28 



Ihe Florists' Review 



OCTOUKK 20. 1U21 



PROMOTING PROGRESS 



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ARTIFICIAL REFRIGERATION. 



One of tho most valuable comniittee 

 reports at the Toronto nieetinjj 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 ^slj^bh a temperature, he said, a 

 i^-ton refrigerating machine will cool 

 ()00 cubic feet, a 1-ton machine 1,600 

 cubic feet. A table giving the compar- 

 ative cost of a refrigerating machine 

 and refrigeration by ice is as follows: 



Cost of Kiiiial til 



clcc'tricity tons of 



Size Oi'iKiiiiil toopciiitc ico per 



iiiiicliine rost per inoiitli iiionth 



>., toll $1,000 .« 4 4 



i ton 1,200 is 14 



2 foil 1,S0<» 25 20 



4-toii 2,r>(M) 32 »i0 



.-(-toil 3,200 4."i 7.". 



10-toii (i,000 80 12.-> 



For instance, a Vl'-ton machine will 

 cost $l,0()(t to install, will require $4 

 worth of electric current to operate per 

 month, and will cool an icebox whicli 

 would otherwise require four tons of 

 ice per month. 8ince the cost of ice 

 varies with the locality, it is necessary 

 for each liorist to make this computa- 

 tion for himself to learn the comparative 

 operating costs. 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 ojierating ;ind repair ex- 

 ]>enses. 



It was the exjiression of Mr. Anderson 

 that 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 installation of a machine too large 

 for the florist 's needs, consequently 

 needlessly augmenting the expense in- 

 volved. Two i/>-ton machines were 

 prefer.-ible to operate two separate ice- 

 boxes, he stated, since one could lie shut 

 off when refrigeration was not needed. 

 Ice niaint;iins the liumiditv 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. 

 iSchiller thought the first was preferable 

 for florists. There is a diflPerence in the 

 electric current bill if another type is 

 ojierated. 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 $4;"). An order sent 

 by wire called for $50 worth of flowers. 

 The telegram reaching a retailer in a 

 town about forty miles away read $."). 

 The confirming letter arrived next day, 

 after the flowers had been sent, to a fu- 

 neral as it happened. The florist rushed 

 a $50 spray and changed the card from 

 the $5 spray. Since the purchaser of the 

 flowers was a big company at Knoxville, 

 Tenn., and tiie funeral that of its presi- 

 dent 's mother, Mr. Baum was especially 

 jileased that the error was detected. 



K(iu;tlly im])ort;int is the need of ob- 

 taining confirmation of telegr;»ph orders. 

 Mr. Baum 's system accomplislies both. 

 The girl in the office of Baum 's Home of 

 Flowers wlio types the telegraph order 

 to another retailer ]iuts into her tyiie- 

 writcr one of the company's letterheads 

 .111(1, under carbon sheets, two telegraph 

 blanks. Then sii«> ty]ies the telegram 

 just as she would otherwise. One of the 

 blanks is file(l ;ni(l tlii' other dispatched 

 to the telegr.'ijih office. On the letter- 

 head is jiriiited in large type, above the 

 telej;ra|hed message, tliis line: " We 



have today telegraphed to you the fol- 

 lowing order. ' ' Below, also printed, is 

 a request that the receiving florist tear 

 off tlie 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 tlie wire 

 promptly by mail. Already Mr. Baum 

 has found acknowledgments are the rule 

 instead of the exce])tion, as formerly. 

 Tlie simplicity of the system and its 

 efficacious results recommend it to 

 others who send telegraph orders. 



PUBLICITY BY AN EXPERT. 



Some florists are exfiert advertisers; 

 some follow the suggestions and counsel 

 of others. Among the former is William 

 V. 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 tho 

 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 

 hatch 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 home each one told about 

 the flowers delivered him across the 

 ocean by his home-town florist. The idea 

 of Mr. Glide's, though not carried out 

 to the extent it might have been, ac- 

 complished its object fully, that of se- 

 curing ])ublicity for florists' telegraph 

 delivery serxice. Florists frequently 

 have as .•icjvantageous opportunities to 

 get !i little of the limelight in their own 

 localities, if they li;id the discerning 

 si'use f(ir publicitx- that Mr. Gude has. 



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



