10 



The Florists^ Review 



June 18, 1914. 



"Tliey said, 'Twelve cents apiece; 

 $1.25 a dozen. ' 



"I know florists don't fall in love 

 •with department stores, but I didn 't 

 think they might soak one just for that. 



In Search of an Inspiration. 



"1 think the humor of it that they 

 sold them in the 'wholesale' depart- 

 ment dearer than in the retail depart- 

 ment got me on my feet, and 1 started 

 and wandered around, and came to the 

 millinery department. There they had 

 a big sale on, and I stood and watched 

 the people buying big Florentine straw 

 hats worth .$2, for 79 cents apiece, and 

 two women which had a call trying 

 some on. One of these ladies forgot 

 her call and asked the other ladv: 



" 'Bridget, does that hat fit?'' 



"And the other said, 'Yes, when you 

 put the flowers inside and put it on 

 your head upside down, just like this. ' 



"And she said it and did it, and it 

 looked so artistic that I bought a lot 

 of the hats, because 1 thought why 

 couldn't I put flowers inside, tcto? 



Florentine Straw Steamer Baskets. 



' ' When I got done with them you can 

 see what they looked like by these 

 three pictures. One I put in it pansies 

 and roses, and the other, which you see 

 there from both sidd0, one at a time, 

 had orchids and sweet peas in it. First 

 I trimmed the hats with ribbon and 

 then I decorated them with those flow- 

 ers, which are all in water in a jar- 

 diniere, which is concealed by the crown 

 of the hat where you can't see it. Some 

 one when they get one on the steamer 

 takes out the flowers and the jardiniere 



and they make a fine centerpiece for 

 steamer tables, and the hat makes for 

 some one a fine steamer hat. 



"So we went into the millinery busi- 

 ness with hats, and you ought to see 

 that lady this morning when she came 

 and told me how much her friends liked 

 those presents, and we are selling them 

 like hot cakes. I ordered through my 

 friend Schloss 110 dozen, of the whole- 

 saler which supplies Bloomiugdale 's, 

 and we are going to boom them for the 

 summer resorts so the sun should not 

 hurt the bare heads of our patrons. 



"Here, don't leave those pictures be- 

 hind after you, and show 'em how Max 

 Schling cracks the hard nuts which 

 gets him warm so he sweats when trade 

 is coming good." 



And the reporter was more than 

 pleased to do it. 



BRASS BANDS FOB BUSINESS. 



Not many months ago a big parade 

 was held in Chicago. It was in be- 

 half of a good cause, the newspapers 

 had given it much space, and the popu- 

 lar interest was aroused. A great 

 crowd gathered along the line of march. 

 But as the parade advanced, all that 

 the spectators saw was a long line of 

 men m everyday dress plodding along, 

 block after block. There were no ban- 

 uorH, floats, or spectacles of any kind, 

 nothing novel or striking to arouse 

 their interest. Aside from the small 

 body of musicians at the head» of the 

 procession, there was not a single brass 

 band to stir the throng with its music. 

 The long, monotonous line of men in 

 ordinary costume did not interest the 



crowd, and it melted away before half 

 the procession had passed. 



The procession of business in the 

 florist's store is too much the same, 

 day after day, throughout the ^ year. 

 The brass bands that herald with a 

 flourish Easter, Mothers' day, Memo- 

 rial day and Christmas are few and 

 far between. The sounds of one die 

 on the ear long before the strains of 

 the next begin to be heard, and it is not 

 to be wondered at if the public's in- 

 terest in flowers grows dull in between 

 times. It is, therefore, up to the florist 

 to put some life in the daily parade and 

 make a noise like a brass band once 

 in a while, to keep the public 's atten- 

 tion. We must avoid the monotony of 

 the plodding procession, and stir up the 

 buyers every so often to keep them on 

 the alert. 



THE OABDENEB'S WAGES. 



[Tlie following is an extract from an address 

 on "Tlie Gardeners' Cofiperative Movement," b.v 

 M. C. Ebel, secretary of tlie National Association 

 of Gardeners, before the Westchester and Fairfield 

 Society, at Greenwich, Conn., June 12, 1914.] 



Most gardeners, especially the young- 

 er men who are not yet firmly estab- 

 lished, are as much interested in the 

 probable compensation they will derive 

 from their profession as they are in any 

 other phase which enters into it, and 

 this is but human nature; for experience 

 has taught that it costs to live, although 

 now and then the sentimentally inclined 

 suggest that the gardener must find his 

 real compensation in the joy he derives 

 from his vocation. 



Opportunity is presenting itself for a 

 campaign of education in a cooperative 



The Artistic Creation from the Retailer is the Result o( Someone's Untiring Brainwork. 



