28 



The Florists' Review 



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PROMOTING PROGRESS 



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ARTIFICIAL REFRIGERATION. 



One of the most valuable committee 

 reports at the Toronto meeting was 

 that of the committee on artificial re- 

 frigeration. The chairman, S. A. Ander- 

 son, had gathered data from the other 

 members and compiled a most interest- 

 ing summary, read by Herman D. 

 Schiller, of Chicago, who also answered 

 questions put him on the subject. 



The proper temperature for a florist's 

 refrigerator is about 45 degrees. Main- 

 taining such a temperature, he said, a 

 Yz-ton refrigerating machine will cool 

 tJOO cubic feet, a 1-ton machine 1,600 

 cubic feot. A table giving the compar- 

 ative cost of a refrigerating machine 

 and refrigeration by ice is as follows: 



Cost of Ei|ual lo 



electricity tons of 



Size Orlsinul to operate ice per 



inuohine cost per montli month 



H-ton $1,000 $ 4 4 



Itoii 1,200 18 14 



■Jfon 1,800 L'.5 20 



4-ton 2,500 32 60 



.l-ton 3,200 4,'i 75 



10-ton 0,000 80 125 



For instance, a %-ton machine will 

 cost $1,000 to install, will require $4 

 worth of electric current to operate per 

 month, and will cool an icebox which 

 would otherwise require four tons of 

 ice per month. Since the cost of ice 

 varies with the locality, it is necessary 

 for each florist to make this computa- 

 tion for himself to learn the comparative 

 operating coats. To the cost of electric 

 current must be added the sum of $5 to 

 $10 per year for each ton of capacity to 

 meet general operating and repair ex- 

 penses. 



It was the expression of Mr. Anderson 

 tliat a machine paid for itself in three 

 years, aside from its value to the florist 

 from the point of view of cleanliness. 

 He thought the most common error was 

 the installjitJon of a machine too large 

 for the florist's needs, consequently 

 needlessly augmenting the expense in- 

 volved. Two V^-ton machines were 

 preferable to operate two separate ice- 

 boxes, he seated, since one could be shut 

 off when refrigeration was not needed. 

 Ice maintains the hiuniditv of the ice- 



box at a point twenty per cent above 

 that with a machine. Of the three types 

 of machines — ammonia, ammonia and 

 brine, gas or carbon dioxide — Mr. 

 Schiller thought the first was preferable 

 for florists. There is a difference in the 

 electric current bill if another type is 

 operated. Several makes of ice ma- 

 chines are used by florists, and they are 

 steadily growing in favor. 



HOW BAUM SENDS WIRE ORDERS. 



An excellent system has been devised 

 by Karl P. Baum for confirming tele- 

 graph orders and getting acknowledg- 

 ments. It might be put into use by all 

 florists sending them. It is, of course, 

 almost imperative that a letter be sent 

 by mail to confirm every order for flow- 

 ers forwarded by telegraph to another 

 retailer. A mistake in a telegram may 

 sometimes be corrected when the con- 

 firming letter is received within a day 

 or so afterwards. Mr. Baum cites an 

 instance in which his system already 

 has saved the firm $45. An order sent 

 by wire called for $50 worth of flowers. 

 The telegram reaching a retailer in a 

 town about forty miles away read $5. 

 The confirming letter arrived next day, 

 after the flowers had been sent, to a fu- 

 neral as it happened. The florist rushed 

 .•I $50 spray and changed the card from 

 the $5 spray. Since the purchaser of the 

 flowers was a big company at Knoxville, 

 Tenn., and the funeral that of its presi- 

 dent's mother, Mr. Baum was especially 

 pleased that the error was detected. 



Equally important is the need of ob- 

 taining confirmation of telegraph orders. 

 Mr. Baum 's system accomplishes both. 

 The girl in the office of Baum's Home of 

 Flowers who types the telegraph order 

 to another retailer puts into her type- 

 writer one of the company's letterheads 

 and, under carbon sheets, two telegra])!! 

 Iilanks. Then she types the telegram 

 just as she would otherwise. One of the 

 blanks is filed and the other dispatched 

 to the telegraph oftice. On the letter- 

 liead is printed in large type, above the 

 tclegr;i| lied nicssage, this line: " We 



have today telegraphed to you the fol- 

 lowing order." Below, also printed, is 

 a request that the receiving florist tear 

 off the lower half of the sheet and re- 

 turn it as acknowledgment of receipt 

 of the order. On this lower half the 

 typist copies the telegraphed order just 

 as above. Mr. Baum thinks he will per- 

 forate the letterhead and enclose a 

 return envelope, so as to make the proc- 

 ess of acknowledging the order still 

 easier. The letter follows the wire 

 promptly by mail. Already Mr. Baum 

 has found acknowledgments are the rule 

 instead of the exception, as formerly. 

 The simplicity of the system and its 

 efficacious results recommend it to 

 others who send telegraph orders. 



PUBLICITY BY AN EXPERT. 



Some florists are expert advertisers; 

 some follow the suggestions and counsel 

 of others. Among the former is William 

 F. Gude and at the Toronto meeting he 

 told, for the benefit of those who are in 

 the latter class, something about one 

 of his best "stunts." When 2,000 Ro- 

 tarians went from this country to the 

 international convention at Edinburgh, 

 Scotland, Mr. Gude conceived the pub- 

 licity possibilities in the florist in each 

 town and city represented by those 2,000 

 Rotarians sending a bouquet or basket 

 of flowers, through an Edinburgh florist, 

 to the club member from his community. 

 Many florists responded and a large 

 batch of orders went to Edinburgh flo- 

 rists by mail. The gifts were the sub- 

 ject of much newspaper publicity when 

 they were received, and when the Ro- 

 tarians came liome each one told about 

 the flowers delivered him across the 

 ocean by his home-town florist. The idea 

 of Mr. Gude's, though not carried out 

 to the extent it might have been, ac- 

 compiislied its object fully, that of se- 

 curing i)uhiicity for florists' telegraph 

 delivery service. Florists frequently 

 liave as advantageous opportunities to 

 get a little of the limelight in their own 

 localities, if tlicv had the discerning 

 srnse for |iul)licity that Mr. Gude has. 



On Their Automobile Ride the Florists in Attendance at the F. T. D. Convention at Toronto 



