30 



The Florists^ Review 



APKiL 21, 1921 



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STS" 



Established 1897, 

 by Ci. L Qrant. 



/ 



Published every ThursUay tt»~. 

 The Puouists' Puulishino Co., 



600 560Oaxton BulldlnR, 



808 South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



Reelsterod cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. IH97, at the post-otUce at Chl- 

 caKo, 111., under the Act of March 

 3,1879. 



Subscription price, $2.00 a year. 

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



Advertlslnpr rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertislng accepted. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



The rent of many a retailer will get a 

 good big boost at the end of this month. 



It never was more "unfair" to sell 

 flowers on Mothers' day than flags on 

 the Fourth of July. 



Learn to use a few loose flowers in 

 funeral pieces instead of many stuck in 

 stiffly. The appearance will be better 

 and your cost less. 



When one can get 1,000 good letter- 

 heads with envelopes to match, printed 

 and delivered for a $10 bill, it is unwise 

 to send out orders or inquiries written on 

 a leaf from a child's school block. Still 

 many florists do it. 



The April bulletin of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society consists of a 

 bibliography on the rose, comprising 

 books on the subject in the libraries of 

 the society and of the Arnold Arboretum, 

 a list that should be useful to florists who 

 wish to delve deep in the lore of this 

 flower. 



The seesaw character of this spring's 

 weather has emphasized the influence of 

 that factor on the flower supply. Few 

 industries besides our own are affected so 

 markedly by the elements. Kose crops 

 have been doubled in a week's time and 

 almost as suddenly and as extensively 

 diminished. 



Jt is considered the "peak of ridicu- 

 lousness" by Secretary Vick that the 

 January bulletin of the American Dahlia 

 Society should have cost 18 cents per 

 copy in printing costs, though it was only 

 "a little 3'2-pagc ]iamphlet" of 2,500 

 copies. If by no other way than embark- 

 ing in tlic publishing business, those 

 previously unaware of the facts are 

 learning that the margin on which a pub- 

 lication is operated today is a jirecari- 

 ous one. 



After climbing steadily for years, the 

 price of folding cut flower boxes has at 

 last hit the toboggan. Wiiile the re- 

 ductions are considerable, due to a large 

 cut in the cost of box board following 

 general business stagnation, it has not 

 been possible to reduce the prices of 

 boxes in the same proportion board has 

 fallen, as labor still is high. Box board 

 now is lower than before the war, but it 

 is almost sure to rise again when general 

 business picks up. 



Clutter your store or your window, 

 and see how cheap it looks. Then ar- 

 range things as simply and neatly as you 

 can, and note the distinction. 



In the florists' profession there is an 

 unusual abundance of room "at the top." 

 Whether one is growing flowers or sell- 

 ing them, there is always great oppor- 

 tunity to do more and do it better. 



The April issue of the quarterly bulle- 

 tin of the American Dahlia Society con- 

 tains, in addition to much other interest- 

 ing reading regarding that flower, the 

 flrst installment of a list of all known 

 dahlia varieties, something which will be 

 welcomed by members. 



A GOOD many retailers feel that the 

 general business situation calls for the 

 reduction of their expenditures. Economy 

 in management always is commendable, 

 but, unfortunately, in numerous cases 

 the first step in retrenchment is a re- 

 laxation of selling effort, which is abso- 

 lutely the wrong policy. 



The Editor's desk has been decorated 

 for several days with a fine vase of Span- 

 ish and Dutch irises grown from bulbs 

 imported under permit for propagation by 

 Brown's Bulb Eanch, Capitola, Cal. The 

 blooms were sent by express without ice 

 and arrived in surprisingly fresh condi- 

 tion considering their long journey. 



The autumn show of the American 

 Dahlia Society will be held September 

 27 to 30, occupying the whole of the roof 

 garden of the Hotel Pennsylvania, New 

 York. It will be conducted along the 

 lines which made it so successful an 

 event last year. Secretary E. C. Vick, 205 

 Elwood avenue, Newark, N. J., is mak- 

 ing the arrangements. 



Bench rose plants, the stock thrown 

 out for replanting, are selling unexpect- 

 edly well. It was at one time thought 

 such large replanting operations as are in 

 progress this season would result in a 

 surplus, but there seems to be no limit 

 to the demand, although it is well with- 

 in the recollection of many growers when 

 such stock went to the brush heap. 



PIPE PRICES GO DOWN. 



Following recent reductions in the 

 price of structural steel and some other 

 steel products, the U. S. Steel Corpora- 

 tion, through the Republic Iron & Steel 

 Co. and the Youngstown Sheet & Tube 

 Co., has announced reductions in price 

 of steel pipe averaging .$8 a ton. The 

 heavier current demand is for 1-inch 

 to 3-iiich material. 



THE COAL MARKET. 



The present absence of any market 

 at all for soft coal has caused fuel mer- 

 cliants some concern as to conditions in 

 the late summer and the autumn, when 

 proportionately heavy buying is certain 

 to take place. The railroads, poorly 

 equipped to meet the exigencies of last 

 fall, have not improved their equip- 

 ment for handling heavy shipments 

 next autumn. In the hopes of lower 

 freight rates, most buyers have post- 

 poned their purchases and storage bins 

 are emptier than for a long time past. 

 The demands on retail dealers in the 

 localities hit by the cold wave last 

 week showed that householders, too, 

 were without any fuel in their cellars. 

 Should buying not be started soon, 

 there is, coal men believe, strong like- 

 lihood of a rush at the elevejith hour 

 that will send prices skyward when the 



stampede begins. Coal production now 

 has reached a level perilously low, stat- 

 isticians relate, and the lack of good 

 transportation facilities makes the out- 

 look doubly gloomy. 



Florists should give thought to the 

 matter of refilling their storage bins 

 before the rush begins and vpith it the 

 consequent ascension of prices. The 

 prices at present quoted are surely low 

 enough. There seems little likelihood 

 of lower ones before the coal is needed 

 to heat greenhouses next winter. 



MISS JARVIS GIVES US HER DAY. 



Ever since florists, at the suggestion 

 of The Review, took hold of Mothers' 

 day and advertised it into a national 

 institution the trade has been hearing 

 regularly from Miss Anna Jarvis, who 

 conceived the idea and attempted to 

 designate the white carnation as the 

 emblem of the day. Miss Jarvis alter- 

 nately has solicited financial assistance 

 from the trade and threatened to desig- 

 nate some other emblem if florists did 

 not cease "commercializing" her day. 

 Last week she in part carried out the 

 alternative by causing the following 

 item to be circulated in the daily 

 papers: 



ABANDON FLOWERS AS MOTHER EMBLEM. 

 The Mothers' Day International Association In 

 Philadelpblii has abandoned the flower as a sym- 

 bol for this year's Mothers' day on May 8. 

 "These are not times to waste money on flow- 

 ers," the proclamation reads. It warns against 

 impostors, saying no one is authorized to solicit 

 funds or sell anything for Mothers' day. 



Mothers' day now belongs to anyone 

 who can take it — the "proclamation" 

 seems to release florists from all obliga- 

 tion. No other emblem can be desig- 

 nated without encountering the same 

 commercializing to which Miss Jarvis 

 objects when it is done by florists and 

 many lines of business have tried and 

 will try to make money out of the 

 day. But this trade, having had a long 

 start, should be able, by individual and 

 cooperative advertising, to hold the 

 day as its very own. 



APPLY IT TO YOUR OWN NEEDS. 



There are a great many florists who 

 do not seem to realize that what the 

 other fellow does with profit, they, too, 

 can do. Especially in the easterfi states 

 there are scores of florists who let stock 

 hang on their hands for lack of a local 

 market, not realizing that among the 

 readers of The Review there are ready 

 buyers for everything that is offered — 

 sharp eyes are watching the little 

 liners. The result is like this: 



About your vnlnable tmde paper, seed orders 

 onme in fast, thick and plenty; moreover, they 

 still are coming strong. — J. Dobbertln & Son, 

 Rochester, N. Y., April 9, 1921. 



Orders are so heavy we must withdraw our 

 offer of named varieties, thanks to The Review. 

 —J. Sylvester, Oconto, Wis., April 13, 1921. 



Orders for the stock advertised last week are 

 coining in flne now. — Perry Gardens, Painesville, 

 0., April 10, 1921. 



We congratulate you on the results The Re- 

 view produces for its advertisers. — Zetlitz Flo- 

 ral Products Co., Dayton, O.. April 12, 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. 



F. W., Wash.— Mix the chicken 

 manure with soil and use it as a top 

 dressing. 



W. S. L., 111.— It is Berberis Thun- 

 bergii, or Japanese barberry, much 

 used as a hedge plant. 



