32 



The Florists' Review 



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16. 



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TIME TO THINK BASKETS. 



Basket Profits are Profits Pliis. 



Fancifully speaking, when the com- 

 bined sale of basket and flowers reaches 

 the bookkeeping department the sta- 

 tistician there dissects the selling price 

 into three distinct morsels — cost, over- 

 head, profit. The last morsel, usually 

 the most disconcerting and illusive of 

 the three, then advances to "Cr.," pro- 

 vided nothing unforeseen has happened 

 to hack oflf a fraction or two. 



Now profit is profit on a basket sale, 

 but those who have graduated from the 

 drones' class will admit that earnings 

 on basket sales also represent an in- 

 surance, as it were, on repeat orders. 

 Namely, the more baskets a florist dis- 

 poses of the more frequent will be his 

 repeat orders for plants or cut flowers 

 to keep the baskets filled. 



Mr. Brown buys a handsome two-tone 

 basket filled with cut roses, and pre- 

 sents it to Mrs. Brown on the occasion 

 of their tin wedding anniversary. Some 

 time afterward Mr. Brown receives a 

 catchy billet from his florist, which 

 sounds something like this: "Dear Mr. 

 Brown: Why not let flowers cheer your 

 home all the time? That pretty basket 

 you purchased from me can be refilled 

 every little while at a most reasonable 

 cost. Today, for instance, I offer you 

 some unusually fragrant roses — just the 

 thing to put the finishing touch to your 

 apartments. Say Main 123 to the tele- 

 phone operator." 



Baskets Good Christmas Gifts. 



Admittedly the idea presented is a 

 small one, but there are many such 

 ideas and opportunities, each of which 

 may grow up some day and each of 

 which counts in the aggregate. Any- 

 way, we are not supposed to sit in a 

 rocking chair and wait for business to 

 walk in through the door — we are sup- 

 posed to go after the business, and get 

 it. 



As Christmas and the gift-giving 

 days draw apace the sales possibilities 

 of baskets take on special significance ; 

 inasmuch as a basket and its contents 

 usually serves as a gift to someone. 

 Therefore now is the time for the "mer- 

 chant florist" to put his basket stock 

 through a risrorous third degree. The 

 assortment should be sufficientlv large 

 to cover the tastes of the public and 

 meet the requirements of short and 

 long-stemmed flowers as well as plants. 

 The next thing ia to make plans for ex 

 ploitine the baskets and the stock to 

 go in them. 



In a few cases the desirability of 

 baskets as Christmas gifts may be 

 profitably advertised in the local news- 

 papers. Florists who possess good mail- 

 ing lists perhaps could send out 1-cent- 

 postage folders which combine illustra 

 tions of the filled baskets with a "per- 

 sonal" letter. Then there is the dis- 

 play window, in which the retailer 

 shows his baskets filled with flowers or 

 plants. Cards suggesting baskets as 

 gifts should be placed in the window, 



as many persons not familiar with flo- 

 rists' merchandise are likely to think 

 that the baskets shown are display 

 units of the florist, and not a part of 

 the sale. 



A Help that Sells Better Baskets. 



The showing of baskets in the store 

 is of special importance. Many a man 

 or woman who crosses the threshold 

 with the intention of purchasing only a 

 few flowers for a vase may be attracted 

 by the baskets and purchase one of 

 them, as well as the stock to go with 

 it. A good assortment on display will 

 assist the customers in buying and as- 

 sist the florist in selling. It often is 

 desirable to bunch the different styles 

 of baskets, in order to provide a con- 

 trast between the high and low-priced 

 ones. The advantage of this is that the 

 average customer, in choosing from an 

 assortment of all grades, is likely to se- 

 lect a basket in the higher-priced di- 

 vision, because the one chosen seems 

 much prettier than its lower-priced 



mates. When the buyer has selected a 

 high-grade basket the florist then pro- 

 ceeds to fill it with high-grade stock, » 

 order to harmonize the two items. Thns 

 the amount of the sale is increased. 



The illustration on page 33 shows 

 a good basket display in the store of 

 the Siebrecht Floral Co., at Winona, 

 Minn. But it is not necessary to have 

 an expensive wall case to advantageous- 

 ly display baskets and other recep- 

 tacles; the management of the Jsiebreeht 

 Floral Co. simply believed in doing 

 everything the right way at the start. 

 More flowers, and baskets filled with 

 flowers and plants, took tneir position 

 near the basket display when the 

 photographer had finished his work. 



Buffalo, N. Y. — Next spring Herbert 

 Taylor expects to become proprietor of 

 the business of the Queen City Land- 

 scape Gardening Co., which until re- 

 cently was conducted by A. Allen, who 

 now is manager of the landscape depart- 

 ment of Z. D. Blaekistone, Washing- 

 ton, D. C. 



Ames, la. — ^F. J. Olsan has been suc- 

 ceeded by his sons, Milos and Charles, 

 who were brought up in the business 

 and who are chips off the old block 

 when it comes to growing good stock. 

 Mr. Olsafl, known in the city and coun- 

 ty as "Dad" Olsan, is taking a Taea- 

 tion in Louisiana. 



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SOME TIMELY HINTS. 



Early Preparations. 



As sales of Christmas plants are often 

 made well in advance of the holiday, it 

 is well to have a good display in the 

 store window or show house in good 

 season. Keep both store and show house 

 as cool as personal comfort will permit. 

 Get all the pots scrubbed clean before 

 the busy selling time arrives. It is a 

 job of some magnitude to get all the 

 pots clean, but it is vastly worse if pot- 

 washing is put off until the plants are 

 sold. Another point to remember is 

 that plants in clean pots, if even of only 

 moderate quality, look better and are 

 liable to sell better than well grown 

 ones in pots green with slime. 



Careful Wrapping Necessary. 



The advance in the price of every 

 description of paper and twine will be 

 quite a serious matter to florists this 

 season. Every plant sold needs careful 

 wrapping in order to make sure that it 

 will reach its purchaser in good condi- 

 tion. Climatic conditions over a large 

 .section of our country are notoriously 

 treacherous; even in December we get 

 spells of wonderfully balmy weather 

 and one is much tempted to pack light- 

 ly and save on paper. This works well 

 if the plants have but a short distance 

 to go, but it is decidedly risky if plants 

 are left to the tender mercies of ex- 

 pressmen. Heavy wrapping with paper 

 will exclude a surprising amount of 

 cold and my advice would be to wrap 

 heavily and be on the safe side. Stock 



up with old newspapers and be sure to 

 use soft tissue to wrap next to the flow- 

 ers of poinsettias, gardenias, orchids, 

 valley and other more or less easily 

 damaged blooms. A common but inex- 

 cusable blunder is to wrap the plant up 

 well and leave the pot exposed. It is 

 important to keep the roots as well 

 as the shoots warm. There are a 

 few tough subjects which may with- 

 stand "cold feet," but it is much the 

 safest way to cover the pot warmly. 



Plants which have been forced hard 

 to get them into bloom should be grad- 

 ually inured to a lower temperature. 



Making Up. 



Make up baskets, hampers, pans and 

 boxes of plants now. Retailers who 

 have no greenhouses are at a decided 

 disadvantage when it comes to this 

 work, as they lack facilities for storing 

 the necessary compost and, furthermore, 

 only a small number of retailers have 

 sufficient practical knowledge of the 

 growing end to know how to pot a 

 plant properly or to make up a hamper 

 or basket in such a way that it will 

 last as it should. Not only loam but 

 plenty of damp moss should be on hand. 

 Often moss can be used altogether and, 

 being more cleanly and less weighty 

 than soil, it is not surprising to find it 

 quite extensively used. Plant arrange- 

 ments can be either all foliage plants, 

 all flowering plants or a combinatiom of 

 the two. Poinsettias grown one ttea 

 to a pot can be effectively used and •»• 

 perhaps the best of all plants for tli* 

 purpose. 



