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review: 



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PICTURING HOW WE SEND 

 "FLOWERS BY WIRE" 



For every person who understands "Flowers by Wire" there are 

 hundreds who never have heard of the service; so that the growth of the 

 telegraph delivery business depends, not on how much the F. T. D. is ad- 

 vertised in the trade, hut on how much the service is advertised to the 

 public. 



HETHER or not one is a 



^▼TT" member of the F. T. D., 



\^y / every man who runs a 



e^^^m ,A flower store should boost 



™ * ^ the telegraph delivery; 



indeed, growers and 



wholesalers, everyone who 



makes his living in the 



trade, should boost it, for 



every flower delivered by 



wire is just one more flower sold. It 



is estimated that the telegraph delivery 



business now represents a total of a 



million dollars a year. It is a million 



dollars that otherwise would not have 



been spent for flowers. But it might 



as easily be two millions, three or five. 



All that is needed is to let the public 



know. 



Advertise It. 



Of course the best and quickest way 

 to make the public understand is by 

 advertising in the daily papers, but 

 that costs money that usually would 

 not otherwise be spent and there is an- 

 other excellent method that represents 

 scarcely any outlay except the mental 

 and manual labor of the window deco- 

 rator. A window decoration does not 

 reach in a day anywhere near so many 

 people as read the city 's best news- 

 paper, nor does it usually tell the 

 "telegraph delivery" story so plainly 

 as type can do it, as will be seen by 

 a study of the accompanying illustra- 

 tions, but it has the 

 advantage that it fills 

 a place that scarcely 

 can be allowed to be 

 empty, fills it interest- 

 ingly and which, once 

 installed, can be per- 

 mitted to run for a 

 week or even two. 



It has been a popu- 

 lar method to employ 

 the telegraph delivery 

 window instead of the 

 water window of sum- 

 mers gone before, and 

 it is an excellent sub- 

 stitution, since aquatic 

 windows seldom serve 

 any direct advertising 



trumps," might be paraphrased by the 

 window decorator, "Whenever nothing 

 else seems suitable, put in a telegraph 

 delivery display." It always will do 

 good work. 



We in the trade understand the tele- 

 graph delivery idea so well that we are 

 apt to make the mistake of supposing 

 others understand it also. "Flowers 

 by telegraph" appears too often with- 

 out explanation in florists' ads. Peo- 

 ple know nothing but words can be 

 sent by wire; how then are flowers 

 sent? It must be made plain that it 

 is by a system of reliable correspond- 

 ents that covers America. 



Study the Illustrations. 



In this issue of The Review there 

 are four illustrations of telegraph de- 

 livery windows reproduced from photo- 



the map, or with the telegraph ticker, 

 but the idea is not suflSciently plain to 

 the passers-by unless there is a sign 

 that says in so many words that these 

 are some of the florists to whom the 

 orders are sent by telegraph. 



One of the illustrations, that of the 

 Superior Floral Co., shows how the tele- 

 graph delivery window was utilized to 

 win a prize in an autumn competition 

 open to all the merchants of the city. 



The trade telegraph delivery service 

 is understood and used by so small a 

 proportion of the people that it should 

 be featured at every opportunity. 

 It is apparent that this business will 

 increase in direct proportion as more 

 people know that the system exists. 

 The window that features the F. T. D. 

 not only makes for immediate business 

 in this line, but also advertises the 



graphs of recent decorations that are service against the time when it is 



said to have done good work, but it 

 will be plain to anyone who studies 

 them that the idea, so well Understood 

 by the florist, was not made any too 

 plain to the man in the street. The 

 cards of correspondents, a favorite fea- 

 ture of many such windows, are not 

 illuminative unless explained by such 

 an inscription as that employed by 

 H. E. Wilson, who labeled them "A 

 few of the florists who handle our 

 orders in other cities." 



Another popular plan is to connect 

 the cards of florists with their town on 



purpose, but the tele- 

 graph delivery window 

 fits in with many an- 

 other plan. It can 

 well oe used in early 

 autumn, before the 

 mums demand display, 

 or between seasons at 

 any time of year. The 

 whist players' rule, 

 "In case of doubt, lead 



most used, such as at Christmas, Nev 

 Year's, Mothers' day or Valentine's 

 day. 



Materials for Windows. 



As the subject of a window the idea 

 is unusually good; it permits a display 

 that is at once attention-compelling and 

 inexpensive. The telegraphers' instru- 

 ments, the miniature telegraph poles 

 and wires, and all the other things that 

 help to tell the story to the spectator, 

 are sufficiently unusual in themselves to 

 attract attention to a florist's window 

 and when assembled in 

 a window as a com- 

 posite picture they sel- 

 dom fail to win the at- 

 tention of even the 

 least curious. In many 

 cases the local tele- 

 graph offices have 

 loaned to the retailer 

 most of the articles re- 

 quired in the display, 

 inasmuch as the win- 

 dow also advertises the 

 telegraph business. 



A common mistake, 

 apparent in some of 

 the illustrations in this 

 issue, is to neglect the 

 flowers. Even a little 

 thought will show how 

 much more compelling 

 is the impulse provided 

 when the display also 

 includes flowers in 

 such arrangements as 

 i^are to be delivered. 

 ^"Here are the flowers 

 J and here are the means 

 by which we deliver 

 Flowers-by-telegraph "Window Display fay H,;E. Wilson, Rochester, N. Y. them," it seems to say. 



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