18 



The Florists' Review 



jANUA.Br 7, 1916. 



tt 



Establlahed. 1897, by Q. L. GRANT. 



Publlahed every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Publishing Co., 



630-S60 Oaxton Building, 



SOe South Dearborn St., Chlcairo. 



Tele., Wabash 8196. 



ReKiitered cable address, 



Fiorvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3, 1897, at the post-office at Chi- 

 cago, 111., under the Act of March 

 3. 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.00 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.00; to Europe, $3.00. 



AdvertUlnRT rat*>s quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



NOTICE. 



It is impossible to guarantee 

 the insertion, discontinuance 

 •lor alteration of any advertise- 

 ment unless instructions are 

 received by 



5 P. M. TUESDAY. 



SOCIETT OF AMERICAN FLOHISTB. 

 Incorporated by Act of Congress, March 4, 1901, 



Officers for 1915: President, Patrick Welch, 

 Boston; vice-president, Daniel MacRorie, San 

 Francisco; secretary, John Touog, 63 W. 28th 

 St., New York City; treasurer, W. F. Kastlng, 

 Bnffak). 



Tblrty-flrst annual convention, San Francisco, 

 Cal., August 17 to 20, 191S. 



RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 

 We both have them. 



Perhaps it is because of their national 

 trait, a painstaking thoroughness, that 

 Germans are such excellent florists. 



It is worth while remembering that no 

 permanent business ever was buUt on a 

 cut price basis. Build on quality and 

 charge fair prices. 



Turning round on a smaller margin 

 may as well engage the trade 's attention 

 now as later. It is a condition, not a 

 theory, that demands consideration. 



Not a few subscribers save themselves 

 the bother of annual renewal by sending 

 The Review $2, $3, or sometimes $5, in- 

 stead of the dollar-bill that insures fifty- 

 two visits of the paper. 



One of the most competent of adver- 

 tising advisers says retail florists who do 

 not put price tickets on the stock in their 

 window displays are passing up one of 

 the most potent factors in selling. 



One of the "days" that failed is 

 January 29 — the anniversary of WUliara 

 McKiniey's birth — but in certain parts 

 of the country it is easily possible to 

 double the sale of carnations that day. 

 All that is needed is a little advertising. 



The developments of the last few 

 months have given force to the demand 

 for a closer scrutiny of credit risks and 

 more care is being taken than ever be- 

 fore to see that buyers do not get in too 

 deep. If the w&r, with all its lo^es 

 and alarms, should result in the general 

 adoDtion and enforcement of soihe ra- 

 tiofal business tertift ifi this trade it will 

 pro'rB:^ blessipg in (Usguise. ;j:.i 



WEALTH FROM THE FABMS. 



Prosperity must prevail in a coun- 

 try that creates on its farms, in a sin- 

 gle year, new wealth amounting to 

 $9,872,936,000, as the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture says this nation 

 did in 1914. Had if not been for the 

 reduced value of the cotton crop, due 

 to the war, it would have been a rec- 

 ord, but 1913 was slightly better. The 

 value of the principal farm crops this 

 year was: 



Corn $1,702,599,000 Tobacco ...$101,411,000 



Wheat .. 779,069,000 Rye 37,018,000 



Cotton .. 619,616,000 Sugar 



Oats .... 499,431,000 beets . . . 27,050,000 



Potatoes . 198.609,000 Rice 21,849,000 



Barley .. 105,903,000 Flaxseed .. 10,640,000 



Sweet po- Buck- 



tatoes . 41,294,000 wheat ... 12,892,000 



In the production of the above four- 

 teen principal crops this year's aggre- 

 gate was about ten per cent larger than 

 in 1913. 



mand in cut flowers, to obtain stability 

 seems to necessitate a radical change 

 of trade customs. 



SOCIETY OF AMEBICAN FLORISTS. 



President Welch has appointed H. H. 

 Bartsch, president of the Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Club of Boston, as an 

 "Affiliation" member of the board of 

 directors, to serve one year. 



John Young, Sec'y. 



STILL PULLING. 



Review classified ads have established 



a reputation as the great little business 



biingers, and they are still pulling. Like 



this: 



Ploase stop the ad and put in a new one — they 

 are about runnluK me crazy with orders. — Glenn 

 E. Moore, Rushville, Ind., January 4, 1915. 



THE CHRISTMAS LESSON. 



There is one thing sure, the expe- 

 rience at Christmas will result in a 

 still larger provision for plant business 

 next December and, doubtless, at Easter. 

 There is, of course, the probability that 

 some day the pendulum will swing in 

 the other direction, but for the moment 

 it is certain the wholesale cut flower 

 interests face a problem; unless busi- 

 ness conditions change radically cut 

 flowers will receive even less attention 

 ill the future than they did this Christ- 

 mas. The holiday trade reports show 

 the public bought cut flowers willingly, 

 but many retailers who must buy the 

 slock they sell made their principal ef- 

 fort with pot stock, for the obvious 

 reason that they ran less risk of loss 

 and stood better chance of profit. With 

 an increasing supply of plants the need 

 for cut flowers will grow less. 



High prices for special days have 

 militated against the popularity of cut 

 flowers, but of equal disadvantage has 

 been the uncertainty as to supply and 

 quality. Retailers who grow their own 

 cut flowers sold out cl6an at Christmas, 

 because they could be sure of their sup- 

 ply and could price |]t for rapid selling, 

 without regard to i advance quotations 

 in wholesale centers. It shows quite 

 clearly that the cut flower interests can 

 counter against the plantsmen when- 

 ever they are ready to adopt a different 

 policy. To bring cut flowers back to 

 favor it is necessary to do no more 

 than put the advance quotations at a 

 point where the retailers will take hold, 

 reassured by a guarantee that orders 

 wiirbe fiUid in full with goo4 stock at 

 the prices agreed iipdn — which is not 

 so easy as it sounds. Since no one 

 regularly can estimate with accuracy 

 th,e,, extent of j:he supply or IJie de- 



HONORABLE MBNTION. 



Not a few subscribers save them- 

 selves the bother of annual renewal by 

 sending The Review $2, $3, or some- 

 times $5, instead of the dollar-bill that 

 insures fifty -two visits of ^ the paper. 

 Among those who have this week en- 

 rolled, themselves for more than one 

 year in advance are: 



TWO tears. 



Goodwin. R. S., Lynn, Mass. ' 



Lletz. Richard. Milwaukee, Wis. 

 Butterfleld, A. G., Farmlngton. Mo. 

 Underwood, Arthur A., Cheyenne, Wyo. 

 Weaver. A., Massillon, O. 

 Olson, Charles, Atlantic, la. 

 Heckenkamp, F. W., Jr., Qulncy, III. 



The Review stops coming when the 



subscription runs out. The green notice 



with the last copy tells the story; no 



bills are run up; no duns sent. 



EVANS CHANGES NAME. 



Having many times been told by his 

 friends that his own name should be 

 used in his business, John A. Evans has 

 decided to take their advice. Conse- 

 quently the name of the corporation, 

 Quaker City Machine Co., is in process 

 of being changed to the John A. Evans 

 Co. There will be no other change. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



The old year went out without a rip- 

 ple, and the new year has come in vdth 

 the largest supply of stock this market 

 ever has known in January. One will 

 not be far out of the way in stating 

 that there is an abundance of all kinds 

 of stock, with more than is needed in 

 most lines. Prices are lower, on the 

 average, than they ordinarily are at 

 this date, but there are signs of a pos- 

 sible change to more nearly normal 

 conditions. Within the last few days 

 certain growers have begun to cut more 

 lightly in their houses of Killarney 

 and there has been a slight improve- 

 ment in the demand for carnatioiis, al- 

 though the supply is extremely J^avy. 

 White Killarney is coming in more 

 plentifully and with a number of the 

 wholesalers has given more concern, 

 during the last few days, than have 

 the pink roses. According to all the 

 rules of the game there should be little 

 call for white roses at Christmas and 

 a fine call for them in January. Many 

 gi'owers have acted accordingly. Tak- 

 ing the market aaj.a whole, there is no 

 shortage on any rose, although of course 

 some of the varieties not largely grown 

 are not always to be picked up on a 

 moment's notice; they can be had by 

 ordering early. Mrs. Russell is in 

 large supply. The quality is not quite 

 so good as itSvas when the skies were 

 brighter and the prices are not so much 

 above those of other roses as they were. 

 On the whole the behavior of the rose 

 to date is encouraging to the growers. 

 Beauties are in good supply. Even 

 short and medium stems are plentiful. 



Carnations have been in such large 

 supply that even with a little better 

 demand some of the wholesalers ha^e. 

 had no alternative except cheap sales 

 to clean out. Splits are a burdeti, for 

 good carnations are so cheap few buy- 

 ers care for splits, although there is a 

 big percentage of .bur3ted..flJ0"vfetS. in 



