12 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Fbbbuabt 8, 1912. 



fine, but of the valley and adiantum as 

 well. The group of lilies above the 

 piece will bear the same test which 

 our definition of grouping requires. This 

 element of the piece would be worth 

 sixty per cent in judging the merits of 

 the piece as a whole. In a word, the 

 designer of this piece is a true artist, 

 and well qualified in his chosen pro- 

 fession. 



Art the Master of the Mechanics. 



Any design, by which is meant any 

 assemblage of flowers, plants or foliage, 

 may be judged correctly by this stand- 

 ard. Take a vase of flowers, leave it to 

 its own way of grouping and you will 

 not find the flowers getting into line 

 just so far on every side from their 

 neighbors, but they will huddle here, 

 stretch away there, retire in another 

 place, and fall out of line over yonder. 

 Yes, they are unruly, but that is the 

 charm of it all. 



While we are about it let us realize 



Coloring the Second Essential. 



The second essential of a well ex- 

 ecuted design can easily be guessed — it 

 is that of color, and it follows as day 

 follows night that where the grouping 

 shows fine taste the coloring will ap- 

 pear in the same degree of excellence. 

 The color distinctions will be fine- 

 grained, not only in the strictly decora- 

 tive parts of the piece, but in the 

 blending of the special design with the 

 background. Some common blend of 

 color will be found in each, which com- 

 mon color will develop in at least two 

 different lines, one in the background 

 and one in the decorative part. To 

 illustrate, suppose Mr. Ivey's shield 

 was made of asters instead of white 

 carnations for the background and 

 sweet peas in place of roses in the 

 decorative spray; it would be in good 

 taste to use lavender asters and violet 

 pink peas. In each there would be the 

 element of violet color running through 

 the asters in lavender and through the 



Shield on Easel Made by T. A. Ivey, Brantfordt Ont. 



that while the mechanical part of our 

 work is necessary, it should be placed 

 just where it belongs — in the position of 

 servant to its master, the art instinct. 



It does not necessarily follow that 

 even a fraction of the high-class de- 

 signs need be of this particular style. 

 It is only one of the many possibilities. 



peas in the /^blet pink. This is a rest- 

 ful and hafttiDnioUs'iieeheme to develop 

 a union in eoior thVottghout the whole 

 piece. 



If the design weife a bride's bouquet 

 there would be cream ribbon with the 

 flowers of the yellow cast of the valley, 

 rather than either white or cream rib- 



bon as it happened to come to hand. 

 There would be a delicate considera- 

 tion for harmony in greens. If it were 

 a pink bridesmaid's bouquet the pink 

 would be carefully blended with that 

 of the gown, and not an attempt to 

 unite a salmon pink bouquet with a 

 violet pink gown. In a funeral spray 

 the tie would be a tint or two weaker 

 than the color of the flowers in the 

 spray. 



Much more could be said in the line 

 of color blending, but space forbids. 

 In a word, learn color principles your- 

 self; then talk it to your customers. 

 Learn to produce good designing; then 

 show your customers the difference. 



In judging design work, here are the 

 points in the order of their value: 



1. — Grouping. 



2. — Coloring. 



3. — Taste in selection of design. 



4. — Quality of stock. 



5. — Mechanical details. 



6. — Quantity of stock. 



Gertrude Blair. 



BASTOHEB'S STOBE. 



The illustration on page 13 is re- 

 produced from a photograph taken at 

 Denison, la., by an itinerant camera 

 man who dropped in unannounced on 

 Charles Bartcher. When a man goes to 

 a photograph gallery to get his portrait 

 made he puts on his best suit of 

 clothes, gets a hair cut, has his mus- 

 tache curled, and his shoes shined, even 

 though the portrait is not to be full 

 length. For the same reason the aver- 

 age flower store is dressed for the oc- 

 casion when the photographer is ex- 

 pected. The point is, if it has not been 

 made clear, that the Bartcher store pre- 

 sents its everyday appearance in the 

 picture. The refrigerator shown is of 

 the McCray make and was recently in- 

 stalled. 



Mr. Bartcher, who is seen in the pic- 

 ture, combin^.s the running of a retail 

 flower store with his business as an 

 undertaker, but the undertaking de- 

 partment is kept in the background. 



AN AUTO TBUCK. 



It is quite the regular thing nowa- 

 days for retail florists to do their de- 

 livering with automobiles, but usually 

 they are light cars. Randolph & Mc- 

 Clements, in Pittsburgh, operate sev- 

 eral light cars and also have the heavy 

 truck shown in the illustration on 

 page 13. They handle all the heavy 

 loads with it and find it will do the 

 work of two teams and is just as useful 

 as the lighter cars. 



FBOOBESS AT SPBINOFIELD, O. 



Expansion of Florists' Trade. 



According to a common, popular mis- 

 conception, every floral enterprise must 

 necessarily prove pleasant, healthful and 

 profitable to the owner. The fact is, 

 however, that the same economic forces 

 operate as in all other lines of business 

 to induce success or failure, while some 

 forces peculiar to the business are such as 

 to make it extra hazardous. Practical 

 knowledge, based upon years of experi- 

 ence, is the first requisite, to which must 

 be added good business methods and an 

 aggressive policy, after which success 

 and satisfaction are rather more certain 

 to follow than in the more ordinary lines 

 of commercial effort. 



