,rm/ 



wmm 



mm 



FUSSING UP THE xt 

 xt AUTUMN WINDOW 



Now that the dog days are done, the duck pond and water wheel, that 

 have proved so magnetic during the summer, must he replaced iy a sea- 

 sonable decoration for autumn. Suggestions of harvest and plenty are 

 most likely to cause the passer-hy to loosen his grip on his pockethook. 



witmi 



UMMEE ia gone, the 

 weather man says. The 

 rest of us did not know it 

 had been iiere; it seemed 

 like alternate doses of 

 March and April. But 

 y^~\ with the passing of the 



Ci^ $^ straw hat and the sport 

 ^^==J\ shirt from the male head 

 and bosom, and of the furs 

 from the female shoulders, we recog- 

 nized that autumn had come. With the 

 apparel above mentioned, passed also 

 the florist's summer window, of duck 

 ponds, brooks, waterfalls and other sug- 

 gestions of coolness. Its season is past. 

 The window artist turns his attention 

 to appropriate and attractive decora- 

 tions for fall. 



A Matter of Money. 



At this time his task is not merely a 

 matter of filling the window with a 

 pleasing display. If he does only that, 

 he has lost sight of his present opportu- 

 nity. The retailer's window, if it has 

 drawing power, may prove a matter of 

 dollars and cents to the proprietor by 

 reminding the passers-by of the oppor- 

 tunity of partially continuing the de- 

 parted pleasures of summer by means of 

 greenhouse flowers. "While the impres- 

 sion of the beauty and pleasantness lent 

 the dining table and 

 drawing room by the 

 flowers from the gar- 

 den is still strong in 

 the housewife's mind, 

 the florist may the 

 more easily win a cus- 

 tomer through sug- 

 gesting a continuance 

 of those decorations 

 with greenhouse flow- 

 ers. 



The growth of the 

 flower trade must 

 come, in the main, 

 through the more ex- 

 tensive use of flowers 

 in everyday life. 

 There is a limit to 

 the amount of busi- 

 ness a store of a giv- 

 en size can handle for 

 a special day, but 

 there is no restriction 

 to a store's capacity 

 to care for daily 

 trade, for it may ex- 

 pand gradually as the 

 trade increases. For 

 this reason those men 

 must be regarded as 

 leaders among the re- 



tailers who are increasing, slowly, to be 

 sure, the number of persons making use 

 of flowers for ordinary occasions. 



On the Side. 



To do this by means of a window dis- 

 play is the present opportunity of the 

 decorator. He should, therefore, make 

 use of flowers and arrangements most 

 adapted to that end. At the same time 

 he will do well to keep the tone of the 

 window seasonable. If the passer-by re- 

 ceives the impression that he or she can 

 continue a little longer the enjoyment 

 that was obtained from the blooms from 

 the garden by the purchase of some flo- 

 rists ' flowers, he will be in the most 

 likely mood to buy. Therefore, the flow- 

 ers used in the autumn window displays 

 should be, not roses and carnations — 

 plenty of time for them m winter — but 

 asters, dahlias and the various annuals 

 and perennials that appear on the mar- 

 ket from week to week at this time. 

 Sales of these do not mount up in dol- 

 lars and cents so rapidly as do those of 

 the more pretentious staples, but blooms 

 of that character are the most attractive 

 to the family just back from the coun- 

 try. 



As a suggestion by the way, let me 

 remark that people would not buy blown 

 roses and wilted carnations from de- 



A Horn of Plenty is Calculated to M^ke a Man Optimistic About his Pocketbook. 



partment stores and street vendors for 

 10 to 25 cents a dozen if florists offered 

 them, with emphasis enough to get their 

 attention, first-class stock of the vari- 

 ous seasonable flowers that sell at 

 wholesale by the bunch at this time. It 

 is not roses or carnations that such peo- 

 ple particularly want, but flowers for 

 the dining table or for the parlor. They 

 would pay twice or thrice department 

 store prices for fresh flowers from the 

 florist, but do not wish the transaction 

 to reach the dollar mark when they are 

 buying for everyday uses. The florist 

 who caters to this want is increasing 

 the volume of his business without di- 

 minishing the number of his larger and 

 more profitable sales. He is, on the con- 

 trary, paving the way to increased num- 

 bers of larger-sized sales. No more em- 

 phatic proof of the hold taken by the 

 flower buying habit can be offered than 

 the trade's record during the last year. 

 Tailors and clothiers went to the wall 

 by dozens, but bankrupt florists were 

 few; the public could get along with- 

 out the usual new clothes but not with- 

 out the usual flowers. 



Back to Windows. 



Though the foregoing may seem a di- 

 gression, it serves to demonstrate that 

 the window artist at this time should 

 bend his efforts to 

 draw the people who 

 are not now on the 

 store's books. They 

 will yield more read- 

 ily to the lure of the 

 florists' window while 

 the memories of the 

 summer garden flow- 

 ers are still strong. 



But while the deco- 

 rator is making his 

 window seasonable, 

 he should not go too 

 far. If he fills his 

 window with autumn 

 foliage, goldenrod 

 and other roadside 

 flowers, he may 

 arouse in the mind of 

 the passer-by a desire 

 for another automo- 

 bile ridQ in the coun- 

 try rather than a 

 wish for the florist's 

 flowers. Some autumn 

 foliage may well be 

 used for background, 

 but the thing to hit 

 the eye of the spec- 

 tator must be the 

 flowers that are to be 



