August 



1906 



H O RTI CU LTU RE, 



209 



greenhouse togs to a I'cisliionable 

 home to cary plants and help decorate; 

 tying bunches with narrow, cheap 

 ribbon, cut swallow-tailed; sending 

 bridal bouquets wrapped in paper; 

 telling a patron the flowers he wants 

 are out of date, because they are not 

 in stock. 



I have been in flower-shops when a 

 customer would leave an order for a 

 wedding, birthday, or funeral and ex- 

 plicitly state the time he wanted the 

 flowers delivered, and, in many cases, 

 to my personal knowledge, the flowers 

 were sent after the occasion was over 

 so that the sentimental effect was en- 

 tirely lost, the opportunity to use the 

 flowers forever gone. The result in- 

 variably is — the next time the custom- 

 er in question wants to buy flowers, he 

 tries some place where he has reason 

 to expect that his purchase will be 

 delivered when and where he wants 

 it in an up-to-date condition. 



Again the old-fashioned w-ay of de- 

 livering flowers, wrapped in any old 

 piece of paper and delivered by some 

 ragged, dirty mesenger, is not con- 

 ducive to bringing the retail florists' 

 busines up to the plane of the modern 

 up-to-date requirements which it so 

 justly deserves. Also the old-fashioned 

 method of tying flowers on toothpicks 

 with wire, without any foliage, which 

 was so popular years ago, has been 

 almost entirely eliminated and a more 

 natural system is now demanded by 

 the average buying community. So 

 much for the old methods. 



The present up-to-date method fol- 

 lowed by us is to have the flowers re- 

 cei\ed fresh every morning, then prop- 

 erly assorted and arranged ia large 

 storage rooms where mirrors on all 

 sides show them off to the best ad- 

 vantage. 



One of the most important items is 

 booking orders. In a great many es- 

 tablishments the old way of taking 

 orders for any kind of flowers for 

 commencements and debutantes' re- 

 ceptions, etc., knowing it is a question 

 whether they can be secured, then sub- 

 stituting another kind at the last min- 

 ute is an expensive one. What a 

 great disappointment to a mother 

 who, thinking she has a pleasant sur- 

 prise for her daughter at the gradu- 

 ating exercises or some other func- 

 tion, orders a bunch of pink roses, and 

 receives red carnations instead. Her 

 patronage is then lost— she has no 

 more confidence in that establish- 

 ment. 



EMPLOYES. 

 We have an up-to-date corps of 

 clerks and employes who are able, 

 capable atid willing to wait on custom- 

 ers intelligently, and do not try to sell 

 them a pink rose for a white one. or 

 calla lilies tor lilies of the valley. 

 They do not work any more like liie.v 

 used to. They used to get up at .5 

 o'clock in the morning and work until 

 10 or 11 o'clock at night for a very 

 small compensation. Tt is fortunate 

 that "things are not as they used to 

 be" In this case. Employes in a retail 

 florist's store should come iu for full 

 consideration and just treatment be- 

 cause it is impossible for any one man 

 to wait on every customer that comes 

 to inquire about flowers. There are 

 naturally, as in all other kinds of 

 business, people with all sorts of ideas 

 and in many cases hard to please. All 

 of these should be studied and their 

 peculiar fancies catered to, as much 



as possible, if they are willing to pay 

 the price, for a satisfied customer is 

 the best possible advertisement that 

 anyone can have. Right here the em- 

 ploye who goes to extra trouble to 

 cater to the whims of this particular 

 class of customer and does not run 

 or hide when he or she comes in, is 

 entitled to a great deal of considera- 

 tion which alas he often does not re- 

 ceive. I have found invariably that 

 by studying the clerks' interests they 

 are in much better position to study 

 the emi)loyer's interests, for it is only 

 itoo true that florists work longer 

 hours for less money than almost any 

 other class of working men requiring 

 an eoual amount of intelligence. The 

 clerks and employes in a retail florist's 

 store can do very much towards in- 

 creasing or decreasing the sales and 

 profits by strict attention or inatten- 

 tion to details in the business. It 

 has always been our aim to keep the 

 employes satisfied and where v/e suc- 

 ceed in doing that, they invariably 

 succeed in satisfying us. 



PUTTING UP ORDERS. 

 This to our estimation is one of the 

 most important items connected with 

 the retail florists' business. As time 

 cuts quite a figure in this part of the 

 business, if the flowers are put up too 

 early they will be apt to wither, and 

 if too late they cannot be delivered iu 

 time, hence, this branch of the busi- 

 ness requires constant care and exer- 

 cise of judgment in order that the 

 flowers may reach the parties inter- 

 ested in the best possible condition. 

 Another very important item, is to 

 send the customers exactly the quality 

 and quantity promised for a g iven 

 amount of money and not try to slight 

 them with the thought or idea that they 

 will never know the difference. This 

 might do once in a while, but one is 

 bound to be caught in the act, some- 

 time, and with a very ugly reflection 

 on the integrity of the house. Here 

 it may be well to state that the polite- 

 ness and intelligence of the driver or 

 messenger who may happen to deliver 

 the flowers will either reflect credit 

 or discredit upon the establishment. 



WINDOW DISPLAY. 



The old methods of trying to show 

 the public how many plants a florist 

 can put in a window was buried wath 

 the paper collar for bouquets. The 

 window bottom of sand, gravel, and 

 zinc has been given place to tile and 

 mirror effects. A florists' window is 

 the same now as that of the other up- 

 to-date merchant who displays his 

 finest goods to tempt the public to buy. 

 A customer can form a pretty good 

 idea of the florist's ability to create 

 and execute artistic effects by his 

 window display. For instance when 

 we have a surplus of any particular 

 kind of flower a window tastefully ar- 

 ranged with vases, baskets, etc., of 

 this same flower, has time and again 

 been the means of cleaning up the 

 entire surplus at a good profit. A win- 

 dow display on January 29th, Presi- 

 dent McKinley's uirthday. with a 

 portrait of him. a few American flags 

 and a nice assortment of carnations 

 tastefully arranged, will demonstrate 

 what a window decoration can do. I 

 would advise you to try it January 

 29th, next. 



USE OF RIBBONS. 



The use of ribbons in the retail 



florists' business, has grown faster 

 than the business itself, because in the 

 present methods ribbons can be used 

 to great advantage on nearly all 

 arrangements of flowers and when 

 properly used are a great acquisition 

 to any up-to-date floral arrangement. 



DKI.IVKKY OP PLOWERS IN VASES 

 AND JARDINIERES. 



In our city in particular is a large 

 demand for bunches of flowers at all 

 seasons of the year, to be sent to the 

 various offices or departments of the 

 T'nited States government. In these 

 cases it is often necessary to have a 

 suitable vase or jardiniere to offer to 

 go with the bunch of flowers that they 

 may be delivered in good presentable 

 condition, and their lasting qualities 

 preserved by the stems being kept in 

 water while in the office of the re- 

 cipient. 



In conclusion, to manage and run an 

 up-to-date flower store. First: It is 

 necessary to be conservative in buying. 

 When I say buying, I mean not only 

 cut-flower stock, but plants, ribbons, 

 jardiniers, florists' supplies of all kinds, 

 and especially boxes and ijaper to suit 

 all sizes of bunches and qualities of 

 flowers. This is very important. 



Second: Having the necessary re- 

 ceptacles and supplies to go with the 

 flowers, be sure to have good fresh 

 stock at all times to show your cus- 

 tomers and give them what you claim 

 to sell. 



Third: After the former two, be 

 sure to deliver the flowers as prom- 

 ised, on time, when promised, and in 

 good condition. 



TEACHING HORTICULTURE IN 

 THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

 The following is an abstract of the 

 plan devised by E. V. Hallock's com- 

 mittee and advocated by that gentle- 

 man in his address before the S. A. F. 

 on Wednesday forenoon: 



GREAT NEED OF STANDARDIZING 

 AND CENTRALIZING THE CON- 

 TROLLING POWER. 



After careful research and study of 

 reports and methods now in vogue, we 

 wish particularly to call your attention 

 to two matters: first, the absence of 

 text-books in all the present methods 

 of teaching horticulture, and second, 

 the lack of concerted action among 

 the different associations conducting 

 that work, be they civic, philanthropic, 

 or educational. 



This state of affairs we consider for- 

 tunate. The first because it does not 

 require any great preparation, and 

 makes possible the starting of an S. 

 A. F. method sooner than it could 

 otherwise be started, since no elab- 

 orate system of text-books is essen- 

 tial. The second. Inasmuch as indi- 

 vidual persons and organizations have 

 accomplished so much and demon- 

 strated so thoroughly that the Interest 

 of the people is already all that could 

 be desired that we feel confident If 

 this work can be placed upon a me- 

 thodical, systematic, concerted plan — 

 in other words, if the entire school 

 system of horticulture can be stand- 

 ardized suitably for each grade of 

 school, suggested by the S. A. F. and 

 adopted by the different boards of edu- 

 cation — we seen no reason why this 

 teaching of horticulture should not 

 cover the entire land In a few years. 



In all the methods of teaching by 

 the different organizations .it present. 



