

•T '. v.v 



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22 



The Florists^ Review 



^icffUABT 22, 1920. 



A BOY'S DSEAM COMES TRUE. 



Thirty Tears After. 



In the December 4 issue of The Re- 

 view appeared an article, "Retailing 

 from Roof Gard^ens," which has vivid- 

 ly recalled a dream I had thirty years 

 *ago of what an up-to-date retail flower 

 store should be. In those days I was 

 interested in a retail storcj having just 

 stepped from the greenhouses, where 

 my early life had been spent, without 

 any capital or business training what- 

 ever. That business, under our crude 

 methods, grew; had we, in those days, 

 been obliged to meet the competition 

 that exists today in the florists' busi- 

 ness, there might have been another 

 story to tell. 



But in this article I want to tell of 

 the dream I had, for I believe that it 

 is possible today, although then the 

 few men I spoke to about it ju^t laughed 

 at me. Ours was a 3-story building, 

 with the salesroom on the first floor and 

 the upper part of the building used as 

 a dwelling. It was not situated on a 

 corner, but was the first house from the 

 cross street; therefore the yards of the 

 houses on that street abutted on our 

 property, giving us one side of our 

 building without any obstruction. 



In My Mind's Eye. 



My dream was, after the business 

 grew, to make some profitable disposi- 

 tion of the old building and in its place 

 erect a building that would be worthy 

 of the florists' business. My idea was 

 to have the first floor for a salesroom, 

 much the same as it then existed. My 

 improvements were to be from the sec- 

 ond story up; that is, the brick and 

 mortar part of the building was to cease 

 at the top of the first story; the rest of 

 the structure was to be a conservatory 

 top. Many a time at Christmas and 

 Easter, when we were crowded for room 

 to arrange our stock of plants, I would 

 picture in my mind's eye what a fine 

 display they would make upstairs in 

 the conservatory, what an attractive 

 showing a broad stairway would be and 

 the possibilities in decorating it. 



How often, as a boy, I pictured 

 such a site illuminated byelectric lights! 

 The inside would be beautiful and the 

 outside would be one of the best forms 

 of advertising any florist could have. 

 The novelty of such a building would 

 appeal to the public. Then think of 

 the fine place to keep plants for decorat- 

 ing purposes all through the season; the 

 greenhouse would be useful as well as 

 ornamental. 



Picturing the Possibilities. 



In those days our patrons were of the 

 idle class; that is, people who to a great 

 extent lived on their incomes, and many 

 an afternoon, as some gallant young 

 man and his fiancee would come in and 

 purchase a bunch of violets or a corsage 

 of some sort, would I picture my con- 

 servatory with rustic benches for them 

 to enjoy an hour's tete-a-tete. In fact, 

 the possibilities that I saw in that con- 

 servatory were wonderful, but fate de- 



creed that I should never fulfill my 

 ambitions. 



Now, all of the foregoing is only the 

 dream of a boy, and thirty years ago 

 such a thing was almost impossible. 

 But today any of the greenhouse con- 

 struction companies could erect such a 

 building and, I am sure, could show you 

 plans much better than I ever dreamed 

 of, for in these modern times things 

 that formerly appeared insurmountable 

 obstacles prove mere trifles. 



Indeed, I think that before long we 

 shall pick up The Review and see just 

 such designs of buildings for our down- 

 town streets advertised by these com- 

 panies, for when we tKink of the green- 

 houses that our fathers used to produce 

 flowers, and then think of the modern 

 iron-frame houses, we can realize what 

 progress has been made in greenhouse 

 construction. 



Combination Store and Greenhouse. 



Now, the next step is a combination 

 store and greenhouse. I know that some 

 construction of this kind has already 

 been done, but the proper thought has 

 not been given to this side of the ques- 

 tion. For instance, if one-half of the 

 thought and study that have been given 

 to the modern forcing greenhouses had 

 been devoted to this possibility, I ven- 

 ture to say that combination retail 

 stores and conservatories would be as 

 popular in our cities as ranges are in 



Chrysanthemum Annabel. 



the country and suburbs where land is 

 cheaper. 



Now, let us see what was Mr. Statler's 

 idea in building his conservatory away 

 up on the top of the Hotel Pennsylvania, 

 at such an expense. Well, in the first 

 place, it's a novelty; it will be talked 

 of all over the country and give pub- 

 licity to the hotel. Then, it is for the 

 accommodation of his guests. If the 

 hotel had a flower stand on the first 

 floor, when a customer would talk plants 

 and was told to take the elevator to 

 the roof, where he would find a large as- 

 sortment in the greenhouse, can you 

 imagine the possibilities? Any florist 

 who is progressive could do this right 

 in the store where he is doing business 

 today. Tate. 



ANOTHER SPORT OF SEIDEWITZ. 



If one were to institute a voting con- 

 test to see which is the most popular 

 pink chrysanthemum, there is little 

 doubt the result would be overwhelm- 

 ingly in favor of Mrs. Edwin A. Seide- 

 witz and this would be the case not only 

 in the vicinity of Baltimore, whence 

 Seidewitz came many years ago. In- 

 deed, so good an authority as Elmer D. 

 Smith, who usually has something in- 

 digenous to Adrian to offer as being as 

 good as the best, still says in his cata- 

 logue, of Seidewitz: "A beautiful late, 

 incurved bright pink, maturing from 

 Thanksgiving to early December; sur- 

 passes all late pinks we have grown." 

 There have been numerous sports of 

 Seidewitz which have not had the pop- 

 ularity of the original because they 

 were in competition with other varie- 

 ties of similar color, but Henry Meine, 

 manager of the greenhouse department 

 of Ryan & Culver, Youngstown, O., has 

 one he thinks can trot with the parent. 

 It is Enchantress shade of pink. Other- 

 wise the plants are identical. Mr. 

 Meine has grown his sport for three 

 years and says it has had much popular- 

 ity with Youngstown flower buyers be- 

 cause of its clear color. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM ANNABEK 



None of the so-called single chrysan- 

 themums grown in the trade really is 

 single; they all have several rows of 

 petals, instead of only one. Usually 

 there are three or four rows, or even 

 five or six. Of this type of chrysanthe- 

 mum no variety has been more popular 

 than Mrs. E. D. Godfrey. This light 

 pink sort has been the favorite Thanks- 

 giving single. It is a strong grower, 

 easy to handle under any condition to 

 which chrysanthemums may safely be 

 exposed, and it is more largely grown 

 than any other single. The blooming 

 season is Thanksgiving. Chrysanthe- 

 mum Annabel, shown in the accompany- 

 ing illustration, is a sport of Godfrey 

 with M. B. Lindbery, Hopkins, Minn., 

 which is like Godfrey in growth but 

 seems to be a little later in season, and 

 is much darker in color. Annabel is 

 cerise, tending toward lavender. The 

 flowers used for the photograph were 

 cut January 2, 1920, and represent the 

 tail end of the season's crop. 



STARTING THE NEW YEAR. 



Several years ago L. M. Smith & Co., 

 of Laurel, Del., sent blooms to The Re- 



