16 



The Florists^ Review 



APBib 24, 1919. 



The sooner the stock starts moving the 

 better for us all. It is an old saying in 

 seed stores that sales lost at the start 

 of the season can not be recovered. 



Make Prices Bight. 



It is a common practice with florists 

 to ask what they would like to get 

 and, if the stock does not move, to re- 

 duce the price. Only sometimes they 

 do not wake up soon enough; the season 

 is so far advanced that the cut price 

 does not effect a clearance. 



One of the most astute of the larger 

 wholesalers frequently makes his play 

 just the other way: Knowing what 

 quantity he has to sell, he makes a 



price low enough to start a brisk move- 

 ment at the opening of the season and, 

 getting a large number of people inter- 

 ested at the start, he advances his prices 

 as he sees his supply diminishing. 



Such a plan is to be recommended for 

 the vegetable plants. The gardening 

 fever is infectious. Get a lot of people 

 planting and their neighbors will come 

 to you for plants. Watch your market 

 and raise the prices as soon as it be- 

 gins to look like a sell-out. Then, if a 

 late frost comes, it will give a chance 

 at a piece of extra profit instead of 

 merely affording the opportunity to 

 avoid a loss. 



THE RETAIL FLORIST 



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ATTSACTIVi: ACCESS0SIE8. 



Vases and Similar Ware& 



On first glancing at the vases shown in 

 the two accompanying illustrations, it 

 might seem more appropriate to eall the 

 wares a side line, rather than acces- 

 sories. Ah! but therein lies the root 

 of the matter, the vital point of the 

 whole subject. The vases serve their 

 purpose better if treated, not as a side 

 line, but as an integral part of the regu- 

 lar stock, a close accompaniment of the 

 flowers. 



The word "accessories," as applied 

 to persons, has acquired a bad signifi- 

 cance, usually meaning people who, in 

 a subordinate way, have aided in com- 

 mitting a crime. But the inanimate ob- 

 jects generally spoken of as florists' ac- 

 cessories — baskets, vases and all the rest 

 — have no such evil reputation. They 

 assist, silently but most successfully, 

 in the commendable undertaking of sell- 

 ing flowers. Accessories form an in- 

 dispensable part of the fine arts, and 

 most florists will agree in insisting that 

 their vocation is a fine art as well as a 



trade. "In the fine arts, such as the 

 painting of pictures," say the diction- 

 aries, "accessories are introduced to 

 balance the composition or in some way 

 enhance its artistic effectiveness." 



Unrealized Possibilities. 



Yet, efficient and blameless as acces- 

 sories of this nature are, a few florists 

 appear to shun them almost as complete- 

 ly as if they regarded them as evil asso- 

 ciates — accessories of the criminal sort. 

 Perhaps only a comparatively small num- 

 ber of florists fully appreciate the pos- 

 sibilities that inhere in these artistic 

 wares. 



The Review has spoken often, and will 

 have frequent occasion to speak again, 

 of the great value of the more generally 

 used accessories, such as baskets and 

 ribbons. This time, just for the nonce, 

 the subject is porcelain vases and simi- 

 lar decorative wares, which comprise 

 earthenware, stoneware and terra cotta 

 and are learnedly called ceramics. 



There is no intention here to try to 

 induce any florist to turn hia store into 

 a pottery shop or a museum of art. A 

 florist is a florist, and his accessories, 



even the best of them, are contributdry 

 to the selling of flowers and plants. It 

 is for each florist to decide, as he ig 

 quite capable of doing, just what deg-ee 

 of prominence it will be wise for bim 

 to give to these high-class specimens of 

 pottery. Each florist will know what 

 are the right allowances to make, in his 

 own case, for the circumstances that 

 alter cases. But many florists may ci in- 

 clude, after giving due thought to the 

 subject, that they have hitherto failed 

 to derive all possible benefit from these 

 artistic wares. Then, having so con- 

 cluded, they will begin, cautiously and 

 conservatively at first, to add a few 

 samples of choice pottery to their stock. 



Silent Salesmen. 



Let us mention — only mention, for ar- 

 gument is unnecessary — a few of the 

 reasons in favor of the liberal use of 

 vases and similar accessories. In the 

 first place, the vases and such articles, if 

 skillfully arranged with relation to the 

 other stock and the furnishings, gpreatly 

 improve the general appearance of the 

 store. These fine products of art are a 

 fitting part of so artistic a place as a 

 flower store and blend beautifully with 

 nature's own fairest products. Second- 

 ly, pretty vases are a strong inducement 

 to buy flowers; they are silent but grace- 

 ful and persuasive salesmen. They 

 never detract from the flowers, but al- 

 ways add to the flowers' appeal. In 

 the store or in the home, vases are con- 

 tinually working for the florist. Being 

 made as receptacles for flowers, they 

 are noticeably, unquestionably incom- 

 plete without flowers and so are a con- 

 stant reminder of the florists' stock in 

 trade. Thirdly, if an occasional vase 

 is sold, the profit is purely in the line 

 of extra income, so much genuine ' ' vel- 

 vet." 



One Company's Experience. 



Baumgarten, Inc., of Milwaukee, Wis., 

 whose assortment of vases is shown in 

 the illustrations, also does a considerable 

 business in renting the vases, as well 

 as selling them. Indeed, in the case of 

 this company the renting or lending 

 seems to have been the main part of the 

 vase business, with the actual sale of 

 the vases largely incidental. 



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Store Front of Baumgarteot loc^ an Establishment Which Has Been Retailing Flowers for Forty^ive Years. 



