32 



The Florists^ Review 



Decbmbbb 11, 1919. 



Even the Less Expensive Plant Arrangements Must Each Have its Basket this Year. 



sence of prices from other localities, the 

 retailer must, as suggested above, leave 

 some leeway to the florist who fills the 

 order. 



AFTER EFFECTS. 



To the observance of "Say It with 

 Flowers" week in Washington, D. C, 

 Z. D. Blackistone attributes a Thanks- 

 giving day order of a unique character. 

 A group of Boy Scouts gathered at his 

 store Thanksgiving morning to carry 

 boxes and baskets of flowers to sick 

 children in Washington hospitals. 



"These boys," says Mr. Blackistone, 

 "imbued with the idea of spreading 

 cheer and sunshine, hit upon the idea, 

 'Say It with Flowers.' They raised 

 among their organization, in contribu- 

 tions ranging from 10 cents to $1, the 

 sum of $45 and came in and ordered 

 the baskets and boxes of flowers for 

 that sum. One leading point in this 

 is that they got the idea of giving flow- 

 ers from the ' Say It with Flowers ' 

 campaign which we had here not long 

 ago. After the boys had made their 

 visits to the different hospitals and dis- 

 tributed their flowers, I made it a point 

 to visit Mr. Shaw, the local secretary 

 of the organization, and he assured me 

 that everyone was most gratified with 

 the response which the flowers received. 



"Thanksgiving day, in the general 

 thought, is an occasion of the bountiful 

 feast, but antedating this comes the 

 thought that man cannot live on bread 

 alone. This, you see, opens up a new 

 channel of thought for those who make 

 flowers their business and pleasure." 



MUELLER SHOWS SYSTEMS. 



Instead of sending to members of the 

 F. T. D. a card or something similar 

 to ask them to send their Wichita orders 

 to Chas. P. Mueller, Mr. Mueller is send- 

 ing to members copies of two of his 

 forms which have done good service in 

 his store. 



One, a ruled form 5x8, printed on 

 bristol board, takes the place of a ledger 

 account with the various florists with 

 whom he does individually but a com- 

 paratively small amount of business. 

 These cards are filed according to cities. 

 There is a card for every member of 

 the F. T. D. and for every other firm to 

 whom he has sent or from whom he has 

 received an order. At a glance he can 

 tell just how the "balance of trade" 



stands between each other firm and his 

 own. At the top of the form appear 

 the city, florist's name and street num- 

 ber, whether he is a Eotarian or member 

 of F. T. D. or other organization, and 

 what his telegraph rate is. Below are 

 columns in which are made entries each 

 time an order is sent or received. They 

 are headed "Date," "How Ordered," 

 "Item," "To Whom," "Address," 

 "Outgoing," "Incoming," "Date 

 Paid," "Amount," "Check No." Such 

 a system simplifies the problems of tele- 

 graph business greatly. 



Another form which Mr. Mueller has 

 found useful in preventing extra trips 

 of the delivery man is a tag which can 

 be tied to the doorknob, telling that 

 delivery was attempted and that the 

 goods are being held at the store to be 



delivered at such time as the customer 

 will designate, with the telephone num- 

 ber conspicuously in bold-faced type 

 just below. Part of the tag is torn off 

 and tied to the package, bearing ad- 

 dress of customer, date and hour of de- 

 livery and driver's name. The next de- 

 livery is made when the recipient will 

 be at home. This saves the delivery- 

 man time and enables the florist to make 

 a direct delivery of the flowers in good 

 condition. 



WILL READERS REPLY? 



The writer would like to have the 

 views of any readers who have had expe- 

 rience that bears on the following: 



He is about to lease his greenhouse 

 range for a term of ten years. It con- 

 sists of ten greenhouses, about 30,000 

 feet of glass. It is in an indifferent 

 state of repair. About one-third is old 

 and in ordinary times would soon have 

 to be torn down and 'rebuilt, but it is 

 still in use and with reasonable repairs 

 can probably be used for several years. 

 The rest is in fair to good repair. The 

 boilers also are old, though they still 

 pass inspection and as far as can be 

 seen may last years. The piping is in 

 none too good shape and will have to be 

 renewed before long. 



We propose to have a valuation placed 

 on the whole and the rental is to be on 

 a per cent basis. The question is, what 

 per cent? How should repairs or re- 

 building be arranged? The only way 

 we can see is to have each building ap- 

 praised separately, and if one is thrown 

 out of use, to take it off the valuation, 

 or if rebuilt by owner, to add to the 

 rent for cost of same. We think a new 

 valuation should be made at least every 

 three years. 



Again, should this valuation be based 

 on the present price of material or nearer 

 original cost of itf Suppose in the 

 course of two or three years the entire 

 heating 'plant should have to be re- 

 newed, by whom should this expense be 

 borne? How should the ordinary wear 

 and tear be accounted for, such as paint- 

 ing the benches, etc.? 



Any suggestions along these lines, to 

 help us out in our dilemma, will be 

 greatly appreciated. C. C. S. 



Ardisia Berries Hang on All Winter. 



Ladysmith, Wis, — Alden & Sons have 

 established a downtown office in the 

 front of the H. Oldendorf building. 



