44 



The Florists^ Review 



Feiiiutakv 2. 1022 



n 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Flokists' Publishing Co., 



600 seOOaxton Building, 



606 South Dearbora St., Chicago. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



Ref^lstered cable address, 



Florvlew, Ghlcagro. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at the post-offlce at Oht- 

 cafiro. III., under the Act of March 

 S. 1879. 



Subscription price, 12.00 a year. 

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



Advertlslnir rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertlglnK accepted. 



n 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get tliciti. 



We both have them. 



ViNCAS will not he ]>leiit if'iil tliis seji- 

 soii, though in.-iny growers ;iie rooting all 

 they can. 



Thkhk will he a liuiidred eye la mens sold 

 tliis season for every a/.alea that used to 

 be imported. 



IxOKF.A.sKi) sail's effort will he necessary 

 to maintain the money volume of one's 

 l>usiness, hut it can he done. 



It never was more necessary than now 

 to watch credits closely and limit sales 

 to all wlu) do not ]>ay satisfactorily. 



Fi.owEi! ])iiyers aic persons of discrim- 

 ination and taste. ^\n untidy, disorderly 

 store is not likely to keeji their custom. 



LAIiCit: miinhers of new peojile are com 

 ing into the trade, nou that economic 

 conditions .-iie rcviMtiiii^ to ]!(14 stand- 

 ards. 



Do you take the troulile to dethorn 

 your roses iM'fore you put them up for 

 retail delivery.' rsually it is only the 

 l)est flower store in the city that does. 



TiiK tiadt' should not confine its at- 

 tention to ways of reducing costs, ]>ut 

 should ])lan means of increasing volume 

 as a hi'tter way of covering high over- 

 heail exjieiise. 



TliK most jirofitahle husiiiess selilom is 

 that doing small volume at liigh prices, 

 hut rather the one doing large volume 

 at low ]irii'es. Fold makes moic money 

 than I'ierce- Arrow. 



I'liE.siDKNT I'ennock ;ind (iiMirge .\smus 

 met i-eprcsentatives of the Clevidand 

 mayor .laiuiary .'in at Clexelancl and deter- 

 mined jiositively that the national flower 

 show would he held ;is sclieduleij. 



Hki> lieait lioxes for- valentines are re- 

 ]porteil as selling iK-tter than ever this 

 year, which may he taken as nn iinlica 

 tion that the retailers are iire]iaring to 

 ]>usli for husiness for February 14. 



Dri) the retail tloi-ist's jiercent.'ige of 

 profit increase in the l>oom years? It 

 si'ems impossihic. The increase in doll.ars 

 was m.aiie on the inci-e;iseil tiirno\i'r. Now 

 tliat the turnover in many cises is de- 

 creasing without a corresjionding decrease 

 in rents and wages, the shoe begins to 

 pinch. Obviously the best way to meet 

 the situation is to study out ways to 

 in.'iintain the monev total of sales. 



A (joiii) message for florists, as for 

 other husiness men, is contained in one of 

 the Hotary Club's advertisements: "You 

 can have ju'ospei'ity if you are willing 

 to i)ay for it with faith, work and co- 

 i)|ieration. ' ' 



Ueuuctions in all the costs that enter 

 into gi-eenhouse construction give impetus 

 now to deferred building plans. It is 

 not unlikely that some items, such as pipe 

 ;ind other metal work, will rise in ])rice 

 as other industries become more active. 



A 1,1. rose growers who claim to have 

 had an annual return of more than $'2 

 jier )ilant are hereby invited to jiroduce 

 records to i)rove it. Perhaps fhev will 

 believe it can he done, but several thou- 

 sand otiu'r growers wish first to know 

 how. 



XoTiii.Nfi can so ailvance the interests 

 of our trade as will an imj)rovement in 

 the average (|uality of the stock offered 

 the public. Koses lU'ed not necessarily 

 he long-stemmed to be well grown, noi' 

 ikmmI |ilants be of the largest size, l)ut 

 they should be sturdy. 



OxF. of the ways of m.-iintaining or in- 

 creasing the volume of sales is to take 

 on side lines. Many florists have found 

 goldfish protitahle'.'ind numbers now have 

 canaries and other birds. Another good 

 line, more closely rel.ated to flowers, is 

 vases and similar art wares. 



TiiosK who comi)lain of unprofitable 

 conditions in this trade are those whose 

 ways lead not to success. Though i)rofits 

 hiive declined in most cases, that was to 

 be exi>ecte(l; the boom could not last 

 forever. A satisfactory margin of gain 

 still is had by energetic and level-headed 

 florists. 



Thf, growing number of Atlantic coast 

 florists who offer stock in the Classified 

 pages of The Review shows theii- reali/.a 

 tion that where the jiajier is reail, not 

 where it is jiublished, ((uints in securing 

 orders. And Massachusetts. New York 

 anil rennsylvania are the three leading 

 states on The Review 's <'irculatioii rec- 

 ords, for there the trade is strongest 

 Muuteiically. 



TllK other diiy the manager of one of 

 tlie largest ranges in Indian;) was a caller 

 at the office of The Review. In the course 

 of the conversation he gave it as his opin- 

 ion th.at in the last five years the erection 

 of new glass did no moic than leplace the 

 old houses ]tulled down, so th.at the jiroduc- 

 tion for the whole country does not exceed 

 that of 1917. "But tliink how greatly 

 the demand has increased," said he. 

 '•When business revival restores the luir- 

 cliasing ])ower of the ])eo])le, we shall have 

 to hustle to supply the flowers that will be 

 called fur." 



THE MAJOR OWNS UP. 



After four years the mystery is solved. 

 .Vt the haiKiVet at Hartford last week in 

 honor of the convention of the Amer- 

 ican Carnation Society, Major V. V. 

 O'Keefe divulged the autliorshi]) of our 

 slogan. FriHpient queries, from within 

 the trade and without, h:id led The Re- 

 view jirevionsly to iiupiire as to the 

 origin.'ition of the famous slogan, but 

 no light on the subji^t w:is forthcoming 

 from the m.-ijor. Rut now he has spoken. 

 The reason for his eschewing his cus- 

 tom.'iry modesty is to refute the numer- 

 ous claims to the honor made in recent 

 issues of Printers' Ink. Cl;iiinants h.ave 

 l)een nunierous and positive regarding 



authorship of the slogan, "Say It' with 

 Flowers." At the Hartford banquet 

 the major stated that while working 

 ui)()n copy for the florists' advertising 

 at the outset of the national campaign, 

 he was perusing a book of quotations. 

 In it he read: "Flowers are words that 

 even babes can understand." Think- 

 ing the i)oet 's conception a good one, he 

 evolved the jdirase, "Say It with Flow- 

 ers." All honor to the major! At last 

 he has owned up! Other claimants 

 mav retire. 



AGAINST FIXING PRICES. 



Considerable activity has been dis- 

 ])layed of late by the federal trade com- 

 mission, by Attorney-General Daugherty 

 and by several divisions of the higher 

 courts' in regard to attempts of trade 

 organizations to regulate ])rices and 

 restrict ]>roduction. The California 

 Associated Kaisin Co., which has become 

 known in this trade through references 

 to its publicity campaign, is now the 

 mark of a government bill for unfair 

 trade ])ractices, brought against it by 

 the attorney-general. The company, 

 through contracts with raisin growers, 

 is said to h.ave coerced growers, fixed 

 retail prices, and withheld from the 

 market .and restricted the su]>ply of 

 raisins and riiisiii grapes. Similar gov- 

 ernment action has been taken against 

 a number of other associations, notably 

 tlie hardwood lumber association, which 

 were deemed to have been guilty of con- 

 spiracy in restraint of trade or prac- 

 tices which bordered ujion it. There 

 are s;iid to be no fewer than 500 so- 

 called <)i>en-]irice associations in the 

 country. Secretary of Commerce 



Hoover, on the other hand, is desirous 

 of assisting trade organizations in the 

 im])rovenieut of conditions in their re- 

 spective industries, and it is thought 

 likely fh.-it he and Attorncy-Oeneral 

 Daugherty will get together to formu- 

 l.'ite .'in outline of what trade associa- 

 tions may do iind may not do under 

 the feileral statutes. Such an outline 

 will be viewed with interest by those 

 growers of cut flowers and plants who 

 have advocated organizations to control 

 the wide fluctuations in price which 

 now follow on the vagaries of the 

 weather and changes of the supply and 

 demand. 



YOUR OPPORTUNITY. 



L;ist month was the biggest .lanu.'iry 

 in the history of The Review, both for 

 suhscri]ition rcceii)ts and for advertising 

 carried. That the advertising should 

 have shown an increase is all the more 

 noteworthy because so many advertisers 

 sold out of stock (piicker than they ex- 

 I)ected. Instead of having to adver- 

 tise more this year than last, as many 

 ex|iected, they found stock sold even 

 ipiicker tli;in last se;ison. Like this: 



I'lfMsi' (liscdiitiniif my :i(l ofTcrinc Kcriininnis in 

 The ItfView, iis I mil I'ntiicly sulil out, Cdiilil 

 liiivc Milil iiiiiiiy tlKiiisiinds iiMirc. Wish I hiid 

 tliciii. Siinii- iiilviTlisiin; iiifilimii, 1 inlls it. — • 

 '^"■.,.,' ■ "•"*''"■''''■• •'iilimiMium. ()., January 21, 



If you hear a man complain of the 

 cost of advertising, you can be prettv 

 certain he sjiends a good bit of monev 

 elsewhere than in The Review. 



BRIEF ANSWERS. 



F. K. W., Conn. — It is not easv to 

 name the jjlaiit from the dried leaves 

 received, hut, doubtless, it is a species 

 of oiihio])ogon and either O. japonicus 

 or O. .lahuran. 



