14 



The Florists^ Review 



August 2, 1917. 



of course, ranks first, and the novel- 

 ties in accessories should not be over- 

 looked at this time. 



The Cooperative "Stunt." 



Perhaps a table decoration of un- 

 usual style would prove a card, but in 

 arranging this feature one should not 

 forget that women are critical. If such 

 a display should turn out to be too ex- 

 pensive, one may try cooperative adver- 

 tising; that is, by using the equipment 

 of a good caterer and compensating him 

 by a card in the window. I have seen 

 this cooperative idea worked out in 

 many cases, the other party usually be- 

 ing glad to supply his material for a 

 good window showing. 



Another idea is to have a tile or man- 

 tel firm put in a temporary mantel. Use 

 care in selecting it; have one with a 

 fireplace, for here is where you can use 

 to advantage a good bunch of autumn 

 foliage. The same terms might be made 

 with the mantel people as with the 

 caterer, but I think after you have once 

 tried this you will want it to be perma- 

 nent. 



Semember the Weddings. 



Then there is the bride's corner for 

 a home wedding, and as it is the begin- 

 ning of the social season, when many 

 a young miss may be contemplating 

 matrimony, it behooves the window 

 trimmer to do^ his best. If the work is 

 good it is likely tp be remembered when 

 the final arrangements are made. The 

 white mats should be used, as well as 

 the kneeling stool, white pedestals, rop- 

 ing — any good accessory that you may 

 have. Let the opening be an exhibit 

 of what you are prepared to offer the 

 public during the coming season. Any 

 extra expense in this is to be charged 

 to advertising, so the next important 

 thing is to have as many of the people 

 visit your establishment as possible dur- 

 ing the opening week. One way to do 

 this is to insert a card in the daily 

 papers. Another is to have a neat in- 

 vitation engraved or printed, but re- 

 member that it frequently is false econ- 

 omy to use cheap stationery. The re- 

 tailer should not forget that every pa- 

 per in the city has a lady reporter. See 

 that each receives an invitation to the 

 affair, in order tliat you may have a 

 news notice in the paper. Tate. 



CLEVER WORK FOR DOG DAYS. 



While some retailors are spending 

 their time at the seaside or tlie lake 

 resorts, presumably to avoid the sight 

 of their idle casli registers, others are 

 making use of tlie dull season by going 

 after Itusiness with clever bait. J. W. 

 Rodgers, of Dayton, O., is one of those 

 who believe that tlio slack time is the 

 right time for coaxing business in 

 through tlie door. And Mr. Rodgers is 

 unique in liis publicity methods. He 

 believes in the power of suggestion, and 

 last week he mailed out 4,000 little sug- 

 gestions to Dayton men, like this: 



TO YOU, MR. MAN. 



Tliore aro occasions that should novcr ho for- 

 gotten, and thp two sut-'KOstcd on the enclosed 

 '•arU, while not the most important, are, to a 

 woman, whether in the glowinK fire of .voiith 

 or the darkening embers of later life, periods 

 that even a word of remembrance will bring 

 like the rainbow, memor.v of the sunsliine past 

 and promise of brightness to come. 



In the bns.v routine of a man's life occasions 

 of this kind are frequently forgotten. 



Ma.v we not remind .von of them — a day pre- 

 vious"? We will not ask you to purcliase. even 

 though we believe flowers to be tlie best medium 

 of conveying your good wishes. 



J. W. Rodgers. 



Accompanying the letter was a re- 

 turn card that read like this: 



J. W. Rodgers, Florist: 



You may remind me of the following dates, 

 one day previous to them, understanding that 

 I am not in any way obligated to you. 



Name I'hone 



Address • • 



Date of wife's birthday 



Wedding anniversary 



Otiier occasions 



The possibilities of Mr. Rodgers' 

 scheme, with the return cards filed so 

 that they are taken care of at the proper 

 time, are unlimited. An index of 500 

 such cards, with two dates specified, 

 would represent 1,000 possible sales. 

 Every time Mr. Rodgers has a wedding 

 decoration he makes out a card, in order 

 that he may remind Mr. Newlywed of 

 the wedding anniversary the following 

 year, and the many years to come. In- 

 cidentally, Mr. Rodgers has not copy- 

 righted his "stunt." 



written sooner but thought we might 

 find the holes in the bottom of the box. 

 But we have reached the bottom and 

 still are minus the holes." 



A WHOLLY HOLY HOLLER, 



A southern florist some time ago gave 

 a toothpick concern an order. When 

 the toothpicks were received, they were 

 without a feature that evidently ap- 

 pealed to the purchaser, as he sent the 

 manufacturer the following letter: 



"Enclosed find check to balance our 

 account. When you were here last, you 

 sold us 50,000 toothpicks with holes in 

 them, quoting as follows: 'The hole is 

 the whole.' You failed to ship the 

 holes, or they were lost or stolen in 

 transit, as we could not find the holes. 



"The next shipment you make us we 

 want you to add the 50,000 holes that 

 were short this time. We would have 



C. O. D. BOOKKEEPING. 



We formerly had trouble keeping our 

 c. 0. d. accounts straight. The system 

 we have been using for several years is 

 simple and practically eliminates 

 trouble. 



We open in our individual ledger one 

 account against Mr. C, O. D. When 

 the c. 0. d. order goes to Mr. Jones, 800 

 Sixteenth street, we charge Mr, C. O. D. 

 with Jones' flowers, $2. When the 

 c. o. d. comes back, Mr, C. O. D. is 

 credited with Jones' $2. In this way 

 at the end of the month we can check 

 up and tell just when every c. o. d. ac- 

 count came in. I recommend a trial of 

 this system to anyone who is not satis- 

 fied with his system of keeping c. o. d. 

 accounts. Z. D. Blackistone, 



A BASKET FUNERAL PIECE, 



Baskets as funeral pieces are unusual, 

 but P, V. Matraia, of the Art Floral 

 Co., San Francisco, Cal, is having great 

 success with them. One of three he 

 recently made in a single day is shown 

 in the illustration on page 15. The 

 basket is on a column base. Mr, Ma- 

 traia points out that pieces of this char- 

 acter give opportunities to dispose of 

 baskets, which may be filled with dif- 

 ferent kinds of stock. One he made was 

 so acceptable that he received a similar 

 order for the same funeral. 



I 



i 



SEASONABLE » 

 Mf SUGGESTIONS 



WE 



I 



Callas. 



The callas should now be well ripened 

 off and can be shaken out and repotted. 

 Cut away any decayed parts on the 

 tubers. Any that are badly affected 

 would better be thrown away. Small 

 tubers, if wanted, can be planted in 

 flats six inches deep or placed several 

 together in pots. Use a rich soil for 

 callas. Give them good drainage and, 

 after potting, stand them outdoors and 

 leave them there until September. 



As between bench and pot culture, the 

 latter has manifold advantages. The 

 roots are under better control, the pots 

 can be moved about at any time and the 

 plants are much more floriferous than 

 when given unlimited root-run. A nar- 

 row l)ench containing a single row along 

 the side of a carnation house is ideal 

 for callas and I find that three tubers 

 in an 8-inch pot give splendid results. 



Tlie Godfrey calla is mufh more ]>ro- 

 lific and nnu-h purer in color tlian the 

 old ti'thiopica. 



Antirrhiniuns. 



For a fall and winter crop the first 

 half of August is a good time to plant 

 out snapdragons. I prefer to use only 

 four and one-half to five inches of soil 

 and to run the rows twelve inches apart, 

 allowing nine inches between the plants. 

 The plants should be allowed to run up 



their flower spikes until the blooms 

 start to open and then should be 

 pinched back fairly hard. This will 

 cause them to break away strongly 

 from the base. In planting out, if the 

 balls are at all matted, loosen them a 

 little and be sure that the balls are 

 moist. 



Until the plants take hold of the soil 

 it is better to water a little around each 

 plant rather than to soak the entire bed 

 or bencli. Do not keep a moist atmos- 

 phere and, while an overhead spraying 

 on extremely hot days is refreshing, do 

 not overdo this, as it is easy to develop 

 fungoid aft'ections, to wliich snap- 

 dragons are no longer immune. 



The Aphis Plague. 



From many sections come advices 

 tliat large batches of vegetable, flower 

 and orchard plants have been terribly 

 infested with green and black aphis. 

 Even fields of potatoes and tomatoes, 

 usually immune, are almost ruined, 

 while miscellaneous root crops, peas and 

 beans, asters, various herbaceous per- 

 ennials and even dahlias are alive with 

 apliis. Where whole fields are attacked 

 the spraying is a big proposition, but 

 the average florist can easily care for 

 his sweet peas, carnations, asters and 

 other infested crops by spraying the 

 plants with a good nicotine extract, to 

 which some soap is added to make it 



