August 30, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



925 



hand with them and we probably could 

 not succeed without them. 



Summary and Recommendations. 



Your committee now believes the work 

 can be taken up with the end plainly in 

 view. Whether it is on the exact lines 

 laid down in this report, or better ideas 

 from the succeeding committee, is of 

 little consequence. 



We have available so many detailed 

 reports of the workings of the various 

 associations taking up the matter of 

 school gardens, so much data and so 

 many working plans, a committee should 

 be able to proceed with their duties 

 understandingly. 



But we must be doubly sure of the 

 ground we take. We cannot aflford to 

 make many mistakes at the outset or on 

 fundamental lines. Our work must be 

 humanitarian, logical and in a manner to 

 interest. Our progress must be slow and 

 sure. 



Our motives are altruistic and must 

 remain so. Or our efforts will fail. 

 Neither this association nor any other 

 association has any selfish motive con- 

 cealed. No person or persons will have 

 any advantages over any other person or 

 persons. We shall work in an open 

 field. In the advancement of horticul- 

 ture we are sure to prosper, and added 

 wealth and comfort will accrue to the 

 individual, the community, the state and 

 the nation. 



When the time comes and we ask of 

 the state a recognition in the matter of 

 school appropriations, let us do so with 

 the consciousness of a righteous cause 

 and a knowledge that not one penny will 

 be diverted from its proper use. We 

 believe it possible that some of the 

 money now appropriated by the agricul- 

 tural department for distributing the 

 commonest of all common seeds can be 

 diverted to the boards of education of 

 the different states for the purpose of 

 school gardens. 



Recommendations. 



Finally, your committee recommends 

 that a new committee of five be appoint- 

 ed by the executive committee, the presi- 

 dent and the vice-president of this so- 

 ciety, to carry on the work as laid down 



Warren G. Matthews. 

 (Proprietor Dayton Floral Co., Dayton, Ohio.) 



in the report of your first committee, or 

 on any other lines they deem best. And 

 that they be authorized to spend a sum 

 not to exceed $100 for preparing leaf- 

 lets, diagrams, routine instructions, etc., 

 during the coming year. 



[The committee distributed its report 

 in pamphlet form, in which was included 

 a large amount of matter which had 

 come to the committee's attention in 

 considering the subject during the last 

 year.] 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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RETAILERS' METHODS. 



BY lEVIN BBBTEKMANN, OK INDIANAPOLIS. 



[Read before the Society of American Florists, 

 at Dayton, O., August 22, 1906.] 



In the time of the great Roman, Nero, 

 the methods of arranging and presenting 

 flowers were in keeping with that won- 

 derful period. The Romans understood 

 how to combine flowers with statuary, 

 make wreaths and designs for classic 

 pieces, to furnish sparkling fountains 

 with plants, to use artistic vases, to 

 blend colors and to decorate in a man- 

 ner the leading florists of this great 

 country are earnestly striving after. To 

 be sure, they did not watch or have the 

 details of the present time: paper boxes 



of various hues; green, pink and white 

 wax paper; pins to match the various 

 flowers; cords, tassels and gauze; mat- 

 tings and many other accessories were 

 unknown to them; but the beauty and 

 detail of their flower arrangements are a 

 standard which all of us may look to. 



Refrigerator and Windows. 



A compartment the size of a small 

 room refrigerated by the establishment 's 

 plant, with glass shelving on each siae 

 and backed by mirrors, is the proper 

 caper these days for the preservation of 

 flowers. This also enables the store man 

 to take his customers into the box, with- 

 out disturbing the flowers or causing 



them to suffer from different tempera- 

 tures. 



The florist 's window is now also an all- 

 important point. It has long been recog- 

 nized as his most efficient advertising 

 medium, but it has only been of late 

 years that expert trimmels were em- 

 ployed and the minutest details carefully 

 observed. The flowers in the window 

 must be so arranged that the colors 

 blend, or separate parts of the arrange- 

 ment must contain a massing of one 

 variety. The florist's window must at- 

 tract the eyes of those passing, and sur- 

 pass in beauty and artistic value all the 

 windows in the city, for in arrangement 

 and neatness it must be equal to them, 

 and the beauty of the contents naturally 

 surpasses all others. 



Too Mtsch Commercialism. 



The subject of the paper does not per- 

 mit of a sermon, but this is a most op- 

 portune time to impress upon my listen- 

 ers that there is so much that is sacri- 

 ficed for commercialism in the present 

 day. Everything is made and arranged 

 according to the ledger account. In this 

 we find our German and French brothers 

 far superior. Not only is the commer- 

 cial side of the florist's business taken 

 into consideration in Europe, but the 

 idealistic side is also well attended to. 

 It is not only necessary to arrange a 

 wreath or basket hurriedly, but it is also 

 necessary to arrange it in an idealistic 

 and artistic manner. I would refer every 

 American retailer to the Bindekunst, a 

 German trade paper. The illustrations 

 therein will easily convince the reader 

 that we are far behind in detail and 

 symbolical work. The Berlin and 

 Parisian florists not only put forth work 

 which earns the dollar, but arrange 



