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22 



The Florists^ Review 



April 8, 1916. 





Established, 1897. by G. L. GRANT. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Publishino Co., 



639-560 Oaxton BuUdlnif, 



608 South Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Tele., Wabash 8196. 



Registered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897, at the post-offlce 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. 



Advertising rat<>s quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



NOTICE. 



It is impossible to guarantee 

 the insertion, discontinuance 

 or alteration of any advertise- 

 ment unless instructions are 

 receiTed by 



5 P. M. TUESDAY. 



SOCIETY OF AHEBICAK FLORISTa 

 Incorporated by Act of Congreii, March 4, 1901. 



Officers for 1015: President, Patrick Welch, 

 Boston; vice-president, Daniel MacRorle, San 

 Francisco; secretary, John Young, 53 W. 28th 

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

 Buffalo. 



Thirty-first annual convention, San Francisco, 

 Oal., August 17 to 20, 1015. 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



Has Christmas displaced Easter as the 

 big special flower day of the yeart 



The andnymous inquiry is a regular 

 feature of the day's mail. To get an 

 answer, give name and address; other- 

 wise, save your stamp. 



The rate at which florists are buying 

 automobiles, both for business and pleas- 

 ure, is taken by some to indicate that 

 a degree of prosperity still abides with 

 this trade. 



Secretary Baur has just mailed to 

 members the annual volume of the Amer- 

 ican Carnation Society, containing the 

 report of the Buffalo convention, list of 

 members, etc. 



If you want to get your name in the 

 paper, send a subscription for more than 

 one year. Some weeks you can get the 

 head of the Honorable Mention list for 

 $3, with 156 copies of The Beview to 

 follow. 



With Easter in the past, the next 

 milestone on the trade calendar is 

 Mothers' day, with Memorial day only 

 two laps away. But the spring planting 

 season is what brings the coin to the 

 coffers of the greatest number of 

 florists. 



It begins to look as though the whole- 

 sale plantsmen will have a chance to 

 view the holiday situation a little more 

 nearly from' the viewpoint of the whole- 

 sale cut flower man. The method of 

 reaching the public will come up for 

 consideration whenever it looks as 

 though the ordinary retail channels are 

 unable to market the stock produced. 



HONOBABLE MENTION. 



Not a few subscribers save them- 

 selves the bother of annual renewal by 

 sending The Eeview $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: 



FIVE years. 



Sherwood, H. M., Columbia City, Ind. 



TWO YEARS. 

 Jones, Wm. G., Dubois, Pa. 

 Scbeffler, R., Wheaton, 111. 

 Gordon, J. A., Lost Springs, Kan. 

 Watson, J., Oswego, Ore. 

 Gesner, Albert, Nora, 111. 

 McKinnon, A. J., Flint, Mich. 



The Review stops coming when the 

 subscription runs out. The green no- 

 tice with the last copy tells the story; 

 no bills are run up; no duns sent. 



EASTEB. 



A great deal might be said of last 

 week's business, b\it not much of it 

 would be worth while — conditions 

 varied so much, and in the east were 

 so unusual, that the experience affords 

 no great amount of light by which to 

 read the future. 



Along the eastern seaboard, from 

 Washington to Portland, a fall of snow, 

 in many places heavier than any of 

 the winter, disrupted all lines of busi- 

 ness and, of course, hit certain florists 

 a right swing to the jaw — the knockout 

 blow — while it inflicted more or less 

 loss on all. As usual, it appears to have 

 been the growers who were hardest hit, 

 although some of those who take time 

 by the forelock had passed their load 

 on to other hands. Philadelphia got the 

 brunt of the blizzard and felt it earlier 

 than did Boston, but everywhere in the 

 storm-swept area the retailers stopped 

 buying except for orders as soon as the 

 weather turned. The retailers who have 

 fashionable and wealthy trade suffered 

 less loss of business and stock than be- 

 fell their less aristocratic brethren, the 

 plebeian street vender, who in pleasant 

 weather merchandises a great quantity 

 of low grade stock in certain cities, 

 being put completely out of business. 



Under such conditions it is useless 

 to make extended comment on the fate 

 of favorite flowers; that lilies were a 

 glut and yet the largest seller, that cut 

 stock was left in one place and cleaned 

 up in another, means nothing. The 

 only point of value lies in the fact that 

 prior to the breaking of the storm 

 everything was moving smoothly, with 

 fair promise of a splendid business — 

 there is no reason to fear that the big 

 flower day of the year is not in every 

 way as good as ever it was. 



Getting out of the storm area, busi- 

 ness was big and, in many middle- 

 western cities, favored by ideal weather 

 conditions. Whatever may have been 

 the experience of individual wholesale 

 concerns, the retail business was tre- 

 mendous. If it did not exceed last 

 year it was only because then, too, the 

 stores had more customers than they 

 could wait on in the few short hours 

 in which most of the buying is done. 

 In the smaller communities, where the 

 business is less strenuous but also less 

 erratic, a splendid volume of sales was 

 recorded. The country florist, while he 

 seldom makes a fortune, always seems 

 to have the usual seasonable business. 



There were plenty of flowers this 

 Easter. The supply of pot plants has 

 increased greatly and they passed from 



growers' to retailers' hands early in" 

 the week. The man who has a green- 

 houseful or storeful of plants does not 

 buy many cut flowers until the plants 

 are well ordered up. This was reflected 

 in the wholesale markets, where a 

 larger proportion of the cut stock than 

 usual found its outlet through devi- 

 ous channels. 



That the supply of plants has in- 

 creased rather faster than required was 

 shown by some decline in prices. It was 

 a popular priced Easter. The big plants, 

 such as azaleas, rhododendrons, genistas 

 and hydrangeas, did not sell clean ex- 

 cept at concessions and the retailers 

 who bought them had the same diffi- 

 culty passing them on to the public. 

 Lilies were abundant, many of them 

 short. While the small-city florist still 

 can get the usual prices, in the big 

 towns lower values prevail, forced by 

 the supply exceeding the needs of the 

 regular trade. 



NEW BECOBDS. 



Week after week this spring The Re- 

 view is carrying a record quantity of 

 classified plant ads. Usually the larg- 

 est showing of these "little wonder 

 ads," as a user called them, is in an 

 early May issue, but this season late 

 March saw May's best records broken. 

 The increase is principally because of 

 the number of eastern florists who are 

 turning to the use of The Review as 

 a means of moving their surplus. 



And, apparently, the more classified 

 ads there are in The Review the better 

 the results; certainly the "little wonder 

 ads" never paid better than now. Like 

 this: 



Cut out all our classified ads, as we are sold 

 out of everything, for which we thank The Re- 

 view. — Charles Werner & Son, Shelby ville, Ind., 

 April 5, 1015. 



Twenty thousand pansy plants sold from two 

 insertions of a 4-line classified ad In The Re- 

 view; that's going some. — John G. Witt & Son, 

 Chicago, 111., April 6, 1015. 



CJHICAGO. 



The Market. 



The individual reports of the houses 

 in this market vary widely this year, 

 the Easter business of some having 

 been ahead of all previous records, with 

 the majority about even with or slightly 

 below last year, while a few tell most 

 lugubrious tales of bad business, sales 

 having fallen below any recent year, 

 with considerable quantities of stock 

 unsold. Probably a summing up would 

 indicate a total Easter business about 

 on a par with that of last year. This 

 refers only to wholesale cut flowers; 

 the wholesale plant business certainly 

 exceeded all previous records,, and re- 

 tailers are not complaining. 



When it comes to the various items 

 of stock, the reports diverge almost 

 as much as is the case with the reports 

 of business done in the various houses. 

 Taking the market as a whole, there 

 was an abundance of stock. Especially, 

 lilies were plentiful. Although some 

 houses say they were able to clean out 

 their lilies at usual prices, the majority 

 had rather more lilies than they needed, 

 especially of the shorter grades, and 

 prices were distinctly lower than usual. 

 The city stores bought lilies in pots and 

 did not call for cut lilies in the usual 

 quantities. 



As frequently happens, the conditions 

 as regards roses and carnations were 

 exactly the reverse of general predic- 

 tions. A fortnight ago almost every- 

 one was sure there would be enough 



