18 



The Weekly Horists' Rrview. 



Decbmbbb 10, 1008. 



Buy Supplies in Variety. 



The leading supply houses have done a 

 great deal to add to the variety of the 

 retail florists' holiday stock. There is 

 an infinite variety in baskets, ribbons, 

 pot covers and the thousand and one 

 novelties now offered. It pays to buy a 

 considerable number of styles, rather 

 than to buy a good many of a few de- 

 signs. Occasionally it turns out that one 

 basket or jardiniere may sell much bet- 

 ter than anything else, but when these 

 are gone the buyers will be none the 

 wiser if shown something else, and more 

 general satisfaction will be given if not 

 too many purchasers are sold the same 

 thing. If several of your customers send 

 gifts to the same person and each one 

 chooses the same receptacle you are like- 

 ly to hear of it a few days after Christ- 

 mas. 



Arrangements of Moderate Price. 



In the average flower store the Christ- 

 mas plant arrangements should be mod- 

 erate in price. Possibly $5 will prove 

 the popular price in the average first- 

 class store. Anything above that will be 

 sold in smaller numbers, and arrange- 

 ments much cheaper do not pay if the 

 store is located in a large city, where 

 delivery expenses at a time like this are 

 an important item. 



It is, of course, necessary to have a 

 variety of arrangements which can be 

 sold at $2.50 to $3 and these may be 

 easily provided by the use of cyclamens, 



primulas and other stock of that charac- 

 ter. 



In one or the accompanying illustra- 

 tions two baskets are shown. The one 

 on the left was intended to sell at $5. It 

 contained two cyclamens and a couple of 

 poinsettias, with several Asparagus plu- 

 mosus from small pots and a plant of 

 the Whitmani fern. The handle was 

 wrapped with pale green chiffon and on 

 each side there was a large red bow of 

 slightly wider ribbon than the one around 

 the basket. 



The basket on the right in the same 

 picture sold at only $3.75. It was filled 

 with primroses and adiantum and with 

 the addition of a little chiffon in light 

 green it made a tasteful thing and a 

 good seller. These were shown in a lead- 

 ing Chicago store last Christmas and sev- 

 eral hundreds were sold. 



Ferns in Dishes. 



A good many buyers will pick out ar- 

 rangements of ferns and small palms be- 

 cause they will last longer than arrange- 

 ments of blooming stock. Four good 

 sellers are shown in one of the accom- 

 panying illustrations. On the left is a 

 square birch bark fern dish. A cocos is 

 in the center, with some small Bostons 

 and cyrtomiums. There is a good profit 

 in this at $2.50. In the center is a Rus- 

 sian brass receptacle with a Whitmani 

 fern. Nothing else was needed for this 

 and it looked to be well worth the $5 

 asked. On the left was a fernery of 

 light green pottery. The filling was 



A Christmas Plant Arrangement. 



cocos, Whitmani fern and small ferns 

 from 2^^ -inch pots. This sold for $3.75 

 and it would have given a good profit at 

 considerably less in a store where the 

 cost of handling holiday business was 

 less. 



The partridge-berry bowl also shows 

 in this illustration. It is a good seller, 

 but there is an improved style out this 

 year. Instead of a cover going over a 

 globe, a globe is made to fit over a base 

 on which the partridge berries stand. 



Show Some Big Baskets. 



It is necessary to have a few arrange- 

 ments at higher prices. They are a 

 splendid advertisement for the store, 

 even if not many are sold, and then there 

 is the wide range between, where the 

 decorator's ingenuity can contrive any 

 number of attractive arrangements. 



The illustration on this page is repro- 

 duced from a photograph made at the 

 store of W. J. Smyth, Chicago, last 

 Christmas. The large wicker basket was 

 of white enamel and it contained both 

 white and pink azaleas, with primroses 

 and cyclamens, asparagus, cyrtomium 

 and selaginella. The ribbon used was 

 white, with a rose pattern embroidered 

 in it in deep pink. This basket sold for 

 $15. 



The larger basket, illustrated on page 

 19, also was made up to sell for $15. The 

 wicker basket was about eighteen inches 

 square and it stood three feet high. The 

 basket was in shades of green and yel- 

 low, the plants green and red — a red 

 azalea and some small poinsettias, as- 

 paragus, Boston ferns and cyrtomium 

 were used for filling. On the handle 

 there was pale green chiffon, the bow at 

 one side being attached with a spray of 

 artificial holly, from which depended a 

 small immortelle Christmas bell, with an- 

 other in the center of the handle. On 

 the farther side of the handle was a 

 large bow of red satin ribbon. 



SHOP TALK. 



The Need of Neatness. 



Much has been said on the why, how 

 and wherefore of making up different 

 designs, on church and house decorating, 

 window decorating, advertising, etc., and 

 no doubt much good has come therefrom, 

 but one most important feature of our 

 business has been dealt with but lightly. 



After you have succeeded in bringing 

 a customer into your store, through an 

 attractive window display, has the gen- 

 eral appearance of the interior made a 

 favorable impression? Or, let us go 

 back one step farther. After a well 

 directed advertisement, or a decoration 

 seen at some friend's house, has brought 

 a new prospect as far as your threshold, 

 would the outside appearance of the place 

 appeal or repel f 



I will take it for granted that you ex- 

 ercise every care in sending out fresh 

 flowers; that you have nice, neat boxes 

 and stationery; that you are as prompt 

 as is possible in making deliveries. After 

 all these features and precautions it is 

 absolutely necessary that you keep your 

 store and surroundings neat and at- 

 tractive. It makes no difference whether 

 you are catering to the bon-ton or the 

 middle or poorer classes; always keep 

 things clean. 



Qeanliness Inspires Confidence. 



Now, do not misunderstand me. Plate 

 glass mirrors, tile flooring, gold leaf 

 decorations, and rubber tired wagons, al- 



