MAftCH 16, 19d8. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



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THE RETAIL^ 



FLORIST, 



DISPLAY CASE FOR NOVELTIES. 



There is an old saying that variety is 

 the spice of life, and certainly variety in 

 the stock of requisites available adds 

 much to the attractiveness and interest 

 which attaches to the work of an up-to- 

 date retailer. With the splendid enter- 

 prise of the leading supply dealers, it 

 is impossible for any florist to buy every- 

 thing in the novelty line which is of- 

 fered during the year, but it always will 

 pay him to carry a good stock of these 

 articles, in proportion to the needs of his 

 business, for by their use one often 

 makes a sale which otherwise would be 

 lost, and at the same time the sale of 

 jardinieres, pot covers, ferneries, vases, 

 baskets, hampers and thousand and one 

 other articles affords a profit nearly if not 

 quite as great as is made on the plants 

 and flowers which go into them. 



In too many flower stores little use is 

 made of the opportunity to display these 

 wares attractively. A well selected stock 

 of table fern-dishes, for instance, taste- 

 fully displayed, will inevitably make 

 sales. You must show the people what 

 you have to sell if you want them to 

 buy. Do not expect customers to come 

 in and demand your unseen wares; in- 

 stead, they will patronize the man 

 around the corner who makes a neat dis- 

 play of the things he has for sale. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 one of the display cases for supplies in 

 the exhibition rooms of the E. Wien- 

 hoeber Co., Chicago. As is wefl known, 

 Bichard Mansfield for some years occu- 

 pied the suite of rooms above the Wien- 

 hoeber flower store and, upon the death 

 of Mr. Mansfield, Mr. Wienhoeber was 

 quick to see the interest which would at- 

 tach to the quarters the celebrated actor 

 had occupied. Therefore he fitted them 

 up for the display of table decorations, 

 cut flower arrangements and, most of 

 all, novelties in the supply line. Invita- 

 tions were issued to the public to visit 

 the rooms and they were thronged for 

 days. Save for the front room, where a 

 table decoration was shown, the walls 

 were largely occupied by display cases 

 similar to the one illustrated. There was 

 an immense variety of jardinieres, fern- 

 dishes, hampers, window-boxes, etc., and 

 many a visitor reversed the usual order 

 of things by selecting a dish, asking to 

 have it filled with an appropriate plant, 

 instead of buying a plant and asking 

 that it be placed in an appropriate re- 

 ceptacle. 



FIGHT AGAINST BILLBOARDS. 



The American Civic Association is 

 vitally interested in billboards. It is 

 leading the campaign for their suppres- 

 sion where necessarj-, and for their regu- 

 lation by communities in the interest of 

 a better and more beautiful America. 

 One of its chief aims at this time is to 

 arouse the American people to the neces- 

 sity for prompt and effective action 

 against the spread and maintenance of 

 this nuisance, which, if unchecked, will 



soon defeat much of the growing effort 

 for civic orderliness and city beauty. 



Richard Watson Gilder, editor of the 

 Century Magazine, put the case strongly 

 and aptly in a letter he wrote for the 

 Providence meeting of this association: 



" As I went yesterday to my office in 

 this city I passed one of the most beauti- 

 ful of modern buildings, a savings bank 

 built recently of white marble in the 

 classical style. It is a pleasure to laok 

 upon this noble and restful structure. And 

 it is a pain and an anger to have to take 

 in, at the same glance, an enormous 

 • liquor sign high in the air beyond and 



* * A similar experience accompanied my 

 railroad trip on the same day over one 

 of the lines between New York and Phila- 

 delphia — where now and again a loud ar- 

 ray of advertising signs spoiled the effect 

 of the rich, otherwise harmonious land- 

 scape. 



"One of these days the people of a 

 commercial community will appreciate 

 the fact that, to put it commercially, 

 beauty is a valuable asset, as well as 'a 

 joy forever'; and then the advertisement 

 fiend will not be allowed to go up and 

 down the land destroying views, which 

 means destroying values — values that be- 

 long to the entire population, and that 

 no individual has the right to ruin." 



The Civic Association exists for the 

 coordination and direction of the forces 

 which make for a clean and beautiful 

 country. It regards the home as the 

 unit of our national life and the im- 

 provement of home grounds as the first 

 step in civic betterment, and therefore it 

 urges that a community of enlightened 

 homes demand 'the removal of the un- 

 sightly and unsanitary in its surround- 



lodicaUog the Way the E. Wienhoeber Co., Chicago, Displays Requisites. 



above it. What is the use of building 

 exquisite structures if any tasteless and 

 remorseless trader can come along with 

 his -glaring, dominating appeals for your 

 money, and utterly spoil the effect! It is 

 as if at a symphony concert venders of 

 soap should be allowed to go up and down 

 the aisles and bawl their wares. 



ings. In such a community is developed 

 the civic conscience that provides public 

 improvements of a sane and wholesome 

 nature, and that tends toward the preser- 

 vation of great natural scenic heritages. 

 We cannot expect to have and main- 

 tain beautiful and truly enlightened 

 homes if we permit them to be intruded 



