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Decembkb 28, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



11 



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THE CHRISTMAS 

 BUSINESS 



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A NEW LEAF TURNED. 



Business on a New Basis. 



The Christmas business of 1911 has 

 been the largest in the history of the 

 florists' trade, but of even greater in- 

 terest and vastly greater importance is 

 the fact that it has furnished ample 

 evidence of the dawn of a new era in 

 flower selling. No longer are prices of 

 cut flowers to be rushed to extraordi- 

 nary levels for the holiday, to the ac- 

 companiment of a great accumulation 

 of overripe stock by the growers, led 

 on by the hope of realizing the extra 

 prices. The depression that usually pre- 

 ceded and followed the holiday also has 

 helped to so pull down the average 

 value of the crop that many growers 

 have ceased to crop their entire places 

 for Christmas. Wholesalers have real- 

 ized that the plantsmen have found 

 their opportunity more through the ac- 

 tion of the cut flower markets in years 

 gone by than they have in the popular 

 demand for the plants themselves — 

 beautiful as are the best plants, the 

 average flower buyer prefers cut flow- 

 ers, especially for gift purposes. That 

 has been abundantly demonstrated 

 within the last week, for, although an 

 enormous plant trade was done every- 

 where, the reasonable prices of cut flow- 

 ers, the excellent supply and the good 

 average quality resulted in a tremen- 

 dous business being done with these, 

 the retail profits being fully as good 

 as ever have been obtained. 



Less Stock Bealizes More Money. 



In practically all of the big whole- 

 sale markets of the country the supply 

 of stock was below rather than above 

 the quantity handled last year. The 

 quality, however, was better and as a 

 result lower prices gave a better aver- 

 age and a larger money return — the 

 great gain came from the fact that un- 

 der the new order of things it was 

 possible to clean up the supply without 

 the great disparity between the prices 

 of the best flowers and the poorer ones. 

 While the top prices were, in most 

 cities, as high as in other years, the 

 buyers who came early and made their 

 wants known — and these consumed the 

 great bulk of the supply — were treated 

 in such a way as to cause them to add 

 to rather than cut the original order. 

 The advantages of first-class stock 

 throughout, and of a good average 

 price for all, were obvious. 



How Specialties Fared. 



Some of the big markets had all the 

 stock they needed, but in most of them, 

 especially in the west, the Beauty crops 

 were light. Still, the Beauty is not 

 what it once was as a Christmas flower 

 and nO great increase in the supply 

 would have been needed to break the 

 markets, as they have been broken in 

 several recent years, especially in 1910. 

 The decline in the demand for Beauties 

 appears to have been coincident with 



the increase in the supply of and im- 

 provement in Killarneys. It appears 

 that retailers have been able to make 

 more money for themselves and give 

 better satisfaction to their customers 

 by pushing Killarneys, with the result 

 that some of the largest stores now are 

 using only small quantities of Beauties 

 for Christmas. 



Richmond was in large supply this 

 year and in most cities the length of 

 stem was the greatest ever known. 

 The sale for these was enormous, but 

 Killarney was in such large supply and 

 so fine that it occupied the leading 

 place. It was on roses that the prin- 

 cipal evidences of moderation in prices 

 were manifest. Carnations were not so 

 plentiful as in recent years, the state- 

 ment applying to every section of the 

 country, almost without exception, and 

 the demand was so strong that in most 

 cities it at least, held the prices up to 



"S" it For Switchman. 



what they have been in other years, if 

 it did not carry them still higher. Red 

 realized as good prices as ever it did, 

 and other colors were scarcely less 

 closely cleaned up. It was evident that 

 the Christmas call is for good carna- 

 tions if for any, as the smaller whites 

 were the ones that did not sell. Fancy 

 white went not badly. By far the 

 greater part of the carnations now 

 grown are either Enchantress or white, 

 and bright pink is scarce. 



The violet did not do so well as 

 usual in most of the markets, the prices 

 realized being considerably below those 

 of last year, but it is thought that the 

 flower has not lost anything in popu- 

 larity. The Hudson river double violets 

 now go all over the eastern half of 

 the country. The decline in value of 

 the crop was apparent in nearly every 



city, due as much to the fact that the 

 weather was too warm for the stock to 

 ship well as it was to the general mar- 

 ket tendencies or any special factor 

 affecting the violet. The singles sold 

 better than the doubles in most mar- 

 kets, because of better quality. 



Where stock is grown to be sold at 

 retail a miscellaneous assortment is 

 profitable, but such items as Paper 

 Whites and Romans are not in request 

 in the great cut flower markets at holi- 

 day times and find only cheap sale ex- 

 cept in case of unexpected scarcity in 

 other lines. The holiday demand is for 

 the great staples. 



The Plant Trade. 

 The flowering plants were better 

 than ever this year and sold splendidly. 

 Many retailers prefer to push them 

 because they can be handled less hur- 

 riedly than is the case with cut flowers, 

 and also for the important reasons that 

 prices are established and moderate, 

 while at the same time the plants add 

 to the variety of the assortment it is 

 possible to set before the public. But 

 the plant arrangements are less mixed 

 than they were in earlier years. What 

 is wanted now is something good but 

 simple, neither too large, too compli- 

 cated nor too costly. The poinsettia, 

 the cyclamen and the primula are the 

 great sellers, but all other plants moved 

 well at prices that paid the growers 

 and gave the retailers good profits. 



Weather a Big Factor. 



The weather was a big factor in the 

 great success of the Christmas busi- 

 ness. Nearly everywhere it was bright 

 and warm December 23, 24 and 25, 

 ideal shopping days and a wonderful 

 help in deliveries. Don't forget to 

 thank the weather man. 



"S" IS FOE SWITCHMAN. 



Since time immemorial those who 

 teach the young idea how to shoot have 

 used a jingle as an aid to memorizing 

 the alphabet. So great is the variety of 

 freak designs the average retail florist is 

 called on to make that there is one for 

 almost every letter in the alphabet. 

 When you get down to **S," it stands 

 for switchman in the case of the design 

 shown in the accompanying illustration, 

 which was called for at the store of 

 the Archias Floral Co., Sedalia, Mo., by 

 a committee of the Switchmen's Union. 

 When a customer insists that nothing 

 will so well serve his purpose as a 

 gigantic letter in flowers, the proper 

 thing to do is to take his money and 

 make up as good a design as the cir- 

 cumstances will permit — but you can't 

 call it art, no matter how well you fill 

 the order. In the present instance, the 

 design gave excellent satisfaction to 

 the customers, but nothing would have 

 been lost had the easel been covered by 

 some such method as winding with smi- 

 lax. 



A ST. LOXnS ESTABUSHMENT. 



The illustration on page 12 shows 

 the new establishment of C. Young & 

 ■^ons Co., at Belt and Waterman ave- 

 nues, St. Louis, where William C. 

 Young, Jr., is in charge. 



Just after the holidays, retail florists 

 will appreciate to the full the facilities 

 afforded by the show houses on either 

 side of tne store. It is an advartage 

 in handling the extra business that 

 comes at Christmas and Easter that is 

 envied by the florist who is compelled 



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