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The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Max 5, 1010. 



Ga., one of the test knowu retail florist 

 concerns in the south. The bouquets il- 

 lustrated are Mr. Gresham's work. It 

 is related that Mr. Gresham decided to 

 * get out a booklet for the purpose of 

 showing the possibilities of the Dahl es- 

 tablishment in the matter of wedding 

 work. He made up a number of 

 bunches and had them photographed in 

 Atlanta. The photographs were sent to 

 Philadelphia to have halftones made and 

 one of the Ladies' Home Journal people 

 . chanced to see the pictures in the en- 

 graving house, where he also was having 

 work done. The publication asked to 

 have the opportunity of reproducing the 

 pictures, but declined to use the name of 

 the Dahl Co., consenting, however, to 

 publish Mr. Gresham's name with the 

 pictures. 



That these excellent bouquets should 

 be brought so prominently to the atten- 

 tion of the public is, of course, a compli- 

 ment to the Dahl Co. and Mr. Gresham, 

 but it also is of importance to the whole 

 trade. Many a bride outside of Atlanta 

 this spring will point to Mr. Gresham's 

 work and say, "I want one like that." 

 Also, the more people see of first-class 

 work the better their taste will be, and 

 the higher their requirements. 



AT MARKET RATES. 



It probably still is the practice of nine- 

 tenths of the florists to charge' practically 

 the same prices week after week, but in 

 the larger cities, and to a certain extent 

 in the smaller towns, those florists who 

 follow the principle of small profits and 

 large sales are turning toward the prac- 

 tice of regulating their retail prices by 

 the wholesale values of ^he stock they 

 offer. In line with this is the advertise- 

 ment of A. Lange, Chicago, which ap- 

 pears in the leading morning daily. Tliere 

 are many arguments in favor of estab- 



THE CROSS. 



lu the larger cities leading florists 

 make few, of the more common designs 

 such as are made up on wire frames. 

 The stores that cater to the fine trade 

 make sprays, instead of pillows; or they 

 make wreaths. In smaller places the re- 

 verse is the case and more pillows are 

 called for than anything else. Next to 

 the pillow, possibly the most popular de- 

 sign is the cross, it being capable of a 

 great variety of treatments. It may be 

 made with almost any flowers in season, 

 affording the florist an opportunity to use 

 up the stock on hand and obviating the 

 necessity for buying material specially 

 for the design. It may be simple or elab- 

 orate, according to the sum the customer 

 is willing to pay. The accompanying 

 illustration shows a somewhat elaborated 

 cross made by W. F. Snyder, Hopkins- 

 ville, Ky. The garland of roses and the 

 dove perched on the top of the cross 

 made the piece distinctive. 



RETAIL ADVERTISING. 



There are two classes of advertisers to 

 the general public, says a writer in the 

 Horticultural Advertiser (English), the 

 constant advertiser, and the spasmodic 

 advertiser. It 's only the" former jsvho 

 invests his money; the other largely 

 wastes it, and would almost as well^ot 

 advertise at all. It is the continuous 

 drop of water that wears away the stone. 



How to advertise is, of course, an indi- 

 vidual matter, but plain common-sense 

 talk is the best kind. You must be sensi- 

 ble to attract sensible people. No boast, 

 but business-pulling truths. Be courteous. 

 Eemember that a request is tenfold more 

 powerful than a command. Do not talk 

 price, talk quality. 



Select the paper which circulates among 

 the majority of your class of customers 

 and stick to it, changing your matter 



Flower Values 



Inasmuch as flowers fluctuate daily 

 in quantity of stock and price we are 

 Constantly in the position to quote re- 

 liable prices. 



Complete facilities enable us to place fine 

 flowers, correctly put up and carefully de- 

 livered within a radius of 1,500 miles, at re- 

 markably reasonable prices. 



We are filling orders for flowers aboard 



steamships. Every day a fresh bouquet during 



the entire voyage. An entirely new and 



original conception thoroughly tested and found 



entirely satisfactory. 



A. LANGE, Florist 



44 E. MADISON STREET 



Retail Cut Flower Prices Governed by Market Changes. 



TEL. CENTRAL 

 3777-3778 



lishing a reasonable retail price and 

 maintaining it unchanged throughout the 

 season, but Mr. Lange believes a large 

 part of his success, and no one questions 

 that he moves great quantities of stock, 

 has been Ixiilt upon giving his customers 

 the advantage whenever low prices are 

 to be had in wholesale markets. 



frequently from plants to flowers, etc. 

 Every advertisement should be a piece of 

 salesmanship, and that with a direct pur- 

 pose. 



The personal study of the peculiarities 

 of each customer is your shopman's busi- 

 ness. Never encourage your florist to sell 

 stale plants or flowers as fresh ones. In 



the words of Roosevelt, "Tell the un- 

 pleasant trutli rather than a convenient 

 lie." 



And lastly, do not give long credit. It 

 is a curse to any business and quite un- 

 necessary in ours. A lady with a long 

 bill up against her will fight shy of your 

 shop for months, perhaps for ever. 



CUT FLOWERS TO CANADA. 



The cut flowers exported by the United 

 States practically all go to Canada. How 

 small this trade is may be shown by the 

 figures of the U. S. Treasury Department, 

 which gives the value of the cut flower 

 exports for the last five years as follows: 



1009 $4,333 



1908 1,784 , 



1907 2,579 V 



1906 3,496 



1905 4,522 



THE BIG HOUSE. 



Interest in the big greenhouse of the 

 Florex Gardens, at North Wales, ran high 

 in the summer of 1907, when the conven- 

 tion was at Philadelphia. Many of the 

 members from all over the country went 

 out over the Eeading railroad to see the 

 house. Some admired and some criticised, 

 according to their temperaments, but all 

 wondere(l. Since then, in a short space of 

 a little less than three years, the Florex 

 Gardens have increased enormously. The 

 additions are well ki^own to Review read- 

 ers; they have been chronicled from time 

 to time in this column. The last addition, 

 the greatest of all, was made last fall and 

 is now in full swing; it is 172x700. It is 

 an easy matter to give the figures, but an 

 extremely difficult one to convey an idea 

 of the house. 



It is simply vast. I have been in the 

 range of Poehlmann Bros., at Morton 

 Grove, HI.; I hav£ been in the range of 

 Peter Reinberg, in the suburbs of Chi- 

 cago; I have walked through the 1,000- 

 foot house of the Waban Rose Conserva- 

 tories, at Natiek, Mass., and through the 

 1,360-foot house of "William H. Elliott, at 

 Madbury, N. H. ; yet in none of these 

 places have I experienced the feelijig of 

 the immensity of the space covered by 

 glass that I have in the new house of the 

 Plorex Gardens at North Wales. The rea- 

 son is simple. At Poehlmann 's and at 

 Reinberg 's the houses are of moderate 

 length in ranges; the ridges and furrows 

 that break the view from the corridor 

 house detract from the impression of size. 

 At Montgomery's Waban Rose Conserva- 

 tories and at Elliott 's the impression of 

 length is almost boundless, but that of 

 height and width is circumscribed. In the 

 Florex Gardens length, width and height 

 are in such proportion as to increase the 

 impression of size. You stand in the mid- 

 dle of that house and feel your utter in- 

 significance. You also feel a growing ad- 

 miration for the mind whose ability con- 

 ceived and whose courage carried into ex- 

 ecution this step in advance of the times. 



The new house of the Florex Gardens 

 is larger and better constructed than the 

 house erected in the summer of 1907. It 

 is not necessary here to go into the vari- 

 ous structural improvements, beyond say- 

 ing that experience has shown the weak- 

 nesses in the earlier house and brains have 

 suggested improvements. 



The house is entirely filled with toma- 

 toes. I never saw so many growing toma- 

 toes at once. They were all planted in the 

 field, so to speak, there being no beds or 

 benches — simply a row omitted for the 

 paths, which are depressed by the con- 

 stant tread of feet. The vines are sup- 

 ported by long cords, as in smilax. Part 



