22 



The Florists^ Review 



July 29, 1915. 



EstBbllBhed, 1897. by G. L. GRANT. 



Published erery Thursday by 

 The Florists' Publishing Co.. 



630-660 Oaztou BulldlOK, 



SOB South Dearborn St., OhlcaffO. 



Tele.. Wabash 8196. 



Registered cable address, 



riorvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at the poet-office at Chi- 

 caso. 111., under the Act of March 

 8. 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.00 a year. 

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



Advertising rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 Tertlslnff accepted. 



n 



NOTICE. 



It U impoctibU t* gaafnt— 

 Ck« insertioii, diseontinuaaca 

 •r altefrntiaa af mmj adTvrtis*- 

 ■iMit iib1«s« inttruetiaiu mrm 



S P. M. TUESDAY. 



BOOIETT OF AKERICAK FLORISTS, 

 booroprated by Act of Congress, March 4, 1901. 



Officers for 1915: President. Patrick Welch, 

 Boston; rice-president, Daniel MacRorle. San 

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

 St., New York City; treasuper. W. F. Kastlns, 

 BoCalo. 



Thirty-first annual conrention, San Francisco, 

 Oal.. August 17 to 20. 1915. 



EESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Business surely is looking up — there 

 never was a summer in which the public 

 used 80 many plants and flowers. 



Those Clevelanders are doing things. 

 They will make an S. A. F. com^ntion a 

 great success and 1916 will be a splendid 

 year for them to show what they can do. 



The number of chrysanthemum cut- 

 tings sold this year by the wholesale 

 growers indicates another increase in the 

 supply of cut blooms during October and 

 November. 



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. 



American friends of W. Wells, of 

 Merstham, England, who is well known 

 here, will be pleased to learn that, al- 

 though still in hospital, he is considered 

 out of danger after his illness and opera- 

 tion. 



FoLLOWiNO the lead of the National 

 Tube Co., and the independent manufac- 

 turers of steel boiler tubes, the makers of 

 wrought-iron boiler tubes last week an- 

 nounced an advance in prices by reduc- 

 ing the discount one point, which 

 aratrunts to $2 per ton. 



Bedding stock still is selling steadily 

 if not rapidly. It is true that in certain 

 pla«ee there is a surplus, but in most 

 cases it is due to not having the stock 

 in salable condition as early as it should 

 have been. The bedding plant business 

 is increasing joatber moie rapiiUy than 

 any other department of the trade. 



BELQIAN PLANTS MAY COME. 



That the federal government is doing 

 its best to secure the importation of 

 Belgian plants next fall, since The Ee- 

 view placed the case before the Wash- 

 ington officials a few weeks ago and 

 asked that certain representations be 

 made in London, is borne out by the 

 following cablegram from the American 

 consul-general at London, forwarded to 

 The Review by the State department: 



"Shipments from Belgium before 

 Cabinet. I have private advices that 

 plan being worked out which will enable 

 exports to go forward and payments 

 to be made under certain supervision. 

 Decision expected some days hence." 



CANADIANS USING VALLEY. 



In The Review of July 15 it was 

 stated that "there are reports from 

 Canada that lily of the valley has 

 gone out of favor and that even the 

 assurance that the pips were Danish is 

 not enough to sell the flowers." Of 

 course there were not quite so many 

 weddings this June as in previous 

 years, but taking that into considera- 

 tion and also the fact that we grew 

 no stock for our New York agent this 

 summer, our valley sales amounted to 

 only $1,200 less than in June, 1914. 

 The Dale Estate is responsible for at 

 least ninety per cent of the valley im- 

 ported into Canada, and the decrease 

 in sales is astonishingly small when it 

 is remembered that between 2,500,000 

 and 3,000,000 pips are forced in the 

 greenhouses here annually. 



W. G. Peacock. 



A YEAR OF WAR. 



This is the fifty-second week of the 

 cataclysm in Europe. 



The effect on business in America 

 has been extremely great, but not what 

 was expected. The loss of ordinary 

 export business has been made up for 

 by orders from European governments 

 that have given employment to hun- 

 nre3s of thousands who otherwise 

 probably would have been idle. 



But no amount of war business can 

 compensate for the disturbed conditions 

 caused by the war. Prosperity goes 

 with peace, but business not with bat- 

 tle. Trade in the United States, ex- 

 cept in lines connected with army sup- 

 plies, has had a bad ye&r; not so bad, 

 perhaps, as the situation twelve months 

 ago would have led one to expect, but 

 still a year that has set most businesses 

 back to where they were two, three 

 or even more years ago. 



The business of florists seems to have 

 suffered rather less than most lines. It 

 was hit quickly and hard when the 

 war clouds broke, it is true, but there 

 has been much improvement. Not 

 many florists have lost money this 

 year; most florists have made a little; 

 some have done almost as well as us- 

 ual. On the whole, we have reason 

 to congratulate ourselves; there are a 

 lot of people who have not fared so 

 well as florists. 



And of the future? 



Nobody knows. It looks as though 

 geijeral bT;siness in this country today 

 is twenty per cent behind normal. But 

 it is improving and the florist will get 

 his share. That conditions will be up- 

 set as long as the war continues is a 

 foregone conclusion. We depend on 

 Europe fo,r_a large part of what yve 

 have heretofore considered 4ra«(e ne- 



cessities. The French and Dutch bulbs 

 will come along as usual, for all that 

 can be foreseen, but ocean freights are 

 high. There will be no azaleas and 

 no valley, to mention only two of 

 many items, unless there is a change 

 in the fortunes of war. 



How long will it last? 



The beginning was of shocking sud- 

 denness; the end may come as quickly, 

 but at present it is not in sight. There 

 are those who predict a business boom 

 in the next year as the result of the 

 continuance of hostilities. But The 

 Review doubts if wealth ever will flow 

 from destruction. 



Better plan for another year about 

 like the last — and then let's all turn 

 in and see what we can do to make it 

 go ahead. 



NEXT WEEK'S WEATHER. 



Weekly weather forecast, is- 

 sued by the U. S. Weather 

 Bureau, Washington, D. C, for 

 the week beginning Wednes- 

 day, July 28, 1915: 

 For the Region of the Great Lakes — 

 Overcast, showery weather the first 

 half will be followed by generally fair 

 weather the latter half of the week. 

 The temperatures will average near or 

 slightly below the normal. 



For the Upper Mississippi Valley and 

 Plains States — Widely scattered show- 

 ers and thunder storms the first half 

 and generally fair weather the latter 

 half of the week. The temperatures 

 will average near or below the normal. 

 For the Ohio Valley and Tennessee — 

 Moderately warm and generally fair 

 weather will prevail during the greater 

 part of the coming week. 



For South Atlantic and East Gulf 

 States — Generally fair weather and nor- 

 mal temperatures probable during the 

 week, ^except that scattered showers 

 will likely occur in Florida and along 

 the South Atlantic coast. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



As a result of the unprecedented dis- 

 aster of July 24, Chicago market con- 

 ditions have undergone a radical 

 change. Beginning as early as the af- 

 ternoon of that day, thpse wholesale 

 houses enjoying the patronage of the 

 west side florists experienced a rap- 

 idly increasing demand. This assumed 

 such magnitude that practically every- 

 thing usable in funeral work cleared 

 the following three days. The call was 

 primarily for white, but whether for 

 roses, lilies, asters, gladioli, peonies or 

 carnations, seemed rather a matter of 

 indifference. Even daisies and such 

 summer stock found a call. When the 

 supply of white was exhausted, colored 

 flowers found a ready market. The 

 orders received by the retailers were 

 generally for pieces that did not exceed 

 $10 in cost. The volume of the demand, 

 however, was so great that many of the 

 supply houses found it necessary to 

 work overtime getting out wire de- 

 signs, and several of the wholesale 

 houses did not close until late. As a 

 natural result of the unusual demand, 

 prices advanced, but not beyond the 

 level of what one would call good, fair 

 values, although this, of course, is much 

 better than the average for the pre- 

 ceding two weeks. Those who pre- 

 dicted a repetition of the Iroquois fire 

 market, when prices were carried be- 



