OCTOBHB 13, 1021 



The Rorists^ Review 



31 



BETTERING BOTH BRANCHES 



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BETAILEB AND GROWER. 



Relation of One to Other. 



In order to }j;('t a jnoiier background 

 for the all-important sulijcct of the re- 

 lation of retailer and jjrower, let us sum- 

 iiiarizo a little liy seeiiiff, lirst, what re- 

 lation the retailer has been to the f^rower 

 in the past; sceond, what the relation 

 now is, and third, a .summary of what 

 the future relation we hope will he. 



Those of us whose memory goes back 

 a quarter of. a century or more can here 

 witness that there always was a rela- 

 tionship between the retailer and the 

 grower. In fact, many of their i)ast 

 actions, one toward the other, lias al- 

 most convinced us .at times that they 

 were truly blood relations; from the 

 way they fought and scrapped, equal, 

 [ am sure, to any true family row. 



The matter of fact is that the relation- 

 ship in the past has not been what it 

 should have been for the best interests 

 of all concerned. One of the greatest 

 evils nurturing dissension and discord 

 was, to my mind, the i)eildling system 

 of tlie grower; that is, the selling of a 

 part of the grower's jiroduct directly 

 to the retailer's customers. There are 

 a few communities where this system 

 is still in vogue and it is usually there 

 that discord is the greatest. 



The coming of the wholesale commis- 

 sion man and the strictly wholesale 

 grower on the scene has helped the 

 cause for a closer and better relation- 

 ship between the retailer and the grower 

 a great deal, and this brings us to the 

 second consideration, namely, what the 

 relationship now is between the retailer 

 and the grower. 



Wholesaler Bridges Gap. 



We must surely ;ill .admil that the 

 ushering in of the wholt>saler — whethei 

 asHi cotnmission man. or as an org.ani/.eil 

 lio(l^)r)f growers distributing their sto<-k 

 froiiw)ne central jxiint, or as a Large in 

 iual grower strictly wholesaling his 

 re jiroduct^ — -on the present day 

 wholesale commercial basis has mate- 

 rially helped to bridge a gulf of niucli 

 unpleasant relationsIii|» between the re- 

 tailer and the grower. This, the so 

 ••alle(l mid<llem;ui 's ser\ice. has, in m>- 

 opinion, come to stay, for it is the trui 

 .American way of distributing products. 



Another large factor of just a few 

 recent year.s has ))een the matter of 

 cooperative advertising. In many com 

 munities where this work is i)rogress!ng, 

 there is indeed a much (doscr relation 

 ship between the rct.ailcr aiul the grower 

 th;in ever liefore. Why? Simjily be 

 ■ ause they find by helping each other 

 they are helping thi'inselves, and that. 

 :ifter all. is the tie tliat binds. 



Those of us who have had a part in 

 the org;inizing and promoting of the Na- 

 fion.al Flower Growers' Association be- 

 lieve th.'it in this work we are also paving 

 the way for a closer relntionshij) between 

 the retailer and the grower. It is with 

 out doubt Ji fact that it was largely 

 due to the organized district growers' 

 associations that local cooperative ad- 

 vertining got its start. Through these 

 district organizations we hope in time 



Tlif aiklress of J. V. Aiiiiumiiii. siircliiiy nt 

 tlic Niitioiiiil Flower Orowcis' Assdiiutinu, dii 

 •"I'lie Uclation of Itcliiilcr :iiiil <irowfr, " ih- 

 livcrcd .it till" nniiual mccliiit; ol' tlic Klmials' 

 TclcKriiph Delivery Associatiun, at Toioiilo, Oc 

 lober 11. 



to get accurate data on our l)usiness — 

 annual rei)orts as to the amount of glass 

 area, capital invested and stock grown 

 and much other valuable information 

 that will not only benefit the grower 

 but the retailer as well. Many of us 

 feel this is an essential part of our 

 iirganization work. We, therefore, so- 

 licit the good will of all branches of 

 the trade towards perfecting the Na- 

 tional Flower (Jrowers' Association. 



We can, I think, point with great 

 jiride to the fact that the rtdat ionship 

 between the retailer and grower is more 

 friendly and better today than it ever 

 lias been. That is not said, howe\ er. 

 with the implication tli.at thert' is not 



The statement issued last 

 week by a government bureau, 

 that 1 72 trade organizations 

 were engaged in issuing market 

 supply and price reports and 

 that over 450 such organiza- 

 tions collected some sort of 

 market data, indicates the ex- 

 tent of a means of trade pro- 

 motion florists have not yet 

 undertaken. How we may do 

 this and benefit thereby is the 

 message of J. F. Ammann's 

 Toronto address, on this page. 



still a lot of room for iiiipi ii\ cMient , 

 which biings us to the third c-inisidera 

 tion of our topic. nam(d\'. wli:(t their 

 t'u1\ire iel;itionshi[i should be. 



For the Future. 



S.I ii.ivv that we have built .1 b:ick 

 ground for our subject 1)\ a biief i. 

 \ iew i'l' the ji.ast ami present. K'l us. 

 .IS a finale, just take ;i brief glance into 

 the future, with a vision, yes, but rather 

 moie Ml with M true knowledge based 

 on our experiences of the past, both -is 

 to mist.akes and jirogress. I woioler Imw 

 many pioducers in our tradee\er h;i\e 

 taken into consideration tlo^ f;ict that 

 we are among the few industries iu tie- 

 comitr.N' lh;it are so fortunate .-is tii lia\i 

 dealers who handle only their one par- 

 ticul.ir line. To be more specific, retail 

 (lower stores in this land of ours are 

 among the few shojis that sjiecialize 

 in only one kind of article, flowers. 1 

 wonder if that is not largely n-sponsible 

 I'or most of our [irogress. Truly it can 

 be said, I am sure, that the one groat 

 outstanding movement, namely, the pro- 

 motion of florists' telegraph delivery, 

 could not have been put across so .suc- 

 cessfully if our dealers were not spe 



cialisls ill our parti<Milar line only. This 

 great movement, that means so much to 

 both retailer and grower today, is the 

 great tie, above all others, that should 

 tend to bring a clfiser relationship be- 

 tween the retailer and the grower iu the 

 Ititiire. 



This is not to be a paixir, iiowever, 

 oil the wonderful success of the V. T. 

 1). IJut one c;(iinot touch u[io!i the re- 

 lationship between the retailer and 

 grower without also touching upon the 

 great work of this wonderful organiza- 

 tion, its a<liie\ements up to the pres- 

 ent day and the great future yet to 

 come. I have a vision of a future rela- 

 tionshi(( between the retailer and grower 

 that will <'limiiiate su(di conditions as 

 (existed, for inst.'inee, last Mothers' day, 

 when many retailers throughout the 

 I'ountry had to (dose their shops before 

 the regular time because of insullicient 

 stock to .aceouiuiodate their trade. This 

 should not be, gentlemen. Growers must 

 more carefully study the needs of the 

 retailer for such speidal days, and pro- 

 vide accordingly. There should l)e con- 

 reli'iices between the retailer .-uid the 

 grower months and weeks in advance 

 of suidi time, the former intelligently de- 

 scribing his net'ds and the latter even 

 s(t intelligently listing his supplies. If 

 it is found that -a possible shortage 

 e.xists, special efTorts should be made 

 on the jiart of the growers to meet these 

 iiecess.-iry demands, for above all we 

 must be able to give the public what 

 we advertise, 01 our expenditure along 

 that line is wasted and our t>fTorts to 

 create demands become liarmful rather 

 then beii(>(icial. 



Mutual Advancement. 



Then, tuo, W( hope to see tile dav-- 

 aiid to see it is to strive for^ it — wiien 

 tlier.' will be .1 regiil.ir council estab 

 lished. consisting of retailers ami grow- 

 ers ill the \;irious communities, so that 

 products iiiny be liste.l according to the 

 time tlii'\ will be ready for market and 

 1:1 wh.ii proiiortion, in order that we 

 may niteli igent ly do coo[.erative and 

 iiidi\ idii.al advertising. The retailer 

 w;iiits to .■ind must know a long time 

 ill .idvaiic.' .MS fo the j)robable supply 

 "1' the \;irioiis kinds of stock. The 

 u'lower wants the ret.ailer to know this 

 in order that the surplus, if .-my, may 

 lie t.akeri c.are of, and he als(, wants to 

 know ihe ret;iil.-r's needs, [f this work 

 is mutu;illy and accurately done, much 

 of our ni.arket glut conditions will b, 

 elimin;ited, and it will prove ,1 benetit 

 to both .alike. Let us, in (dosing, remem- 

 ber this: In order to form ,1 <doser 

 and more friendly relationship we must 

 only render a service unrth while to 

 some one and our friendly ndations at 

 once begin. We ;is ;i nation have more 

 friendly r(d;itions with the various na 

 tions of the world tmlav than •■inv other 

 nation .m earth. Why? Recause we 

 li.ave hel[)ed them iinseHishly. rendt>red 

 servic(> iu many ways, even to our late 

 foe. 80 it is with us in our business 

 relations. Mr. Grower, if you will ren- 

 der the kind of service — by giving in- 

 formation, by producing the desired 

 .stock, or in any other way — that will 



