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May 20, 1900. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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MEMORIAL DAY. 



The Cut Flower Growers' Own. 



Have you heard that "it was a plant 

 Memorial day?" It is the cut flower 

 growers' little monopoly. 



However the plant trade may have cut 

 into cut flower sales at Christmas and 

 Easter, the plantsmen do not figure ap- 

 preciably in the Memorial day business. 

 Of course bedding out is at its height 

 in many places and the cemeteries that 

 have greenhouses, and the florists who 

 do cemetery trade, are busy planting on 

 the graves, but no matter how much 

 grave-planting has been done, the de- 

 mand for cut flowers May 30 is there 

 juBt the same. 



There was a time, not so many years 

 ago, that Memorial day was considered 

 a little private affair of the old soldiers. 

 It is not so any more. In the last few 

 years Memorial day has become the day 

 for the general decoration of the ceme- 

 teries, and with this widening observ- 

 ance has come an immense increase in 

 the demand for cut flowers. There is 

 hardly a family anywhere in the country 

 that has no interest in the cemeteries 

 that day. In many northern cities, where 

 Memorial day is still more generally ob- 

 served than in the south, it is now said 

 a greater quantity of cut stock is re- 

 quired May 30 than for any other one 

 day in the year. 



The Raafe of J>etnaod. 



There is as great a range of demand 

 for Memorial day as for any other holi- 

 day. In certain sections of the country 

 the metallic wreath is the popular arti- 

 cle, while in other places the 50-cent 

 bouquet is the standard item. In the 

 first-class stores wreaths of galax or box- 

 wood with flowers and ribbon are sold, 

 and flat bunches of flowers similar to 

 casket sprays are made up in large num- 

 bers. 



Although the business has grown to 

 such large proportions, it has been al- 

 most wholly without the assistance of 

 rhe florist. Hardly any florist has done 

 more to increase the Memorial day busi- 

 ness than simply to provide stock for 

 sale. Indeed, there is no class of mer- 

 chants which does so little as florists do 

 to exploit the merchandise. The atten- 

 tion of ninety-nine florists out of a hun- 

 dred has been given solely to providing 

 the stock and executing the orders, with 

 never a thought toward the selling end 

 of the business. And at no time has 

 less been done in reaching out for orders 

 than at Memorial day. 



How to Bid for Orders. 



The advertising of flowers in a way 

 to bring orders is exceedingly simple, 

 and any florist who gives his thought to 

 selling can devise a number of ways of 

 bringing in the buyers. For instance, 

 one florist who has had access to the 

 cemetery records has a list of all the 

 lot owners. That part of the list which 



contains the names of non-residents is 

 particularly valuable. Once each year, 

 in mid-May, he sends a neatly printed 

 letter to each name, calling attention 

 to his facilities for placing bouquets on 

 cemetery lots on the morning of May 30. 

 He quotes the prices at ^hich he can 

 supply two or three different kinds of 

 bunches, and also quotes prices on some 

 suitable designs, wreaths, crosses, etc. A 

 surprisingly large number respond with 

 orders. 



Another florist who has done a little 



ers when they get them to the cemetery 

 and welcome the suggestion of some- 

 thing all made up which can simj^y be 

 laid on the grave. But the circular also 

 contains prices of cemetery vases and of 

 cut flowers by the dozen. 



Such efforts to increase business are aa 

 legitimate as special window decorations 

 and hardly ever does any such advertis- 

 ing fail to bring profitable returns. 



THE ANCHOR. 



The anchor of ivy leaves is a beauti- 

 ful design of rich simplicity, the work- 

 manship showing artistic skill of no 

 mean order. Designs of this nature fre- 

 quently appeal to those who wish to 

 make an unostentatious offering. It is 

 one of those by Charles Henry Fox, of 

 the Sign of the Rose, Philadelphia. 



Phil. 



JAPANESE AIR PLANT. 



The Japanese air plant, or sea moss, 

 which has become such a good seller in 



The Ivy Anchor, Plain and Neat. 



toward increasing his Memorial day busi- 

 ness sends out a folder showing half- 

 tone cuts of flat sprays of roses, carna- 

 tions and peonies. He prints the prices 

 at which he will on the morning of May 

 30 deliver at the customer's home any 

 one of these sprays ready to take to the 

 cemetery. Lots of people order; they 

 don 't know what to do with loose flow- 



flower stores, was originally imported by 

 the millinery supply houses for use in 

 trimming ladies' hats. Peculiarly 

 enough, it did not prove acceptable for 

 this purpose, and the millinery people 

 found themselves with dead stock on 

 hand until the florists took it up, when 

 it made an immediate hit for their trade. 

 And still more euriouslv. this vear it 



