JO 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



Nuvi:.Mi!i;i: iil*. 1000. 



(ianlcii ;iii(l mini iiiiirkcts. If ;iiiy in- 

 tending Aincrican cxiiortcr donhts my 

 stateiiiciit lot liiiii make a \ i.sit to- Co- 

 vciit (lartU'n. say at six (i 'clock on any 

 niaik<'t nu)rnin<i, and lie will come -^o tlio 

 cnn< lusi.n tliat lie need not send any cut 

 I idiuiis lidin Anii'rica. Diiriii}^ llic last 

 season tlio supjily has been ]irolial)ly 

 oiie-tliird al)o\e tiie demand and exce])- 

 tionaliy low prices iia\i' otitained in con- 

 se(]iieiice. K'oses, in particular, have on 

 soiiie market morniiijis been almost given 

 away and loads have lieen thrown away 

 at the eml of the day. Kveii the Ainor- 

 icau varieties ot carnations arc getting 

 .so cheap and plentiful that tliere is now 

 no moi-e than a living protit in them. It 

 is a well known fact that in the foreign 

 tlower-market the end of the dav sees 



liig quantities of cut blooms pitched into 

 the waste-eart. 



An uiii)reoedented slump is being ex- 

 jierienced in the English-grown grape 

 trade. Never before has the (juantity 

 Iteen so large, the (jualily so good and 

 the jirice so low. Magnifieent Black 

 llamlnirgh and Alicante can be had as 

 low as 14 cents ])or pound, grown at 

 Worthing, and even ]\Iuseats are down 

 as low as ii shilling (24 cents). Ordi- 

 nary black gra])es can now be grown at 

 a jirofit for 1 shilling per pound, but at 

 14 cents they of course lose money. 

 There was a time when nothing under 

 about 3 shillings per pound left a jirofit, 

 but the larger growers met tlie bail 

 markets by cheapening production. 



H. J. 



i#^ ^^^n. <»Jn. '♦^ <<^ '♦^ <»^ '^m. ^<-^^<Ja v^'<^ncv^'^'=Wi*»=^»*-^ *^j^<»^<<^ 



i 



i 



THE RETAIL 





FLORIST...... 



PRESENTATION PIECES. 



It is quite the regular thing in certain 

 flower stores to have calls for designs 

 for presentation as testimonials of es- 

 teem or evidences of good will. The 

 alderman -elect is presented with a 

 "piece" by tlH> members of the ward 

 club, each of whom is living in hopes 

 of .sharing in the candidate's success; 

 the wholesale cigar house sends flowers 

 to the opening of the new corner saloon. 

 ]t is a line of work which affords a 

 good margin of profit and is capable of 

 develojiment, but is often ]>roductive of 

 unusual requirements, for frequently the 

 order goes elsewhere if the buyer '.s 

 ideas, however grotescjue. are opposed. 

 Xot long since a Chicago ward elected ii 

 saloonkeeper to the city council, and 

 nothing would do for his friends but a 

 huge round plaque representing the end 

 of a beer keg, with a great faucet ])ro- 

 jecting from it. The florist made it, all 

 light, the keg of Roosevelt carnation.s, 

 the brass faucet of dattodils and the 

 ward number lettered on in violets. 



The acconipanying illustration shows 

 how well B. Abrahamson, a retailer on 

 West Taylor street, Chicago, arose to the 

 occasion when the Lion Store was opened 

 in his neighborhood and he was called 

 upon to make a ]»iece symbolical of the 

 name. He made it on a flat frame, to 

 stand on a ])edestal and be viewed only 

 from one sitle. The body was made of 

 pink carnations, Avith Bridesmaid roses 

 for the parts of the lion which in nature 

 are lighter colored. The mane was pink 

 and Avliite dahlias ami the design waj? 

 easily the hit of a quite lavish floral 

 display. 



DECORATORS' AIDS. 



At tlie recent Chicago show the re- 

 tailers were attracted by the tasteful 

 staging of the Katon Flower .Store's fine 

 display of violets, for the recejitaidc was 

 distinctly new. It is an invention of 

 ]M, \. (iarnsey, of l.a Grange, 111., who 

 about .a year ago ]iiit the now well- 

 known ,la|)ana flower holder on the 

 maiket. The .Ta}>aiia is a cylindrical 

 piece of brilliant lead glass, fire polished. 

 Jt is iierforated with holes in which the 



stems of flowers are ])laced. The holder 

 may be placed in any sort of receptacle 

 and water poured over it, where it not 

 only adds to the loose and tasteful ar- 

 rangement of the flowers, permitting 

 each to show its individuality, but it 

 serves to keep them fresh, for the base 

 of the holder is notched so that a circu- 

 lation of water is provided. The holder 

 is practically invisible when covered with 

 water, but is of sufficient weight so that 

 quite heavy, long-stemmed flowers may 

 be used in it. It is j>articularly ada])ted 

 to use with open bowls for bulbous 

 stock. So well has this article pleased 

 the public that Mr. (Jarnsey a few days 

 ago shipped -as a single order fifty bar- 

 r(ds to a supply dealer in (iermany. 



The Anglais table decoration, as used 

 by the Eatons at the Chicago show, is 

 made of two units each containing a 

 .la|)ana holder, one unit crescent in form 

 and one rectangular. Each piece is five 

 and a half inches long and two and a 

 half inches deep, and being made up 

 of sections, many combinations of form 

 can be arranged and adapted to any 

 style of ilecoration. Each section con- 

 taining a Japana holder, it affords a 



practical and simple method of arrang- 

 ing flowers in an artistic manner, and 

 being only two and a half inches high, 

 it permits of low treatment, the flowers 

 not interfering with the view across the 

 table. 



A BRIDAL BOUQUET. 



It is not often that we see a plioto- 

 graph of "a man carrying a bridal bou- 

 (piet; usually it is a woman. But in 

 this case the maker of the bunch was 

 so well pleased with his work that he 

 rei)aired to the ])ictiiie i)lace and the 

 photographer got them both on his nega- 

 tive. The gentleman is F. W. Knm- 

 mer, manager of the Carolina Floral Co., 

 Charleston, S. C, and the bunch is made 

 of cattleyas, dendrobiums, lilies of the 

 valley and Farleyense ferns, tied with 

 chifl'on. The bum-h had a much lighter 

 appearance than is indicated in the pho- 

 tograph, where the shadows produce a 

 somewhat heavy effect. 



Mr. Kummer was for five years the 

 designer and maker-up for the J. M, 

 Connelly Co., in Charleston, and is not 

 only up-to-date in store work, but also 

 in plant growing and in landscape work. 

 He has been nineteen years in the busi- 

 ness, having learned his trade in Swit- 

 zerland, his native land. Charleston re- 

 cently had a gala week and Mr. Kum- 

 mer was awarded the prize for the best 

 decorated store front, all the merchants 

 on the principal streets havingcompeted. 



THE ART OF SALESMANSHIP. 



Results the Test of Ability. 



In opening this discussion it may serve 

 the purpose better to first define an ideal 

 salesman. The modern acceptance of the 

 term is that of the salesman who sells 

 the most, or makes the. most money, as 

 compared with others of his class, for 

 the establishment in which he is em- 

 ployed. The sense in which this paper 

 will deal with this topic is that the ideal 

 salesman is the most successful sales- 

 mnni^o far as financial returns are con- 

 cern exf. 



Must Know Human Nature. 



Considering the fact that the salesman 

 comes in contact with all kinds of peo- 

 ple, it is of prime importance that he bo 

 a good judge of human nature. He must 

 know how to act, and act quickly, when 

 a sale is at stake. He should be able 

 to gain a fair knowledge of the disposi- 



Presentation Piece by B. Abrahamson, Chicago. 



