14 



The Florists^ Review 



Fbbrcart 15, 1817. 



ing paper at a basement bargain price. 

 Many florists use small cards in the 

 newspapers the year around. I seri- 

 ously question the benefit of this style 

 of advertising. Let each of your news- 

 paper ads bear a message of interest and 

 not merely your name and address. 

 There are some good series of ads of- 

 fered by florists' syndicates, and any 

 one who is not able to write good copy 

 himself, or secure the service of an 

 experienced ad writer, is much better 

 off in renting a syndicate service of this 

 kind. 



Direct Advertising. 



The foremost essential in direct ad- 

 vertising is the preparation of the mail- 

 ing list. Mailing lists are prepared ac- 

 cording to either the financial rating, 

 social position, occupation or location 

 of the prospects. 



A good list for a florist is found in 

 what is known as a "blue book," a list 

 comprising the names of social leaders. 

 In a city like Nashville we have a list 

 of this kind of about 1,000 names. Then 

 there are special lists of church mem- 

 bers, society members and those affil- 

 iated with commercial organizations. 



A mailing list on index cards is han- 

 dled to best advantage, on account of 

 the space that each card gives you for 

 record and follow-up information. After 

 you have prepared your mailing lists, 

 the postmaster of your respective cities 

 will, upon request, check them and cor- 

 rect them at a small cost, thus saving 

 you waste postage on wrong addresses. 



Should Watch for Functions. 



While a progressive florist should use 

 his mailing list in full or in part at least 

 four times per year, the individual let- 

 ters sent on special occasions, such as 

 graduations, weddings or receptions, are 

 the ones that bring the biggest results, 

 if they are well arranged. It is good 

 policy for you to have a good letter pre- 

 pared for each of these purposes, or, bet- 

 ter yet, liave a quantity of them neatly 

 multigraphed. Then your assistant can 

 fill them in each day from the social cal- 

 endar in the newspaper and other avail- 

 able sources. 



There are many attractive envelope 



"stuff era" prepared by syndicate ad- 

 vertising ^rms and these are good for 

 the florists who have only a small list 

 and cannot afford to go to the expense 

 of specially designed and printed mat- 

 ter. Whenever possible, special matter 

 carrying the individuality of the adver- 

 tiser is much to be preferred. 



I wish I had the time to discuss more 

 intimately the merits of the many other 

 productive advertising mediums, such as 

 billboards, street-car cards, novelties, 

 moving picture screens, etc. They all 

 have their place in a well planned adver- 

 tising campaign. I shall, however, be 

 glad to attempt to answer any question 

 that you may ask me in connection with 

 my subject. 



FORTUNE FAVORS FORTER. 



The grower by his greenhouse, the 

 man by his apparel, the merchant by his 

 store — so judges the world. It is the 

 quality of the thing most intimately as- 

 sociated with a man that more or less 

 determines his worldly rating. For in- 

 stance, going from platitudes to a spe- 

 cific example, take the store of Edward 

 A. Forter, of Cincinnati, 0., as shown in 

 tife accompanying illustration. This 

 store stamps the owner aa alert, wide- 

 awake and up-to-the-minute in his mer- 

 chandising, choosing the best and dealing 

 with the best. It advertises its owner; 

 it advertises itself, 



Mr. Forter succeeded A. Sunder- 

 bruch 's Sons last year and the picture 

 was taken during the opening last Easter 

 at 128 West Fourth street, Cincinnati. 

 The floor space has an area of 5,200 

 square feet. A glass-enclosed cooler in 

 the rear is forty-nine feet long, twenty- 

 five feet wide and twelve feet high, the 

 finest of its kind to be had. Mr. Forter 

 evidently is courting success with every 

 advantage at his disposal. 



AZALEAS A SECOND SEASON. 



Please tell me how to take care of my 

 azaleas after they are through bloom-, 

 ing. Will they be of any use for next 

 season? D. D. S.— Tex. 



Azaleas after flowering should have 



all their seed pods removed. You can 

 either plant them out in summer on a 

 piece of land where the hose is handy 

 and lift them in late September, or carry 

 them over in pots. The pots should be 

 plunged to their brims in a coldf rame or 

 regular plunging bed. You must have 

 water convenient in either case. Aza- 

 leas like a light compost, with, if 'pos-^ 

 sible, considerable leaf-mold in it. 

 While they are specially fond of peat, 

 they will grow almost equally well 

 in loam. Carried-over azaleas set buds 

 more abundantly than the imported 

 ones, and the plants also will flower 

 earlier than the same varieties fresh 

 from Belgium. C. W. 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS. 



Store of E. A. Forter, Cincinnati, Who Succeeded Sunderbruch's Sons. 



Meeting of Executive Board. 



President Eobert C. Kerr authorizes 

 me to call a meeting of the executive 

 board to be held in New York, March 

 16 and 17, 1917. 



The August Convention. 



The arrangements for the trade ex- 

 hibition in connection with the conven- 

 tion to be held in New York next 

 August are progressing satisfactorily. 

 The florists' supply trade and others 

 doing business with growers and re- 

 tailers are evincing a keen interest in 

 the exhibition, as will be seen by the 

 following list of those who have already 

 reserved space on the exhibition floor: 

 John Scheepers & Co., George L. StUl- 

 man, B. Hammond Tracy, John Lewis 

 Childs, Arthur Cowee, Schloss Bros., 

 Bayersdorfer & Co., Beed & Keller, 

 Arthur T. Boddington Co., John C. 

 Moninger Co., John A. Evans Co., Ad- 

 vance Co., King Construction Co., Jack- 

 son & Perkins Co., American Greenhouse 

 Mfg. Co., Lord & Burnham Co. and Eus- 

 sin & Hanfling. A large attendance of 

 representatives of the trade from all 

 sections of the country is assured. Con- 

 sequently the trade exhibition will be 

 unusually large. 



The Convention Garden, which has 

 been laid out in the Botanical Gardens, 

 Bronx park, under the supervision of 

 Dr. N. L. Britton, is an undertaking 

 worthy of New York. Preparatory 

 work was engaged in until the ground 

 became too much frozen to make the 

 continuation possible. Besides serving 

 the purpose of the society, the garden 

 will be an object of interest to hundreds 

 of thousands of the public, all horticul- 

 tural enthusiasts. With this in view 

 Dr. Britton has spared no effort to make 

 the garden attractive. So far the fol- 

 lowing have arranged for plantings: 

 W. A. Manda, Maurice Fuld, John 

 Scheepers & Co., Bobbink & Atkins, 

 Henry A. Dreer, A. N. Pierson, Inc., 

 Conard & Jones, John Lewis Childs, 

 Raymond W. Swett, Arthur Cowee, 

 B. Hammond Tracy and Arthur T. 

 Boddington Co. 



The Proceedings of the society will be 

 mailed to members about February 20. 

 Conditions without the control of the 

 society have caused some little delay in 

 the publication of the volume this year, 

 but it will be worthy of close study, 

 being more than usually interesting. 

 One thing, particularly, the society is 

 to be congratulated upon; the list of 

 members in good standing published in 

 the book is much larger than ever be- 

 fore recorded in the history of the 

 society. John Young, Sec'y. 



