

 of conscience that once prevailed. Per- 

 haps if that could have been accomplished 

 first, fewer bankruptcies and less unem- 

 ployment would have resulted. 



If anyone believes cost of production 

 has anything to do with selling prices in 

 this trade, he is mistaken. There are only 

 three factors affecting prices: Demand, 

 supply, quality. And the third factor 

 often is eliminated when the first exceeds 

 the second. 



One of the curiosities of human nature 

 is that the man who is loudest in his pro- 

 fessions of honesty and good faith is the 

 first to take advantage of the technicali- 

 ties. And it often happens that the per- 

 son who objects to being "dunned" 

 doesn't pay until he is. 



One by one the florists who do not pay 

 their bills, who send out unsatisfactory 

 stock, who do not answer letters, or whose 

 methods otherwise fail to line up with the 

 golden rule, are being spotted. Then 

 some of them change their names, but it 

 avails them little; they can not approach 

 success until they do as they would be 

 done by. 



Low prices are not what any of us are 

 after, but a standard of prices that is 

 fair to all, so that a dollar's worth of 

 wheat buys a dollar's worth of leather 

 and a dollar 's worth of cotton buys a dol- 

 lar 's worth of flowers. At the same time 

 we must be able to get a dollar's worth of 

 service and a dollar's worth of labor for 

 our silver cartwheel — a phase of the re- 

 adjustment many fail to observe. 



So frequently do readers of The Re- 

 view ask for information and advice con- 

 cerning the way to effect a local trade or- 

 ganization and to participate in civic af- 

 fairs that they will welcome the oppor- 

 tunity to read of what has been done by 

 the Oregon Florists' Club, formerly the 

 Portland Floral Society, reviewed by 

 President Guy M. Pilkington in his speech 

 on accepting oflSce, printed on page 68 of 

 this issue. 



Not only the Editor 's desk, but several 

 others in The Review ofiice as well, 

 were decorated this week by vases of Her- 

 bert & Fleishauer's new aster. Pacific 

 Beauty. After their three-day journey 

 from McMinnville, Ore., they made an ex- 

 cellent appearance. The blooms, pale 

 lavender with white center, are large and 

 full-petaled, and are borne on long, sturdy 

 stems which should make them valuable 

 for vase and basket use. The shortage of 

 other flowers in the middle west has made 

 a splendid market for asters this year. 



GLASS MAY COST LESS. 



A dispatch from Cleveland August 30 

 said: "An agreement was reached here 

 today between the National Window 

 Glass Workers' Association and Na- 

 tional Association of Window Glass 

 Manufacturers whereby the union, ac- 

 cording to Joseph Neenan, president, 

 accepted a twenty-eight per cent reduc- 

 tion in wages. Approximately 15,000 

 men and sixty factories are involved." 



According to well informed men in 



the window glass trade, there exists to- 

 day in America less than one-sixth of a 

 normal stock of window glass, and 

 manufacturing will be started this au- 

 tumn to accumulate stock against the 

 revival of building which is expected 

 next spring. 



FLOWBBS WILL BE BOUGHT. 



A daily paper which carries only busi- 

 ness news last week made a survey of 

 the commercial field through tele- 

 graphic inquiries to leaders in mercan- 

 tile lines. Since this journal is the 

 largest and most influential of its kind, 

 its findings merit attention and consid- 

 eration. These are summarized as fol- 

 lows: 



Mercantile stocks are generally reduced to a 

 minimum. 



Liquidation has proceeded very commonly to 

 its practical completion and price deflation has 

 "touched bottom" of practical values, on which 

 buyers and sellers can and do agree. 



Shelves are bare, both witli retailers and 

 wholesalers, and buying is proceeding in healthy 

 vigor on the basis of actual commercial neces- 

 sity. 



Crops are not satisfactory in staples of grain 

 and foodstufFs; acreage Is reduced and condition 

 not up to standard. As an offset, however, ac- 

 cumulations from 1920 crops are well cleared. 



Canning paclss are bound to be small, both 

 because of acreage and crop conditions, but 

 especially because canners are not planning to 

 operate this year, prices being still below going 

 costs of production. Prices are therefore stiffer 

 and probably will continue to rise. 



Credits are easier, bunks are supporting sound 

 borrowers, collections are satisfactory and rates 

 comfortable. Bad crops will leave a probable 

 deficit in farm debts, but thus far banks are not 

 forcing sacrifice liquidation. 



Everywhere there is evidence of a promising 

 fall trade, with no lack of practical buying 

 power and a very real necessity to replenish 

 trade and family stocks. 



With scarcely an exception, the tone of public 

 sentiment is optimistic, tempered with conserva- 

 tism. The belief prevails that revival Is un- 

 mistakably at hand. 



The value to florists of such a report 



is that it indicates probability this 



autumn of a resumption of buying, and 



the ability to buy, on the greater part 



of the public. And since flowers will be 



bought in proportion as other things are, 



it behooves us all to be prepared for the 



business that's coming. 



WHY THEY BECOMMEND IT. 



Although no campaign is waged by 

 the subscription department of The Re- 

 view, a steady growth is constantly ap- 

 parent in its circulation. The rate of 

 growth, too, seems to be constantly in- 

 creasing, and nearly 1,000 names have 

 been added to the list of subscribers in 

 the last year — the more notable since 

 other publishers have been suffering a 

 falling off in their subscription list. 

 The answer lies in our readers them- 

 selves; they are responsible, since they 

 constantly recommend the paper to flo- 

 rists who are not subscribers. Numer- 

 ous new subscriptions state, "So-and-so 

 recommended your paper to me." Why 

 readers recommend The Review to 

 others in the trade is e^pla^ied in the 

 words of W. H. Gulp, Wichit^, Kan., the 

 newly elected president pf the Kansas 

 State Florists' Association. He says: 



I consider the value of The Review to me in 

 measure wliich cannot be stated in dollars and 

 rents. It h:is often given me a pointer or hint 

 on a line of wiprk that was just what I needed. 

 In addition, its general news and information 

 .'ire a wonderful factor in binding the trade to- 

 gether in purpose and in fellowship. 



BBIEF ANSWEBS. 



C. M. W., Tenn. — Seems to be Euphor- 

 bia corollata. 



W. & P., N. Y. — Kerria japoniea va- 

 riegata, sometimes called Japanese rose; 

 grows six to eight feet high, rarely 

 more. 



