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10 



The Florists^ Review 



Apbil 8, 1916. 



per acre when seeding down. It should 

 be well forked, hoed or harrowed in, 

 and the ground made as smooth as 

 possible before seeding. Select a day 

 as free from wind as possible for sow- 

 ing seed. It is difficult to sow evenly; 

 only practice can accomplish that. 

 Then, using iron rakes, remove all 

 stones, sticks and similar material care- 

 fully, after which give a rolling; the 

 heavier the roller the better. On a 

 small piece of ground tramping an- 

 swers well, or firming may be done 

 with the back of a spade or shovel. If 

 the soil is loose, it is well to firm it 

 somewhat before seeding. 



What Seed? 



There is no better grass than Ken- 

 tucky blue, or June grass for the aver- 

 age lawn. Some of the best lawns T 

 have in mind contain hardly any other 

 grass, but I think that a little best 



quality red top and Rhode Island bent 

 will improve it. The Kentucky blue 

 grass is a little slow in starting, but 

 once established it beats every other 

 grass in the catalogue. For southern 

 lawns, Bermuda grass, Cynodon Dacty- 

 lon, gives the best results. In sowing 

 the small home plot, it may be esti- 

 mated that one pound will sow a patch 

 of 500 square feet. For an acre, sixty 

 pounds of the best cleaned seed should 

 suffice. It is not a good plan to sow 

 too thickly; the individual plants have 

 greater vigor when not crowded. Dutch 

 clover should be used where there is 

 danger of grasses dying dO'Wn badly in 

 summer; this is a heavy seed, and 

 should be sown separately to secure its 

 even distribution. One pound to a 

 bushel of the other seed is ample. 



Cutting and Watering. 



Do not make the first cutting of a 



new lawn until the grass is four or 

 five inches high. Then use a scythe 

 and not the lawn mower. It is a good 

 plan to go over the lawn and weed it 

 before the first mowing. When arti- 

 ficial watering is done, select cloudy 

 days, evenings or nights for the work 

 when possible, and do it thoroughly; 

 constant sprinklings do more harm than 

 good in hot, droughty weather. Lawns 

 should have one or two sprinklings of 

 fine bone or some other fertilizer 

 through the growing season. Do not 

 use barnyard manure as a winter or 

 spring top-dressing except as a last 

 resort. It is unsightly, insanitary, 

 brings in hordes of weed seeds and often 

 smothers many of the grasses. Do not 

 cut lawns too short in dry weather, and, 

 unless the crop of grass is heavy, leave 

 it on as a mulch during the summer. 

 This is better than raking or sweeping 

 every vestige away. 



RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT 



WHAT THE LEADERS IN THE TRADE ARE DOING 



HOLM & OLSON'S YE ABLY TBADE. 



Beported by Samuel Seligman. 



The size of the business transacted 

 each year by a store that is ranked 

 among the largest in the country can- 

 not be closely measured. Approximate 

 figures that are as accurate as possible 

 are, however, of interest. The follow- 

 ing are the approximate quantities of 

 stock handled by Holm & Olson, Inc., 

 St. Paul, Minn., in a year: 



American Beauties 15,000 



Rosea .'iOO.OOO 



Carnations 600,000 



Valley 150,000 



Orchids 10,000 



Violets 600,000 



Bulbous flowers 1,000,000 



Other flowers 2,000,000 



Cut ferns 1,000,000 



Adlantum and asparagus 150,000 



Mexican Ivy 200,000 



Southern smllax, cases 300 



Wire frames 15,000 



Cut flower boxes 100,000 



Blooming plants 50,000 



Designs to the value of $50,000 are 

 not included in the above figures. 



The store in which the above busi- 

 ness is done covers 15,200 square feet 

 of floor space, having a frontage of 

 fifty feet, most of which is devoted to 

 window display space eight feet deep. 

 The accessories require 14,654 square 

 feet of shelf space, and include vases, 

 jardinieres, pottery, baskets, etc., from 

 the plainest conventional designs to 

 the novelties of all shapes, styles and 

 materials of European and American 

 manufacture. To take care of the stock, 

 4,219 cubic feet of refrigeration is re- 

 quired, using 500 tons of ice annually. 

 A display conservatory in the rear cov- 

 ers 2,340 square feet of floor space. Fif- 

 teen hundred palms are on hand con- 

 stantly, in addition to ferns and other 

 decorative plants. Four automobiles 

 and two wagons compose the delivery 

 equipment. The store force numbers 

 thirty-five. 



The firm operates in addition to the 

 store a range of 60,000 feet of glass, 

 and a nursery department, which em- 

 ploys froin twenty-five to 100 men the 

 year around. The selling territory in- 



cludes ten states and part of Canada. 

 Approximately 20,000 shipments of 

 flowers are made annually. 



GEOBQE BYE'S HOBSESHOE. 



Not only the flower arrangement in 

 the horseshoe shown in the illustration 

 on this page, but also the wirework 

 was the product of George Bye, of 

 Fort Smith, Ark. The piece was the 

 donation of the employees of the con- 

 cern upon the occasion of the opening 

 of the Wolf-Pollock department store, 

 which occurred early in March. The 

 horseshoe measured four feet. The 

 upper half was made of White Killar- 

 ney roses and the lower half of Killar- 



A Honeshoe of KilUrney Rosei. 



ney. The entire frame was studded 

 with violets and the outer row with 

 sweet peas. Some carnations also were 

 used. 



WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS? 



A subscriber in a western city where 

 business is good and competition keen 

 sends The Review a newspaper cutting, 

 the advertisement of another florist, 

 offering * ' special for Saturday — twenty- 

 five spring flowers for 50 cents, or fifty 

 spring flowers and a bunch oif violets 

 for $1." The subscriber says in part: 



"We have been wondering what 

 the attitude of The Eeview is in regard 

 to such advertisements as the enclosed 

 clipping, where the florists' business is 

 dragged down into the gutter and put 

 on a par with the so-called 10-cent 

 store proposition. Our friend makes a 

 business of running a special every Sat-, 

 urday. We would like to know if the 

 trade really thinks this is business or 

 f oolhardiness. There might be some ex- 

 cuse for running sales of this kind on 

 an off day in the week, but it seems to 

 us poor policy to have them on Satur- 

 day, when the natural conditions of 

 trade are fairly good. Saturday is the 

 one day of the week when the florist 

 can really have a chance to get a. fair 

 price for good stock. 



"In conclusion, it would give us, and 

 no doubt other florists throughout the 

 country, great pleasure if some stand 

 were taken and a campaign of educa- 

 tion inaugurated against such unethical 

 business methods. For ourselves, wo 

 can say that we have never found it 

 necessary to cut prices to move goods, 

 nor to advertise so-called sales, nor to 

 put a lot of price signs in the windows, 

 or on goods in the windows. The back 

 door is too handy for surplus stock, or 

 charitable and worthy institutions will 

 gladly accept any surplus goods that we 

 cannot get a fair price for in the regu- 

 lar way." 



The Review assumes most florists are 



