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WINDOWS TELL 



TELEGRAPH TALE 



Generous in hospitality, lavish in eritertaimnent, Toronto florists excelled 

 as well in contriving ways in which to tell the public about the telegraph 

 delivery of flowers in windoiv displays. The descriptions of the windows 

 that received awards contain many suggestions to other florists. 



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ELDOM, if ever, have the 

 windows of florist hosts 

 played so strong a part in 

 welcoming visitors to a 

 convention as did those en- 

 tered in the window con- 

 test of the Florists' Tele- 

 graph Delivery Associa- 

 tion at Toronto last week. 

 The occasion of a meeting 

 of American florists on Canadian soil af- 

 forded the opportunity in every window 

 of combining the flag of Canada and the 

 flag of the United States — a handclasp, 

 as it were. Posters reading, ' ' Welcome, 

 F. T. D. visitors to Toronto Conven- 

 tion!" also served to cement the bond 

 of kinship and reunion that Canadian 

 florists were celebrating. 



The crowds drawn toward every F. T. 

 D. window at this, as well as previous 

 conventions, prove be- 

 yond a doubt that there 

 is no better medium for 

 advertising this idea 

 than the florist's win- 

 dow. No other, at least, 

 takes it so forcibly into 

 the suburb or outlying 

 district and to the moth- 

 er and the child as well 

 as to the man in the 

 busy metropolis and the 

 news-reading father or 

 traveler. The second 

 prize and one certificate 

 of merit in this conven- 

 tion contest were 

 awarded florists in tlie 

 outskirts of the city. 



Future convention city 

 florists will be interested 

 in reading carefully the 

 following description of 

 Toronto florists' win- 

 dows of merit, but why 

 not, also, other florists? 

 Regardless of conven- 

 tions, it is an idea that 

 means sales to you. It 

 is an idea that,' hooked 

 up with your special 

 Christmas, Easter and 

 Mothers' day windows, 

 or special birthday Avin- 

 dow, will add to thoir 

 profit. In truth, the only 

 weakness in the excci- 

 lent idea of the tele- 

 graph delivery of flow- 

 ers is that not often 

 enough is it put before 

 the public in so tangible 

 and pleasing a form. 



Finesse in detail and 

 excellent presentation of 



the telegraphic idea — combined with 

 those two best of attention-getting win- 

 dow effects, motion and light — went far 

 toward deciding the first award in the 

 F. T. D. contest in favor of J. S. Sim- 

 mons & Son, 348 Yonge street. The 

 focusing point was a facsimile of the 

 Simmons shop, against the background 

 of a large, flag-draped cardboard repre- 

 sentation of our western hemisphere. 

 Narrow satin ribbons of yellow and blue 

 stretched from various points on the 

 globe to the telegraph poles in the fore- 

 ground, lettered with the names of im- 

 portant cities in the United States, from 

 Boston to Los Angeles, an excellent de- 

 vice for giving unity to the many details 

 this window presented. Mingled with 

 these were ribbons, that terminated 

 with boxes of flowers and florists' cards 

 in various parts of the country. Sur- 



F. T. D. Week Celebrated by a San Francisco Florist's Window. 



rounding the shop was a miniature track 

 on which was a railroad train headed 

 for the telegraph pole marked Toronto, 

 and before the door the liveried F. T. D. 

 messenger and the Simmons' delivery 

 car. 



The other half of the window was 

 balanced with motion and light. There 

 was the old wind mill flapping its wings, 

 and the old mill wheel turning its water 

 over falls and dams sparkling from the 

 effect of red and blue lights. The entire 

 effect was that of a refreshing, moss- 

 covered, hilly country united by an ex- 

 tensive telegraph system, against a 

 background of choicest blooms and 

 ferns. 



The more closely the detail in our 

 windows comes into the actual experi- 

 ence of the onlooker, the more effect- 

 ively do we get attention; or, to express 

 it difi'erently, the more 

 realistic we make the ar- 

 tificial, the more certain 

 are we to attract won- 

 derment, and in this re- 

 spect the window of 

 Simmons & Son meas- 

 ured almost 100 per cent. 

 The "Say It with Flow- 

 ers" signs along the 

 railroad lines were ac- 

 tual imitations in every 

 detail of those one sees. 

 The dolls, painstakingly 

 dressed in the toggery 

 that marks the most 

 elite in present fashion, 

 were not scattered as 

 dummies, but grouped as 

 in actual life: Doll chil- 

 dren in bathing suits 

 rolled down a sand heap 

 and others frolicked 

 with puppy dogs. Doll 

 iiiadame crossed the rus- 

 tic bridge with parasol 

 and bulldog on its 

 chain, while doll ladies 

 I'litoring the Simmons 

 siiop wore dressed in the 

 li(>ight of fashion. Traf- 

 fic cojis were at the 

 crossings, a Red Cross 

 nurse was outside the 

 hospital, cows were 

 grazing along the coun- 

 tryside, and boats were 

 on the river, while every 

 little home had its care- 

 ful j,'arden plot, dog ken- 

 nel or garage. 



But, best of all, Sim- 

 mons & Son succeeded in 

 <in])Iiasizing the fact 

 that telegraph delivery 



