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May 11, 1006. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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;OWN, CREAM AND PINK. 



A plant of Spiraea Qladstone and 

 about a dozen sprays of pink stock, with 

 some \\'ood ferns, constitute the^ decora- 

 tion of the brown fiber basket shown in 

 the accompanjing illustration. The long 

 cluster of stock starts at the rim of the 

 pot and follows the direction taken by 

 the handle of the basket, and finishes 

 just above the cross piece. This is an 

 important point to remember in the dece- 

 ration of any object. Let the fiowers, 

 green or any other decorative material, 

 conform to the shape of the object. 

 Many branches and elaborations may be 

 added, but the main trend of the decora- 

 tion must start from some point on its 

 surface and show its connection there- 

 with from first to last. Where one spray 

 of the stock ends and another begins 

 need not appear. Let the heavier stems 

 follow each other, wired here and there 

 to the supporting handle, while the side 

 sprays take care of themselves. Tollow- 

 ing out this idea of keeping to the object 

 decorated, one can see that if the top of 

 this spray of stock should be allowed to 

 fall out to the right of the top of the 

 handle instead of turning in to the left, 

 as it does, the result would be very awk- 

 ward. On the opposite side three or 

 four stalks take similar positions with a 

 shorter effect. Light sprays and buds 

 fall irregularly at the sides of the basket. 



It is easy to overdo a trimming of 

 this kind to the extent of producing a 

 top heavy appearance. "Just enough" 

 should be the watchword. To know 

 when to quit is as important as knowing 

 where and how to begin. 



Someone might think that the flower 

 of the stock used out of water in this 

 way would scarcely keep long enough. 

 But if the stems are well filled by stand- 

 ing in water severaj hours, or over night, 

 they will last well for a whole day. 



Now, a word as to that everlasting 

 subject of coloring: The creamy white 

 of the spiraea settles itself easily into 

 the union with the brown of the basket, 

 both having considerable yellow in their 

 composition. The introduction of the 

 light crimson pink of the stock is an 

 easy blending and much closer than that 

 of such a pink as is seen in Enchantress 

 carnations, which is a scarlet pink. 



To display such a basket to advantage, 

 plenty of space and a yellow or green 

 background is best. Gertrude Blair. 



GAINING TRADE, 



The retail florist who sits down and 

 waits for trade will lead a life of leisure, 

 if not ease. If you want business, go 

 after it; it won't come to you uninvited, 

 not in tiese days of keen competition. A 

 great many retail florists do not know 

 fiuything of the power of advertising. 

 They don't know how to go about gain- 

 ing trade by any other than the slow 

 method of building up patronage by do- 

 ing the best they know how whenever 



they get an order. That's well 

 enough in its way, and should always be 

 made a part of any plan looking to more 

 immediate results. Here is a method 

 which has brought good results to the 

 progressive florist who uses it: 



He is located in a small city where 

 his store is on the principal street of 



out it has a small but attractive adver- 

 tisement offering the same prices, like 

 the one produced on th3 next page. 



But how can he make any money sell- 

 ing good stock at those prices? He 

 doesn't, at least not much. But he 

 doesn 't sell many at those rates, although 

 that's a little ahead of the story. He 

 buys his stock in a wholesale market and 

 pays from $1 to $1.50 per hundred on 

 the carnations, $2 to $3 for the roses. 

 When he pays the lower prices he sells 

 for even less than the prices mentioned 

 per dozen. When a customer enters he 

 finds two vases of roses and two of car- 

 nations on the counter; the other stock 

 is in the ice box. One lot of roses has a 

 tag showing the advertised price, the 

 other, manifestly better goods, is marked 

 at a higher price. It is the fiame with 



A Study in Brown, Cream and Pink. 



the town and he has the help of a lively 

 little newspaper. He keeps up an at- 

 tractive window and usually there is 

 pasted on the glass a neat sign, "Car- 

 nations, 20c dozen," or "Roses, 35c a 

 dozen." When the weekly paper comes 



the carnations. Three customers out of 

 five look at the flowers, appreciate the 

 better quality — which the florist wisely 

 refrains from pointing out — and buy 

 the better goods. If there happens to 

 be a run on the advertised grade and 



