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The Weekly Florists' Review, 



Apbil 1, 1909. 



you, you may be able to popularize the 

 calla by some skillful arrangement. 



A most interesting and helpful display 

 group for the store or window decoration 

 is a collection of narcissi of all possible 

 kinds. Put in small vases with one or 

 two flowers, set close together like a field 

 or bed of the growing plants. 



With azaleas, Easter lilies or candi- 

 dums, add some sprays of one kind of 

 fruit blossoms and a few good specimens 

 of Pteris tremula or Boston ferns. If 

 a window floor is covered, make at least 

 one break in the uniformity by setting 

 up one or two plants on a stump or a 

 pedestal, with the introduction of the 

 above additions. Gertbude Blaib. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE RUSH. 



Being Ready Half the Battle. 



No time should now be lost in com- 

 pleting preparations for the Easter, busi- 

 ness. 



There are two lines of preparation 

 whi«h are equally essential. In the first 

 place, it is, of course, necessary to have 

 something to sell. Easter is the great 

 floral holiday of the year, the day upon 

 which the well stocked flower store does 

 more business than on any other day in 

 the whole year. Once upon a time a cer- 

 tain gentleman asked a wise man for the 

 recipe for making a rabbit stew. The 

 answer was, "First catch your rabbit," 

 and the same applies to the Easter trade. 

 First of all, you must have something to 

 sell. If you haven't got it in your own 

 greenhouses, no time must be lost in 

 ordering of others. And order plenty. 

 With the assurance of a large supply 

 of good stock at reasonable prices, you 

 will have - the confidence to go ahead 

 with the selling end and push the week's 

 business to a satisfactory and profitable 

 conclusion. Don 't fail to provide variety 

 in your stock. Not everyone wants lilies 

 at Easter. While the lily is the flower 

 of the day, more wOl be interested in a 

 pan of tulips or in some other smaller 

 arrangement. 



Then, too, cut flowers are as essential 

 as a weill selected stock of plants in 



bloom. Whatever may be said, the aver- 

 age person would rather have cut flowers 

 than plants, and this is especially true 

 of those who buy flowers only on rare 

 occasions. Cut flowers at Easter are 

 more plentiful and more reasonable in 

 price than at Christmas, and with good 

 weather the quality also is f uUy as satis- 

 factory, so that all that needs be done to 

 do a large and profitable business in cut 

 stock is to provide the flowers, and let 

 the people know you have them. Ad- 

 vertise in your local paper and make a 

 good window display. 



Handling the Rush. 



Having arranged for stock, it is time 

 to turn attention to the facilities for 

 display, for taking" orders, for filling 

 orders and for delivery. Where a big 

 increase in business is expected, all 

 these things require careful attention 

 and systematizing. 



, An attractive stor6 iS of great assist-, 

 ance in attracting custom. Fortunate, 

 indeed, is the florist who has a green- 

 house in connection with his retail store. 

 The average store does not afford the 

 space or the light for best display of 

 Easter plant arrangements. If you have 

 no conservatory, you must make the best 

 use possible of the space in your store, 

 but if a conservatory is available, by all 

 means clear it of the ordinary stock and 

 use it for the display of Easter plant 

 arrangements. Arrange the store to look 

 its prettiest and draw the customers in, 

 but once having them inside, take them 

 into the conservatory and carry there 

 most of the stock prepared for their 

 inspection. Bemember that a crowded 

 store loses trade — people won't come in 

 if there is a crush, or if in, will not buy 

 so freely. 



The Little Things. 



Have you all the thousand and one ar- 

 ticles you need for the Easter work? 

 How are the cut flower boxes f Have you 

 enough of each size to carry you 

 through the rusht Make up a stock, so 

 that when it comes to putting up orders 

 in the sleepless night of April 10, valu- 

 able time need not be consumed in this 



work, which can be done in idle bk 

 ments now. The twine and wrappin,!: 

 paper both should be in ample supph 

 It more than once has occurred tha 

 these simple items have been found run 

 ning short because of liack of forr 

 thought to purchase in advance. 



How about pot covers? In many o, 

 the smaller cities little yet is done in th. 

 way of plant embellishment, but if in 

 florist in your town makes it a prac 

 tice to send out his holiday plants witl. 

 pot covers, set the fashion this Easter 

 and watch your business grow. A pot 

 cover is but the matter of a few pennie,^ 

 and you need add nothing to the sell 

 ing price of even the smallest plant be 

 cause of a crepe paper embellishment. 

 For better plants you can use better cov 

 ers and it won't be long before you find 

 the trade will pay enough more for a 

 plant with a pot cover to afford the 

 flofirit a good profit on the cost of the 

 embellish^nt. 



Adding Variety to the Stock. 



In stores of better class the plants 

 nowadays are transferred from the com- 

 mon flower pot to something better in 

 the way of unique and tasteful pottery 

 or hampers, baskets and all sorts of odd 

 but suitable receptacles. There is such 

 a great variety in this class of supplies 

 that any store can find something which 

 corresponds to the class of trade han- 

 dled. 



The use of these requisites serves two 

 purposes. If in the beginning they must 

 be sold at cost, their use is profitable in 

 that they add much to the variety of the 

 stock, and it is in variety that the aver- 

 age flower store is most lacking. Year 

 after year the same things are offered 

 and, naturally, the customers feel the 

 lack of novelty. Show something new 

 and different if you want to make sales. 

 If you haven't a thing in your stock but 

 tulips in bloom, you can arrange an end- 

 less variety by planting them in dif- 

 ferent kinds of pans, baskets and boxes. 

 You can make up a big stock with no two 

 alike. But to do this you must make 

 preparations in advance. You must get 

 off an order to your supply house with- 



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The Baby Rambler Cm Be Madel Up in Hundreds of Attractive Ways. 



