30 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



NOVBMBEE 11, 1909. 



It should be provided that the guar- 

 antee of the association would not hold 

 good, except when the non-payment of 

 accounts was promptly reported. Other- 

 wise a florist might be badly delinquent 

 in a number of places at the same time 

 and the association know nothing about 

 it until some creditor becomes alarmed, 

 and then the bills would pour in from all 

 directions. 



Other Questions Answered. 



•The secretary of the retail section 

 should be the secretary of the S. A. F., 

 and the membership fees and dues of the 

 section should include the fees and dues 

 of the parent society, so that members 

 would only have to make payment to one 

 person and confusion would thus be 

 avoided. The membership fee of the sec- 

 tion should also include the price of the 

 telegraph code book of the association. 

 By buying in quantity the cost of the 

 code book could be very materially re- 

 duced. 



While the matter of deliveries seems 

 the most vital single question to be 

 taken up, there are countless other ques- 

 tions which could be handled at the an- 

 nual conventions and which would make 

 the sessions interesting and profitable. 

 Everyone of us should be interested in 

 the best ways of attending to the details 

 of the business. 



fusion in handling cards to go with or- 

 ders? 



What do you pay your clerks? What 

 methods have you found effective to 

 awaken their interest and insure their 

 loyalty? Do you know where I can find 

 a good man for my store? Do you be- 

 lieve it pays a retail florist to advertise 

 and what methods are the most effective? 



I will venture to say that there are few 

 of you who have not had these questions 

 asked of you. Get together every sum- 

 mer, gentlemen, and discuss them. They 

 will not be settled, for such questions 

 are always alive and unanswered, but it 

 will be a dull mail who will not derive 

 some benefit from talking such things 

 over with other men in his line of work. 



If tailors and milliners can meet and 

 cooperate in turning the attention of the 

 public toward certain materials and cer- 

 tain styles, why may not the florists make 

 their influence felt in support of their 

 ideas of the beautiful and the artistic? 

 J. A. Valentine. 



INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY. 



How widely the trade is awakening to 

 the advantages oi the quick transmission 

 of orders, from one retailer to another 

 in a distant city, is shown by the fact 

 that private parties at New York are 

 seeking to organize the International 



Our Corsages 



of Orchids, Violets, 

 Gardenias, £tc«, 



with 



Fleischman's Lacettes 



(to protect the gown), wide silk rib- 

 bons and large crystal pins, at 

 no extra charge, and cannot 

 be duplicated in style, quality or 

 price. 



All Flowers at Popular Prices 



A Trial Order Will Convince You 



Chicago's Leading Florist 

 Phone Harrison 3342 RAILWAY EXCHANGE BUILDING 



An Example of the Newspaper Advertising Done by Chicago Retailers. 



A Chance for Profitable Discussions. 



What method do you use in keeping 

 track of credits and guarding against 

 deadbeatst 



At times of rush how do you handle 

 your orders and how do you prevent con- 



Floral Co., to conduct the exchange of 

 orders on an international basis. It ap- 

 pears, however, that the real purpose of 

 the promoters of this organization may 

 be to sell to florists stock in a corpora- 

 tion at $100 per share, under the lure 



of the hope of large profits to be de- 

 rived from the exchange of orders for 

 the delivery of tlowers. No one should 

 invest his money in such a company with- 

 out first obtaining actual knowledge of 

 the identity, character and responsibility 

 of those back of the organization. 



ADVERTISING BY RETAILERS. 



Among men who make a business of 

 advertising it long has been recognized 

 that retail florists were showing a lack 

 of grasp of progressive methods in their 

 failure to take advantage of the great 

 power of advertising. Advertising men 

 have marveled that retail florists who go 

 to such large expense in fitting up and 

 maintaining attractive places of business 

 and who have so interesting a story to 

 tell the public, should be content to let 

 the people find their way to the flower 

 stores unguided by the long, directing, 

 index finger of the daily paper. But 

 gradually retail florists are coming to 

 take advantage of the power of the press. 

 Thus far many are content with a mere 

 business card, something to the effect, 

 "Smith & Co., fresh flowers," but every 

 here and there one bolder than the rest 

 comes out with a real advertisement. 

 In Chicago especially the downtown re- 

 tailers, and one or two of those located 

 in residence neighborhoods, are making 

 use of space in the daily papers. In the 

 majority of cases, these shrewd retailers 

 are selecting the one paper which they 

 consider reaches the most of their kind 

 of people and are lumping their expen- 

 diture to secure a large, attractive ad- 

 vertisement, sure to attract the attention 

 of all the readers of that one best paper. 

 It is the policy which has proved best by 

 test. 



That the advertising of Chicago re- 

 tailers is profitable to them, even though 

 advertising rates are not low in Chicago 's 

 leading daily, is apparent to anyone who 

 watches what is going on in the trade, 

 and most of all is it apparent to the 

 wholesalers from whom these retail 

 stores procure their stock. Just to show 

 what good advertising it is possible to 

 turn out for a retail flower store, the 

 accompanying advertisement of Fleisch- 

 man is reproduced. It occupied 150 lines 

 of agate in the Tribune, or about equal 

 to one-third page of the Rkview, and ad- 

 vertising rates in the Tribune are about 

 40 cents per agate line. 



COST OF METERED VATER. 



In the Eeview of October 28, page 9, 

 I noticed the inquiry of R. M. with ref- 

 erence to water rates. I noticed, also, 

 the reply on page 17 of the next week's 

 issue, with the intimation that other re- 

 plies would be welcomed. In Sycamore, 

 111., we pay the following rates: First 

 10,000 gallons, 16 cents per thousand; 

 next 20,000 gallons, 12 cents per thou- 

 sand; next 20,000 gallons, 8 cents per 

 thousand, and all over 50,000 gallons, 6 

 cents per thousand. I have 18,000 feet 

 of glass and use the water also for the 

 dwelling house and for the boiler and 

 coldframe, and I use approximately 

 30,000 gallons per month the year around. 

 The city owns the meter and I pay a 

 rental of 75 cents per quarter, or $3 per 

 year, in addition to the above rate. 



Wm. Swinbank. 



In the Review of October 28 I noted 

 R. M. 's inquiry as to the approximate 

 cost of the water supply when furnished 

 by a water company through meter 

 service. Replying as to our situation 



