August 9, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



LIS 



THE CANDID OPINION OF A RE- 

 TAIL SALESMAN. 



There is a suggestion for florists in 

 a window which I saw in a New Eng- 

 land city not long ago. The particular 

 window happened to be in a shoe 

 store, but the arrangement was one 

 which might be adopted in a flower 

 shop equally well. In fact, the impres- 

 sion probably would be greatly en- 

 hanced if it were filled with flowers. 



There was simply an ordinary win- 

 dow with large lights of glass, a hard 

 wood floor and a quarter dome ceiling. 

 The rear of the window, however, and 

 the side walls were made entirely of 

 mirrors. As a result the window seemed 

 to be three times its actual size, and 

 the center of the dome seemed to 

 come just at the middle of the en- 

 larged space. Such a window filled 

 with flowers and potted plants, while 

 perhaps small in itself, would suggest 

 to the eye a lavish and striking dis- 

 play. I know of no other means by 

 which a rather small showing can be 

 magnified to such an extent in the pub- 

 lic eye. Moreover, it is possible to 

 create many handsome effects with- 

 out a great expenditure of time and 

 money, 'because the treatment facing 

 the rear of the window which would 

 ordinarily be lost is conveyed to the 

 street by means of the mirrors. It 

 seems to me there is a fine opportu- 

 nity for some one to do some excep- 

 tional window work. 



More and more is the selling of gar- 

 den accessories being taken up by re- 

 tail florists. An advertisement of 

 considerable proportions has been ap- 

 pearing in one of the Boston papers, 

 advertising a long list of these acces- 

 sories, including bird baths, benches, 

 tables, sundial pedestals, urns and jar- 

 dinieres. Attention is attracted to the 

 advertising by the picture of a large 

 gazing globe on a pedestal, cost com- 

 plete, $40. Mr. Carbone of Boston has 

 long featured not only garden acces- 

 sories but all sorts of articles only re- 

 motely related to flowers. Most of the 

 other dealers, though, confine them- 

 selves more strictly to the straight 

 garden accessories and they are build- 

 ing up a trade in these articles which 

 helps materially in keeping the shop 

 going at a time of year when the de- 

 mand for flowers is necessarily light. 

 By a good window display it is pos- 

 sible to attract the attention and even- 

 tually the dollars of men and women 

 who had never thought of using gaz- 

 ing globes, bird baths or urns in their 

 gardens until the suggestion was pre- 

 sented to them in this way. 



Dreer's Display 



of Decorative and other 

 Seasonable Stock 



at the DETROIT CONVENTION 



Our representatives will be present and pleased to give 

 any information desired. 



HENRY A. DREER 



714-716 Chestnut Street 



PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



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INSTRUCTION IN GARDENING 



Practical Instruction la offered In i 

 I Tegetable, flower and fruit gardening, I 

 1 greenhouse and nursery practice, to- 2 

 1 gether with lectures, laboratory, field \ 

 % and shop work in garden botany, too- i 

 i logy, pathology, landscape design, soils, f 

 | plant chemistry and related subjects. 



The curriculum la planned for the | 

 i education of any persons who would = 

 i become trained gardenera or fitted to | 

 | be superintendents of estate* or parka. | 

 i Students may be admitted at any time, | 



Circular* and other Information will f 

 i be mailed on application. 



I The New York Botanical Garden j 



1 Bronx Pmrk 1CKW TOBK OITT | 



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In reaching out for business florists 

 in England have begun the sale of 

 table decorations and other sundries 

 in quite a large way. A recent num- 

 ber of the Florists' Bulletin says: 



"Table decorations come within the 

 purview of florists. The semi-circular 

 glass blocks with holes in them for 

 supporting cut flowers; bouquet spray 

 and wreath boxes, ribbon of various 

 tints and widths, in fact the category 

 of articles for sale as distinguished 

 from those required for his own use, 

 might be almost indefinitely pro- 

 longed." 



It seems that the English dealers 

 are also working hard to build up a 

 trade in fancy pots and bulb bowls, 

 and the same writer says: 



"Florists' requirements today are 

 much more comprehensive than for- 

 merly, as they include a variety of ar- 

 ticles which in former days were 



never stocked. When a florist sells a 

 small fern, if he has a stock of fancy 

 china he can almost always sell a 

 fancy pot with the fern, and there are 

 some exquisitely artistic lines suitable 

 for the purpose. The same remark 

 may be applied to large plant pots 

 and bulb bowls." 



There is another development of the 

 British trade, however, which may not 

 be accepted quite so freely in this 

 country. In consequence of the scar- 

 city of fresh flowers, florists have been 

 compelled to employ artificial flowers 

 which are being made in England, and 

 waxed so that they will last longer 

 than the usual military flowers. It 

 is stated in the Bulletin that enormous 

 quantities of these goods are being 

 used as substitutes for fresh flowers. 

 Some of them are very close copies 

 of nature, while others are monstrosi- 

 ties. It appears that at one time some 

 of the artificial roses were so perfect 

 that a justifiable outcry was raised as 

 to their being sold as preserved nat- 

 ural roses. This kind of misrepre- 

 sentation is of course wholly without 

 the pale, but a British writer in dis- 

 cussing this matter holds that any ar- 

 ticle, properly labeled, that helps to 

 pay rent and other expenses, including 

 the horrible excess profits tax, is en- 

 titled to a place on the florists' tables. 

 This is a matter which is likely to 

 bring up considerable discussion in 

 the United States, at least that is my 

 candid opinion. 



