THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



77 



have them in their best appearance 

 on Easter Sunday. If people wanted 

 these plants for their own conserva- 

 tory or house, then a lily with one 

 flower open and four or five buds 

 would suit the great majority. They 

 ask for a lily or azalea "not so much 

 blowed out." But 90 per cent of all 

 the plants bought are sent as pres- 

 ents, and a good showy appearance is 

 demanded, and for church decorations 

 it is entirely appearance and effect 

 that is wanted; however well grown 

 a plant may be, it is not wanted un- 

 less well in flower. I may add here 

 that flowering plants greatly predomi- 

 nate at Easter. Occasionally Mr. 

 Goodman buys a seven or ten-dollar 

 palm for his dear, plump little ducky, 

 but that stops in the family, and the 

 vast majority of plants sent as pres- 

 ents must be flowering. It is a cheer- 

 ful morning with all Christendom and 

 flowers are the thing to add to its 

 joys. 



We find a novelty goes well to a 

 limited extent, but they must have 

 some good merit to take well, and 

 you had better try them in moderate 

 quantity the first year. Wealthy com- 

 munities in our very large cities will 

 purchase a basket or collection of 

 plants put up in a fancy basket and 

 decorated with ribbon. In this ar- 

 rangement there would be no end to 

 the varied combinations to tempt the 

 corpulent purse. These baskets of 

 plants are sold for ten, fifteen or even 

 twenty-five dollars, and are works of 

 art, but they have not yet reached the 

 general trade. We find a few custom- 

 ers willing to spend ten or fifteen 

 dollars on a single plant, a great 

 many willing to purchase a five-dollar 

 azalea, but a far greater number 

 whose limit is two dollars. Then there 

 is the school child, or the poor per- 

 son, who want to make their window 

 bright and who can hardly afford 

 twenty-five cents for a hyacinth. Our 

 trade is made up of all these classes, 

 and if you do a general retail trade, 

 you must cater to all of them, and be 

 just as pleasant and attentive to the 

 delegation of little girls who have 

 clubbed together to buy taeir school 

 teacher a fifty-cent plant as to the 

 millionaire who orders a dozen Beau- 

 ties at eighteen dollars per dozen. A 

 little different manner, you know, but 

 just as attentive. 



The delivery of plants at Easter, 

 should the weather be cold, as it too 

 often is, makes it the most trying day 

 of the whole year. At Christmas we 

 are prepared for cold weather and ex- 

 pect it, and most of the trade then is 

 cut flowers, which are easily and safe- 

 ly delivered in boxes, and the plants 

 are carefully and securely wrapped; 

 but we never know till dawn breaks 

 what kind of a day it is going to be 

 on the Friday or Saturday before 

 Easter. A cold Saturday is a great 

 loss to our trade, not only in the 

 great expense of wrapping and deliv- 

 ery, and breakage of our plants, but 

 we miss hundreds of sales that never 

 come again. A man may put off buy- 



Easter Lilies, dressed with pink ribbon and Asparagus. 



ing a hat or gloves this Saturday, but 

 he will get them sure soon, because 

 he needs them; but if his coat is 

 turned up and fingers cold, he is think- 

 ing more about a cocktail and forgets 

 that his wife told him to buy a plant 

 and send to her friend, Mrs. Expect- 

 ant. In many ways a cold time at 

 Easter' is a calamity to us. 



Great rush as it is, much can be 

 done by organizing your force. Men 

 or women that make sales should not 

 be expected to wrap up the plant. If 

 the address and card is handed to the 

 delivery department, that's all that 

 should be expected of the salesman, 

 and the cash or charge handed to the 

 gentleman who presides at the desk. 

 The man who makes change and slaps 

 the charges on file is not so busy but 

 what he can keep an eye on what is 

 going on; like a man who looks on at 

 a game of cards, he can see the right 

 card to play better than the partici- 

 pant, and he can notice whether a 

 clerk by mistake (?) drops $1.75 into 

 his own pocket instead of the till, or 

 whether that azalea that Mrs. Smith 



so kindly said she would carry out to 

 her carriage herself was paid for or 

 charged. If we had an Easter Satur- 

 day every week, we should be able to 

 keep trained help to manage it, but 

 we have not, and it is a trying time, 

 and a time above all to keep cool. It 

 is a busy time, and your customers 

 see, and all sensible ones will make 

 allowance for a short but civil an- 

 swer, and it is all they can get. Woe 

 betide the fool of a man or woman 

 clerk who wants to chin and chat and 

 be funny and extra affable to the cus- 

 tomers on these crowded, busy days; 

 turn the hose on them if practicable. 

 We have found that in the green- 

 house, where many of us do our big- 

 gest Easter trade, much confusion can 

 be saved by devoting a good big bench 

 in a house adjacent to the door where 

 the wagons are loaded to the plants 

 that are bought ahead of time, as 

 many are. We make room on the 

 bench and cover it with strong, thick 

 paper so that the pots when washed 

 won't get mussed up again with sand 

 or ashes. Thursday begins the deliv- 



