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The Weekly Florists' Review. 



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MOTHERS' DAY 



AND 



THE FLORISTS _ 



I 



HOV MOTHERS' DAY GREW. 



The Trade's First Word. 



The whole trade first heard of Moth- 

 -ers ' day when it read the Review of May 

 14, 1908. The credit belongs to Chapin 

 Bros., of Lincoln. 



The Nebraska firm wrote, in sub- 

 stance: "What is Mothers' day? It 

 took us by surprise, but we had a big 

 crop of white carnations and did lots of 

 business. Look into it, let the trade 

 know, and tell them to push it along. 

 The possibilities are great." 



After printing, the letter was filed in 

 the "tickler," to come up eleven months 

 later. 



in early April, 1909, the Keview 

 * ' looked into it, ' ' but the facts were not 

 easy to find. Letters to the National 

 Congress of Mothers, the Chicago 

 Women's Club, the Illinois Federation 

 •of Women's Clubs, the National Federa- 

 tion of Women 's Clubs and to individuals 

 prominent in women's work all brought 

 similar replies: "Never heard of 

 Mothers' day, but it's a fine idea; we 

 will help it along." 



When the field of inquiry seemed 

 pretty well exhausted, an item was dis- 

 covered in the Chicago Inter Ocean say- 

 ing that Mothers' day would be along 

 again the second Sunday in May. 



Calling up the city editor, the Review 

 Hsked: "Where did you get your in- 

 formation!" The editor couldn't say 

 positively, but he thought it was in a 

 •circular received from somebody in 

 Philadelphia — he hadn't any idea who. 



So the Review wrote for facts, ad- 

 dressing "Secretary, the Mothers' Day 

 Association, Philadelphia, Pa.," and 

 l)ut £L special delivery stamp on thfc let- 

 ter. 



That was putting it up to the post- 

 master at Philadelphia. 



But the Review had learned that, in a 

 pinch, you can depend on Philadelphia. 



Pushing it Along. 



The result was, the letter was delivered 

 to Miss Anna Jarvis, originator of 

 Mothers' day, and the reply brought the 

 facts for the article published in the 

 Review for April 29, 1909, telling the 

 whole trade the whole story of Mothers' 

 ■day. 



After Mothers' day last year a num- 

 ber of letters were printed, showing how 

 florists all over the country had taken 

 up the Review's suggestions and 

 "pushed it along." The seed planted 

 by Chapin Bros, had been transplanted 

 by the Eeview, cultivated by scores of 

 those florists who knew a good thing 

 when they saw it, and for them had 

 bloomed and borne rich, ripe, luscious 

 fruit. 



In 1909 it was apparent that where the 

 Mothers' day idea took root it outgrew 

 the supply of white carnations. To meet 

 the need, the Review coined the catch- 

 line: 



White flowers for Mother's memory; 

 BriEbt flowers for Mothers living. 



The 1910 campaign was along double 

 lines, for the purpose of awakening the 

 trade to the possibilities of a great new 

 flower day, and to point out the way to 

 turn the demand, heretofore exclusively 

 for white carnations, to include other 

 stock. 



How well the work has succeeded every 

 florist knows. Grasping the bright idea 

 of Miss Jarvis, the trade has made 

 Mothers' day already an established in- 

 stitution. It never would have grown as 

 it has, had our trade not pushed it. Of 

 course some sat back and said, "What's 

 the use?" but clippings of newspaper 

 advertisements published by florists all 



Tli« Editor Is pleased 

 'wben a Reader 

 presents his Ideas 

 on any subject treated In 



As experience Is tbe best 

 teacber, so do ^e 

 learn fastest by an 

 ezchanse of experiences. 

 BXany valuable points 

 are broueht out 

 by discussion. 



Good penmanship, spell in k and 

 fframmar. thouRh desirable, are not 

 necessary. Write as you would talk 

 when doing your best. 



WK SHA.L.L BE GLAD 

 TO HEAR FROM TOD 



over the country, and received by the 



Review in the last few days, containing 



the lines: 



White flowers for Mother's memory; 

 Bright flowers for Mothers living, 



show that hundreds put their shoulder 



to the wheel this year where scores had 



helped last season. 



Mothers' day put many thousands of 

 dollars into the pockets of the trade last 

 week. It will be good for an increase 

 every year for years to come. Others 

 will take it up. 



Nothing can show better what has 

 come of the Review's exploitation of 

 Mothers' day than a perusal of the re- 

 ports from the wholesale markets in this 

 issue. "It doubled the business for two 

 days," the statement of a leading whole- 

 saler, shows that the aggregate increase 

 in sales for the whole country will run 

 into large figures. About the only places 

 where there was disappointment were 

 those where florists stocked up but did no 

 advertising — no pushing. 



MOTHERS' DAY SALES. 



Mothers' day is, thus far, principally 

 an occasion for the wearing of flowers. 

 But this year — 



Churches were decorated. 



Sunday schools gave a flower to each 

 child who attended. 



Street car companies decked out each 

 (onductor and motorman. 



G. A. R. posts and other organizations 

 attended church in a body, everyone 

 wearing flowers. 



Homes were decorated. 



Wreaths and small flat crosses were 

 sent to the cemeteries. 



MOTHERS' DAY PRICES. 



A special flower day midway between 

 Easter and Decoration day is of exception- 

 al value to the trade. It is a time of 

 large supplies, when a fillip is of extra 

 value to wholesale markets, giving a bet- 

 ter tone for days before and after. 



Retailers made considerable complaint 

 over the advanced prices, especially for 

 white carnations, that attended the wide 

 observance of Mothers' day, May 8. But 

 the complaint was louder before than 

 after. Thus far the day is largely one 

 of many small sales — flowers for street 

 wear. What if a man is charged 10 

 cents or 15 cents for a white carnation 

 for a boutonniere? What does he care? 

 It is only once a year. Besides, it is 

 no more than the price of a good cigar, 

 or a drink. Where is the man who will 

 not honor his mother's memory, if at all, 

 to the extent of the price of a drink? 



Of course, it is desirable to do a large 

 volume of business at fair prices rather 

 than to do a small business at big prices. 

 This lies in the hands of the retailers. 

 If they sell white exclusively for Mothers ' 

 day they know what the result is bound 

 to be. There are over ninety million peo- 

 ple in this country. If even one person 

 m ten called for just one white carna- 

 tion apiece for Mothers' day bouton- 

 nieres, that would mean nine million. 

 Where would they come from? The scram- 

 ble would inevitably send prices up. The 

 way out is to turn the demand to 

 Bright flowers for mothers living. 



In that way prices can be kept down 

 to good, fair rates, moving a large quan- 

 tity of stock and giving everyone a 

 chance to make money without being ac- 

 cused of extortion. 



THESE TOOK THE HINT. 



How Mothers' day panned out for a 

 few of those who acted on the Review's 

 suggestions, issues of April 21 and 28, is 

 shown by the following early letters, 

 which prove the truth of the old saying 

 that "The Lord helps those who help 

 themselves. ' ' 



Barrington, III. 



At your suggestion in the Review 

 dated April 28, in regard to advertising 

 Mothers' day, I got busy and inserted 

 an ad in our local paper which came out 

 May 6, with the result that I sold 325 

 white carnations to one Sunday school, 

 supplied the G. A. R. post, and took 

 enough other orders to use up all the 

 flowers that I had on hand for the day. 

 It pays to read the Review and to adver- 

 tise. F. W. Stott. 



McKeesport, Pa. 



I read the Mothers' day articles in the 

 Review and called the matter to the at- . 

 tentioji of our mayor and some of the 



