<'.-'■* ■■'. ;v' ''*•,':' 



1224 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



Apbil 13, 1905. 



this, and we don't ask our greenhouse 

 manager to know one-tenth of it. We 

 only ask studious, up-to-date knowledge 

 and practice of how to handle the plants 

 wanted in our business, and it seems at 

 present as if few had any inclination 

 to learn that little. 



I am not pessimistic; quite the re- 

 verse! I am no believer in "the good 

 old times." No time in the world's 

 history was as good as the present, and 

 in a hundred years hence it will be 

 better still. It must be, as any one 

 can learn who reads the past. Supersti- 

 tion, hypocrisy and dishonesty are fad- 

 ing away, and charity, truth and hon- 

 esty are taking their places. We sim- 

 ply know more about what is going on 

 in the world nowadays that makes moss- 

 grown minds speak of ' ' the good old 

 times," and with other progress let us 

 encourage bright boys in the love oi^ 

 plants and flowers and their cultiva- 



tion. 



William Scott. 



TUBEROUS- BEGONIAS. 



The accompanying illustration shows a 

 house of tuberous begonias at the estab- 

 lishment of Blackmore & Langdon, the 

 Ewerton Hill Nursery, Bath, England, 

 This is reproduced from a photograph 

 taken just before the plants were packed 

 and sent to the great Temple show in 

 London, where they were awarded the 

 only gold medal given by the Koyal Hor- 

 ticultural Society for begonias, June 2, 



1903, an award which was repeated in 



1904. These are new varieties, very large- 

 flowered with a variety of colors and dis- 

 tinct character. They are as easily 

 grown as the ordinary type of single or 

 double tuberous begonias so generally used 

 for bedding in England with such splen- 

 did effect. The use of tuberous begonias 

 is rapidly increasing in the United States 

 and the opportunity to try this type 

 under our climatic conditions will be 

 awaited and watched for by the many 

 dealers and planters. 



mMMmimtMtM^^ 



DEPARTMENT STORE 



FLOWER SALES. 



A LIVE ISSUE. 



So frequently of late have criticisms 

 appeared of department store methods 

 as applied to the flower business that 

 the Reviev? has' gathered the facts and 

 opinions of those best qualified to judge 

 of the effect these sales have upon our 

 trade. Kansas City was one of the first 

 places to have the department store 

 flower sale, now so common all over the 

 country. In Kansas City these sales have 

 been held regularly in season for years 

 and, while some of the less firmly estab- 

 lished florists condemn them roundly, 

 those who believe that department store 

 participation iii the flower business is 

 hastening our trade on its way to the 

 bow-wows will have to skip these pages 

 or amend their views: 



As the Sales Manager Sees It. 



There are few department stores which 

 have made a greater feature of flower 

 sales than the Emery, Bird, Thayer Dry 

 Goods Co., of Kansas City. This is one 

 of the largest institutions of its kind 

 west of Chicago. It has no regular flower 

 department. The accompanying illustra- 

 tion shows a flower sale in progress at 

 ten o'clock in the morning of Saturday, 

 March 18. The following details as to 

 the purpose and method of conducting 

 the sales are applied by F. W. Gremmels, 

 of the Emery, Bird, Thayer Co.: 



"We take a section of counter space 

 which can be spared or condensed for 

 one day and establish our flower sale 

 there. Saturday is the best day for such 



a sale and we take care that the place 

 chosen is in an easily accessible part 

 of the store. We have advertised the 

 sale in the evening papers of the day 

 before and we put %p legible but not 

 too large signs around the flower 'de- 

 partment.' We see that plenty of clerks 

 are provided to handle the crowd and 

 wrap up the stock as quickly as possible 

 and save it from injury as much as may 

 be, but we make no effort to do more 

 than sell the loose cut flowers. 



"Of course we sell at low prices, for 

 the purpose is to attract people to the 

 store and in that we have found these 

 flower sales very successful. They are a 

 great drawing card. We have sold as 

 high as 60,000 carnations in one day, at 

 1 cent and 2 cents each. We put only a 

 part of the stock on the counters at one 

 time and replenish trom reserve stocu. 

 kept in water in a cool room. We buy 

 our stock from the various wholesale 

 florists in St. Louis and Chicago, as our 

 local growers are unable to supply us. 



"We sell any flower in season, such 

 as carnations, roses, violets, mums or 

 lilies, but of course we can only make the 

 sales attractive when we can get the 

 stock at a price, using a quantity, we 

 can use these flower sales at any time in 

 the cool months of the year, say from 

 October to May, but stock is not often 

 sufiiciently plentiful in the winter 

 months, so that we are in a measure lim- 

 ited to spring and fall, when the cut 

 flower markets are overstocked. But we 

 also hold these sales on palms, ferns, 

 fern balls, etc. Probably we could use 



A House of Tuberous Begonias Grown for Exliibition in England. 



