

The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



Jdlt 15, 1000. 



as they will. Then find somebody who 

 will call that a * ' stiff ' ' design. Use a 

 quantity of stems as a foundation of a 

 piece, to do away with the flat appear- 

 ance, and throw the flowers up to give 

 them a spring and a swing. 



The cascade wreath is a fine example 

 of the artistic value of stem and foliage 

 in the use of valley, violets, small roses 

 and other similar flowers for the shower. 



Imitating Plant Outlines. 



In designing a spray of flowers, a plant 

 form is a good starter. See how the lines 

 come together below and how they di- 

 verge in easy lines, whether they reach 

 out in parallel lines or branch. Get the 

 architectural lines of a plant and you 

 have an ideal plan for a group of flowers 

 about the handle of a basket or for a 

 table centerpiece. If such work calls 

 forth the comment, "Just as though they 

 were growing," it shows a far higher 

 sense of appreciation than ' ' Beautiful ! ' ' 

 ' ' Exquisite ! " or any other extravagant 

 terms of which the dictionary boasts. 



One argument which might be raised in 

 objection to this method of designing is 

 that copying the habit of growth of a 

 plant might produce a fixed form of de- 

 sign which in time would amount to con- 

 ventionalizing. If too narrowly prac- 

 ticed, yes; particularly and discriminate- 



ly, no, for plants of the same species 

 may be produced in dozens and thousands 

 of varieties, distinguished by fine touches 

 and styles that are all their own as in- 

 dividuals. 



Delicate Color Effects. 



In addition to all this value in form 

 of stem and foliage, there is the color 

 estimate to be placed upon stem and 

 foliage and all the variations and trans- 

 formations in which they mask them- 

 selves. Take cinerarias, for example. Each 

 variety shows a color scheme throughout 

 the plant. A tint of the same color pre- 

 vailing in the flower is seen on the upper 

 surface of the leaf and stem, and much 

 more plainly on the under side of the 

 leaf. Different varieties of roses have 

 the green of the foliage tinted with the 

 master color of the flower. How much 

 more purple can be seen in the American 

 Beauty foliage than in the Bridesmaid! 

 And how easily the yellow principle may 

 be traced through the foliage and flower 

 of the Bridesmaid which does not appear 

 in the Eichmond, and so on, to the weari- 

 ness of the flesh and the bill for the mid- 

 night oil! Gertrude Blair. 



TiTUSViLLE, Pa. — Eaymond Hemphill 

 reports business in his section has been 

 flne. 



Column Made at J. F. Ammann's Store at Alton, lU. 



A RUN OF FUNERAL WORK. 



The city of Alton, HI., suspended busi- 

 ness one day recently for the funeral of 

 its leading manufacturer. In an event 

 of this kind the local florist usually finds 

 himself with a large volume of work of 

 a character decidedly out of the ordinary, 

 and such was the case in this instance. 

 The deceased was "William Elliott Smith, 

 president of the Illinois Glass Co., one of. 

 the largest bottle works in this country. 

 Mr. Smith died in Italy and his body was 

 brought home for burial. It was the 

 largest funeral ever held in Alton and it 

 brought J. F. Ammann's branch store 

 the biggest run of funeral work known 

 there in many a day. The accompanying 

 illustrations show a portion of the work 

 made up by Mr. Ammann's manager, 

 Mrs. DietBchy. The larger picture shows 

 a number of the principal designs in the 

 store before delivery. The smaller pic- 

 tures are from photographs of six-foot 

 designs, one a column and the other a 

 broken wreath with a lyre in the center. 



PRIZES FOR CUSTOMERS. 



One way in which retail florists 

 "raise the wind" is to give a prize 

 coupon with every sale, or in some cases 

 a coupon is given entitling the holder to 

 chances in proportion to the amount of 

 the purchase. Then, once a month a 

 drawing is held and the prize winners 

 bulletined in the window. This plan 

 would not at all appeal to .fashionable 

 folk, but it has been found to work ex- 

 cellently in the stores catering to the 

 middle classes, and it -is a specially good 

 feature for the summer months. 



The usual practice is to offer plants 

 as prizes, either palms, ferns or rubber 

 plants. Numbered coupons are issued 

 with each sale, either one ticket with 

 each purchase or one ticket for each 25 

 dfents' worth purchased. Many of the 

 modern cash registers issue a numbered 

 coupon receipt with each purchase, which 

 can be employed in the prize contest 

 where only one coupon is to be issued 

 with each sale. Those doing a neighbor- 

 hood business, who have tried this plan, 

 with drawings held the last day of the 

 month, have found that next day most of 

 their customers find time to take a look 

 at the window to see the bulletin giving 

 the numbers of the winning tickets. It 

 has been found better to have quite a 

 number of prizes rather than a few of 

 larger value. 



DECORATING AUTOMOBILES. 



Big Parade in Washington. 



Gude Bros. Co., Washington, D. C, send 

 the Review a set of photographs of 

 splendidly decorated automobiles, and 

 Wm. F. Gude writes about them as fol- 

 lows : 



' ' This floral parade was held July 5 in 

 the national capital, under the most ad- 

 verse circumstances leading up to it, and 

 then provjed a howling success from every 

 point of view. There were some 200 au- 

 tomobiles in line, decorated, and prob- 

 ably 100,000 people witnessed the parade. 

 Many of these were representative men 

 from every state in the Union, from the 

 fact that Congress is in session, which 

 keeps many hundreds of families here, 

 in addition to the congressmen and sen- 

 ators. Our sending out these photo- 

 graphs is to encourage the other floWsts 

 and have other people in other cities do 

 likewise. We feel that this function, 

 having been held at the national capital, 



