46 



The Florists' lleview 



AVQVHT 20, 1914. 



Established, 1897, by Q. L. ORAlTr. 



PubltBhed every Tharaday by 

 The Florists Publishing Co.t 



630-660 Oaxton Building, 



608 South Dearborn St, Oblcaco. 



Tele., Harrison 6429. 



Registered cable address, 



Florvlew, Ohlcasro. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 8. 1897, at the poet-offlce at Chi- 

 cago, IUm under the Act of March 

 8, 1879. 



Subscription price, $1.00 a year. 

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



Adyertlslng rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



n 



hiex to Advertisers, Pa{e 18. 



NOTICE. 



It is impossibl* to guarant** 

 tlia iDsartion, discontinuanca 

 or altoration of anjr adTortiso- 

 maat nnloss instructions ara 

 raeoiTod hj 



5 P. M. TUESDAY. 



BOOIETT or AXERIOAS FLOSIBTS. 



iBOorpsratad by Aot of OoagTMs, Xarok 4. 1901. 



Offlcen for 1914: President. Theodore Wlrth, 

 Idnneapolls; Tlce-president, Patrick Welch. Bos- 

 ton; secretary, John Young, 68 W. 28th St., New 

 Tork City: treararer. W. F. Kaatlng. Buffalo. 



Thirtieth annual conTentlon. Boatoo. Mass., 

 ▲ucnat 18 to 21, 1814. 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



The nature of the florists' business is 

 such that the word "credit" should not 

 be employed. A florist should open only 

 "accommodation accounts," the name 

 implying that they are to be settled 

 monthly. 



The florist who gives credit without, 

 or in spite of, information as to the 

 standing of the buyer is the same one 

 who is lax in his attention to collections 

 and who becomes peevish when asked to 

 pay his own bills. 



Florists, as a rule, do not rely on 

 banks for capital. Instead of b)rr<nving 

 money to clean up bills, they let the cred- 

 itors wait. There is, nevertheless, a dis- 

 tinct advantage in paying promptly and 

 regularly for all purchases and keeping 

 one's obligations all in one place, espe- 

 ciaUy a place whence will come a word 

 of caution if they mount too high. 



The Review always has held it to be 

 the duty of the wholesale branch of the 

 trade to protect the retailers, and this 

 paper has from the beginning steadily 

 declined subscriptions wlien offered from 

 those not in the business. It is impos- 

 sible, however, to make a hard and fast 

 rule, since so many florists begin in a 

 small way as a side line, some or the big 

 specialty people still being engaged part 

 time in other trades. Consequently it is 

 up to every seller to decide for himself 

 who is and who is not entitled to trade 

 prices. Unfortunately, the easiest rule 

 is that anyone who buys in trade quan- 

 tities may have trade prices. This should 

 not always be the case. 



How many retail florists will be will- 

 ing to carry in stock some of each va- 

 riety of rose the market will afford this 

 winter? 



With steadily rising costs of doing 

 business, the average wholesale florist 

 soon will find himself face to face with 

 the necessity of either raising his com- 

 mission or getting his money quicker and 

 with greater certainty. 



In the sale of non-perishable articles, 

 like jewelry, it usually is the rule for 

 wholesalers to decline to deal at any 

 price with those not recognized as in the 

 trade. But where perishable commodities 

 are handled there frequently is a dispo- 

 sition to take any money that looks good. 

 It is the wrong attitude. 



GUESSWORK. 



There are plenty of men in every line 

 of business who are merely guessing 

 at what they are doing. They guess at 

 the cost of doing business. They guess 

 at what price they ought to pay, and 

 guess what price they ought to sell at. 

 They guess where the money is that 

 they should have made. 



They know that they are either los- 

 ing or making money, but they don't 

 know how or why. Their information 

 about the business is neither exact nor 

 specific;' it is not the kind of knowl- 

 edge on which a sound business can be 

 built. 



EFFECT OF WAK ON PLANTS. 



Just before the Boston convention, 

 .1. D. Eisele, vice-president of Henry A. 

 Dreer, Inc., talked informally with 

 friends on the new conditions of the 

 commercial plant market. While Mr. 

 Eisele spoke to his friends only, his 

 knowledge of the subject and his sound 

 judgment made what he said worthy of 

 careful writing and of thoughtful read- 

 ing. 



"The stock of plants in this coun- 

 try," said Mr, Eisele, "is so large to- 

 day that there is every reason to be- 

 lieve that it will supply what is needed 

 throughout the season except in cer- 

 tain cases. The loss of the Belgian 

 azaleas will be seriously felt, as there 

 seems little probability that they will 

 reach the country this fall in time for 

 forcing for Easter. Bay trees also ap- 

 pear likely to be missing at the usual 

 time. In fact, farseeing buyers are al- 

 ready taking the bay trees left over 

 from this season, so as to have them 

 next spring. Quite a number of hardy 

 perennials, such as pyrethrums, Dielytra 

 spectabilis and valley clumps, come — or 

 probably will not come — from Holland, 

 where they also grow varieties of hardy 

 roses well. On the other hand, there 

 are enough kentias in this country now 

 to carry us through this season without 

 drawing upon Europe. The chief anx- 

 iety in regard to kentias lies in this 

 year's crop of seed, which is believed 

 to be held somewhere in Hamburg, 

 where it is likely to remain for a while. 

 Should this be the ease, the failure to 

 sow this crop of seed in time would be 

 felt severely in the future. 



"It is not likely that prices of our 

 commercial plants will advance in this 

 country as a result of the war abroad. 

 They would advance in Belgium, for 

 instance, automatically. The large 

 grower would say, for instance, that 

 5-franc plants would now be 7^^ francs 

 each. They would buy up the 5-franc 

 plants of the smaller grower at perhaps 

 fi francs and then the price would be- 



come 7% francs for the time beiag. 

 Nothing of the sort will occur here. 



"We have been following Archiball 's 

 letters in the Ledger. He is well in- 

 formed and impartial. His prediction 

 that the war will last ten or ele\en 

 months and that it will take a year iriore 

 to reestablish normal business coikU- 

 tions is interesting." Phi!. 



BUSINESS EMBABBASSMENTS. 



Atlanta, Qa. — Eugene Jarrard, v. ho 

 has been engaged in business under the 

 name of the J. C. McMillan, Jr., Seed 

 Co., at 23 Broad street, has filed a volun- 

 tary petition in bankruptcy in ihe 

 United States District Court, with as- 

 sets of $4,712.84 and liabilities of i^S,- 

 030.87, 



HONOBABLE MENTION. 



Not a few subscribers save them- 

 selves the bother of annual renewal by 1 

 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 YEARS. 

 Clausen, C. S., Chicago. 

 Kellmer, P., Hazelton, Pa. 

 Dole Floral Co., Beatrice, Neb. 

 Pockett, Thomas W., Bast Malvern, Victoiia 

 Australia. 



The Review stops coming when the 

 subscription runs out. The new green 

 notice with the last copy tells the story. 

 No bills are run up; no duns sent. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



There has been some improvement 

 within the week, but not enough so 

 that it does more than indicate that 

 the summer is drawing to a close. There 

 still is more stock than is required for 

 the demand. Chicago never has had, in 

 August, anything like such large sup- 

 plies of flowers as have been coming in 

 this month and there has been no cor- 

 responding increase in the retail outlet. 



If it were not for the burden of the 

 gladiolus receipts the market might be 

 in a fair condition. There are so many 

 gladioli, and they are so extremely 

 cheap, that retailers are tempted to use 

 them wherever possible, to the exclu- 

 sion of other flowers, which, although 

 they also are cheap, still cost more than 

 the gladioli. The gladiolus never was 

 better than it has been of late. Some 

 good local showers have been of much 

 benefit, but even the best stock sells 

 slowly and at lower prices than ever 

 before were known in this market. 

 The counters never are clear. None of 

 the wholesalers tries to pull in ship- 

 ments of this flower, and many turn 

 them away. Large as is the supply, 

 evidently a little encouragement would 

 result in much heavier shipments. 

 What the effect will be next year, no- 

 body knows; certainly the returns this 

 year will not stimulate the demand for 

 bulbs. 



The gladiolus is the principal out- 

 door flower just now. Asters are not 

 so plentiful as they usually have been 

 at this date. A few growers are cut- 

 ting first-class stock in consideraMc 

 quantity, but many others have nothing 

 of salable quality. Even in the face 

 of the overloaded market good asters 

 have sold well, because there were so 

 few of them. On the other hand, many 

 thousands have been thrown awav this 



