N early Easter, such as that 

 of 1913, is not a guide by 

 which plans for a late Eas- 

 ter, like that of 1914, can 

 be laid by rule of thumb. 



Those who keep notes of 



the business from year to year, as 

 every florist should, must bear in mind 

 that Easter last year came March 23, 

 while this year it is three weeks later. 

 It has been remarked that three inches 

 does not make much difference on the 

 end of a fishpole, but that it would 

 count for a good deal on the end of a 

 man's nose. It is the same way with 

 those three weeks; they would not 

 mean much to Weary Willie, but to a 

 florist in the spring of the year they 

 mean a great deal. 



Late for Plants. 



For certain classes of plants Easter 

 this year is too late. Of all the Easter 

 stock, the bulbous plants really are the 

 most important of all. Even in the 

 high class stores more tulips, one way 

 or another, are sold than any other 

 plant. Hyacinths once cut a big figure, 

 but they have rather dropped out in re- 

 cent years. With Easter 



coming as late as April 12 



the tulips, hyacinths and 

 daffodils will be pretty 

 well out of bloom and the 

 supply of low priced pot 

 stock will be much less 

 than last year. Azaleas, 

 too, have been retarded 

 with diflSculty and many 

 a florist is just now 

 awakening to the fact 

 that he will have less 

 than his usual supply of 

 plants; it's much easier 

 to have a good supply of 

 plants for a March Eas- 

 ter than it is for one in 

 the middle of April. 



The difference is one 

 of large importance, be- 

 cause of late years the 

 sale of low priced' pot 

 stock has increased much 

 faster than have <>• the 

 sales of other lines.' The' 

 flower stores that'have' 

 been selling this stock in 

 quantity at recent early 

 Easters will find it neces- 

 sary to fill the gap. 



Of course there will be 

 increased supplies, this 

 Easter, of such high 

 priced plants as roses. 

 Growers are finding out 



how to do these better and better and 

 the present season seems to have^een 

 a specially good one for them, but' the 

 average run of flower store does ^ not 

 have the trade to take the costly 

 plants. Even the finest stores, ^except, 

 perhaps, in one or two o| the largest 

 cities, find the call running more and 

 more to the things that can be sold at 

 moderate prices. 



A Cut Flower Easter. 



If low priced bulbous plants are not 



Hanging Basket of Easter Lilies and Cyclamens* 



al-undant at a late Easter, the date 

 favors the cut flower growers. Even if 

 a grower has not timed his crops per- 

 fectly, he is almost sure to be cutting 

 heavily in April. Consequently there is 

 no possibility of any general shortage of 

 cut flowers and prices will be such that 

 the retailer can push cut flowers, charg- 

 ing about the same prices he has asked 

 all winter and working with about the 

 usual margin of profit. 



Sales Records Invaluable. 



Every florist should have a record of 

 what he sold last year, and for years 

 before. Memory is a most unreliable 

 guide for business transactions and it 

 is next to impossible for a retailer to 

 gauge his requirements except by re- 

 ferring to an accurate record of what 

 he has sold, and what he has failed to 

 sell, in the past. This, bearing in 

 mind special conditions that affect this 

 season and make it different from last" 

 one, will afford a fairly dependable in- 

 dex to the character and quantity of 

 stock that can be sold next week. Last 

 year's record will show a number of 

 items that may not be available in 

 equal quantity this sea- 

 son, and it will show 

 what substitutes are nec- 

 essary. Bearing in mind 

 the general increase in 

 sales since last year, a 

 study of the records of 

 previous Easters will 

 jnake it possible for a 

 buyer to estimate pretty 

 closely what he will be 

 able to sell this Easter, 

 so that he will neither 

 heavily overbuy nor run 

 short. 



A record of the Easter 

 sales should show what 

 was bought, what was 

 paid for it, what the 

 quality was, how it sold, 

 the items that were over- 

 bought and the ones that 

 were short, also the daily 

 sales for the-;-week, and 

 the state of the weather. 

 Weather-ds a big factor. 

 One may be stuck solely 

 because it rained; it may 

 be safe to buy as much 

 again. Another import- 

 ant point is the daily 

 sales. The effort should 

 be to increase the early 

 sales. Practically every- 

 body has all he can jump 

 to the day before Easter, 



