, *'■*.■.. ' • y 



MAX 18, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



J 575 



One of Several Street Signs, 8 x 25 Feet, Erected by a Chicago Retail Florist. 



possible of the many avenues open to 

 them for attracting the attention of the 

 public. Nevertheless, retail florists are 

 gradually coming to see the light in 

 this respect. There are those who be- 

 lieve that anything in the nature of pub- 

 licity detracts from the "tone" of their 

 establishment, and this may be true 

 if the advertising is of the common sort, 

 but it applies to only a few high class 

 stores and to only such as have no 

 thought of growth save a growth in 

 keeping with the increasing wealth of 

 their patrons. This is too slow a growth 

 to suit the average young man in the 

 flower trade. 



One of the most active advertisers in 

 the business is the Geo. Wittbold Co., 

 Chicago. For years they have pushed 

 their wholesale department by liberal 

 use of printer's ink and have built up 

 the largest decorative plant business in 

 the west. They conduct three retail 

 stores in connection with their whole- 

 sale business and have steadily been add- 

 ing to their sales in this department by 

 the use of the same advertising plans 

 which are used by other lines of busi- 

 ness, of course with such changes as are 

 necessary to fit the florists'trade. This 

 was the first concern bar the west to 

 employ tastefully color-^nted signs in 

 the street cars operating in that sec- 

 tion of the city in which their stores 

 are located. This served to give their 

 name familiarity to large numbers of 

 people. Then, too, they tried advertis- 

 ing in the daily papers and also in the 

 monthly magazines. The Wittbold 

 stores are located in the resident dis- 

 tricts, w^re they are accessible to only 

 a small part of the people in so big 

 a city, and it was soon evident that the 

 daily newspaper advertising did not pay. 

 The cost was too high when one considers 

 that only a small part of the circulation 

 of the paper was of value to its adver- 



tiser. Louis "Wittbold, the secretary of the 

 Wittbold Co., says that because they 

 did not find daily newspaper advertis- 

 ing to be profitable in their case, it is 

 no sign it would not pay a florist with 

 equal facilities and a location in the 

 center of the city. As to advertising for 

 country trade through the use of such 

 papers as the Ladies' Home Journal, 

 they found that the responses were im- 

 mediate and very numerous, but the 

 inquiries were for catalogues or for in- 

 formation and little money came in. 

 Then again, they found that the in- 

 quiries came from localities in which 

 they had wholesale customers and they 

 did not care to follow them up on that 

 account. Therefore this plan of adver- 

 tising was discontinued. 



This spring the Wittbold Co. has put 

 a number of large street signs along 

 the electric car lines in that part of the 

 eity in which their stores are located. 

 One of these signs is shown in the ac- 

 companying illustration. They are 

 painted on billboards eight feet high 

 and twenty to twenty-five feet long. 

 Chicago has a number of companies op- 

 erating these boards and painting really 

 attractive signs. On a contract of ordi- 

 nary amount they paint the sign and 

 maintain it at a charge of 50 cents per 

 month for each lineal foot. These signs 

 have already served to attract much at- 

 tention to the Wittbold establishments. 

 It is the first time they have been used 

 by a florist. 



The Wittbold Co. has an addresso- 

 graph list of many thousands of names 

 of people located in the neighborhood of 

 their stores. Every few weeks they get 

 up some attractive printed matter to 

 mail to these names. It costs them 

 much more in proportion to the people 

 reached than does any other form of ad- 

 vertising, but by having the names care- 

 fully selected it is pretty certain that 



the people reached are interested. The 

 experience is that no direct results are 

 seen unless a definite proposition is con- 

 tained in the printed matter. For in- 

 stance, advertising the cut flower de- 

 partment brings only indirect returns; 

 that is, it brings orders at somef future 

 time when the people addressed are in 

 need of floral designs or similar service. 

 But when the offer is a definite one, as 

 for instance, the planting of a stated 

 number of red geraniums in a flower bed 

 for a certain price, the response is im- 

 mediate, two telephones being necessary 

 to the handling of their business. In 

 the past month of April the total of 

 sales was larger than in any previous 

 month, and the business goes back to 

 1856. 



WOOD LICE OR SOW BUGS. 



Will you kindly let me know through 

 the Eeview the best way to get rid of 

 sow bugs, as they are doing me much 

 damage? A. W. 



Take your choice of names; they are 

 both elegant. If you do not want to 

 use poison, get some large potatoes, cut 

 in halves and scoop out the inside. Lay 

 these piecea about and the sow bugb 

 will creep under them to feed and roost 

 and in the morning you will find them 

 there. Rutabagas are even better than 

 potatoes. Brown sugar mixed with one- 

 tenth of its bulk of arsenic and a small 

 quantity placed on the beds or benches 

 on pieces of shingles or chips will soon 

 rid you of these pests. You should re- 

 move the poison when watering or the 

 sugar will melt and be no longer at- 

 tractive. W. S. 



Sycamore, 0. — Mrs. T. G. Babcock 

 will add one greenhouse 20x50 feet this 

 summer. Trade is good here, particu- 

 larly on vegetable plants. 



