40 



The Florists' Review 



April 20. 1922 



fl 



ERtabllshed 1897, 

 by a. L arant 



Pabllabed every Tbarsday by 

 Thb Pumusts' Publishing Co.. 



600 S60 Oaxton BuUdlngr, 



608 Soath Dearborn St., Ohlcago. 



Tel, Wabash 8195. 



RegrlHtered cable addrew, 



Florvlew, Oblcaffo. 



Entered aa second class matter 

 Dec. 3, 1897, at the post-ofSce at Ohi- 

 cago. 111., under the Act of March 

 8. 1879. 



Subscription price, 12.00 a year. 

 To Oanada, {3.00; to Europe, $4.00. 



AdrertlalnK rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



Telegraph orders were many this 

 Easter. Perhaps it was because effort 

 was made to get them. 



' * Say It with Asters ' ' is the slogan of 

 J. Dobbertin & Son, Rochester, N. Y. 

 You can guess what their specialty is. 



One of the most valuable of a business 

 man's assets is his credit. Careful re- 

 gard for it in times when it seems un- 

 important often is of great value when 

 conditions are changed. 



Another paraphrase of our slogan is 

 "Say It with a Night Letter," used by 

 the Western Union Telegraph Co., which 

 should have greater regard for the florists 

 and the business they give it. 



Reductions in the prices of boilers have 

 been announced by the American Radia- 

 tor Co., amounting to twelve and one-half 

 per cent. Prices are now but thirty-three 

 and one-third per cent above pre-war 

 levels. 



Some firms, in this trade as well as 

 others, look upon sales as-fhe measure of 

 success. But, after all, sales are not so 

 important as the profits they bring, and 

 the profits on the books not so important 

 as money in the bank. 



Reports of Easter business as the 

 "best yet" occur with a frequency that 

 is surprising when one considers the slack- 

 ness of trade in other lines. With a 

 Mothers' day and Memorial day in keep- 

 ing with J.'asterj the trade will enjoy a 

 record spring season. 



The gladiolus incites more of its dev- 

 otees to become ])ul)lislicrs in its belialf 

 than any other flower. One more liaa 

 entered the field with the Gliidiolus Bulle- 

 tin. Stanley Tliorpe, Medway, Mass., is 

 the pul)lisher. Tlie second issue, dated 

 Aj)ril, contains eight small pages. Its 

 interest is chiefly for amateurs. 



In a booklet sent a florist 's customers 

 is the statement that 100,000,000 roses 

 are sold in the United States every yeai 

 and the [)iife paid for them amounts to 

 $6,000,000, wliile the carnations sold have 

 a value of $4,000,000. The compiler of 

 those data must have figured carnation 

 sales nt Mothers' day prices, or else his 

 figures on roses are much too low. Un- 

 doubtedly, far more than 100,000,00(1 

 roses arc sold annually. 



Liquid assets are among the most im- 

 portant a concern has. No business policy 

 ought to be followed that tends to impair 

 them. 



The high profits and wages of post- 

 war days brought many new buyers into 

 flower stores. A fair proportion of these 

 continue their purchases, augmenting the 

 florists' list of customers of former days. 



VRATISLAV CESTMYR NEJEDLIK. 



Who knows a man named Vratislav 

 Cestmyr Nejedlik, his present where- 

 abouts or fate? He worked for Otto 

 Schwill & Co., Memphis, some years ago 

 and his relatives have not heard of him 

 since the war. Help The Review quiet 

 their anxiety. 



IT WAS A BANNER EASTER. 



Aided by the weather man, florists this 

 year had as heavy a holiday business, for 

 the most part, as t4iey have ever enjoyed. 

 The enthusiastic reports coming in from 

 all parts of the country as this issue goes 

 to press show how generally the trade 

 has shared in the success of the occasion. 

 Doubts that arose with a sluggish de- 

 mand early last week were dispelled as 

 Easter neared. Bright weather the lat- 

 ter part of the week, save in a few local- 

 ities, impelled the buyers to the flower 

 shops. Saturday was as fair a day of 

 spring as could be wished, except in 

 some places along the Atlantic coast. 

 But these had a bright Sunday, which 

 brought out the buyers who wait to 

 purchase until the holiday itself is upon 

 them. Most florists were as nearly 

 cleaned out as they wished to be when 

 they closed their doors. 



While the weather man helped at the 

 eleventh hour, he caused many anxious 

 moments earlier. The warm weather 

 had brought on much bulbous stock 

 somewhat more rapidly than was desir- 

 able, and many pots and pans of tulips 

 were inclined to be "leggy," if, indeed, 

 the blooms did not keel over. This was 

 the more to be regretted since this class 

 of stock, moderate in price, was what 

 was most wanted. The public showed 

 itself disinclined to pay high prices; and 

 there arc, here and there, rose bushes 

 and otlier plants of extra fine quality 

 that lacked buyers. The cloudy weather 

 liandica[)pod the sweet pea growers in 

 some localities — a misfortune to them, 

 for this was the flower most wanted for 

 corsages to adorn the promenaders. 



The worst misfortune of the season, 

 however, was the lack of stem on the 

 lilies. Few stately specimens were to 

 be seen, and they commanded good 

 prices. In largest numbers were plants 

 with blooms not much above the covers 

 on the pots. There were, happily, many 

 liuyers who believed that only a lilv 

 was apjii-ojiriate to the day; so the short 

 lilies were sold. 



Hydrangeas of the French varieties 

 wcie nuuierous and excellent. These 

 and rose bushes furnished the holiday's 

 leaders in jioint of quality. There was 

 a wide variety of (ither ])lants, as well. 



A\ a liable cut flowers were sold easily 

 and ((uicklv, esnecially if not too high 

 prices were asked. Most stores had 

 empty iceboxes when they closed Sun- 

 day and havers were in the markets 

 strong Monday morning. 



Tlie trade may congratulate itself on 

 its Easter sales. The dullness of other 

 liusinesses was notably al)sent from ours 

 on this occasion. If we will ]iut forth 

 the effort necessary to duplicate our 



success at Mothers' day and Memorial 

 day, the trade's spring record will be 

 a notable one. And, after selling the 

 flowers, let us not forget to collect our 

 money for them without undue delay. 

 It is not the stock which goes out, but 

 the money which comes in that really 

 counts. 



l^SINESS CO^pNG BACK. 



Many florists have noted that certain 

 classes of customers are buying flowers 

 more freely than they have fer a long 

 time. Rich people, who reduced their 

 purchases during the silk shirt era, have 

 resumed their customary mode of living. 

 People with fixed incomes have more 

 money for the things not indispensable. 

 And, of course, people are "getting 

 used ' ' to the prevailing conditions. One 

 of the concerns which sell business ad- 

 vice summed it up as follows in a recent 

 bulletin: 



• ' One important difference between 

 the summers of 1921 and 1922 will be in 

 the attitude of people's minds. Last 

 summer there was a sense of worry and 

 fear in the air that made people refrain 

 from even ordinary purchases. There 

 was also a feeling, born of falling com- 

 modity prices, that prices were on the 

 down grade and the longer one waited 

 the clieaper things would be. This 

 caused existing purchasing power to be 

 held in abeyance. 



' ' This year there is a feeling of greater 

 confidence that the worst is over and this 

 will go to offset the diminished incomes 

 of mo3t of the people. Summer resorts 

 and businesses that draw their chief 

 support from the patronage of the wage- 

 earning classes will feel the effects of 

 reduced wages, part-time schedules and 

 unemployment. Those patronized chiefly 

 by the higher salaried, professional and 

 wealthier classes will probably find busi- 

 ness rather better than last year. The 

 purchasing power of people with rela- 

 tively fixed incomes is greater." 



That must mean the florists' business 

 will continue to improve. 



PROMPT RESPONSE. 



It nevej- ceases to be a matter of sur- 

 prise to advertisers that they receive 

 replies to advertisements by the same 

 mail or even before the one in which 

 they receive their copy of The Review 

 containing the advertisement. The mat- 

 ter of fact is that delivery service in- 

 some places is much better than in 

 others. Those who get the paper quickly 

 have a decided advantage when it comes 

 to obtaining stock that is scarce; they 

 liave the opportunity to write or wire 

 before the man who is on a poorly 

 served rural delivery route has received 

 his paper. The results frequentlv are 

 like this: 



I .ini i>1('iispd to write yoii that in this luorn- 

 iiic's iniiil. tiipotlier with my onpy of The Re- 

 view, wfTc two orders with cash, one fri>m In- 

 diaiiM mill one from IMinnls. Tliis is iistonishing, 

 considorim; thiit I did not Ret my copy of the- 

 paper until this morning. I .im oii a ninil route. 



fhMrles H. StiTiier, Monmouth. III., April 17, 

 1922. 



If you he;ii- a man complain of the 

 cost of advertising, you can be pretty 

 certain he spends a good bit of money 

 iNcwlu re than in The Review. 



BRIEF ANSWERS. 



Mrs. ,J. B. A., N. C. — Send specimen 

 of snapdragons for ins]»ection. 



F. B. C. — Inquiries should be signed 

 with full name and address to secure 

 attention. 



