32 



The Florists^ Review 



Apuil 14, 1921 





Establlslied 1H97, 

 by O. li Grant. 



Fubllslied every Thursday by 

 The Fi.okist.s* Pi'iiusuino Co., 



eOO 560 Caxton Bulldln«r, 



808 South Dearborn St., ChlcOKO. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



Reirlstered cable address, ■ 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered aa second class matter 

 Doc. 3. 1897, at the post-otBce at Olil- 

 cafro. III., under the Act of March 

 8,1879. 



Subscription price, t2.0O a year. 

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



Advertlslnflr rates quoted od 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 Tertlaing accepted. 



MA&Aiidb^ 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



Mothers' clay will be what the trade 

 makes it. 



NEWSPAPEii advertising brings people 

 to your store. An attractive window dis- 

 play brings them in. 



Respect the * ' little fellow. ' ' Remem- 

 'bcr all the big business men in this coun- 

 try started in a small way. 



Ciirys.anthemum plants are selling un- 

 usually well this year, as it seems the 

 nwrtality among the cuttings has been 

 liigher than it ordinarily is. 



Conditions do not yet ])oint to a 

 period of oversujiply in this trade. 

 Ratlicr the reverse. We have learned 

 *o well how to stimulate demand that 

 now we are in need of a greater supply. 



The circulation of The Review again 

 lias jia.s'sed its previous high-water mark, 

 tlio former record having been made, 

 naturally, before the war, while the sub- 

 sciiiition ])rice still was only $1 per year. 

 Tlie weekly edition now is 12, COO coi)ics. 



Richmond, Ind., is attaining florieul- 

 tural celebrity for something besides roses 

 since the news reports contained the in- 

 formation that William B. Leeds, the late 

 ' ' tin-plate king, ' ' whose widow married 

 the brother of King Constantino of 

 ■Greece and whose son is engaged to the 

 niece of that monarch, started life as a 

 florist in that city. 



The army of bulb salesmen, sometimes 

 referred to as the D. E. F., is retiring in 

 somewhat bad order after the 1921 inva- 

 sion. Many are working a last skirmish 

 for orders, jirejiaratory to starting for 

 liome. Init a numlicr sailed Ajn'il 9, with 

 tlic tliinnest order books in years. It looks 

 as thougli tlie Ameiican jobbers should 

 have a good sensoii, as many buyers who 

 always have imjiorted direct have jilaced 

 no orders thus fnr. 



There was ;i time wlien the Postoffice 

 De]iartment took pride in the accurate and 

 prompt delivery of mail, no matter how 

 incompletely or inaccurately addressed, 

 but now the jiolicy seems to be to return 

 everything not fully addressed, with the 

 i 's dotted and the t's crossed. It is es- 

 senti;il tliat stie(>t and number be given 

 in addressing innil to any but the smallest 

 towns. Otherwise the letter comes back 

 stamj)ed "Insullicient address," as many 

 ■florists have found to their great vexation. 



From all appearances, California will 

 supply the palms wo got from Belgium 

 and the irises we got from France, Hol- 

 land and the Channel islands. 



Gueenhouse labor is loath to resume 

 the manual tasks. The next develop- 

 ment in the trade therefore is likely to 

 1)0 the introduction of special machinery 

 for heavy work like unlo*ading coal and 

 carrying soil. 



Putting yourself in the other fellow's 

 place, imaginatively, will solve a good 

 many business tangles that cause great 

 annoyance. A look at the other side of 

 the case gives you the proper perspec- 

 tive on your side. 



If you haven't the stock for all your 

 orders, send back the unfilled ones with 

 an explanation. Don't bank the check 

 and wait for another batch to grow. 

 Your customer sent the money because 

 he wanted the stock now. 



Conditions are now favoring the return 

 of Belgian glass into the United States 

 markets. What is thought to be the 

 largest single shipment of ordinary glass 

 since the armistice, left Antwerp last 

 month for Seattle, Wash. Many of the 

 shipping agencies have commitment for a 

 great amount of glass, one stating that it 

 had 60,000 tons to ship. 



Now is being demonstrated the truth 

 in the saying of J. J. Hill, the great rail- 

 road builder: "If you want to know 

 whether you are destined to be a success 

 or not, you can easily find out. The test 

 is simple and infallible. Are you able 

 to save money? If not, you will lose. You 

 may think not, but you will lose as sure 

 as fate, for the seed of success is not in 

 von. ' ' 



WHAT THE BOSS WANTS. 



Hints to Florists' Employees. 



It is not how hard you work, but 

 what you accomplish that interests the 

 boss. 



Hard work in itself will not make 

 you valuable to your firm. 



Your work must be reliable. 



Speed may do more damage than 

 good. No business man wants thought 

 less bungling, even if speedy. 



A slow, dependable, well balanced 

 man is worth more than the fast worker 

 who constantly makes costly mistakes. 



Tliink faster than you work, so that 

 you can plan ahead and make your 

 moves in logical, systematic order. 



If .-niotlier man must be jiaid to super- 

 vise your work, he, ;ind not you, is the 

 valuable man. 



Do your work so that you can be the 

 higher-priced man. 



WHERE ARE YOU AT? 



"More growers would know where 

 Ihey are at if they had to face a situa- 

 tion such as I have had to meet," re 

 marked a meml)cr of the trade the otlier 

 day. "Taking charge of tlie green- 

 houses that form ]iart of a large estate, 

 the executors of wliich are bankers and 

 totally unacquainted with the florists' 

 l)usiness, I have had to present a finan- 

 cial statement from time to time.- These 

 executors aren 't interested in the kind 

 of roses I grow so much as in tlie re- 

 turn those roses will make on the in- 

 vestment represented in the green- 

 houses of the estate. 



"When I tell them I shall need so 

 many thousand dollars for operating ex- 



penses during the year, they want to 

 know how many thousand dollars I can 

 1)0 certain the roses will bring in re- 

 turn for the expenditure of that money. 



"So I have calculated that I must 

 get so much for each rose I cut. If the 

 plants in my greenhouses average a cer- 

 tain number of roses per plant and I 

 obtain that price, on the average, on 

 all the roses I cut, I shall realize at 

 least the money I have paid out. If 

 every rose that I send to the wholesale 

 market brings me 8 cents, I shall break 

 even. If I can average 9 cents a rose 

 the year around, I shall make some 

 money for the estate. So it's necessary 

 to do some thinking as to just how I 

 can grow roses that will bring me 9 

 cents apiece, on an average throughout 

 the year. If every florist had to con- 

 sider the same problem in as mathemat- 

 ical a way, he would learn a good deal 

 about his business." 



If you doubt it, take out your pencil 

 and do a little figuring on your own 

 roses. 



CASH OR CREDIT. 



(With apologies to TTncle Walt.) 



There was a florist in our town, a man 

 of strict, conservative ways; his patrons 

 had to pay cash down, or meet their 

 bills in thirty days. He kept no dead- 

 beats on his books; to folks who didn't 

 come across, with courteous tones but 

 resolute looks, he showed he'd have a 

 heavy loss if he should sell to all who 

 came, at the same price, in the same 

 way, as that by which he'd made his 

 name, and wait a year or two for pay. 

 He had built up a thriving trade, his 

 bank account was on the climb, despite 

 the enemies he made because he 

 wouldn't give them time. 



Another florist came to town; he 

 thought he'd cut in on the biz, declar- 

 ing, "I won't ask cash down, but give 

 folks all the time there is." He thought 

 he could give cheaper stock and pocket 

 all the rest; he would just put that in 

 his sock, and call it interest on all the 

 cash that customers had out on their 

 accounts, which grew, as he made no 

 demurs, in little time to large amounts. 



It wasn't long before he found he 

 had no cash to draw upon, and then col- 

 lectors came around, and soon he found 

 his credit gone. Reverses followed 

 swift and strong. The sheriff came and 

 closed him up; in court he sang the 

 bankrupt's song about his sad and bit- 

 ter cup. The stock and fixtures brought 

 some cash; accounts weren't worth col- 

 lectors' fees. "Another case of judg- 

 ment rash," remarked the court at his 

 release. 



His pocket and his sock were bare; 

 his scheme of interest was a dream. 

 He only proved that well known air, 

 "Things are not always what thev 

 seem." "The other florist, all this while, 

 went on in his conservative ways, de- 

 manding cash with the old smile, or all 

 bills met in thirty days. 



BUSINESS IS GOOD. 



Business is good with plantsmen who 

 know how to get it — and the way to got 

 business in this trade is no secret. Like 

 this: 



\Vo linvc been t;ettin(; Kond rosnlts on onr 

 oliissiticl pl.iiit :i(ls ill Till- liovicw and nro iibout 

 sold ii|i (III iris now. Orinoco Nursorios, Coliim- 

 liiis. Ind.. April 8, IDUl. 



If you hear a man complain of the cost 

 of advertising you can be i)rctty certain 

 he spends a good bit of money elsewhere 

 than in The Review. 



