26 



The Florists' Review 



NOTBMBEB 11. 1020 



" E. Weiss, FrcMl l,.-uit nischl.'inrr, Auuust 

 F. I'lifliltiiann, A. .). /ich, William .1. 

 Kciincl, Vniy W. l>oiicli, K. A. ()lliii<;er 

 and Kd. l^iiilors. 



Newspaper Advertisements. 



Ill a i'ri'|iai-at(iry ail \ rrt isniii'iit , a 

 " iiiaiiiiiiiitli lliiwcr sIk.w"' was aii- 

 iiomu'Ci! "at vvny llcwer simp in CJii- 

 caf^o and sul)ur))s," N'ovciiihor 8 to 14, 

 iji the Triidiiie and (dlier ('hicn;,f(> dailies. 

 Tlie same aniu.uneement jiiayed further 

 iipdu the mayor's nundi ad\ertised liorii, 

 in tlie feridwinj:; mauncr: 



CliiciiKo U to li;iTo tlio wiirld's lurtjcHt tlowiT 

 Khow — Rcvcral liiiiidrcil llnwir Kliops cxliihitiiK; 

 tlie flni'Ht prize sin'ciiuciiH of f:ill llowcrs iiiiil 

 plants. 



I'hi? piil)Hc ronservntorles nt r.Hrtlcld. Lincoln 

 and WusliincKiii parks will likiwisc display 

 <-liolrp8t varieties of clirysaiitlienuniis nt their 

 niiiiiial flinvcr kIiows. 



The piihllc cannot well afford to miss this 

 tinnsiial oppcrtiuiitj- to view the jiride of Chi- 

 cago's expert growers— the j;reatest in the world. 



Monday, November 8, tlie advertise- 

 ment wliicli is reiiroduced on i>age 25 

 a{)peared in daily pajicrs. 



Week a Success. 



The week has Ikmmi a marked success. 

 Members of the trade have worked to- 

 gether splendidly. They have thrown 

 open their doors to welcome the public 



to their indi\i(lual llower shows. Ban- 

 ners ap]H'ared on delivery and jirivate 

 c.-irs. Posters are dis]ilayed in nearly all 

 iiie windows. Thousands of folders, sup- 

 ]ilied by the ilii-ecturs, have been used 

 judiciously by the retailers. 



The Chira^'o daily ji.apers featured the 

 "Say It with I'luwcrs" week in their 

 news columns. While this jmblicity is 

 of a general nature, the trade cannot 

 but benefit by it. Feature stories sug- 

 gesting the wearing of a flower on 

 Armistice day must influence the public 

 to some extent. Secretary Swenson, of 

 the Allied Florists' Association, esti- 

 mated that if tlie free publicity that has 

 been obtained were to be paid for at 

 regular advertising rates, it would cost 

 the association over $5,000. 



The directors of the Allied Florists' 

 Association were in control of all ar- 

 rangements for the week and they, 

 together with Secretary II. V. Swenson 

 and President George Asmus, deserve 

 great credit for the success of the cam- 

 paign. Besides President George Asnius, 

 the board consists of William J. Smyth, 

 August Lange, John Michelsen, Paul 

 Klingsj)orn, Fric Johnson, August F. 

 Pochlmann, Otto Amling and Peter 

 Pearson. 



Mews from 



roQi 



PARISIAN FLOWER STORES. 



Change from German. 



Before leaving Germany for France I 

 visited P>furt and saw the famous green- 

 houses and gardens of J. C. Schmidt. The 

 grounds, I was told, still h.ave their pre- 

 war beauty, but the greenhouses for the 

 most part will soon be shut down on ac- 

 count of the lack of coal. A new road- 

 way or drive is being built, along which 

 the horticultural work will be equal to 

 anything in Kiirojie. The landscape work 

 in general surrounding the houses and 

 olliees surpasses any tiling we have in 

 America of a commer<ial nature. From 

 j)0stcards on sale at the ofiice one can 

 get a slight idea of the grandeur of the 

 place in former years, and also of the 

 quality of the stock at one time grown 

 in the hou'^cs. At present, due to eco- 

 nomic conditions, this sj)lendid produc- 

 tion has been reduced. 



I found such cities as Leipsic, Nurem- 

 berg and Stuttgart similar to other Ger- 

 man cities in regjird to the character of 

 their flower stores. 



It was surprising to see the large num- 

 ber of stores in Germany sidling arti- 

 ficial flowers. They handle only made- 

 up baskets, wreaths, etc., both" for fu- 

 nerals and wedclings. 



Few Plants in Paris 



In Paris one sees an entirely difl'erent 

 class of llower stores. The good tlower 

 stores handle few, if any, small flower- 

 ing plants, while in Germany, as in the 

 T'nited States, these pl.-ints are plentiful. 

 Paris dis]ilays her tlor.al art in gorgeous 

 baskets and hamjiers, in wonderfully de- 

 signed center]«ieces, or in large pieces of 

 disjilay. I could not begin to name the 

 varieties of orchids usually assembled 

 in one jiiece. One of these pieces usually 



is the center of attraction in the win- 

 dow, surrounded by vases and baskets of 

 less pretentious, if not more beautiful, 

 flowers. There is ever the sense of fresh- 

 ness in these display.s, as if they had 

 ,inst that minute been placed there. The 

 flowers on disjilay are always of such 

 an unusually large size, especially to the 

 American eye, that doubt is often ex- 

 jiressed as to their being real. 



The present disjday of flowers, includ- 

 ing roses, orchids, violets, chrvsanthe- 

 miims and carnations, looks like exhibi- 

 tion stock, having for foliage as many 

 varieties as a French chef has sauces. 

 Anything that has berries on it is used 

 jirofiisidy in all kinds of work. Rasp- 

 berry foliage, with un ripened berries is 



generally used with yellow roses and the 

 effect is beautiful. 



Just now a largo berried holly is in 

 evidence. I have seen numerous other 

 decorations used, but my lack of knowl- 

 edge of the French tongue forbids my 

 even ascertaining their najnes. But I 

 feel sure there is no foliage of any kind 

 which can jiossibly be used that is not 

 seen at the flower stores. 



I have seen the largest dahlias in 

 Paris that I have ever seen. They are 

 in every color and variety imaginable 

 and some even beyond imagination. 



Many Street Peddlers. 



The street peddlers are interesting, 

 especially at the flower market at the 

 Madelaine on flower days. Here the 

 display of fancy outdoor stock ot*en out- 

 classes that in the best stores and prices 

 are good. Every' cart and stand has its 

 supply of straw frames, wreaths and 

 cro.sses in case a funeral piece is wanted, 

 but bouquets are most iiojiular, being 

 purchased by peojtle in all walks of life. 

 Some of tlie better stores use a green- 



covered wire in their fancy bouquet 

 work. Green sheet moss is used exten- 

 sively in baskets and other arrangements 

 for tlie display of flowers. 



h'lowers at juesent are not expensive 

 for the American buyer, but the French 

 flower lover feels the cost a little more. 

 At this writing the French franc, whose 

 normal value is one-fifth of an Ameri- 

 can dollar, is now rated at one-fifteenth. 

 It therefore can be seen by the follow- 

 ing scale of prices that there are two 

 views of prices in the flower market: 



Orchids, which are seen in dozens of 

 varieties compared with the small num- 

 ber displayed in America, sell at 30 

 francs each. 



Chrysanthemums of the best size are 

 180 francs a dozen. 



Roses of all varieties, usually the best 

 in their class, bring 60 francs a dozen. 



A basket of twelve superb dahlias was 

 sold for 70 francs. 



In the best class of flower stores 

 plants are conspicuous for their absence, 

 with the exception, perhaps, of cycla- 

 mens and hydrangeas. These ^are 

 usually of the larger types. 



Of course there are the street venders, 

 who, especially in the outdoor flower 

 markets, on special days of the week 

 handle fine stock. There one can buy 

 flowers at a reasonable price. 



French Artistic Nature. 



At this time of the year, the harvest 

 season, the flower stores display a va- 

 riety of small pumpkins, squashes and 

 other highly-colored vegetables and 

 fruits, such as peppers, apples, pears, 

 persimmons and figs. Their table pieces 

 tempt both the sense of smell and the 

 ajjpetite — a good combination. 



I wish I could further describe the 

 floral creations of the Parisian florists, 

 which differ materially from the work of 

 our own florists. This taste is what the 

 natives and the Americans visit iirg 

 France call "chic," an indefinable 

 something peculiar to this people in 

 every artistic effort attempted. 



William T. Usinger. 



AUTUMN ADS APPEAR. 



The autumn opening of the florists' 

 cooperative advertising campaigns in 

 various cities took j>lace during the first 

 week in November. Some of them, of 

 course, have been using space in local 

 payiers during the summer as occasion 

 offered. Now, however, they are in- 

 creasing their activity and unlimbering 

 hea\y artillery for action, f^lsewhere 

 in this issue is described Chicago's pub- 

 licity in connection with "Say It with 

 Flowers" week in that city. 



In St. Louis the first gun of the fall 

 campaign went off in the Globe-Demo- 

 crat last week. It advertised "The 

 Radiant Flower of Autumn, Chrysanthe- 

 mums." Alongside an illustration of a 

 chrys.anthemum bloom ran the follow- 

 ing: 



It is rhrvs.intheiniini Tinic! These iiiaiestic 

 Mooin.s. so lirilliant of aspect, await v..ar ad- 

 miration at every florist's. The inacrniflcence 

 and lastinir freshness of these \n\,-\v llowcrs 

 \i' Id snpn'inacy to none for decora I i'ln. 



.\s a I'oiiipliini'nt. appreciation cr ri'inem- 

 • ■rancc. ("hrvsantheniMTTis nre witlioiit a rival. 

 '\'Ui-\ are essi'Titially the voprne and no home 

 slioiild he without a vase of these Rorceous 

 llowcrs. 



Von will find a variety of sharles and sizes, 

 and the pri<-es to he extreniclc moderate not- 

 "ilhstandinK the wealth of floral beauty nv'eived 

 in rtnrn. 



The a<lvertisement closed with the 

 line, "You can send flowers by tele- 

 graph to any city," and the' script 

 slogan, "Say It with Flowers." 



