KEBRUAKY 24, 1021 



The Florists^ Review 



21 



1 then wrote to the person who gave him 

 tlie order. I was told tliat the flowers 

 had been paid for. Now, perhaps if he 

 saw his name on a blacklist it would 

 not look so good to him. 



Vj. L. Kinyon. 



OPCN LCTTEOS>^^ READEEiB 



FLORIST OR MILLINER? 



Scores Artificial Blooms. 



A few days ago I had occasion to visit 

 the city cemetery to place a pot plant 

 on the section in which the mother of a 

 friend of mine had recently been buried. 

 Directly across a small walk there was 

 a new grave literally covered with de- 

 signs, as the funeral had only been a 

 few days previous to my visit there. 

 I thought I had run into a millinery 

 shop. I had never seen so many arti- 

 ficial flowers before in all my life. And 

 I'm not ashamed to say that I've never 

 seen maiiy artificial flowers in my life, 

 either, because I'm a florist and not a 

 milliner; so I've never let artificial 

 flowers concern me much. 



I got an idea, when I saw all those 

 artificial flowers at a prominent citizen's 

 funeral, which I believe will be of in- 

 terest to the florists' trade at large. 

 Before I go further I want to say that 

 ■one of the relatives of the person, in a 

 conversation with me, said, "I consider 

 it an outrage and a grand slam on the 

 florist. I know that the persons who 

 ordered the several designs did not or- 

 der artificial flowers, and had they 

 known that they were going to get them, 

 would rather not have sent anything 

 at all." 



There are occasions that call for ar- 

 tificial flowers, but at a funeral, per- 

 sonally, I consider them out of place. 

 Of course, there are persons who prefer 

 them, but those persons are few and 

 usually their preference is based upon 

 the fact that the body is going to be 

 shipped, or something of the kind. The 

 majority of ])eoi)le, however, expect 

 to receive natural flowers, beautiful and 

 fragrant, when „they order and will be 

 greatly disappointed if they don't get 

 them. 



"Say It with Flowers." 



If we are going to sell artificial flow- 

 ers indiscriminately, wo shall soon find 

 keen competition in the millinery busi 

 ness. Not only millinery, but also de- 

 partment stores and others will stock 

 up with them and, I dare say, they could 

 sell more such flowers than a florist 

 could. 



We do not sell artificial flowers. We 

 keep a small stock of the different kinds 

 on hand and use them only upon re 

 quest, and I do not recall having more 

 than a half dozen such requests during 

 the last year. When a jierson orders 

 flowers from a florist, it is understood 

 that they want natural ones unless other 

 wise specified. 



I say unhesitatingly that 1 believe 

 tlie constant use of artificial flowers 

 instead of natural ones, without the 

 understanding beforehand, would result 

 in the decrease of any florist's business 

 at least fifty per cent in a year's time. 



If we are going to have people "Say 

 It with Flowers" wc must accommo- 

 ilate them, and show them the advantage 

 of saying it with flowers. If we don't, 

 they will say it with jewelry or some- 

 thing else, which will result in decreaseil 



business for us. We must not only 

 show them the advantages of saying it 

 with flowers, but we must show them 

 that the saying will be emphasized if the 

 flowers come from us. 



This article is not written with the 

 intention of telling you how to run your 

 business. Neither do I read articles 

 written by other florists with the idea 

 of learning from them how to run my 

 business. The idea is to keep together, 

 to exchange ideas and thereby let our 

 business methods be altered only as they 

 are improved. 



Arthur J. Balk. 



DELPHINIUM SEEDS TO POUND. 



Under the heading, "Directions for 

 Delphiniums," in The Review of Feb- 

 ruary 10, we wish to take exception to 

 the statement that ,50,000 delphinium 

 perennials can be obtained out of seven 

 or eight ounces of seed. By actual test 

 we find it takes about one and one-half 

 American ])ounds to make 50,000 seed- 

 lings, and then they must come up quite 

 well and not suffer from damping off. 

 We also found that by the German 

 pound we could get only 40,000 seed- 

 lings. We specialize in this product and 

 so have had considerable experience 

 with this seed. Kamp & Spinti Co. 



MORE ASOUT BLACKLIST. 



I fully agree with Mrs. Annie O. 

 Howard, in a letter recently published 

 in The Review, regarding delinquents. 

 Though we receive a great many tele- 

 graph orders, we never know whether 

 or not we are ever going to get our 

 money. But if we should fail to fill the 

 order, someone is sure to be disaj)- 

 pointed. 



I recently filled an order for a florist 

 in Michigan and sent him several state- 

 ments, but he paid no attention to them. 



SAVE POSTS, HOSE AND MUSCLE. 



Here is something new, I think, in 

 the florists' business. Save the old 

 Hyatt roller bearings from your old 

 automobile and get all you can from the 

 garages. Most of the garage men will 

 give the old ones to you jf you ask. Put 

 them at the corners around which you 

 drag the hose. Drive a pipe or a rod 

 through them and you have a bearing 

 that saves posts, hose and muscle. I am 

 pulling a 75-foot length of hose around 

 four corners in my house at times, and 

 it works well. Roscoe S. Baldwin. 



^^%^^'^^ 





AT THE HUB 



1 



BOSTON FLORISTS' CLUB. 



Carnation Night. 



No less thi^n 125 members and ladies 

 were present at the annual carnation 

 night of the Boston Florists ' Club, Feb- 

 ruary 15. The banquet committee re- 

 ported all bills paid and a small balance 

 on hand. The committee was thanked 

 for its labor. A. K. Rogers reported for 

 the union agricultural meeting and said 

 next year's plans were for meetings on a 

 much extended scale, with Mechanics' 

 building for the meeting jil.'U'O. 



Xo less than seventeen new menibcis 

 were elected. W. if; .Imld, K. I. Pnrring- 

 ton and others spoke on the fact that 

 Boston and vicinity had thr(>e national 

 Mud several New England presidents of 

 various horticultural bodies, and it was 

 voted to have the secretary communi- 

 cate with their local organizations to sec 

 if a dinner or other get-together could 

 be held, preferably during the spi-ing 

 siK)w week. 



There was a grand lot of exhibits. 

 Wallace Bagshaw had excellent vases of 

 Alice and Fnchantress Siii)reme. .Tames 

 Methvon had fine Matchless from 2-ycar- 

 old |)Iants cut back in .fune. .Tames 



Donald had an excellent vase of Laddie. 

 M. A. Patten showed Thomas (". Joy in 

 grand shape, which S. ,T. (Joddard said 

 would have beaten White Delight at 

 Washington. It was awarded a certifi- 

 cate of merit. ?>dward Winkler showed 

 vases of Morning Glow and Peter Ball; 

 the latter, a rose-pink, received honor- 

 able mention. From S. ,T. Goddard came 

 a glorious vase of Laddie, artistically ar- 

 ranged, which graced the president's 

 table. The L.nrk and Happy Day each 

 was given a rejtort of merit. Laddie 

 ;iud a vase of new Dorner seedlings re- 

 ceived honorable mention, also Seedling 

 1 41. Rosalia was also well shown. 



Paul F. Brigham showed a handsome 

 light pink in Barbara, which w.-is 

 awitrded honorable mention. W. D. 

 Howard had a grand collection of mag- 

 nificent flowers, including Ethel Fisher. 

 Eureka, Cottage Maid, Mrs. C. W. Ward, 

 Ruth Baur, Bernice and Pink Delight, 

 which were given a report of merit. 



W. N. Craig showed Silver Spur nar- 

 cissi and Flamingo tulips. Robert 

 Daugherty had sweet peas, Thom.-is W. 

 Little, schizanthus, and Mrs:~Ii, K. Fair, 

 a table of lier new choice seedling be- 

 gonia from December cuttings, whi^Ji 



