Inspired with confidence by the largest season's business on record, the 

 Trade is making preparations for Easter on a greater scale than ever before. 



F ever there was a class of 



I men trained more tlian an- 

 other to practice that oM 

 precept, ' ' Make liay wliile 

 the sun shines," we are 

 tliat class, we who deal in 

 , , ^_^ j)lants and flowers. And 

 (w^^^ we all are gettiiiff ready 

 for Easter with a whole- 

 hearted enthusiasm that in- 

 dicates a unanimous belief that the first 

 week of April, 1917, will be the "sun- 

 niest" we ever have known. 



This has been the record season to 

 • liite with practically all of us who deal 

 with the public. The growers have had 

 tiu'ir troubles, perhaps, with severe 

 wcatluT, small cuts, late crops and in- 

 < leased expenses, but there has been 

 III! difficulty in selling flowers to the 

 I'uidii-, or in getting rather better than 

 tlic usual prices. 



The retailing, if not in all cases the 

 till' jiroducing end, of 

 tile flower business, all 

 reason has reflected the 

 lii},'h degree of general 

 I'losjierity throughout 

 t!io country. There never 

 lias been so little un- 

 employment and wages 

 never were better, the 

 lesult being that for 

 every flower buver lost 

 because of the liigli cost 

 of living two have been 

 uaitu'd l^ecause of the 

 lar^ror volume of money 

 ill circulation. 



Big Business. 



I" torn the selling point 

 "t \iew, Christmas was 

 I lie best ever for florists 

 •I 'id business up to Asli 

 ^^ e liiesilay was about 

 •dl that Ave could ask. 

 If there lias been a less 

 liivdiabjc sliowing dur- 

 '1'^' I-eut it can be ac- 

 'O'lnted for by its earlier 

 •■'•■'"ival, simultaneously 

 Y'tli a large crop of 

 "owors. The fact that 

 "!'■ jmldic this year is 

 ■ibsnrbing a quaiititv of 

 ''Ulbous stock at least 

 *^vo-thirds greater than 

 "i^'ial is in itself an as- 

 •^iiraiice that Easter wili 



j)resent possibilities limited only by 

 one 's ability to take advantage of 

 them. 



The Big Week of the Year. 



For many years Easter was the big 

 day oil the trade's calendar. Kecently 

 Christmas has gone ahead in dollars, 

 but not in number of sales; indeed, 

 there are any number of us whose 

 customers have not yet adopted the 

 custom of sending such unutilitarian 

 Christmas gifts, but who, nevertheless, 

 can be counted on with certainty to buy 

 a lily to grace their own front window 

 Easter morning. 



We all can reckon safely that Easter 

 will give us the opportunity to make a 

 larger number of sales than at Christ 

 mas, or at any previous Easter. 



Stock has been sufficiently ])lentiful 

 this season so that, with all the fine 

 business done at retail, growers whose 



stock goes to the trade nearly all will 

 tell you they have not received as good 

 average prices this year as last. Con- 

 sequently there is no ])rosi)ect of any- 

 thing more than local shortages of 

 stock for Easter. 



.\nyway, practically everyone who 

 has watched the business grow, year by 

 year, has come to recognize tliat the 

 sales for Easter no longer are limited 

 by the supply of stock but by the indi- 

 vidual florist's ability to wait on trade. 

 The public habitually puts off buying 

 until the last moment — then there is a 

 most unholy rush. 



Only recently has the trade given any 

 real attention to the problem of get- 

 ting the Easter buying started earlier. 

 It will pay any florist to study the 

 records of other Easters; to do it now, 

 for there yet is time to push ahead the 

 selling of next week. 



The chances are the records of other 

 years will show sales 

 the first three days of 

 the week preceding 

 Faster to have been 

 rather below the normal 

 business; that by Thurs- 

 day the buyers were nib- 

 bling, ))iit that the East- 

 er sales virtually all 

 were made in the last 

 two days. Look up the 

 facts and see if the sales 

 of Saturday did not ex- 

 ceed those of all the rest 

 of the week! 



In the Book. 



In tlie memorandum 

 book every florist should 

 keej) to preserve the 

 knowledge he gains by 

 experience, see if it is 

 not written of every 

 jiiensnnt Faster Satur- 

 day that the rush was so 

 great many would-be 

 customers left before 

 they could be waited on, 

 and that of every rainy 

 Faster Saturday it is 

 recorded that profits 

 were lost with the stock 

 unsold — or that a loss 

 was avoided only by the 

 use of the telephone like 

 the grocery order-taker 

 does it. Anvone can see 



