

May 14, 1914. 



REMOTE STORAGE 



The Florists' Review 



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MAKING THE MOST x 



OF MEMORIAL DAY 



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|T may be taken for granted 

 thaf almost every florist, 

 however little ambition he 

 may possess, will make some 

 special preparation for Me- 

 morial day, the greatest 

 flower day of the year. In- 

 deed, he can hardly avoid making some 

 little effort to get- ready, for the ob- 

 servance of the day has become so gen- 

 eral that some extra business is almost 

 certain to come along and hit him, 

 and it will be inconvenient not to be 

 ready. The prime object of this article 

 is to urge florists to make the most 

 thorough preparation within their pow- 

 er, and to do it now — with all possible 

 emphasis on the "now" — since Memo- 

 rial day is, only about two weeks in the 

 future. 



There is an old quotation that has 

 established itself as a permanent tenant 

 in the writer 's memory and refuses to 

 be evicted; it bobs to the front when- 

 ever the necessity of prompt action is 

 under consideration. The exact word- 

 ing of it cannot be vouched for, but it 

 runs something like this: "The state 

 of the world is such, and so much 

 depends on action, that everything seems 

 to say to every man, 'Do something! 

 Do it! Do it!' " Perhaps that quota- 

 tion can be parapiosaed a little, so as 

 to fit the present oc- 

 casion precisely. 



A G-cod Prospect. 



Since encourage- 

 ment is frequently the 

 best incentive to ac- 

 tion, i t should be 

 stated that this 

 year's Memorial day — 

 business — the weather 

 man and other powers 

 permittin g — will 

 probably be unusually 

 heavy and profitable, 

 if only for the reason 

 that the great day 

 falls on Saturday, 

 thus providing, prac- 

 tically, for two days 

 of decoration. The 

 experience of the 

 trade has proved that 

 when Memorial day 

 immediately precedes 

 or follows Sunday, 

 the circumstance is a 

 fortunate one for flo- 

 rists. 



There are at least 

 thfee essential forms 

 of prepaiation for the 

 big event — obtaining 

 a sufficient q u a n - 

 tity of the right sort 

 of stock, attending to 

 the advertising, .and 

 making such arrange- 

 ments, with reference 

 to the store force 



and the delivery outfit, as will make it 

 possible to handle the increased business 

 swiftly, systematically and satisfac- 

 torily. 



Everybody's Day. 



It is well to secure for Memorial day 

 a good supply of such stock as will 

 make a satisfactory showing at small 

 expense, for on this occasion the florist 

 is catering to the common people — not 

 common in the old-time, outworn sense 

 of being inferior or plebeian, but com- 

 mon in the truly American, modern 

 sense of including everybody. 



Memorial day is not simply the sol- 

 diers' day; it. is some time since we got 

 away from that restricted idea. It is 

 not especially the wealthy people's day; 

 most of the wealthy people make ar- 

 rangements to keep the homes of their 

 dead permanently beautified and are 

 perhaps less likely than others to give 

 special attention to the matter on the 

 day custom has set apart for the pur- 

 pose. It follows, then, since Memorial 

 day is everybody's day, and everybody 

 is not rich and generous, that the stock 

 provided shall be largely of such a kind 

 that a small outlay of money will ac- 

 complish the desire^ purpose. 



Wreaths a Specialty. 

 What, then, is the best sort of stock 



Memorial Day Wre»*^ 



X.- 



Memorial Day Wreath Illustration 

 Popular for Use in Retailers' Advertising 



to be placed conspicuously in the front 

 and pushed as a specialty for the flo- 

 rists' day of days? Of course there 

 will be a good*\demand for loose flow- 

 ers and there ought not to be any great 

 difficulty in meeting the demand, espe- 

 cially if there is an abundance of 

 peonies and cape jasmine to compensate 

 for any shortage of other flowers. If 

 a cemetery vase in each instance is 

 purchased along with the bouquet, the 

 transaction will be more satisfactory to 

 both buyer and seller. Many of the 

 more fastidious class of customers will 

 prefer flat sprays and the florist should 

 be fully prepared to satisfy such pa- 

 trons, but the sale of these "must be 

 limited by the briefness of the time 

 allowed for the making of them. 



However, there will also be a large 

 demand for wreaths and the florist 

 will find it perfectly safe, as well as 

 highly profitable, to make his best ef- 

 forts to increase the demand for them, 

 since the wreatiis can be 'Constructed of 

 prepared magnolia leaves or othsr jiuch 

 durable material and a sufficient supply 

 of them can be made beforehand, leav- 

 ing only the trimming of them to be 

 done during the strenuous eleventh 

 hour. On account of the reduction that 

 has taken place in the price of magnolia 

 leaves during recent 

 years, it is easier 

 than ever before to 

 supply these wreaths 

 . ; at attractive prices, 



and any remaining 

 unsold at Memorial 

 day can be kept in 

 stock for later use. 



The Advertising. 



There are few flo- 

 rists who do not make 

 use of some method 

 o f advertising for 

 special occasions like 

 this, even if they are 

 contented a t other 

 times to make no 

 public plea- for pat- 

 ronage, but simply 

 accept such business 

 as happens to come 

 their way. The ma- 

 jority of wide-awake 

 florists, however, find 

 it profitable to carry 

 on a more or less reg- 

 ular tjampaigiLof pub- 

 licity, and such wide- 

 awake florists are also 

 likely to make the 

 biggest use of adver- 

 tising for such big 

 events a s Memorial 

 day. It is the es- 

 sence of good adver- 

 tising — or at least it 

 is one of the main 



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