







vt<^*^-i: 





PATRIOTIC PIECES ^ 



PRODUCE PROFITS 



Now that the unprecedented rush of funeral work is over, designers 

 again can turn out funeral work they can be proud of. And in so doing, 

 they will be called on to furnish many with the so-called "patriotic touch/' 

 Here is told how some have satisfied this demand. 



HILE "it 's an ill wind that 

 blows nobody good," and 

 the retailers have been 

 ^ ^ "fed up" on funeral work 



^ ^4^ ^ during the last five or six 

 VjvC-^ weeks, a great majority of 

 *) L^ them are glad the peak of 

 (yyf}^ the influenza epidemic has 

 passed, even though it did 

 mean many dollars in their 

 pockets that otherwise would not now 

 be there. Also, it gave to many of the 

 pessimists in the trade a new feeling of 

 confidence in their business, proving be- 

 yond any doubt that, no matter what 

 the United States War Industries Board, 

 the Fuel Administration and other gov- 

 ernment conservation agencies may hold, 

 to the people of this country flowers 

 must be classed with the so-called nec- 

 essaries. 



During the last six 

 weeks the retailers in the 

 trade everywhere, in cities 

 large and small, have been 

 busy with practically only 

 one thing — funeral work. 

 The call has been the larg- 

 est in the history of the 

 florists' business; it was 

 so large that anything and 

 everything in the shape of 

 flowers was used. 



We Made GKxxL 



Some of the artistic 

 touch that every florist 

 likes to put into his fu- 

 neral designs was lost for 

 the simple reason the time 

 could not be spared; nei- 

 ther was there much choice 

 in the stock that was 

 available. But all the re- 

 tailers did the best they 

 could to satisfy the de- 

 mand and, with few ex- 

 ceptions, made good. 



Now that conditions are 

 more normal, the design- 

 ers will get back in their 

 stride. They will use the 

 ingenuity that has given 

 them the position they 

 hold and will make the 

 funeral work they turn 

 out something more than 

 a few flowers thrown to- 

 gether with green. 



Ever since the United 

 States got into the war 

 and before, the call for 

 the class of designs usu- 

 ally called patriotic has 

 been good. All sorts of 

 odd things, submarines, 

 aeroplanes, officers * in- 



signia and the other military and naval 

 markings, have been given to the flo- 

 rists to reproduce in flowers. The Ee- 

 view from time to time during the last 

 two years has reproduced many of these 

 designs. They have conveyed to the 

 trade ideas that have been used with 

 the variations every designer likes to 

 employ to give his work a personal 

 touch. 



Old Idea in New Dress. 



Herewith is reproduced a design that 

 is about as old as the florists' trade — 

 the gates ajar. But it has been brought 

 up to date; the old idea was used as the 

 basis and the present-day patriotic idea 

 was added. The design was made by 

 the Pikes Peak Floral Co., Colorado 

 Springs, Colo., for the funeral of an 

 American soldier. 



Gates Ajar Up to Date, by Pikes Peak Floral Co., Colorado Springs. 



As will be seen by the illustration, no 

 great amount of stock was used in the 

 design. Roses, lilies and asparagus com- 

 posed the stock, while an artistic ar- 

 rangement of the United States colors 

 completed the decoration of the design. 

 Displays of ingenuity on the part of 

 the designer, such as was shown by the 

 artist of the Pikes Peak Floral Co., in 

 the more elaborate but out-of-the-ordi- 

 nary funeral pieces, are what count with 

 the customer. The person who wants 

 something different, and has his own 

 ideas of what that something different 

 should be, and takes his conception of 

 the funeral piece to the florist, ought to 

 be given what he wants. Nothing is so 

 undiplomatic, to say the least, as to 

 shatter the pet idea of a customer. 



Consequently, when friends or, as 

 often has been the case in recent 

 months, the comrades of a 

 soldier come to the flower 

 store and want the in- 

 signia of a regiment or 

 company incorporated into 

 a design, with guns 

 crossed in the old-fash- 

 ioned way, the order is 

 taken, no matter what the 

 designer's ideas of a fit- 

 ting tribute may be. With 

 the ideas of the customer 

 or customers many things 

 can be done by the skillful 

 floral artist. He can do as 

 the Pikes Peak company 

 designer did — take the 

 idea and make of it some- 

 thing out of the ordinary. 



Trade's Foundation. 



Eeturning to the sub- 

 ject of the recent rush of 

 funeral work, let it be 

 said that it demonstrated 

 again what has been dem- 

 onstrated during every 

 summer — that funeral 

 work is the real founda- 

 tion of the florists' busi- 

 ness. All retailers cater 

 to it; in fact, some cater 

 to it so strongly that there 

 has come a campaign 

 against the practice of 

 giving commissions to un- 

 dertakers who throw fu- 

 neral work to this or that 

 store. 



With this fact in mind 

 and while it is a great 

 deal more interesting, per- 

 haps, to decorate a home 

 or. a church for a wedding 

 or to provide the flowers 

 for some social occasion, 



