MAB0B 20, 1906. 



The Weekly Florhts^ Review* 



J29J 



Thos. Roland's Group of Pot Roses at the Boston Exhibition. 



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THE RETAIL 



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OLD-FASHIONED BOUQUETS. 



We are required, almost in spite of 

 ourselves, to make old-fashioned bouquets 

 for favors, prizes, etc., these days, and 

 since do it we must, let the product 

 be somewhat modernized. A bunch of 

 violets with a border of Avhite carna- 

 tions, finished with a smart chiffon bow 

 close under the flowers and spread out 

 flat after the style of a bouquet holder 

 or frilled around, is barely admissible. 

 The best that can be said about a rose 

 bobbing up through the center of a 

 bunch of violets is that it is saucy and 

 cute. 



Blue and white is called for once in 

 a while and is difficult to supply in 

 flowers, cinerarias and Dutch hyacinths 

 being about the only available material 

 at this season. For centerpieces or bas- 

 ket work use the plants in among the 

 cut flowers. A blue cineraria or Dutch 

 hyacinth finds an excellent setting in a 

 group of narcissi, white or yellow. 



To help out the lack of blue flowers 

 have in stock some blue ribbon and bas- 

 kets. The adjustable kind for table 

 decoration can be had in a soft blue. 

 Fill with lily of the valley and adiantum. 

 Under the baskets on the table stretch 

 a band of sash ribbon to match the bas- 

 ket, and embroider the ends with a few 

 sprays of valley scattered among, not on 

 top of, some of the adiantum. 



Lasting Centerpieces. 



One often has calls for a centerpiece 

 which will last for two affairs, and, to 

 present as good an appearance the 

 second day as the first, should be made 

 of plants. A pink and green piece con- 

 tained a large pan of light pink Dutch 

 hyacinths for a center and adiantum 

 plants removed from the pots banked 

 around and tipped • perceptibly towards 

 the outside edge. An ordinary wire cen- 

 terpiece was used, lined with two plies 



of foil inside and covered on the out- 

 side with another thickness to prevent 

 any scratching of a polished table. 

 Sphagnum was packed closely around 

 the plants to hold in place. Adiantums 

 were tipped far enough out to allow the 

 lower fronds to rest upon the table. Any 

 spots between the plants showing 

 sphagnum were covered with common 

 ferns laid flat and well sprinkled. If 

 gleams of tin foil appear among the 

 green, run a thin string of smilax 

 around the edge under the fern fronds. 



Gertrude Blair. 



THE IDEAL SALESMAN. 



[All essay by Anna G. Sawyer, with J. M. 

 Sniely, Aurora, 111., submitted In the recent 

 prize competition.] 



There is scarcely a business opening 

 today that does not present an over- 

 crowded condition to young people 

 launching out in life. In view of this 

 fact, there is only one way to be master 

 of the situation, that is to be master of 

 your profession, be ideal. If one plans 

 to be a stenographer, a teacher, a phar- 

 macy clerk or architect, he says to him- 

 self: "That means a college education, 

 but if I take that job up at the florist's, 

 why, I can sell carnations and geraniums 

 without any training!" 



This common opinion is decidedly a 

 narrow view of the broad scope of use- 

 fulness which comes within the range of 

 the ideal salesman or saleswoman, the one 

 who can prove his or her invaluable 

 worth to the employer. The mere quot- 

 ing of prices, the cut short "yes" and 

 "no," "haven't got them," "out of 

 season," are too often evidences of the 

 untrained and unskilled clerk. One must 

 be thoroughly grounded in good business 

 principles and must have a thorough 

 knowledge of mankind in general in or- 

 der to meet the customers' varied fancies 



and * ' notions ' ' with perfect courtesy and 

 business tact. 



In the first place, one should have served 

 out his apprenticeship, learning the de- 

 tails of the business * ' from A to Z " 

 in a model establishment, where strict 

 rules of promptness and economy, neat- 

 ness and order are practiced until they 

 become infallible traits by force of habit. 

 Cultivate the taste for floral arrange- 

 ment and practice it at every oppor- 

 tunity. Meantime a business course 

 must come in, if it has to be taken 

 nights, for a knowledge of commercial 

 law and bookkeeping is bound to prove 

 helpful. Regarding the relations be- 

 tween the employer and his ideal helper, 

 there should be in the first place, confi- 

 • deiK-e, which means on the one hand re- 

 spect, and on the other, the trust of your 

 employer that no matter what the case 

 may be, in his presence or absence, you 

 will spare no effort to give his customers 

 as well as himself, fair, square dealing. 



It is to be hoped that the employer 

 has learned that it does not pay, in fact 

 is a poor investment, to require excess 

 of work or too long hours, both of which 

 unfit you for enthusiastic and high grade 

 work, in which you can be a credit both 

 to your employer and yourself. 



There should be a concise understand- 

 ing of your duties and obligations, of 

 the time schedule and overpay for over 

 hours. Varying circumstances must alter 

 the conditions in different situations, 

 but the more definite the rules can be, the 

 less likely to create friction which may 

 end in serious trouble. In cases of mis- 

 understanding' rather talk the matter 

 over with the employer than allow a 

 wrong to smoulder into bitterness. Culti- 

 vate the happy faculty of getting on 

 with everyone about you. Remember you 

 have your own peculiarities, so don 't 

 criticise them in others. Re the peace- 

 maker, rather than the fault-finder — it's 

 much pleasanter and quite as easy if you 

 will just fall into the habit. 



I trust no one will impute egotism 

 to our sex if I assert that a lady may 

 prove her excellent worth in the flower 

 store. The most important features of 

 the work appeal strongly to her natural 

 souse of the beautiful and artistic, while 

 she has the patience and devotion to 

 work out the thing in hand to its per- 

 fection. A bit of style, a dainty touch 

 iicre and there, give evidence of her prea- 



