JULY 21, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



13 



Establishment of T. H. U. Smith, Denver, G>lo. 



A TYPICAL ESTABLISHMENT. 



The accompanying illustrations are 

 typical of a great number of florists' 

 establishments the country over, though 

 this one chances to be located at Den- 

 ver, Colo., which is one of the stepping 

 stones of the trade, between the central 

 west and the Pacific coast. This is the 

 residence and range ,of Thurston H. U. 

 Smith, who does a general retail busi- 

 ness. The location, at 2961 Lawrence 

 street, is well adapted to the purpose 

 and Mr. Smith has gathered about him- 

 self facilities for handling about any- 

 thing that comes along, in plant rent- 

 ing, funeral designs or garden work, 

 ile believes in practicing what all flo- 

 rists should preach and his vine-clad res- 

 idence is surrounded by a well-kept 

 flower garden that both brings orders 

 and supplies the stock to fill them. 

 Having only three greenhouses, Mr. 

 Smith must buy a large part of the 

 stock he uses. The longest house, 104 

 feet, shows in one of the pictures. The 

 two other houses, on the other side of 

 this, are each forty-four feet long. 



THE POSSIBILITIES OP TODAY. 



It is generally admitted that the 

 business problem is to reach the buyer. 

 When material is produced it is often 

 liard, very hard, to find an outlet for it 

 •it paying prices. An outlet can gener- 



illy be found for plants or flowers at 

 .-'ome price, but competition and the 

 tact that so many customers must be 

 tompted make ruinously low prices 

 lasy. Under these conditions it is espe- 

 < ially interesting to see what the 

 ^""ight minds in our business are doing 

 ■ ''day. 

 An instance that occurred in Philadel- 



■tiia during May and June is the distri- 

 ";ition by one of our hustling florists of 

 ' "0. blue rose. He was able to purchase a 

 . "od supply of this novelty and decided 



'> put it on the market. His idea was 

 ' ''at, owing to remoteness of his estab- 



ishment from the heart of the city, it 

 "ould be unwise to have his customers 



>r the blue rose come in person, as this 

 »^ould only increase his selling expenses. 

 '•e therefore gave a mailing address 

 ""ly in his attractively worded offers 

 published in the daily papers. The first 

 i'oint to be decided after this was the 

 i'rice of the rose. It had been pur- 

 'nased at $10 per hundred in small 

 pots. Therefore 50 cents seemed to in- 

 'rure a satisfactory profit after deduct- 

 ing all expenses for packing and mail- 

 "ig- Upon second thought, however, it 



seemed easier for the customer to slip 

 a dollar note in his envelope than coin, 

 and then the dollar note has the addi- 

 tional advantage of enhancing the value 

 of the purchase. So it was decided that 

 the selling price should be $1 each. 

 Here is a sample of the offer: 



Wo are introducing this beautiful color, for 

 which we have waited centuries. Healthy, 

 liviug. perfectly hardy plants, grown and shipped 

 in (lower pots. Sent prepaid on Receipt of $1. 

 Will hear in abundance year after year. 



This brought results; later it was de- 

 cided to improve on the offer by giving 

 two roses for $1.50, your own rose for 

 $1 and a discount of 50 cents on your 

 friend's rose if you secured the order. 

 With the plant sent to each buyer was 

 a neat little slip saying that if you 

 could get the names of three friends 

 whom you considered likely to buy the 

 blue roses or other horticultural prod- 

 ucts you would receive another blue 

 rose for 50 cents. A second slip, at- 

 tractively worded, was also sent to each 

 customer. Here it is: 



Roses without number there are — dozens and 

 hundreds of every imaginable tint and shade, 

 from cold, glittering snow white, through all 

 the delicate modulation of color in pale tints of 

 salmon, flesh and pink and deepest crimson, tn 

 a color so darlc that it might almost be culled 

 black — and yet, with all this lavish and bounti- 

 ful distribution, blue has persistently evaded the 

 efforts even of those who have devoted their 

 lives to It. 



But it is here at last, and it has remained for 

 this first decade of tlie twentieth century, which 

 has seen the discovery of the North Pole, the 

 practical application of the flying machine, and 

 development of many other heretofore "impos 

 sible" things, to witness this latest triumph iu 

 the realm of growing things — The Blue Rose. 



The easiest way to describe It is to say it is 

 a Blue Crimson Rambler — that Is, imagine a 

 climbing Rose with all the strength and vigor of 

 the Crimson Rambler, covering immense spaces 



with Its wondrous heavy canes and large, splen- 

 did foliage, and bearing immense trusses of 

 Roses, all the way from twenty to 100 In nnm 

 her, but, instead of tiie gorgeous crimson flowers 

 we all know so well, picture it in your mind 

 with similar clusters of exquisitely beautiful 

 Violet Blue Roses. 



The Rose World is wild about the Blue Roses, 

 and we e-vpect even our enormous stock of the 

 plants to be speedily exhausted. 



This wonderful production of the heretofore 

 elusive color in the Rose World is a seedlius 

 from the Crimson Rambler discovered by a pool 

 Uennan florist. 



What a beautiful effect can be pro<Uiced by 

 having a red. white and blue Rambler all trail 

 Ing on the same porch, fence or trellis, forming 

 the national colors, or even on tlie lawn, or in 

 the rose garden. It is u mistaken idea that 

 iiiinblers have to have a support; they can be 

 grown very successfully in busli form. 



We control almost all tlie stock iu the United 

 Stales for this season. We are advertising same 

 and meeting with excellent results, as the color 

 Is gonerallv desired and every one seems anxious 

 to lie the first to plant same in their garden. 



While our floral artists may not agree 

 that the proposed color scheme is in 

 good taste, they will certainly accept 

 this as an example of mqdern business 

 methods applied to flowers. 



The returns have been large. 



Phil. 



GLEN COVE, N. Y. 



Tlie regular meeting of the Nassau 

 County Horticultural Society was held 

 in Pembroke hall, Wednesday, July 12. 

 Two new members were elected and 

 two applications were received. 



The judges for the night were Messrs. 

 Marshall, MacKenzie and Halloway, and 

 their decision was as follows: 



Sweet peas — Twenty-four varieties, 

 first, G. Ashworth. Twelve varieties, 

 first, I. McDonald. 



Society's prizes — Six varieties, Spen- 

 cer type, first, 1. McDonald. Arranged 

 for effect, first, G. Barton, with a 

 splendid basket arrangement on a cane 

 with ferns, greatly admired by every- 

 one. 



F. Petroccia received a cultural cer- 

 tificate for celery and honorable men- 

 tion for sweet peas and corn. O. Addor 

 received honorable mention for romaine. 



A silver cup was offered by the 

 Stumpp & Walter Co. for the fall show. 



J. K. M L. Farquhar, of Boston, will 

 favor the society with an illustrated 

 lecture on "Gardens of Italy," Sep- 

 tember 14. 



The society's annual outing will take 

 place August 3, at Oyster Bay, and a 

 grand time is promised. 



Next meeting will be aster night, and 

 prizes will be offered for twelve white, 

 twelve pink and twelve any color. A 

 special prize is offered by H. Matz, of 

 Glen Cove, for best twentv-four white. 

 O. E. Addor, Cor. Sec 'v. 



Establishment of T. H. U. Smith, Denver, G>lo. 



