August 9, 1917. 



The Florists' Review 



19 





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Casket Cover of Orchids and Valley^ by Grimm & GorIy» St. Louis, Mo. 



any flower messages to the loved ones at home 

 will be given unusual attention. Any florist in 

 the larger cities of France will relay your order. 

 We will be pleased to book it at this time or 

 hear from you via mail or cable. 



With best wishes, we are very truly yours, 

 Indianapolis, Ind. Bertermann Bros. Co. 



CASKET COVER OF ORCHIDS. 



Summer may come and business may 

 go, but funerals go on forever. 



Thus might run the song of the flo- 

 rist, for funeral work is the mainstay 

 of the business, in season and out. 

 when there is little else to create a de- 

 mand for flowers, some prominent man 

 dies and the florist profits thereby. 



Grimm & Gorly, of St. Louis, will 

 vouch for this statement. Kecently a 

 wealthy St. Louis man died and his 

 family ordered, among other designs, 

 the casket cover of orchids and valley 

 shown in the accompanying illustration. 

 The family order ran into thousands of 

 dollars. The designer who made the 

 cover is Henry Duringburg and he re- 

 ceived many compliments on his work, 

 both from the trade and the family of 

 the man whose casket it covered. It 

 was said to have been one of the hand- 

 somest and most expensive pieces ever 

 made in St. Louis. 



'NOBODY HOME. 



It develops that the pronouncement 

 of the secretary of the F. T. D. in the 

 matter of the credit of retail florists, 

 which appeared in The Review for 

 August 2, grew out of an incident which 

 well illustrates the heedlessness with 

 which some persons conduct their busi- 

 ness. It appears that a member of the 

 Florists' Telegraph Delivery Associa- 

 tion had occasion to send an order for 

 about $100 to be executed by a member 



in another city. The receiving member 

 wired back for the money before he 

 would fill the order, utterly forgetful 

 of the fact that the principal reason for 

 the organization of the F. T. D. was to 

 guarantee credits between its members. 

 It simply was a case of ' ' nobody home. ' ' 

 The further development of the ex- 

 change business between florists seems 

 to call for more prompt attention to the 

 payment for flowers ordered. One large 

 firm which practices the Golden Eule 

 fills orders for other florists without 

 questioning their credit. It now has 

 on its books, so its president says, about 

 100 cases of overdue accounts from 

 florists who are not members of the 

 F. T. D. and who do not respond to 

 statements and letters. It is not pos- 

 sible for the average florist to have at 

 hand credit information on the standing 

 of every florist throughout the United 

 States and to secure the prompt filling 

 of orders demands that the trade be 

 prompt in paying the bills. It should be 

 like a matter of honor. 



ACCESSORIES TO THE FRONT! 



Interest Flower Buyer In Container. 



Each year the accessories of the re- 

 tailer cut a bigger figure in his busi- 

 ness — what formerly were sales of 

 flowers and plants only, stock unaccom- 

 panied by paid-for containers, now in 

 many cases are combined salds of flow- 

 ers and baskets, or of plants in pre- 

 tentious potware. The sale of stock 

 and receptacle, of course, is a thing to 

 strive hard for, inasmuch as two profits 

 are involved. Another nice point is 

 that a smart basket, vase or bowl has 

 the happy effect of enhancing the 



"show" value of the stock, thereby 

 providing the retailer with a leeway for 

 a much-needed "war tax." A third 

 factor not to be ignored is that earnings 

 on basket and vase sales represent an 

 insurance, so to speak, on repeat orders. 

 It is obvious that the more baskets and 

 roses the florist sells the more frequent 

 will be the repeat orders for stock to 

 keep the receptacles filled. Some of the 

 painstaking retailers even circularize 

 those patrons who, as the sales file 

 shows, have purchased baskets or vases 

 that are likely to be permanent adorn- 

 ments in the home. 



Dull Time Right Time To Work Hard. 



It is during the summer, when flowers 

 do not have so strong an appeal to the 

 buyer, that the unique container plays 

 a big part. The novel conceits of the 

 basket and vase makers serve splendidly 

 in aiding the stock to make a better bid 

 for the buyers' attention. Many a man 

 or woman who comes into the store with 

 the intention of purchasing only a few 

 flowers for a vase may be attracted by 

 the filled baskets and vases, and pur- 

 chase one of them, as well as the stock 

 to go with it. 



The idea presented may be a small 

 one, but there are many such small mat- 

 ters that count in the week's business, 

 particularly if it happens to be a mid- 

 summer week. Take, for instance, the 

 summer display in Lowe 's Flower Shop, 

 at Long Beach, Cal., as pictured here- 

 with. Note that nearly all the stock 

 is displayed in receptacles which are 

 intended as a part of the sale, and not 

 displayed in plain display units. The 

 buyer is given the impression that the 

 pretty basket an^ the fresh roses in it 



