54 



The Florists* Review 



Afbil 6. 1922 



letters from distinguished people all 

 over the United States, congratulating 

 us on the originality and wonderful im- 

 pression created by the blue bird boxes. 

 "We are going to give them to the trade 

 next fall. They are now being manu- 

 factured in Germany, and we shall bo 

 able to produce them at a price within 

 the reach of all florists — so reasonable 

 that you can afford to use them with 

 corsages that cost, say, from $7.50 up. 



Continuing on the subject of impres- 

 sions: A young man working his way 

 through college came to me some time 

 ago to place an order. He had been 

 buying at the store for some time, but 

 never anything extravagant. This par- 

 ticular day he seemed a bit uneasy and 

 finally confided to me that he couldn't 

 spend much money, but there was an- 

 other fellow who was sending his girl 

 American Beauty roses and he felt that 

 it sort of made him look cheap. 

 ^'Now," said he, "my father isn't pay- 

 ing for these flowers, like the other fel- 

 low's, so when he gets to pulling Amer- 

 ican Beauties, I'm out of the running. 

 If I could only get something different, 

 something very unusual, I would be 

 willing to pay $15 or $20 for it, just to 

 knock his eye out for once." 



"Leave it to me, young man," said I, 

 "and we'll give his American Beauties 

 a run for their money." Orchids were 

 cheap at that time. ' So I made up a 

 fine corsage, daintily fussed up with 

 ribbon, placing on the sides of the blue 

 bird box a cluster of Sweetheart roses, 

 smothered the box with violets, tied a 

 bird's nest on the corner of the box, 

 and sent it off. This was February 14. 

 We had the wedding in June, and it was 

 a big one at that* 



Necklace Box. 



I have another box which we use in 

 combination wit^h other gifts, with more 

 substantial gifts. 



I recollect another instance. A prom- 

 inent club man came into the store with 

 a rather nonchalant air and confided 

 to me that he was attending a birthday 

 dinner that evening. He said: "I have 

 a- gift here, a mighty good-looking neck- 

 lace, I think, and I want you to tie it 

 up with a bunch of roses or some flow- 

 ers, in such a way that it will make them 

 all sit up and take notice. I paid $500 

 for that necklace, and I want it fixed 

 up in fine shape." 



"Well, if you paid $500 for it, it's 

 up to me to make it look worth double 

 that. I'll make a bargain with you. 

 Leave it to mo and if tliat gift doesn 't 

 look worth a thousand by the time she 

 gets it, don 't pay me anything, but if 



it fills the bill I'll take ten per cent 

 of the cost." 



"I'll go you," said he, and, leaving 

 the box of jewels, went on his way. The 

 next morning he was the first customer 

 in the store and, handing my clerk a $50 

 bill, said: "Tell Fox it was a knock- 

 out, and I'm sorry he doesn't take 

 tips." 



Now, the second factor in our busi- 

 ness is sentiment. Everybody has a 

 certain degree of sentunent — and what 

 better medium of expression can one 

 have than the sentiment expressed by 

 flowers? Surely, it is true that flowers 

 whisper "what words never can." 

 Your first thought and mine when we 

 hear of a friend 's illness is to send some 

 flowers to cheer him up a bit and carry 

 the message that we are thinking of 

 him, looking forward to his recovery. 

 Let this thought be carried out by every 

 individual who has a friend who is ill, 

 and in a short time that end of our busi- 

 ness would be greatly increased. 



They already have the thought. It is 

 only up to us so judiciously and con- 

 tinually to suggest the doing of this 

 thing that the thought becomes an ac- 

 tion and the sending a reality. 



Flowers in Hospitals. 



Whenever I go into a hospital and 

 see the beautiful roses and other deli- 

 cate flowers set in the hallway, or out 

 on the fire escape to keep them cool, I 

 wonder why hospitals haven't long ago 

 made provision for keeping the flowers 

 which are taken out of the rooms of the 

 patients over night. This is one rea- 

 son, and many times a most unjust rea- 

 son, that the florist receives a complaint 

 about the flowers he sent not keeping in 

 the hospital. This is just one of the 

 jobs for our publicity committee and our 

 Florists' Telegraph Delivery Associa- 

 tion to take up, with the proper adver- 

 tising and propaganda on this subject. 

 There is no reason why the hospitals 

 of the future should not have on every 

 floor a room, not necessarily refriger- 

 ated, but a room in a part of the build- 

 ing that is coolest. This room should 

 have shelves around it and also a stock 

 of practical vases for the use of pa- 

 tients' flowers. 



Luncheon Tlowers. 



Sentiment can be expressed so many 

 ways with flowers. I now have in mind 

 social affairs. In this particular case it 

 was a musical luncheon given in honor 

 of a famous opera singer. The luncheon 

 table was set for twelve. It was in the 

 spring of the year, in March. So as a 

 .sjx'cial table decoration we fixed up this 

 liox with corsages of violets for the 



twelve ladies and arranged the center 

 appropriately. We called it ' ' The Song 

 of the Violet." It fitted the occasion 

 admirably and proved a great success. 

 Just another way to express sentiment 

 in flowers. 



Sympathy. 



Sentiment and sympathy are closely 

 allied, and when I see a line in the 

 obituary column which reads, "Please 

 omit flowers," my memory takes me 

 back to the fact that the first insertion 

 of that order was made by a crazy un- 

 lertaker, who, not having the facilities 

 for handling flowers and not wanting 

 to be bothered, suggested to the family 

 that they insert this line. Why not 

 back-pedal on this suggestion by proper 

 advertising and propaganda? Make 

 friends with the undertakers, talk to 

 them on this subject, get them on our 

 side, send them a few ferns for their 

 offices, help them out as much as 

 you can in having flowers on time for 

 funerals and arrange the flowers for 

 them. Try your best to make it easy 

 for the undertaker at all times and in 

 a short time you will have him with you 

 strong — and he will suggest flowers 

 instead of "omit flowers." 



You can not tell me that any family 

 objects to a friend's sending a floral 

 tribute. What more' cheerless thing in 

 the world than a funeral without flow- 

 ers? There should be flowers at every 

 funeral, and the insertion in the paper 

 should read, "Flowers gladly received." 

 Flowers at a funeral are not only a beau- 

 tiful tribute to the one who has passed 

 on, but a wonderful consolation to the 

 members of the family as well. 



From the days of the Greek, when 

 he honored his dead by strewing their 

 graves with laurel wreaths and acacia, 

 until the present, flowers have been the 

 greatest comfort in time of sorrow. 



Time meant less to the ancient Greek 

 in making up wreaths and casket covers 

 than it means to us. Time is our great- 

 est factor, and while we have none the 

 less love and sympathy, we have less 

 time, and so we must devise ways and 

 means to get through with our work 

 quickly. 



With this in mind I conceived the 

 "pillow basket," so constructed that 

 it can be arranged in fifteen minutes by 

 any florist and be a real work of art 

 when finished. 



Just think of it — no flowers to stem, 

 no frame to moss, no wiring to do, every 

 flower on its own stem and every stem 

 in water! This not only means a great 

 saving of time, but a saving of worry, 

 for a delivery made on Saturday would 

 be in fine condition several days laterl 



Range of J. N. Spanabsl & Sons, Columbianat 0.» Devoted to Pot Plants and Asparagus Plumosus. 



