APRIL H. 1898. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



805 



Crimson Rambler Rose with Genista Fragrans in Gilt Basket. 



seeds that were sown long ago. Not 

 that his predecessors thought much 

 about posterity. What they wauted 

 and what he wants is the applause and 

 the dollars of the living. The flower 

 show was recognized then as u power- 

 ful factor in educating the people in 

 this most beautiful art of gardening, 

 and with education came business. It's 

 the same today. Grow things well and 

 get the people to come and see them. 

 The business will grow in its turn, 

 and tlirive amazingly in this sunshine 

 of publicity. Look at the chrysanthe- 

 mum! How many were sold previous 

 to the time you commenced to grow 

 and show them well a dozen years ago, 

 and now look at the myriads of them 

 that are being distributed every year. 

 Look at the carnation, the rose, the 

 lily, the azalea and many other flow- 

 ers. Exhibitions have done much for 



all of them, and trade has been great- 

 ly stimulated and expanded. 



All this seems to go without saying, 

 but for .-ill that, it is surprising to find 

 many commercial florists of the pres- 

 ent day who are lukewarm on the sub- 

 ject of exhibitions and who can only 

 be induced to come forward and do 

 their share when hired — that is either 

 with hard cash in prize money or 

 pieces of plate. It seems to me the 

 feeling ought to be just the other way; 

 a commercial florist ought to be so 

 eager to advertise himself by showing 

 his products to an admiring public 

 that he would willingly pay handsome- 

 ly for the space occupied and con- 

 sider it a favor and a privilege to be 

 allowed the opportunity. 



Another attitude of a great many 

 commercial florists at the present time 

 is, in my poor judgment, wrong. That 



is to say because the admissions do 

 not pay all expenses, including fat 

 prize money, that the show is a failure. 

 There is surely another criterion to 

 judge by than the box offlce. A show 

 may be very successful in every way 

 and the public may crowd to see it and 

 yet the expense of getting it up may be 

 so great that the admissions do not 

 cover it. But why should that ba cause 

 of despair and much talk about the 

 show having been a failure, and flow- 

 er shows don't pay, anyway, and 

 all that sort of thing. I think 

 that attitude all bosh. I believe 

 flower shows pay if not one cent 

 is taken in at the box office. And 

 the better they are the better they pay. 

 They pay for the time being and for 

 the future. There is no measuring 

 when their effect stops. They are like 

 a stone dropped in the water. The 

 circles keep on widening and widening 

 and the whole trade reaps the benefit. 

 I believe every florists' club ought to 

 give frequent flower shows, three or 

 tour times a year at least. Don't say I 

 am too busy. It is a part of your busi- 

 ness. It gives you a chance to meet 

 old customers and make new ones. It 

 is advertising of the most effective 

 kind. Business begets business, and to 

 get business you must make a noise. 

 There is no better way of making your- 

 self felt than through the public exhi- 

 bition. Experience teaches this, history 

 proves it and common sense clutches 

 it. 



If the commercial florists in a com- 

 munity find the presence of a Horti- 

 cultural Society in their midst let them 

 rejoice. Instead of making a machine 

 to educate their neighbors at great ex- 

 pense here is one ready to their hands 

 and already doing the work. It does 

 not take a house to fall on a man to 

 make him see that, and the potential- 

 ity of such an institution for the fur- 

 therance of the business interests of 

 the florists' trade. A florists' club can 

 organize a flower show, can run It 

 successfully and achieve, great and 

 lasting good, but the individual mem- 

 bers can do more with less effort by 

 assisting their Horticultural Society. 

 The Horticultural Society is closer to 

 the general public, who do or may 

 garden for pleasure, being in fact a 

 part of it, and is therefore more pow- 

 erful because no one can say, "Oh, they 

 have goods to sell." I want to dwell 

 on that point. I think it important. 

 Many will say. a florists' club can run 

 a flower show just as well, nay, better 

 than a Horticultural Society. As to 

 that they may give a better display, 

 but they will not have the same influ- 

 ence with the public. Take the Amer- 

 ican Carnation Society for instance. 

 The devilish maliciousness of the indi- 

 vidual who nicknamed it "the rooted 

 cutting society" is an example of what 

 poison can be injected by a lie that 

 is not all lie and therefore much more 

 deadly than a downright untruth. 



On the whole, I think the florist can 

 get the most good otVt of the flower 

 show if he investigates it through the 

 medium of an amateur organization, 

 but I do not wish to minimize the power 

 of a frank and candid trade show for 



