March 24, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



891 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



A Busy Week at Hand. 



Our busiest week and day of the whole 

 year will soon be here. At least it is so 

 with many of us, for there are more 

 plants disposed of for Easter decorations 

 and greetings, to brighten the home and 

 gladden a friend, than on any other oc- 

 casion. For several years plants have 

 been rather the heaviest part of the trade 

 and annually enormous quantities are pre- 

 pared in every locality. All are gener- 

 ally used up and we see no reason to ex- 

 pect a falling off in the demand this year. 

 True, the country is not sailing on the 

 crest of the wave of prosperity, as it was 

 a year ago, but the business for Easter 

 is not the elaborate and expensive decora- 

 tion ; it is made up of trifling outlays, but 

 the wish for Easter flowers pervades all 

 classes, rich and poor alike. So here is 

 hoping that none of you will have enough 

 to go around. 



We all realize full wel! that in the 

 three days previous to Easter Sunday, 

 a month 's ordinary work and activity is 

 crowded in, and nights must be included 

 as well as days. Extra help is called in, 

 usually of the very green variety, and 

 perhaps of little real help, so it is on 

 the boss and his old hands that the pres- 

 sure falls. To wait on every customer, 

 please each and above all get all sales 

 delivered satisfactorily and with the 

 least possible mistakes is the earnest 

 desire of all scrupulous florists; but all 

 this cannot be accomplished without sys- 

 tem, and if ever that old adage ' ' Never 

 put off till tomorrow what can be done 

 today ' ' was good advice, it is in this 

 rushing time. The wholesale man who 

 delivers a hundred lilies and fifty aza- 

 leas to the storekeeper has to nustle, too, 

 but it is not as trying a business as 

 the one that has perhaps several thou- 

 sand diiferent deliveries consisting of 

 one or two plants or a box of flowers, 

 with the address of the recipient, card 

 of the donor, etc. 



Stake and Clean Your Plant*. 



To business. Do everything that will 

 need doing without delay. If a plant 

 needs a stake and a tie, let it be done 

 at once. If you put off such a neces- 

 sary but simple job, you deserve to get 

 belated and muddled. Every pot that 

 contains a plant that has any chance of 

 being sold at Easter should be washed. 

 Never mind if it is going to be covered 

 with a Porto Eican mat or tissue paper, 

 for when sold it is a miserable thing to 

 cover up dirt witli these dainty dresses 

 and it is not a fair deal to the retail 

 man to send him a load of plants with 

 greasy pots. 



In the greenhouse you cannot, as the 

 storekeeper can and should, dress up 

 all your plants with mats and papers 

 and ribbons, or they will get soiled and 

 spoiled before the day of sale or de- 

 livery; but a few of each can be dec- 

 orated in your best style, and that is 

 enough to sell from. Have a portion 

 of some bench sot aside for each day's 

 delivery, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 

 and Sunday morning. When Mrs. Lang- 



try or General Kuropalkin selects an 

 azalea, anel many good people do like to 

 make their own _ selections, and orders 

 the plant delivered on Friday, then 

 put it with Friday's delivery. No need 

 of attaching the card or adorning with 

 fixings; that can be done Thursday 

 evening. 



Use an Order Sheet. 



No matter whether it is a cash sale 

 or ' ' charge it, please, ' ' an order should 

 be made out which should include name 

 of purchaser, who the article is to be 

 sent to, what the plant is and price, and 

 any trimming or frills you have prom- 

 ised to put on. You will find these' 

 memoranda very useful, for however 

 careful we are a fsw things will go 

 astray, or you may be accused of send- 

 ing the wrong article, and if you cannot 

 refer to these orelers you are at the 

 mercy of the customer. 



There is a great difference in the 

 character or class of business done by 

 different florists. Some may do largely 

 a cash business. I mean, where the 

 majority of customers walk in, select 

 their purchases, pay the pries and walk 

 off with their purchases in their arms. 

 Lucky are they who have a large share 

 of this kind. We know more whose cash 



your city well (he need not be a Greek 

 professor or vegetable biologist) should 

 be detailed to have the deliveries ready 

 to load just as they will want to be de- 

 livered, when wagon No. 5 or automo- 

 bile No. 3 drives up for another load. 

 Now all of the above has consisted of 

 very common stuff, and what should be 

 apparent to all, but I have seen our own 

 folks in great distress and anxiety to 

 get deliveries out on time, because some 

 of the simple things I have mentioned 

 were not observed. 



.Just a word about the arrangement of 

 the greenhouse, the one yon make your 

 show house. First let me say tliat the 

 store man who has no greenhouse at 

 his back is sadly congested for a few 

 days. He does, or should, make a splen- 

 did show in his window, for it is his 

 best advertisement, and the interiors of 

 most city stores are bowers of beauty 

 and enchantment. With a 100-foot 

 greenhouse adjoining your store you 

 have an advantage, but with that ad- 

 vantage you are too often removeel from 

 the fashionable crowds. If you have 

 this convenience of a greenhouse, keep 

 your plants in blocks; they are better 

 cared for and it is easier for your 

 patrons to make selections, and better 

 in everv way, and when partly gone the 

 stock will not look a wreck. 



The Embellishment of Plants. 



I know that there are many men, 

 young anel old, who eould give the 

 writer points on how to enhance the 

 beauty of a plant hy the addition of 

 mats or paper of fancy kinds, and rib- 

 bons, but I don't know if any vrill do 

 it, and I can only offer some ideas of my 

 own. There are, first, Porto Eican mats 



Hydrangea Trimmjd with Crepe Paper. 



sales woulel not be over thirty per cent, 

 and ninety per cent must be delivered. 



Careful Routing Necessary. 



We have always found that the great- 

 est waste of time on these strenuous 

 days was caused in looking out or rout- 

 ing a load for a. wagon. It never does 

 to make up a load of plants and in that 

 load have deliveries for widely sep- 

 arated parts of your city; that" is ob- 

 vious to all. A load should be des- 

 tined for one section of the town. It 

 will save your plants and save time and 

 much vexation. Some one who knows 



which add greatly to the attractiveness of 

 plants and should be added to the price 

 of the plant, but for that matter you can 

 always obtain two or three times the 

 price of the mat in the sale of the plant. 

 Then there is ths embossed or fluted 

 paper and the ereoe paper, both of 

 which greatly set off the plant and cost 

 something, but it is easy to make up 

 the cost of paper. And there is the 

 colored tissue paper of different shades, 

 which hides the plebeian pot and does 

 not cost enough to warrant any charge, 

 no more than woulel it be proper to 

 charge for the fine silk paper with 



