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NARCISSI FIRST 



^ SPEAK OF SPRING 



Early displays of narcissi and other spring flowers have a special power 

 to hire dollars from customers' pockets. Spring usually is the most welcome 

 of all the seasons. Hence, flowers that symbolise and promise spring are pe- 

 culiarly acceptable, like a letter announcing the coming of a longed-for friend. 



HOUGH the majority of 

 florists may disagree posi- 

 tively with much of Mo- 

 hammed 's teaching; though 

 they may refuse to swal- 

 low his religion whole or 

 even in large chunks, they 

 will unanimously approve 

 his sentiment about bread 

 and narcissi, as recorded in 

 the square at the right of this column. 

 Mohammed evidently was a stanch be- 

 liever in the necessity of flowers and his 

 opinion carries weight. But a greater and 

 earlier authority than Mohammed de- 

 clared that "man shall not live by 

 bread alone" — bread in the sense of 

 material food of any kind. The same 

 truth has been taught also by expe- 

 rience, particularly by experience dur- 

 ing the world's greatest war, when 

 flowers were most literally in demand — 

 absolutely demanded by multitudes of 

 sorrowing or rejoicing people. 



Buahing the Season. 



We florists, then, have the best of 

 reasons for being proud of our calling. 

 Therefore let us push the business "in 

 season and out of season," and espe- 

 cially let us prepare for each season 

 before its arrival. More especially still, 

 let us prepare for spring, the season 

 to which most people look forward so 

 longingly that they are glad to see — • 

 and purchase — any tokens of it, partic- 

 ularly the floral tokens. Spring still 

 may be far in the future; there may not 

 be the faintest hint of it in the air. 



Whoever has two loaves 

 of bread, let him trade one 

 for a narcissus; for bread 

 is nourishment for the 

 body, but the narcissus is 

 nourishment for the soul. 

 — Mohammed. 



Let the florist use this In his ads ofFerlriK 

 narcissi and other spring flowers. 



But florists are adepts at rushing the 

 seasons; it is by such rushing that they 

 overtake and capture the greatest num- 

 ber of those elusive, winged, slippery 

 things called dollars. 



Have you any doubt about the per- 

 suasive power of the early spring flow- 

 ers — flowers that herald the approach 

 of spring while winter still reigns? 

 When a person is disgruntled and peev- 

 ish on account of the continued inclem- 

 ency of the weather; when he is mut- 

 tering anathemas about * ' a winter that 

 lasts more than half the year"; when he 

 even goes so far as to call the north 

 temperate zone a God-forsaken region, 

 and when he sighs for a home nearer the 

 tropics or the warm ocean currents — 

 when he is in so sullen a mood, then it is 

 that an early display of spring flow- 

 ers, in a florist's store, may bring him 

 to his senses. The pretty blooms, skill- 



fully arranged, seem to say to him: 

 "Cheer up and brace up. You can get 

 more good things, including flowers, on 

 this strip of the globe than anywhere 

 else, if you are willing to pay for them. 

 And here, in this invigorating climate, 

 is where people have energy enough to 

 earn plenty of money with which to 

 purchase the best of the world's joys 

 and comforts. Be a gentleman and a 

 sport; buy some spring flowers and take 

 them home as a message of gladness 

 for your family. ' ' 



Thus the spring flowers, appearing 

 early in a florist's window or even in 

 his printed advertisements, catch the 

 public fancy because they are a dis- 

 tinct, unmistakable promise of spring 

 while spring it8»lf is still a distant pros- 

 pect. 



A Stimulus Wlien Most NeedeA. 



Meanwhile the sale of the reliable, in- 

 dispensable, all-year stand-bys, like 

 roses and carnations, is interfered with 

 only temporarily, if at all, and in the 

 end is increased. The actual stay of 

 spring flowers is comparatively brief — 

 two or three months at the most — but 

 their stimulus is enduring. Their stim- 

 ulus is available, too, at a time when 

 it is most needed, in the dull period 

 between the winter holidays and Eas- 

 ter. 



The many kinds of spring flowers, 

 bulbous and otherwise, are all familiar 

 to the average florist and scarcely need 

 to be enumerated here. The purpose 

 now is to direct particular attention to 



A Decoration of Narcksi Will Have the Quiet Charm of a Brigtit Spring Morning. 



