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20 



The Rorists^ Review 



Sbftembdb 23, 1920 



With him are associated in the company 

 Bobert Bebb^ M. B. Bebb and Forrest 

 Bebb. The company operates a store 

 at 706 Ninth street, in Wichita Falls, 

 Tex., and greenhouses at 1706 Ninth 

 street. Wichita Falls is not a large 

 place and the success of such a window 

 there is evidence that telegraph busi- 

 ness can be developed in small towns as 

 well as in big cities. 



In addition to bringing to the atten- 

 tion of Wichita Falls the telegraph de- 

 livery service, this window served a 

 second purpose, which immediately 

 yielded a cash return. This was in 

 "birthdaygrams," as Mr. Bebb calls 

 them. The calendar with "Say It with 

 Flowers'^ across it carried the ques- 

 tion, "Whose Birthday?" to many ob- 

 servers with such force that they used 

 flowers for gifts on friends' and rela- 

 tives' birthdays to an extent that had 

 a marked effect on the cash register. 



Telegrams, Music and Flowers. 



A second window that carried" the 

 idea of sending flowers by wire is shown 

 on page 21. This was staged in the 

 big windows of the Schmidt Music Co., 

 at Davenport, la., the result of co- 

 operation between that firm and G. F. 

 Forber, who has an attractive and suc- 

 *^ cessful flower store at 313 Brady street. 

 From the photograph reproduced here- 

 with, one would say the florist got an 

 abundant share of the display's adver- 

 tising. The advertising for the music 

 store reenforced the florist's, for the 

 song copies displayed across the bottom 

 of the window were of Albert von Til- 

 zer's song, "Say It with Flowers." A 

 placard above read: " 'Say It with 

 Flowers.' A beautiful song. Easy to 

 sing," and another advertised the 

 price. Thia much, with the cabinet 



phonograph and grand piano, composed 

 the music store's share of the display. 

 The handsome baskets of flowers and 

 the pots of ferns attractively arranged 

 about the window won the eye to the 

 florist's art, and a placard stated: 

 "Flowers and Music. Both are indis- 

 pensable to the family circle. ' ' And, of 

 course, a card in front gave the name 

 of the florist cooperating in the display 

 and his address. 



Center of Interest. 



But the center of interest in this win- 

 dow was the map of the United States 

 on which were miniature telegraph 

 poles strung with wire, presenting the 

 telegraph delivery of flowers to ob- 

 servers' attention. The telegraph in- 

 strument at the side reenforced the 

 idea. As its share in the display, in re- 

 turn for supplying the necessary para- 

 phernalia, the Western Union Tele- 

 graph Co. had one of its sign bulbs in 

 a corner of the display. 



"This was the first display of its 

 kind in the Tri-Cities," relates G. F. 

 Forber. "At the time, the city of 

 Davenport was crowded by visitors to 

 the Mississippi Biver Valley Fair from 

 all over the United States, who took 

 particular interest in this display." 



These two examples serve to reenf orce 

 the assertion that the telegraph delivery 

 of flowers is an idea so interesting and 

 important to the general public that 

 window displays presenting it are cer- 

 tain to bring attention to the florist 

 in a decided way. How simply it may 

 be presented is shown in these two dis- 

 plays. The opportunity is open to every 

 florist who has a store window. And 

 those who have not might borrow some 

 one's else, whether it's a music store's 

 or not. 



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HEAVY HAIL LOSSES 



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HAIL STORM IN RHODE ISIiAND. 



Oreenhouses Destroyed. 



Hailstones accompanied by a 45-niile- 

 an-hour gale ruined crops of all kinds 

 and damaged buildings in various sec- 

 tions of Rhode Island just before noon 

 Monday, September 13, causing a loss 

 of more than a million and a half dollars 

 in a period of less than fifteen minutes. 

 Greenhouse men especially were tar- 

 gets of the storm and lost heavily. 



No insurance protection, so far as 

 has been ascertained, covers any of the 

 losses, which are the greatest resulting 

 from such a cause in Rhode Island's 

 history. Nothing approaching the 

 storm has been experienced since 1869, 

 when a terrific September gale visited 

 the state. In consequence of the great 

 damage to glass, this material has been 

 in 'deSia^d and at a heavy premium. 



Market gardeners and florists in the 

 Auburn, Cranston, Washington Park 

 and Edgewood districts of the Provi- 

 dence suburbs and over the state line 

 in Rehoboth, Seekonk and Swansea, 

 suffered losses that will exceed half a 

 million dollars and it is feared that 

 several of those who were more seri- 

 ously damaged will find considerable 

 difficulty in recovering from the blow. 



About $250,000 damage was suffered 

 by the Budlong Rose Co., whose green- 

 houses and truck gardens at Eden Park 

 are the largest in the state. In discuss- 

 ing the havoc wrought at his place 

 James A. Budlong said the hail broke 

 every piece of glass in his greenhouses 

 and flattened every growing thing in 

 the truck gardens. He added that no 

 storm insurance was carried on the 

 property. Valuable roses and other 

 flowers in the greenhouses were torn 

 from their trellises and benches and 

 scattered in windrows in the aisles. 

 The company has about 150 plots of 

 garden truck under cultivation. Beets, 

 cabbage, carrots, parsnips, turnips and 

 cauliflower were grown, and after the 

 storm had passed every plot was in the 

 same ruined condition. 



Some Heavy Losers. 



Edgar L. Nock, whose greenhouses at 

 180 Wheeler avenue. Providence, 

 housed one of the best known orchid 

 collections in New England, lost all his 

 greenhouses and every flower and plant. 

 His loss on orchids alone is estimated 

 at $40,000. Mr. Nock, who began his 

 collecting and growing of the rare 

 blooms as a hobby, soon became known 

 as the possessor of some of the rarest 



specimens of the exotic flowers in New 

 England, and was steadily forging to 

 the front rank of successful orchid 

 growers. 



The Potter Farm, on Elmwood ave- 

 nue. Auburn, was also a heavy loser in 

 the storm, a large acreage of garden 

 truck being destroyed. Charles Potter 

 said that the farm specialized in the 

 cultivation of pansies for the spring 

 market and that they had 200,000 

 plants set under glass. The hail 

 wrecked the greenhouses and com- 

 pletely ruined every pansy bed, be- 

 sides inflicting other damage. The loss 

 sustained was fully $10,000, none of 

 which is covered by insurance. 



Other Losses. 



Other florists in the Elmwood, Au- 

 burn and Cranston sections who lost 

 heavily were John G. Jansen, whose 

 greenhouses at Broad street and Shaw 

 avenue were stripped; Miss Florence 

 Willard, of the Hope Greenhouses, 

 Massachusetts avenue; W. Hamilton, on 

 Wheeler avenue; George Johnson & 

 Son, at 521 Elmwood avenue; each of 

 whose losses will run well into hun- 

 dreds of dollars. Practically every flo- 

 rist and greenhouse man in the south- 

 west section of Providence and its 

 suburbs suffered damage. 



In East Providence, the storm swung 

 across Narragansett bay and, striking 

 the east side, caused about $35,000 

 damage at the range of houses owned 

 by Joseph E. Koppelman. Here prac- 

 tically every pane of glass in the ten 

 large houses was broken and in four 

 large houses benched with roses that 

 would be in crop in a short time the 

 plants were beaten down. What the 

 loss on his crops will be Mr. Koppel- 

 man is unable to estimate. The stated 

 loss is on his buildings alone. 



The hailstones were of extraordi- 

 narily large size and were driven with 

 terrific force by the wind. In some 

 places the accumulations of hail were 

 several inches in depth and from numer- 

 ous sources reports were made of stones 

 larger than hens' eggs. W. H. M. 



GO TO INDIANAPOLIS. 



F. T. D. Like Big Brother Movement. 



Have you been interested in the 

 nation-wide work of the Big Brother 

 movement, helping to lift up and look 

 after the interests of those who need 

 aidt Many of you have undoubtedly 

 received wonderful satisfaction from 

 the results obtained, and the pleasure 

 money couldn't buy. 



Well, doesn 't the work of the F. T. D. 

 from its earliest inception to the pres- 

 ent day strike you as the best parallel 

 possible? From the beginning, when 

 only a handful could see its merit, it 

 builded on foundations strong enough 

 to carry on under present-day methods 

 and modern machinery. We are still 

 able to add to our structure without its 

 foundation having to be reinforced, and 

 that's going some. Have we not had 

 master builders, who provided for the 

 past, present and future? What a 

 source of pleasure to think of the un- 

 derlying principles of your F. T. D., 

 which has stood the test of growth from 

 its first few members to our present 

 1,700, and has concerned itself with 

 not only the interchange of telegraph 

 orders, but also the morals and ethics 

 of building a better flower business! 



The members have found extreme 



