12 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Fbbbuabt 29, 1912. 



Huebner discovered on one of the plants 

 a branch that produced a clear white 

 flower. He made as many propagations 

 of this as possible and found that it 

 had all of the good qualities of the 

 original, besides growing taller. By 

 selection and cross breeding with some 

 of the choice outdoor varieties, he says, 

 he now has a number of good colors, 

 particularly white and yellow. The 

 pink, he states, is not yet as clear a 

 color as he would wish, but he hopes 

 soon to have the right shade. The 

 flowers are set quite close together on 

 the stalk and make a handsome, com- 

 pact spike. 



Mr. Huebner states that this antir- 

 rhinum has proved to be hia best 

 money-making crop for the last few 

 years. Some of the flower stalks, par- 

 ticularly on the pink variety, which he 

 showed at Horticultural hall, Boston, 

 February 2 to 4, had forty open flow- 

 ers, besides the buds, on stalks four 

 feet tall. 



In regard to the treatment of the 

 plants, he says he grows them in much 

 the same way as carnations, with the 

 exception that he does not plant them 

 in the field. He takes cuttings any 

 time from January to April, pots them 

 along as needed and plunges them in a 

 sunny frame, in ashes, about June 1. 

 By pinching them back as often as 

 necessary, he usually has nice, bushy 

 plants, mostly in 4-inch pots, by the 

 middle of August, when he benches 

 them the same as carnations. He con- 

 tinues to pinch them back until the end 

 of September. By fumigating lightly 

 about every ten days, he keeps them 

 perfectly clean. 



£ 



■<»^<<^^^^<^^.«^^.i<^.^<<^T; 



^ir^viAi?A-it:x^:x5tx5LS5tS5fAr]!L;\ 



THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



^giS ' 



DELIVEBY METHODS. 



DBEEB'S Bia AXTTOMOBILE. 



It recently was reported in The 

 Review that Henry A. Dreer had put a 

 large motor truck on the road between 

 the greenhouses at Eiverton, N. J., and 

 the city store in Philadelphia. A pic- 

 ture of the truck now is presented. It 

 will be apparent at a glance this is one 

 of the largest of motor vehicles. It is 

 a Packard machine of three tons ca- 

 pacity. While only in use for a short 

 time, the Dreer concern already has 

 demonittrated that it is a great con- 

 venience, giving immediate and con- 

 stant transportation facilities between 

 the greenhouses and the store. 



Their Value as Advertising. 



Just exactly what the advertising 

 value of a good delivery wagon or 

 auto is, it wottld be difftcult to say, but 

 it is considerable. I know of a city 

 of 350,000 population where only one 

 retail florist has his own delivery 

 wagon and there is not a single auto- 

 mobile except such as are hired at busy 

 times. Some of the delivery boys have 

 motorcycles, but the majority of the 

 delivering is done on bicycles or by 

 using street cars. Funeral designs are 

 sent out without boxes or covering of 

 any sort, the boys pushing about dur- 

 ing the rush hours through crowds of 

 people and frequently damaging the 

 work entrusted to them. 



The Vehicle and Its Accompaniments. 



Contrast this state of affairs with 

 that obtaining in other cities, where a 

 smart turnout, well horsed, or a fine 

 automobile, in either case with a deliv- 

 ery boy in a natty uniform, is the 

 rule rather than the exception. It is 

 only reasonable to suppose that the 

 first retailer in the former town to 

 break away from the cheese-paring pol- 

 icy and put out something neat in the 

 way of a delivery outfit is going to 

 get a lot of credit and, incidentally, 

 gather in a lot of the business of his 

 benighted compeers. Every retailer 

 worthy the name ought at least to 

 have a good wagon, and if his business 

 does not admit of his keeping a horse 

 or team of horses, then let the vehicle 

 be horsed from a livery. 



The bicycle, useful as it is for many 

 purposes, is surely not a good method 

 of delivering flowers, while the motor- 

 cycle, unless attached to a covered 



On the Read from Riverton to Phifadelphia. 



carrier of some kind, is almost as bad. 

 In either case the delivery boy picks 

 up too much of the dust and grime ol' 

 the streets to be at all presentable, 

 either at the store or at the residence 

 of the customer, and a slipshod, dirty 

 appearance of the messenger boy gives 

 patrons the idea that the store methods 

 are also slipshod. On the other hand, 

 a neat appearance gives the opposite 

 impression, with results that may 

 easily be foreseen. 



A Becord of Deliveries. 



Besides the manner of the actual 

 deliveries, the method of keeping the 

 records varies widely. When sending 

 out goods that are to be charged, there 

 is nothing better than the threefold 

 check books. These are numbered so 

 that every invoice is easily located; 

 they are written at the store and the 

 delivery boy takes two of the three 

 records or checks, one to be delivered 

 to the customer, the other to be signed 

 and returned. The stubs only are 

 priced and these never leave the store, 

 the bookkeeper using them for enter- 

 ing up the daybook. Even at the 

 busiest times this system saves trouble 

 and, if the boys are instructed to hand 

 over their return checks every night, 

 there can be no dispute by customers 

 as to the delivery or non-delivery of 

 an order. 



Promptness in Delivery. 



Promptness, it is hardly necessary to 

 add, is one of the most important of 

 all points in the delivery service. Peo- 

 ple generally are thoughtless about giv- 

 ing orders in time for any occasion. 

 Telephones and department store meth- 

 ods have brought customers into so 

 close a touch with the stores of all 

 kinds that they include the florist 

 among those that can be called upon at 

 a moment's notice to give good service. 

 And the up-to-date retailer must really 

 foster this habit of his patrons. He 

 can not help it if he is to hold the bet- 

 ter class of trade. Still less can he 

 afford to be behindhand after taking 

 the order. Milady is often exceedingly 

 impatient when anything affecting the 

 toilet is concerned, and if that cor- 

 sage bouquet is not on hand when 

 wanted there is likely to be trouble 

 for the florist. Funeral work, again, 

 for obvious reasons, has to be handled 

 with great dispatch; consequently one 

 of the mottoes to be, figuratively, 

 pasted in the hat of the successful re- 

 tailer, is "Be on time." 



THE CBOSS OF VALLEY. 



Charles A. Samuelson, the well known 

 Michigan avenue retailer at Chicago, 

 has made a number of casket crosses 

 similar to the one shown in the accom- 

 panying illustration and in each case 

 the design has met with general appro- 

 bation. The base for the cross is a 

 wire frame of the usual type, except 



'■^'■~' -■•- 



I [ I .ri^i^jgggg^^ 



■WSttirillfe 



I 



J 



