34 



The Florists^ Review 



Fbbbuabi 9. 1922 



n 



Pobllahed every Thuradar by 

 The Floriots' Poblishino Co.. 



600S60 Oaxton Bulldlnsr, 



BOB South Dearborn St., Ohlcago. 



Tel., Wabasb 819B. 



Beristered cable address, 



Florrlew, Oblcaso. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at the poet-offlce at Ohl- 

 caffo. III., under the Act of March 

 8, 1879. 



Subscription price, $2.00 a year. 

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



AdTertlslngr rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertlsUur accepted. 



n 



Ressults bring advertising. 

 The Sevievr brings results. 



Send the Editor a clipping of your St. 

 Valentine's day advertisements. Thank 

 you. 



If collections are not so good as they 

 were, it is a sign efforts should be in- 

 creased now. Don't let accounts get 

 mossy. 



Caknation cuttings were slow sale in 

 January, but are moving rapidly now, 

 many propagators having booked all the 

 orders they can fill for early delivery. 



Recommendation that consumers pur- 

 chase coal now to fulfill requirements up 

 to May 15, in view of the impending 

 strike of miners, is made in a statement 

 recently issued by the National Retail 

 Coal Merchants' Association. 



How would you like to be a Holland 

 bulb salesman, calling on a last year's 

 customer, to be told you were the fourth 

 there that day! And what would you 

 say to the fifth man, met coming down 

 the street as you were leaving? 



Again it is called to growers' atten- 

 tion that they should not file an inven- 

 tory with their income tax return. It is 

 not required of them by the Treasury 

 department and may be omitted by green- 

 house owners who have previously filed 

 one. 



In the course of a few years the east- 

 ern markets probably will be heavily sup- 

 plied with cut heather grown in south- 

 ern California, but the crop was given a 

 severe setback by the freeze of January 

 20. Not only this season 's cut, but many 

 young plants were destroyed. 



A CARLOAD of wrapped plants costs 

 about ten per cent more to ship by freight 

 tlian by express, extraordinary as it may 

 sound. The constantly increasing num- 

 ber of shipments of such size which may 

 be made would warrant effort on the part 

 of the officers of the S. A. F. to secure 

 a reduction in this rate. 



The average greenhouse man is a pro- 

 ducer, not a merchandiser. Therefore, he 

 neglects the duties of the latter when 

 he nsaunies both roles at once. But if he 

 wishes to be a merchant, he must do as 

 merchants do; namely, attend to the 

 clerical responsibilities involved in deal- 

 ing with a number of customers, such as 

 acknowledging orders, keeping proper 

 track of them and handling correspond- 

 ence in a systematic fashion. 



Bankruptcy records make it clear that 

 the large number of failures of late has 

 been due to the inability of small mer- 

 chants to withstand changed business con- 

 ditions. During the period of high prof- 

 its many with small capital embarked in 

 enterprises of their own, which could not 

 endure when larger resources became nec- 

 essary. 



John C. Wister, president of the 

 American Iris Society and secretary of 

 the American Rose Society, is on a 

 lecture tour in the middle west. Febru- 

 ary 8 he lectured at the Art Institute, 

 Chicago, on "The Development and Cul- 

 ture of the Iris," under the auspices of 

 the Woman's National Farm and Garden 

 Association. 



Alexander Dickson, head of the firm 

 of AlexanderDickson&Sons, Belfast, New- 

 townards, and Dublin, Ireland, has had 

 conferred upon him the rank of chevalier 

 of the order of the M6rite Agricole, for 

 services rendered by him to horticulture in 

 France. Although the head of a firm 

 which does not confine its attention to 

 roses, Mr. Dickson has devoted the larger 

 part of his life to the development ot 

 the new roses for which his firm is famous 

 throughout the world. Mr. Dickson has 

 been a frequent visitor to France, some- 

 times at the request of the French minis- 

 ter of agriculture, and he has sat upon 

 government juries at Paris and Lyons on 

 seven occasions. 



CAN YOU HELP? 



"Our greenhouses are located near a 

 large city and we are anxious to secure 

 from growers of plants and general 

 stock (not carnations or roses) who are 

 similarly located, J^curate information 

 as regards the overhead cost per square 

 foot. Perhaps you could put us in touch 

 with someone who could supply us with 

 reliable data on this subject." 



This inquiry, from a well known flo- 

 rist, indicates how much desired but how 

 difficult to secure is accurate and relia- 

 ble information in regard to growers' 

 costs. In these columns have appeared 

 figures on this subject, principally sup- 

 plied by rose growers, who seem to be 

 in the lead so far as cost data is con- 

 cerned. 



Growers of other stock who have so 

 kept their books that they are able to 

 calculate cost data are here given a per- 

 sonal invitation to write the Editor in 

 regard to supplying figures on the sub- 

 ject, for the benefit of the trade at 

 large. Comparison of several growers' 

 costs in these columns would mightily 

 benefit those contributing them as well 

 as those who have not found the basis 

 of keeping such figures in their own 

 greenhouses. All communications will 

 be received and kept in confidence. If 

 you have a cost system, please write. 



OET DOWN FEEIQHT RATES! 



Alleging that the farmer cannot buy 

 and they cannot continue to manufac- 

 ture unless there are substantial reduc- 

 tions in freight rates on fertilizer and 

 fertilizer materials, manufacturers last 

 week told the interstate commerce com- 

 mission that twenty-five per cent off ex- 

 isting rates, in the territory east of the 

 Mississippi and north of the Ohio and 

 Potomac rivers, would enable them to 

 continue in business and the farmers to 

 buy fertilizer for their fields. Charles 

 McDowell, president of the National Fer- 

 tilizer Association and head of the Ar- 



mour Fertilizer Works, a subsidiary of 

 Armour & Co., was their principal wit- 

 ness. 



Mr. McDowell testified that all costs 

 of doing business, even the price of Ger- 

 man and French potash, except freight 

 rates, are back to the prewar levels. 

 Neither the German nor the French con- 

 trollers of potash will sell potash as 

 cheap to Americans as they do to the 

 German farmer. They charge him 500 

 marks per ton while collecting 5,300 

 marks from American fertilizer manu- 

 facturers. 



Let's hope Mr. McDowell succeeds. 

 Florists need a reduction in the transpor- 

 tation costs not only for fertilizer, which 

 is not so large an item as some others, 

 but on all items. The cost of freight and 

 express shipments is out of line with al- 

 most all other costs. We must get them 

 down. 



WE THINK SO, TOO. 



J. D. A. Morrow, vice-president of 

 the National Coal Association, told the 

 interstate commerce commission that, if 

 any freight rates are reduced, 75 cents 

 a ton should be taken off the rates on 

 coal. He was the first of the witnesses 

 for shippers in the commission's gen- 

 eral rate inquiry. 



Mr. Morrow's idea was that the rail- 

 roads could afford to make the reduction 

 in rates on coal to the extent indicated 

 and not be really hurt, because the cut 

 would so stimulate manufacturing that 

 they would more than recoup their losses 

 in revenue. 



At present, he said, the railroads are 

 obtaining fifty-one and one-half per 

 cent, and the mine operators forty-eight 

 and one-half per cent, of the price paid 

 by the first buyer of coal. 



Mr. Morrow said that high freight 

 rates and high wages for miners would 

 have to be deflated. He said that wages 

 have been reduced in the nonunion coal 

 fields and some reductions have been 

 made in some union fields, but that, gen- 

 erally speaking, the deflation in wages 

 has not taken place in the union fields. 

 He said the average price of coal at the 

 pit mouth is now about $2.13 per ton. 



ALWAYS BOOM FOS ONE MOKE. 



A comparatively new comer among 

 the large propagators of young stock 

 for the trade is Hans Jepsen, of May- 

 wood, 111., whose specialty is chrysanthe- 

 mums. After trying it out for a couple 

 of seasons and deciding there would be 

 plenty of room for a man offering good 

 stock, Mr. Jepsen decided to propagate 

 heavily this year and began booking 

 orders in November. He has confined 

 his advertising to The Review. This 

 is his report: 



Orders are coming In fast; about 150 to date; 

 am sold <ip on several varieties until sprlnK. 

 My advertising up to. the present time has cost 

 me only three and one-half per cent on my 

 orders. So murb for ndvertlsini;! Nothing like 

 it.- — Hans Jepsen, Maywood, 111., January 24, 

 1922. 



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 ANSWEBS. 



J. E. D., Pa. — Cleveland cherry seed 

 planted January 1 to 15 gives best re- 

 sults; later sowing will fruit, but prob- 

 ably not in time for Christmas. Sow 

 Primula malacoides in June. 



