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THE SEEDS THAT ARE 



SOLD IN THE SPRING 



Few florists take advantage of the opportunity that knocks each spring. 

 Logically the neighborhood distributors of seeds, plants and shrubs, must 

 florists are missing such sales, first, by not attempting to interest the public 

 in home planting, and second, by allowing others to take the business. 



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Ti lHOSE objects to whicli the 

 fancioa of folks yoiiiijj and 

 old turn in tiii' sjiriny 

 hold oj)})ortunity of Itusi- 

 l A, i^*i»^ for tlio florist. If the 

 ^ — S? fancies be those of the 

 ,^~N yonn}^ man, they lightly 



P5I ^^ turn, the jxiet says, to 

 ===il thoughts of love. Henee 

 the? demand for wt'dding 

 flowers in June. If, however, the fan- 

 cies be those of older folk, now some 

 years married and with a family to 

 feed, they are a})t to turn in the 

 <lirection of a home K«'ir"l<'". l>artly 

 of flowers and larj^ely of vegeta- 

 bles. If the florist will cater to this 

 business with some of the energy that 

 he devotes to securing business from 

 the families of June brides, hewill find 

 herein a stimulus to his ])rofits in spring. 

 It has been asserted that florists are 

 to blame because the home gardi-n idea 

 has not been more strongly ''sold," 

 in the advertising man's term, to th<' 

 imblic. Few communities are large 

 enough to sujijiort more than two or 

 three stores retailing seeds exclusively. 

 These, to be successful, must be located 

 in the business center, where the com- 

 muting crowds are thickest, because the I 



season of active business is ho short 

 in duration. The neighborhood busi- 

 ness, unless the florist seizes his ad- 

 vantage, goes to the hardware mer 

 chaTit or the grocer. 



Substitute Seedsmen. 



The hardware store is the place to 

 buy lawn mowers, rakes, spades and 

 hoes, but it is hard to see why the hard- 

 ware merchant should carry seeds ex- 

 cept for the reason that no one else 

 does. The term "hardware merchant" 

 is used by florists, not without fair rea- 

 son, to indicate an individual about as 

 far removed in sentiment from one who 

 ileals in living plants as can be. Nor 

 is the grocer a better candidate for the 

 position of neighborhood seedsman. 

 The grocer would far rather sell a head 

 of cal)bage than a packet of cabbage 

 seed. The former, if it be good, is like- 

 ly to bring the customi'r back for more. 

 If the latter turns out the way tiie 

 buyer wishes, the grocer's business in 

 cabbage heads will be therei)y dimin- 

 ished. 



The florist is in (|uite another boat. 



Kvery time he sells a packet of flower 



seeds, he is in line to make another 



(uvcr of flowers in the winter time. 



He is not competing with himself, nor 

 is he handling a line remote from that 

 which constitutes his main business. 

 Seeds and nursery stock are, rather, a 

 natural part of the florist's trade. They 

 are something he knows intimately, 

 knows how to fit to varying needs and 

 knows how to make grow, so that he 

 can assist his customer with that ad- 

 vice which so firmly knits business ties. 

 There are a score of flower stores to 

 every retail seed store. Some flower 

 stores already have a seed department, 

 either throughout the year or in the 

 spring. Hut the jiercentage of flower 

 stores which push the sale of seeds in 

 any aggres^sive manner, so that this 

 (le])artment is one tha.t contributes 

 largely to the profits of the enterprise, 

 is small indeed. The possibilities which 

 might follow a more aggressive- sales 

 campaign for seeds and nursery stock 

 in the spring by the thousands of flower 

 stores which now do next to nothing in 

 this respect iire tremendous. 



After the War Was Over. 



The reaction which followed the war 

 garden fad brought the ]danting of 

 home grounds to a jjoint lower than it 

 had been for some vears. Immediately 





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Florists Can Swell Thdr Sales of Seeds by Interesting Passers with a Window Such as This 



