November 0, 1913. 



The Florists* Review 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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THE TELEGHAPH DELIVERY. 



A bad feature for retailers to prac- 

 tice, which will surely have a bad ef- 

 fect in the end with the public, is to 

 take orders for towns too far away 

 from your own town, and then ship 

 them. The other day a large floral of- 

 fering for the opening of a store in 

 Louisville, Ky., was shipped all the way 

 from New York by a New York re- 

 tailer, ^ou can imagine what an eye- 

 sore it must have been for the public 

 to see such a withered up floral offer- 

 ing. It certainly was no credit to the 

 florists' trade. How much nicer and 

 more pleasing to the public as well as 

 to the recipient it would have been had 

 the Louisville florist made this delivery! 

 It is not alone a misjudgnlent but in 

 bad taste for the florist to ship floral 

 offerings so far, for he loses by it 

 in the end; it is detrimental to the en- 

 tire florists' trade. 



Through the offices of the Florists' 

 Telegraph Delivery I am sure that a lot 

 of these things can be prevented and a 

 great deaf of good can be done all 

 around by retailers cooperating and 

 comparing notes. 



If the trade papers are willing to help 

 us in this direction, and no doubt they 

 will, I shall be pleased to write up lit- 

 tle happenings I hear about from our 

 members every now and then, so all 

 retailers, whether members of the F. T, 

 D. or not, may benefit by it. 



F. T. D, Pochelon. 



ESTIMATING DECORATIONS. 



One of the most interesting of the 

 addresses at the meeting of the Detroit 

 Florists' Club, October 20, was that 

 given by Hugo Schroeter on "Estimat- 

 ing Decorations." The point on which 

 he placed most emphasis is that the 

 florist should charge enough to enable 

 him to do justice to himself as well as 

 to his customer. In estimating, there- 

 fore, he should bear in mind the many 

 details that, if not watched, eat up the 

 margin of profit. 



When called upon to give an estimate 

 for a decoration, it is best to get, first 

 of all, either the entire confidence of 

 the customer, or a clear understanding 

 of his wishes before giving any figures. 

 It is wise to remember that the lowest 

 quotation is not always the one that 

 wins the order, but, on the other hand, 

 overcharging should be avoided. On a 

 store decoration it is not difficult to 

 state an exact figure, but there is al- 

 ways to be added the cost of a little 

 extra stock that goes to some employee 

 to "pave the way," so to speak. In 

 a moderate sized order, such extras 

 amount to a considerable sum. 



One cannot expect to make as much 

 on a $25 to $75 decoration in a home 

 as he can on a funeral piece at the 

 same price, but by all means charge 

 enough to enable you to do justice to 

 the job, for the decorator, not the cus- 

 tomer, must bear the blame for poor 



work. If a reasonable price can not be 

 obtained, it is better to let the other 

 fellow do the work and get the blame. 

 Flowers and plants are so varied in size 

 and quality that they can not be figured 

 at a certain standard, as you would 

 yards of ribbon, and for that reason 

 it is rarely wise to try to meet a com- 

 petitor's estimate. 



The best plan when a home decora- 

 tion has much detailed work is to try 

 to get an order to go ahead within a 

 certain figure. If, however, the florist 

 is called upon to include all the de- 

 tails in his estimate, he should not for- 

 get to allow for a change in the market 

 prices of flowers; his time should be 

 paid for, either as a separate item or 

 otherwise; the trips made by his auto- 

 mobile and assistants must be included 

 in the estimate, or he loses just that 

 amount. If he wishes to do a good 

 business and keep up a high standard, 

 he must charge for all the detailed ex- 

 penses. Little is gained by cutting 

 prices for a customer who wants every- 

 thing cheap. He will never be satisfied, 

 no matter how little he pays, and a dis- 

 satisfied customer does no good. A dec- 

 oration is seen by a large number of 

 people and, when carefully executed, 

 elicits many compliments, regardless 

 of its cost, which is usually known 

 only by the customer and perhaps a 

 few intimate friends. The favorable 

 comment thus obtained is worth in ad- 

 vertising far more than the gaining of 

 a single cheap order on which a florist 

 can not do his best. 



A CHAPEL DECORATION. 



The funeral of the wife of Chas. N. 

 Fairbanks, former vice-president of the 

 United States, drew great quantities of 

 flowers and pieces from all over the 

 country. The chapel at Crown Hill 

 cemetery, Indianapolis, Ind., at which 

 the funeral was held October 26, was 

 covered on every side with the floral 

 remembrances of her friends. The ar- 

 rangement of the flowers was in the 

 hands of the Bertermann Bros. Co., of 

 Indianapolis, and a part of their work 

 may be seen in the accompanying illus- 

 tration. 



MANURE FOR COMPOST. 



Please advise me as to what manure 

 to use in a sod pile I am about to build. 

 There is plenty of cow manure at hand, 

 but it contains wood shavings which 

 were used to keep the floor clean. Is 

 it out of the question to use this 

 manure? I have plenty of horse ma- 

 nure; would you advise me to use it, 

 instead? I grow bedding plants, car- 

 nations and chrysanthemums, and force 

 bulbs. L. B. 



If you have plenty of horse manure 

 which is free from shavings, I would 

 advise you to use it in building your 

 compost heap. The shavings in the cow 

 manure might not prove harmful, but 

 that would depend entirely on the kind 

 of shavings used and the quantity con- 

 tained in the manure. If the whole 

 mass were thoroughly rotted before 

 using, there would not likely be any 

 detrimental effect. If the stable manure 

 is short — not a great deal of straw in 

 it — use one load of manure to each 

 three loads of soil. If it contains a 

 good deal of straw, then use one load to 

 every two loads of soil. If you place 

 the manure in layers, between layers 

 of soil, do not make the layers too 

 thick. The thinner the better. 



Portland, Me. — Work has been begun 

 on an additional greenhouse for W. E. 

 Dyer. 



Chapel Decorated by Bertermann Bros« Co., for Funeral of Mrs. Fairbanks. 



