24 



The Florists* Review 



Apbil 7, 1921 



n 



Pabllshed every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Publishing Co., 



600-660 Oaxton Balldini; , 



fiOe South Dearborn St., Ohlca<ro. 



Tel., Wabaah 8196. 



Registered cable address, 



riorrlew, Cblcsffo. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at the poet-ofBce at Clil- 

 oaRO, 111., under the Act of March 

 8. 1879. 



BabscripUon price, t2.00 a year. 

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



Adyertlslngr rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 Tertlslng accepted. 



n 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



A coi.i) -wave, not so disastrous in the 

 north, ha« ruined much outdoor stock 

 in the south. 



Once ag&in are come tlie days when 

 cash counts. The florist wlio is able to 

 put uf) the cash is the one who gets the 

 big bargains now. 



Competition in service is becoming as 

 keen as competition in prices. It has 

 not the disastrous effects upon ]irofits 

 that result from the latter. 



It is easi(!r and cheaper to kce]> an old 

 customer than to make a new one. There- 

 fore, treat nil who do business with you 

 with courtesy and fairness. 



The Classified plant andsnpply ads in 

 this issue of The Review again constitute 

 a record. No previous edition, ever has 

 carried so many or so great a variety. 



It will keep the florists hustling to 

 get rrady enough stock for Memorial 

 day business. A good demand is cer- 

 tain. An adequate su])idy is far from 

 certain. 



TuEiiE was an unusually good Easter 

 business everywhere; more people than 

 ever before had flowers that day. The 

 reaction of the few days following was 

 nothing more than we must exj>ect just 

 after we liave fully stocked all our cus- 

 tomers. 



Al)VEkTi.si\<; never demonstrated its 

 worth so well as it did tliis Easter. Th(> 

 results that now elate florists tlnougli- 

 out the country were jiossible only l>e- 

 cause everybody pushed hard, in the 

 liope of overcoming the ajinthy that dis- 

 mays other lines of business. Never 

 before did florists use so nuich adver 

 tising. Never before did they have, 

 conditions considered, a holiilay so 

 eminently successful. 



The brightest gleam tliat has ))ene 

 trated the editorial sanctum in a long 

 time is this: "We wish to state that we 

 commeme April 1 with a complete re- 

 organization of our shipjiing dejiarttneut 

 on lines frecpiently laid down in the.eili- 

 torial jiage of The Review." No de- 

 partment of the greenhouse business 

 needs more attention than this one. The 

 lines of reorganization are simple and 

 have often been mentioned here. May 

 more heed them thus! 



A HANDSOME color jdatc has beeu 

 issued by R. Vincent, .Jr., & Sons Co., 

 White Marsh, Md., showing the Patrick 

 O'Mara dahlia. 



Qi'.^LiTY is what we need more than 

 increased quantity. Grow the best stock 

 and you will be the leading florist in 

 your neighborhood. 



The thoroughness with which florists 

 cleamvl out all available stock for East- 

 er is a matter of surprise to some in 

 this line of business and a matter of 

 envy to some in other lines. 



Prices have descended so low in the 

 coal market for lack of even a small de 

 mand that it is anprehended a few orders 

 will send quotations up. It looks like 

 a good time to fill up available storage 

 space. 



From the way the Classified Ads are 

 coming to The Review from florists in 

 New York*, Pennsylvania and New Eng 

 land it appears the trade in that sec 

 tion must have restored production to 

 pre-war quantity this season. 



During the war boom any man could 

 make money; the difference was what 

 they did with it. The florists who first 

 paid their debts and saved what was left 

 are on Easy street now, while the im- 

 provident are about where they started, 

 except that they have had a fine nm for 

 their money. 



Max Scht.ino, whom n\ost florists 

 have come to know, complains that he 

 never gets a chance to sit down for a 

 half hour at a time. "Business with us 

 is brisk," he says. "Our advertising 

 is bringing more and more results and, 

 irrespective of conditions during the last 

 few months, we somehow do not feel 

 any decrease in business.'' The reason 

 l)UHiness is so good witli Mr. Schling is 

 that he doesn 't wait for it to come — he 

 meets it at least fjalfway. It is good 

 with anv other florist who does the same. 



"\ 



SXIPPOSE. 



Suppose every man, woman and child 

 bought a pair of shoes for Easter. 



Suppose you were in the shoe busi- 

 ness. 



IIow much shoe trade do you suppose 

 you would have the few days after 

 Easter? 



WHO HAS BORONIA SEEDS? 



Would some one of the numerous 

 readers of The Review tell me where I 

 could get seed of Poronia megastigma? 

 T have looked through several cata- 

 logues, hut fail to see it advertised in 

 any of tliem. This is a plant which de- 

 serves to be grown more extensively, if 

 onlv for its lovelv perfume. 



0. W. R. 



DANGER IN SLACK DEMAND. 



StatiMuents of an alarming nature are 

 heginning to be heard in the soft coal 

 trade resulting from adverse market re 

 ports from the coal fields and various in- 

 dustrial centers. Thousands of mines 

 have not had orders for a pound of coal 

 for two months, according to Coal Age, 

 and with a general average of a bare 

 two-days-a-week operation for the coun- 

 try those fortified with some business 

 are making little over three or four 

 days a week. 



Proiluction has steadily dropped dur- 

 ing fourteen weeks from more than 

 2,000,000 tons a day to about half this 



figure because there is no demand for 

 bituminous coal. That the country is 

 drifting into another period of car 

 shortage and high prices through im- 

 provident buying by steam coal users 

 is the fear generally expressed in many 

 quarters. All that is needed, state some 

 authorities, to bring on a repetition of 

 coal trouble is for consumers to hold 

 off thirty to sixty days longer and for 

 business to pick up even moderately. 



"It is admittedly difficult to appraise 

 the danger correctly in the situation," 

 says one writer regarding the present 

 market. "The only element in the 

 problem that is definitely known is pro- 

 duction. The item of greatest uncer- 

 tainty is the country's requirement for 

 coal for the next twelve months — that 

 is, to what extent business will pick up. 

 It can safely be said that the consumer 

 with any certainty of coal requirements 

 in the next twelve months who does not 

 make provision through purchase, 

 whether spot or colitract, for his coal 

 and who does not at once begin accumu- 

 lating it in his own storage yard is play- 

 ing with fire." 



FLOWER GROWERS WANT FACTS. 



The National Flower Growers' Asso- 

 ciation is endeavoring to compile data 

 with a view to j^etting valuable informa- 

 tion for dissemination among the flower 

 growers of this country, pertaining to 

 insurance protection and a simplified, 

 uniform bookkeeping system, including 

 ways to figure cost of production, depre- 

 ciation, etc. Any answers to the fol- 

 lowing inquiries mailed to the under- 

 signed, at Edwardsville, 111., will be 

 appreciated by those in charge of this 

 work and will materially assist in get- 

 ting some definite results: 



1. Do you carry insurance and, if so, 

 what kind? Name the companies and 

 rates paid. 



2. Explain in brief outline your sys- 

 tem of bookkeeping and how you figure 

 cost of production and depreciation. 



3. Please give such other information 

 as in your opinion would assist mate- 

 rially in the above work. 



J. F. Ammann, Sec 'y. 



A BUSY SEASON. 



"That the trade is enjoying another 

 extremely active season is shown by the 

 letters which reach The Review. The 

 activity seems to be general, all over 

 the country, east as well as west, for 

 The Review is steadily advancing as 

 an advertising medium for the florists 

 of the east. Ijike this: 



Two insertions would Iiavp lippii siiffloicnt to 

 luive cipiined up on our stock, luid then some. 

 T.Tlk nliont results! We didn't get results, we 

 had a l;indsli<Ie of letters, nnd it sure hurts to 

 return inone.v ;ih well iis to disappoint custom- 

 ers. — C. L. Curry & Sons, Valencia, I'a., March 

 .31, 1921. 



The ad recently placed with yon certainly 

 cleaned up our surplus stock ipiickly. — Quality 

 Flower Store & Greenhouse. Fort Smith. Ark , 

 April 1, 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. 



BRIEF ANSWERS. 



Q. F. S., Ark.— Address John ('.. Esler," 

 secretary of the Florists' Hail Associa- 

 tion, Saddle River, N. .1. 



A. J. S., Cal.— To obtain permit for 

 importing the stock you wish, apply to 

 the Federal Horticultural Board, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



