26 



The Florists' Review 



Skktkmbkk 22, 1921 



sure to 8i)ray your dosign hoforo you 

 Mond it out. ' ■ 



TWO TYPES OF WREATHS. 



Wreath, in the llorists' voealmlary, 

 is a generic term that covers a wide 

 variety of ilornl ])ieces. In one large 

 division fall holiday wreaths, meaning 

 those sold at Christmas time. Then 

 there is another largo division, cover- 

 ing those sold at Memorial day. Tlio 

 third, still larger division, covering a 

 wider variety than either of the pre- 

 ceding two, coiiijirises those made all 

 the year around, almost every day in 

 every florists ' shop, for funerals. 



Of this last division there are two 

 types, one illustrated on page 2!i, the 

 other on the opposite page following. 

 One, like that on page l^.l, consists of 

 a background, the wreath proper, of 

 prepared foliage of some sort, magnolia 

 leaves, galax, boxwood, oak leaves or 

 similar material. Most common is the 

 magnolia wreath, which may be pur- 

 chased and stored till wanted, when a 

 few flowers, a little green and some tulle 

 or ribbon are added, to form a moder- 



ately priced funeral piece. Great num- 

 bers of such wreaths are used. This one 

 was made by Otto Kastle, whose store 

 is at fi416 Houth Halsted street, ('hi- 

 cago. Thi» sort is largely used at Me- 

 morial day as well. 



More pretentious and consequently 

 more expensive is the wreath shown on 

 page 27. This is built on a wirv frame 

 filled with moss, as described by S. A. 

 Frost in the preceding article. This par- 

 ticular wreath is an especially elaborate 

 one, in the profuse use of material and 

 in the size of the piece. It was made 

 by the Athletic Club Florist, 433 West 

 Seventh street, Los Angeles. 



NO SUCH BASKET. 



For the reader who desires informa- 

 tion in regard to "Czecho-Slovak" bas- 

 kets, I wish to say, as a native of that 

 region, that there is no such thing as a 

 " Czecho-Slovak " basket, since this 

 government did not exist before the 

 time of Woodrow Wilson's presidency. 

 The only baskets used by the people of 

 that region are the ordinary straw bas- 

 kets, made of willow. J. Hodakly. 



^ikMiA^t|»^iiyjitLM{yjMt>y«»AJj|tAJfliAJ{a^^^^ 



COMBINES 



^sflr«flrirsviri%^ir«v;r/srir^r«v;rr4>iih«vii«vir^«>(irrt»^^ 



CHAIN STORES AND RANGES. 



The Zetlitz Plan. 



Any owner of one large greenhouse 

 range usually feels satisfied and con- 

 tented if all things growing there are 

 doing fine and the trade in general re- 

 fers to such a place with pride. Rolf 

 Zetlitz, however, formerly of Lima, O., 

 now located at Dayton, operates seven 

 separate ranges, located in four different 

 towns; two at Lima, one at Ada, one 

 at Columbus and three at Dayton, cover- 

 ing approximately 1,000,000 feet of 

 glass. He is also establishing a chain 

 of retail stores, four being in actual 

 operation now with as many more to 

 follow in the near future. It would be 

 a hard matter for anyone acquainted 

 with the wholesale or retail business to 

 decide which of these places is the best, 

 as, they are all prosperous, and one won- 

 der.s how it is being done. 



Boses the Staple. 



Roses, for cut flowers, are the coni- 

 j)any's specialty; 300,000 of the leading 

 varieties are planted for that purpose 

 and the outlook for the coming season 

 could not be better. No expense is 

 spared to obtain results, both in the 

 handling and the growing of the stock 

 and improvements are constantly being 

 made to bring Zetlitz roses to a superior 

 standard. In fact, it is the company's 

 aim to make its roses universally known, 

 as are Lowney's candy and Heinz 's 

 pickles. The company has already con- 

 tracted for 20,000 Angelus and the same 

 number of Red Columbia for next sea- 

 son's planting. The shipping facilities 

 are second to none, for two-thirds of 

 the population of the United States can 

 be reached within twenty-four hours. 



Crops are so scientitically arranged 

 that there are always enough roses to 

 go around and big crops for the holidays. 

 The firm has no complaint to make in 



regard to the dullness of the season; 

 on the contrary, satisfaction is ex- 

 pressed with the constantly increasing 

 business. 



Pot Plants. 



Cyclamens are another big feature, 

 being grown at Plant B, at Dayton, for- 

 merly the place of the Miami Floral 

 Co. There can be seen 50,000 plants of 

 the choicest varieties in the best of 

 condition, ranging in size from 3-inch 

 to 7-inch pot plants. Many thousand 

 were shipped from there this summer, go- 

 ing as far as New Mexico in one direc- 

 tion and Montana in another. Between 

 300,000 and 500,000 seeds will be planted 

 for next season at Plant B. 



A big lath house, .'50x200 feet, ac- 

 commodates the hydrangeas, which are 

 all pot-grown and vary in size from 4- 

 inch to 8-inch pots. A beautiful lot of 

 (Christmas cherries, poinsettias, begonias 

 and ferns completes the pot plant assort- 

 ment for the holidays. 



Betailing at Dayton. 



Plant A, at Dayton, formerly the W. 

 G. Matthews Co., has been remodeled 

 and put into shape for a high-class re- 

 tail place. Palms, ferns, chrysanthe- 

 mums, orchids and show plants are the 

 leading features there. 'This place has 

 the appearance of a conservatory. A 

 beautiful fish pond catches everyone's 

 eye; the walks are all concrete; every- 

 thing is painted white; electric lights 

 illuminate the place and customers may 

 l)e served day or night. A refrigerating 

 machine cools two immense boxes, in 

 which all cut flowers are hardened off 

 before being sent out. 



The general offices occupy an entire 

 8-room dwelling. A general retail busi- 

 ness is conducted there and an up-to- 

 date store in the heart of the city takes 

 care of the transient trade. Three 

 motor trucks handle the deliveries, to- 

 gether with an especially constructed 



motorcycle, which is used for special 

 deliveries. 



Just recently this firm acquired an- 

 other good-sized range, which is known 

 as Plant C. At that place the company 

 is growing sweet peas, snapdragons, 

 freesias and such flowers as require a 

 cool temperature, such as calendulas, 

 mignonette, forget-me-nots, etc., and 

 bedding stock in the spring. 



The prime reason for Mr. Zetlitz 's 

 success in building an organization of 

 this kind is his ability to select men to 

 carry responsibility at the various es- 

 tablishments. He displays an uncanny 

 capacity for picking the right man for 

 each position. 



The Columbus, Lima and Ada ranges 

 are conducted on the same lines as those 

 at Dayton. That at Lima has a large 

 landscape department. The growth of 

 this organization has been remarkable 

 and its continued success will be watched 

 by many of the trade as one of the few 

 examples of the "chain" idea in this 

 trade. F. C. V. 



TBEPELS IN BIO MERGER. 



When announcement was made re- 

 cently at Brooklyn, N. Y., that the 

 Trepel brothers, Joseph and Jack, had 

 combined their two individual chains 

 of stores to make a single chain of 

 twenty-five, the local press came out 

 with the expression that "this is one 

 of the biggest business mergers that 

 this borough has known for some time." 



But to many in the trade the large 

 number of stores joined is not the only 

 evidence of "the biggest merger." 

 There comes to mind, also, the great 

 amount of potential business and exec- 

 utive pow^er that the arrangement com- 

 bines. For both Jack and Joseph Trepel 

 have operated stores for years, with 

 steady success. Even the war and its 

 results, although it stopped the adding 

 of more stores for a while, did not put 

 a single store in the chains out of busi- 

 ness. And that was at a time when 

 many chain systems in other and tried 

 lines went out of business. 



This new combine is to be known as 

 Trepel Florists and has the distinction 

 of being the largest chain of flower 

 shops in the world. It is planned to add 

 more stores in New York and other 

 cities in the near future. 



It is interesting to reminisce for a 

 moment and to recall the start of Joseph 

 Trepel 's business, which is characteris- 

 tic of the brothers. One day, when he 

 was a messenger boy for a florist's 

 house, back in the nineties, he was dis- 

 charged because the slack season came 

 on. He had $5 and with it he bought 

 some flowers, which he sold on the street, 

 netting himself $13 in a day. Encour- 

 aged, he persisted and after a few 

 month 's hard work he had saved enough 

 money to rent a basement. And from 

 this basement grew profits that per- 

 mitted the opening of other stores until 

 the "chain idea" became an ambition, 

 the burden of which was realized and 

 which, as we now see, is being improved 

 and enlarged upon by the two brothers. 



TORONTO MEETING. 



The F. T. D. oflicers from Detroit, ac- 

 companied by Edward Sceery, of Pater- 

 son, N. J., were visitors to Toronto this 

 week. They went over the arrange- 

 ments for the coming F. T. D. meeting 

 and were greatly pleased with the con- 

 vention hall, exhibition rooms, rest 



