The splendid business done for Thanksgiving, exceeding the most sanguine 

 expectations, has raised great anticipations as to the Christmas demand. 



DMITTEDLY the most uncertain of the special 

 flower days, Christmas has seemed more hazard- 

 ous than usual this year, but the tremendous 

 demand that flooded down upon the trade in 

 the forty-eight hours of the Thanksgiving season 

 has been accepted as an indication that the 

 Christmas rush of 1916 will break all records 

 for our business. The result is that hesitation 

 has been cast aside and even the most conserva- 

 tive are stocking up for banner business. Stores 

 are being filled with a great variety of accessories, plants 

 are being hunted with avidity, and cut flowers are being 

 ordered with enthusiasm — extra clerks are being engaged, 

 delivery systems planned and advertising is receiving atten- 

 tion, something quite unusual in this business, as florists have 

 found it difficult to break the habit of awaiting fortune's 

 favors without offering special invitation. 



The reason that Christmas has earned the reputation of 

 being the most uncertain of special flower days is found in 

 the fact that at other times public attention is centered on 

 only one or two other articles of merchandise — clothes at 

 Easter, valentines and 

 candy for February 14, 

 food at Thanksgiving 

 — while at Christmas 

 flowers are compelled 

 to compete for favor 

 with every other con- 

 ceivable line of mer- 

 chandise. For Memo- 

 rial day. Mothers' day 

 and AH Saints' day 

 flowers still are with- 

 out active competition, 

 but can you suggest 

 any article so foolish 

 that someone does not 

 recommend, and many 

 accept, it as the finest 

 kind of Christmas gift? 



The Business Grows. 



While the public 's 

 purchases increase 

 many fold at Christ- 

 inas, no man can fore- 

 < ist with certainty the 

 "'irection of the de- 

 ' and. 



We have this much 

 '•1 our favor, however, 

 f 'at with the increase 

 ^ ; wealth, leisure and 

 ' e fi n e m e n t in ^his 

 ' mntry there has come 

 :i id will continue to be 

 ^ continuous if some- 

 y hat unsteady increase 

 ' ' the use of flowers 

 • »d their accessories. 



In planning the 

 ' 'iristmas business it is 

 ' cessary to take many 



Christmas Affords the Best Chance to Sell Big Baskets. 



factors into account. To begin with, there are many florists 

 who have so increased their sales that they now do regularly 

 what they did only at holiday times a few years ago. Dare they 

 count on a corresponding increase for Christmas? Then, too, it 

 is the experience of the trade in the larger cities that the best 

 Christmas increases, relative to the regular business, have 

 come in the years of general depression, when usually pros- 

 perous people sent flowers because they did not care to spend 

 larger sums. 



This year, with the country in a higher state of prosperity 

 than ever known, what will be the demand for flowers? 



Will people of means turn to costly articles, as they have 

 done in some other prosperous years? Will they neglect 

 flowers, which they sent as gifts in years when they wanted 

 to hold the expenditures to what they considered small sums? 

 If they do, are there enough new people who have just come 

 into the flower-buying class to offset the loss? 



Added to the other complexities of this unusual season is 

 the fact that in this year of so-called unprecedented pros- 

 perity a great many people are without surplus funds — the 

 expenses forced on them in both a business and personal way 



have reduced their 

 ability to purchase out- 

 side the line of neces- 

 sities. Are Christmas 

 gifts necessary? Hpw 

 many of your custom- 

 ers are as busy as bees, 

 but making less money 

 than usual? How 

 much has the soaring 

 price of paper or pota- 

 toes curtailed the abil- 

 ity to buy flowers? 



Our Prices. 



But there is still an- 

 other factor of uncer- 

 tainty: Practicallv all 

 other gift articles are 

 higher in price than 

 ever before; the only 

 exceptions are a few 

 trade-marked articles, 

 most of which are 

 classed, like flowers 

 among the luxuries 

 and which alwavs have 

 sold at large margins 

 of profit. If the pub- 

 lic hesitates over the 

 advances that are 

 charged in other stores 

 the florist can attract 

 trade by putting em- 

 phasis on the molera- 

 tiou of his prices. 

 Indeed, there are those 

 in the producing end 

 of the florists' business 

 who maintain that 

 prices in this trade, as 

 represented by returns 



