ThcWeckly Florists' Review. 



Max 12, 1910. 



leading ministers. The result was that 

 the mayor issued a proclamation urging 

 every citizen to observe the day and wear 

 a flower — a flower, mind you, not a white 

 carnation — and the newspapers gave it a 

 good showing, stating that the florists 

 had prepared for the extra demand and 

 would not raise prices; also there was a 

 Mothers' day mass meeting in one of the 

 churches. If every florist would see that 

 the day is properly advertised by such 

 means it would not be long until it would 

 rank as one of the first of our special 

 flower days. J. H. Orth. 



Martinsville, Ind. 



I want to say that Mothers' day with 

 us was a surprising success. 1 took the 

 two numbers of the Keview, April 21 

 and April 28, to the publisher of our 

 local daily paper, told him to look them 

 over and frame us a suitable advertise- 

 ment. He copied the suggested adver- 

 tisement of Posy & Blossom from the 

 Review of April 21 and we ran it the 

 four day8"--hfi|ore Mothers' day. On 

 Thursday, May 5, the editor gave 

 Mothers' day and flowers three-quarters 

 of a column reading notice. We were 

 more than pleased with the success of 

 Mothers' day, because the attempt to 

 observe McKinley's birthday was a total 

 failure. Nixon H. Gang. 



Carbondale, III. 



i made Mothers' day a success in Car- 

 bondale by some advertising of small 

 amount. I took orders for fifty dozen 

 of white carnations, but I could have 

 sold 100 dozen easily. Something must 

 be done to make people buy and want 

 something else besides white carnations. 

 The demand next year will be too great 

 for white carnations. Thank the Re- 

 view very much for the pointers received 

 from it in regard to Mothers' day. 



E. W. Plater. 



McKeesport, Pa. 



Your article in last week 's Review^, en- 

 titled "Don't Kill the Goose," was a 

 good one, but I for one would like to let 

 the goose know that he is a goose. The 

 goose I refer to is the grower of carna- 

 tions who has the nerve to make the re- 

 tailer pay 5 cents each for white carna- 

 tions not a bit larger than fair-sized 

 bellis daisies, with stems like broom- 

 straws, that caused them to droop their 

 little heads as if they were ashamed of 

 themselves, if the grower was not. There 

 are different kinds of geese; the one that 

 lays the golden egg, the customer, 

 surely will get wise when overcharged; 

 but the goose who stands in his own light 

 by overcharging, will he ever get wise? 

 If he don't I think he is a sprag in the 

 wheel of one of the finest ideas in the 

 flower line that ever has been launched, 

 for I feel quite certain that Mothers ' day 

 will become a world-wide day. But we 

 must not forget that the poor as well as 

 the rich have mothers to whom they wish 

 'o do honor, only how can they buy flow- 

 trs at such prices? 



The white carnation idea is going to be 

 hard to overcome, but if we all do our 

 little bit we may possibly get it straight- 

 ened out, and on this line I feel that I 

 have done my part. I sent the full page 

 of the Review containing the story of the 

 origin of the day, etc., and marked the 

 .irticle headed "No Special Flower 

 Needed," to our leading daily paper; 

 but, although they gave Mothers' day a 

 good showing, they made no special note 

 of this, the part J wanted made most 

 elear. So on Friday evening I sat down 



at my desk and wrote the lines that 

 follow : 



MOTHERS' DAY. 



loiiiuiTow will be Mothers' day. 



The (hiy of all the year 

 Which we sliould liold most sacred 



Kor lier we love so ilear. 

 Itenieniher. slie lias lliought of you 



Kach (lay of every year, 

 l"or uiother'.s love ne'er ceases 



.\8 long as she Is here. 



.Viid when at last she goes to rest 



In that great wide beyond. 

 Kouiember she's your mother still. 



And of her still be fond. 

 I'"(n' she has toiled while you have sliiit 



To keep you free from care, 

 So remember her on Mothers' day 



And for lier a flower wear. 



Let a flower on thy bosom rest 



At least one day a year, 

 Kor Mothers' day's most sacred 



Of any in tl'.e year. 

 Let white be worn for those we niouni 



And bright for those still living. 

 And thus we'll make this Mothers' day 



A day of great thanksgiving. 



These lines were printed in a couspic 

 uous place in Saturday evening's paper, 

 but it kept us busy all day explaining 

 matters to our trade. Some blamed us 

 for the high prices, and said so, remark- 

 ing, "Oh! Well, I don't blame you; this 

 is the day you reap your harvest. ' ' 

 Others said nothing, but sawed wood. One 

 prospective customer asked Wednesday 

 what carnations would be worth Saturday 

 and I told him I could not say exactly, 

 but I figured at about $5 per hundred. 

 I saw him again Friday evening and he 

 said they had learned that the price was 

 going to be high and that seven churches 

 in the town had agreed to dispense with 

 flowers entirely. This, you see, looks bad. 

 So let us hope that by the time Mothers' 

 day comes around again, the goose that 

 has been standing in his own light 

 will wake up. Charles Dougherty. 



[The Review feels constrained to once 

 more remind this correspondent and oth- 

 ers who place the blame for prices, either 

 high or low, on the wholesaler, that the 

 wholesaler does not make or control prices 

 — it is supply and demand does that, and 

 nothing el.se is effectual for any consider- 

 able time.] 



Gallon, O. 

 Mothers' day here was an entire suc- 



cess. All colors of carnations sold; 

 everything in the way of carnations was 

 sold out clean. The day promises to bp 

 better than Easter. Chas. J. Tracht. 



Minot, N. D. 



Well, I want to thank you for push 

 ing Mothers ' day. I sold 2,300 rosee 

 and carnations in that one day at regu 

 lar prices, and could have sold more if 

 one of the wholesale houses could have 

 supplied me with 500 carnations that 1 

 ordered but failed to receive. I think 

 Mothers' day will have a future of being 

 better than Easter for cut flowers. 



I am enclosing an editorial headed 

 "Wear the White Flower" printed in the 

 Daily Reporter here, written by Sam H. 

 Clark, editor of that paper. [ spoke to 

 Mr. Clark and he sat down and penned it 

 off in a few minutes. He is the best 

 editorial writer in the state and I owe 

 to this editorial a large part of the suc- 

 cess of Mothers ' day. I wish you could 

 publish same in the Review and give 

 him the credit and it might awaken some 

 of the florists in other cities to do like 

 wise next year. Geo. E. Valker. 



Texarkana, Ark. 



In our local papers, and in those of 

 the surrounding towns, acting on the 

 Review's suggestion, we printed the fol 

 lowing "reader": 



CARNATIONS 



Mothers' day is Sunday, May iS. Wear ;i 

 white carnation in memory of yotir mother, or 

 a pink one in her honor, if living. Majestir 

 Floral Co., 310 Vine street. 



It has taken well and we think perhapt 



it would be of some help to otfcer retail 



florists. We believe, if there was any 



difference, the demand for pink wa* 



greater than for white. 



Majestic Plobaj. <;<> 



WRITE TO THE REVIEW. 



Write to the Review telling what you 

 did to work up interest in Mothers' day 

 in your locality, and what were the re 

 suits. Your successes will help others to 

 push for business next year. 



I 



I 



I 



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THE RETAIL 



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A CREDIT TO THE STREET. 



The Webb Floral Co., of Rochester, 

 N. Y., recently completed a new conserv- 

 atory or salesroom, or combination of the 

 two, attached to the residence of the 

 treasurer of the firm, A. J. Webb, at 

 133 Saratoga avenue. Mr. Webb's brief 

 description of the new structure will be 

 interesting to the trade in general, as 

 showing how this company overcame the 

 difficulty which has confronted many 

 other florists — the difiiculty of establish- 

 ing a store in the midst of a block of 

 fashionable residences and so planning 

 the store that its appearance will not 

 be objectionable to even the hypercritical 

 sort of neighbors. 



"The immediate neighborhood in which 



we are located," says Mr. Webb, "is 

 decidedly residential. Our greenhouse i^ 

 in the rear of our residence, and the 

 problem which we had to face was ho\\ 

 to bring out a salesroom to the street 

 front and conduct business without mar 

 ring the residence street with a regular 

 store front. We accomplished this in ;i 

 unique way, by adding a conservatory 

 to one side of the front of our residence, 

 with a separate entrance from a large, 

 handsome porch which wf built ncros'^ 

 the front of the house. 



"With interior wall ana ceiling decti 

 rations of two shades of moss green, with 

 woodwork trimmings and cupboard cases 

 of egg-shell white, with a handsome rib- 

 bon case of onr own special dpsign in thi 



