18 



The Florists^ Review 



Fbbruabx 6, 1919. 



Always Some Novelty Can be Found. 



like to go to a live store even to buy- 

 flowers for their dead friends. 



What to do to bring St. Valentine's 

 day to the attention of the public de- 

 pends on the local and individual con- 

 ditions. It may be that the method em- 

 ployed successfully by one florist would 

 not do so well for another, but there are 

 two things practically every store can 

 do and should do — now. 



Dress the Window. 



Put in a special St. Valentine's win- 

 dow display. The show windoW is per- 

 haps th« best advertising medium the 

 average florist has; he gets the greater 

 part of his patronage from those who 

 pass his store. Devote a few minutes to 

 studying the window decoration on the 

 preceding page and go and do likewise 

 — better it if you can, and send The 

 Review a photograph. 



The second thing a large number of 

 stores can do is to advertise St. Valen- 

 tinfe's day in print. A good many flo- 

 rists have ads running regularly in their 

 local papers; let these this week speak 

 of flowers as valentines. Do it now, 

 before it is forgotten. 



Or call up the local newspaper and 

 arrange for some special ads February 

 12 to 14. Go as far as yoii like; no ad- 

 vertising money ever is really wasted. 



Cooperative Advertising. 



In many cities the retailers have com- 

 bined and have used the cooperative ad- 

 vertising plan. This idea was first sug- 

 gested by The Review, when it called 

 attention to the possibilities of Moth- 

 ers' day, and again when the develop- 

 ment of St. Valentine's day first was 

 urged. The plan is to purchase a con- 

 siderable amount of newspaper space to 

 exploit the St. Valentine's slogan, "Let 

 your valentine be flowers," or some- 

 thing similar, and divide the cost among 

 the florists who participate. In this 



way a greater quantity of space can be 

 secured and a more effective advertise- 

 ment prepared than if each florist pur- 

 chased the amount of space his con- 

 tribution to the fund would buy and 

 the assistance of growers and whole- 

 salers usually can be secured without 

 their names appearing. Reach for your 

 phone and start something right now. 



NOW COMES CUPID'S DAY. 



A Shifting of Activities. 



For many years it has been said by 

 many people that the exchange of 

 Christmas gifts is overdone to the ex- 

 tent that it has become burdensome. 

 The crowded coniiition of the large de- 

 partment stores in the days preceding 

 the holiday, the high prices put upon 

 all classes of merchandise, the hurry and 

 flurry attendant upon the observance 

 of this festival as the occasion of the 

 promiscuous giving of presents, is caus- 

 ing the observance of the holiday season 

 to be regarded by increasing numbers 

 of peoplfe as a more or less onerous ef- 

 fort. This attitude of thought on the 

 part of a large proportion of the people 

 creates an opportunity for the florist to 

 suggest the increased use of flowers and 

 plants as gifts at the Christmastide, as 

 involving less of all the objectionable 

 features of other giving. But the sub- 

 stitution of flowers for other gifts at 

 Christmas will not altogether meet the 

 requirements of the situation. There is 

 bound to be some diminution of the cus- 

 tom of exchanging Christmas presents, 

 with a resultant decrease in the pur- 

 chases of the florists' wares at the holi- 

 day season. 



Flower Festivals. 



The effective remedy is to emphasize 

 the importance of other holidays as 

 flower days, most notably, perhaps, St. 

 Valentine's day and Mothers' day. Me- 

 morial day also will be more largely ob- 

 served in future, in view of the in- 

 creased number of war heroes to be re- 

 membered and the stirring of patriotic 

 sentiments res'iltant upon our partici- 

 pation in the world war. Domestic 

 festivities, such as weddings, wedding 

 anniversaries, christenings, birthdays, 

 and patriotic anniversaries, such as the 

 birthdays of Washington and Lincoln, 

 all will come in for a share of attention 

 by way of making them the occasion for 

 a liberal use of flowers for decorations. 



It is not likely that anything but 

 flowers ever will be used to celebrate 

 the Easter festival. The supreme sig- 

 nificance of this day in the church cal- 

 endar makes the use of gifts of any 

 other character unsuitable and in ques- 

 tionable taste. Flowers alone, with 

 their beauty and their matchless fitness 

 for their peculiar mission as the means 

 of expression of sentiment, can fill this 

 high requirement. The giving of flowers 

 at Easter is a more beautiful custom, 

 moreover, than the exchange of gifts of 

 miscellaneous character at Christmas 

 and the florist may enlarge upon this 

 idea in his advertising with propriety. 



Flowers for Valentines. 



St. Valentine's day introduces alto- 

 gether another class of sentiment for 

 our consideration. Originally a pretty 

 and romantic custom, the celebration of 

 this day had degenerated into the ex- 

 change of so-called valentines which 

 were either mawkishly sentimental, or, 



if comic, so objectionable as to b^in^,' 

 the custom of sending>> valentines int > 

 disrepute, until florists came to the re;^- 

 cue of the amiable patron saint of thi-i 

 midwinter festivity, providing in floTv- 

 ers a refined medium of exchange fo' 

 the occasion. 



The decadence of the custom of senti- 

 ing so-called valentines, in fact, has pr( - 

 vided the florist with the opportunity 1 1' 

 encourage the revival of this annivei 

 sary as the time for the sending of floral 

 gifts and the use of flowers as valen 

 tines bids fair to become more popula; 

 as the years go by. Flowers always havi 

 been and always will be a medium of ex 

 change surpassing all others for use a^ 

 valentines and, once the custom of send- 

 ing flowers for valentines has becomi 

 established as the accepted means of 

 celebration of St. Valentine's day, it 

 doubtless will become perpetual and St. 

 Valentine's day be observed as a floral 

 festival. 



St. Valentine's Day Publicity. 



The florist has this advantage that, 

 once adopted, the use of flowers in ob- 

 servance of any heyday or holiday it^ 

 not likely to fall into disrepute, for 

 nothing better can be devised to take 

 their place. Mothers' day is an ex 

 ample of the way to get started right. 

 The effort to substitute other gifts foi 

 flowers for Mothers' day was not a suc- 

 cess. In his advertising the florist ma> 

 place emphasis on the value of flowers 

 as the happiest selection for a gift for 

 every occasion and in this manner de- 

 velop a requirement for their use for 

 other occasions, which in this manner, 

 by concerted action on the part of the 

 trade, may be made flower days worth 

 working for. Let us see what judicious^ 

 publicity urging the use of flowers for 

 valentines will do for St. Valentine's 

 day, 1919, the next flower day in pros- 

 pect. The other prospective flower day>: 

 may be taken in their turn. 



THE SPLASHME DOLLS. 



Henry Penn, while in New York, walk- 



Ingenofty is What Keeps Interest Up. 



