October 20, 1921 



The Florists^ Review 



25 



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UNFINISHED BUSINESS 



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CLOSING SESSION. 



Relations of Retailers. 



In order to permit visitors to make a 

 tour of the greenhouses in the vicinity 

 of Toronto, the two business sessions of 

 the Florists' Telegraph Delivery Asso- 

 ciation scheduled for the morning and 

 afternoon of Thursday, October 13, were 

 condensed in one session occupying the 

 morning. Full report of the opening 

 day's sessions and of that held Wednes- 

 day morning, save two or three lengthy 

 discussions summarized on these pages, 

 appeared in the telegraphic account of 

 the convention published in last week's 

 issue of The Review. 



The closing session opened with the 

 presentation of J. F. Ammann's paper 

 on "The Relation of Retailer and 

 Grower," printed in The Review last 

 week. 



Morris Cohen talked briefly regarding 

 the F. T. D. window display novelty 

 which his firm plans to introduce to the 

 trade. This is a figure of a messenger 

 boy bearing on his cap the initials, "F. 

 T. D.," and carrying under his arm a 

 box on which appears the slogan, "Say 

 It with Flowers." If florists' coopera- 

 tion is secured, the firm of Cohen & Kil- 

 ler will supply these at cost to retailers 

 for the purpose of putting the figures in 

 their windows. Mr. Cohen expressed 

 the hope that the little figure might he- 

 come as well known as the dog that iul- 

 vertises the Victrola. 



Grading Flowers. 



The subject of the grading of flowers, 

 particularly roses and carnations, was 

 treated in a committee report submitted 

 by Max Schling for the directors' com- 

 mittee covering it, consisting of himself, 

 William F. Gude and Irwin Bertermann. 

 This report, printed on another page of 

 this issue, was, upon motion of J. F. 

 Ammann, referred to the committee of 

 the Society of American P'lorists on the 

 same subject, whieli consists of James 

 Heacock, Wyncote, Pa.; Henry Penn, 

 Boston, and H. B. Kennicott. Chicago. 



Progress of the national flower show 

 to be held at Cleveland next March was 

 reported on by George Asnius, who ex- 

 pressed the hope that tlie retail section 

 would be particularly strong and who 

 offered the association any reasonal)le 

 amount of space it might wish to use 

 for an exhibit. Herman P. Knoble stated 

 that local prej)arations were well in 

 hand and the outlook is for a highly suc- 

 cessful exhibition, from the viewpoint 

 of the trade and of tlic promoters. Al- 

 bert Pochelon was anxious tliat the asso- 

 ciation sliould be r('{)resi'nte(l by a dis- 

 play that would get tlie full attention of 

 the public. He offered suggestions for 

 retailers' conijietitions and asked that 

 the members send any ideas regarding 

 an exhibit for the association to his 

 office, so that the product at Cleveland 

 might be the finest. J. F. Ammann 

 moved the suggestions presented be re- 

 ferred to the board of directors with 

 power to act. His motion prevailed. 



Canadian Clearing House. 



To show the work performed by the 

 F. T. D. in behalf of its Canadian mem- 

 bers, John Bessemer, accountant for the 

 organization, gave a report on the clear- 

 ing house now maintained. He stated 

 that Canadian members had remitted in 

 the period since the clearing house had 

 been instituted a total of $24,600. This 

 amount had been deposited in a Cana- 

 dian bank and a corresponding amount 

 in American money had been paid to 

 United States members of the organiza- 

 tion. The latter, however, have in the 

 same period remitted only $15,500 in 

 payment of orders sent to their Cana- 

 dian brethren. This amount was depos- 

 ited in an American bank and a like 

 amount paid out of the Canadian funds 

 to members north of the border. The 

 result is that there remains in the Cana- 

 dian bank a balance of nearly $10,000, 

 which the association must keep there 

 until Canadian exchange goes to par, or 

 else stand a loss of approximately ten 

 per cent of it if it is exchanged for 

 American dollars at the current rate. 

 The former course has been decided 

 upon and $5,000 worth of Canadian se- 

 curities have been purchased out of the 

 Canadian funds, leaving a balance in 

 the bank of $4,400. Mr. Besemer cal- 

 culated that the average exchange saved 

 Canadian members already amounted to 

 an average of eleven and three-tenths 



per cent of their bills paid, or enough, 

 he said, to pay the dues of all the Cana- 

 dian members for three years. 



Some other discussion of the activi- 

 ties of the association and the transac- 

 tion of telegraph business was engaged 

 in. This is included under the summar- 

 ies of various topics which appear in 

 these pages, compiled from diverse re- 

 marks at various times so that a logical 

 and easily comprehensible account of 

 these matters of high interest may be 

 given to readers. 



In concluding the meeting, Charles 

 Henry Fox, chairman of the committee 

 on final resolutions, presented the 

 thanks of the association to the various 

 persons and agencies which had con- 

 tributed to the success of the conven- 

 tion, agreed to have been the most suc- 

 cessful in the history of the organiza- 

 tion. 



THE BANQUET. 



The Toronto florists were lavish in 

 dining their guests. A luncheon was 

 held each day. Tuesday it was for 

 everybody. Wednesdav the ladies were 

 entertained. Mrs. Waters welcomed 

 them and there was a Rotarian intro- 

 duction. Thursday, though no j)rogram 

 was arranged, an imjiromptu speech by 

 (Jeorge Dicks expressed the sentiment 

 of Canadian florists outside Toronto in 

 regard to the work of their fellows of 



Charles F. Feast. 



(V)ce-Pr«'Sl(lcnt of the Floilgts' T»>lc(rraph Delivery AsfUK-iatinn.) 



