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26 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Apbil 1, 1909. 



hours. Everybody has to uatch the 

 clock or pay a fine. 



A movement is now on foot in Greater 

 Berlin to require the closing of the flo- 

 rists' shops on Sundays and festivals, 

 as they call the holidays in Germany, but 

 the movement is meeting with much op- 

 position on the part of the proprietors. 

 At a recent meeting of florists almost 

 700 persons assembled in Berlin for a 

 demonstration against the proposal. The 

 idea is by law (o require the gradual re- 

 duction of the hours on which the flower 

 stores may be open and eventually to 

 close them altogether on Sundays and 

 holidays, as is done in Great Britain. 



The finest stores in any city have little, 

 if anything, to lose through early or 

 complete closing, but it is on Sundays 

 and holidays that the small stores do a 

 large part of their business, and this 

 they fear to lose, so it is from this class 

 of merchants the opposition to early clos- 

 ing comes. 



THE ROCK OF AGES. 



The rock of ages illustrated in thi^ 

 issue was made by Charles Henry Fox, 

 at the Sign of the Rose, Philadelphia. 

 Mr. Fox heartily disapproves of this 

 style of design, believing that it is apt 



the base; these, when interspersed with 

 lilies and roses, give a wonderfully nat- 

 ural appearance to the whole arrange- 

 ment, relieving it from the artificial ap- 

 pearance so apt to prevail, Phil. 



THAT WORTHLESS CHECK. 



The Commonest of Swindles. 



If a total stranger, man or woman, 

 came into your place of business, pur-, 

 thased some flowers Avhich were either to 

 be delivered or taken along and, instead 

 of paying for them, would say, "My 

 name is John Brown (or Mrs. Brown) ; 

 I will be in tomorrow or Monday and 

 please will you let me have $6 or $8 

 until then?" would the stranger get 

 the flowers or the money ? ' ' Hardly, ' ' 

 you say. Why, then, do so many florists 

 become such good customers of the dealer 

 in spurious checks? 



When you accept a check from a 

 stranger, and perhaps give him some cash 

 in change, you are doing just what you 

 said a minute ago you would not do. 



The unknown one has not even prom- 

 ised to come in tomorrow and pay you ; 

 he has merely handed you a slip of paper 

 with some printing and writing on it. 



Rock of Ages. 



to be stiff and conventional. His treat- 

 ment in this instance, however, is de- 

 cidedly unconventional, relieving the de- 

 sign as far as possible from the harsh 

 lines. The cross, of course, must be 

 made on straight lines. To relieve this 

 severity a garland of roses is thrown 

 over it, but the chief feature of the ar- 

 rangement is the planting of graceful 

 small kentias and small Boston ferns in 



and is, of course, prepared with a plaus- 

 ible excuse for not having the cash with 

 him. Possibly the writing was done in 

 your presence, but this adds nothing to 

 the value of the paper or the check. 



It is not the fine printing and fluent 

 handwriting upon a piece of paper of 

 a fine texture that puts the value in the 

 check, if there is any there. Neither 

 is the apparent genuineness of the sig- 



nature a guaranty that the check is good. 

 Take no stock in a check unless tendered 

 by some responsible person known to yon 

 or to some of your employees, or per- 

 haps vouched for by an acquaintance of 

 yours. 



Of course we all dislike to turn away a 

 sale, and for that reason are willing to 

 take a chance, especially if we have a 

 lot of short stuff on hand and the party 

 gives us a nice funeral order. 



But there is another way to view this. 

 It is seldom that a man of commonsense 

 will ask a firm where he is not known 

 to loan him money, which is about the 

 same as expecting to have a check 

 cashed. If your prospective customer is 

 really sincere he will not take offense 

 at your refusal, but will have all the 

 more respect for you. 



Florists Are Favorite Game. 



When Mr. Don't U. Trustme arrives 

 in town on the 3:33 flier from the south, 

 which he left unexpectedly because it was 

 getting too warm to be cozy, one of the 

 first tradesmen to be accorded a visit is 

 the florist. 



Psychologists have never been able to 

 explain this, but it is a fact. It must be 

 that the gentleman in question has been 

 imbibing freely of the society notes in a 

 Sunday paper and is afraid we florists 

 will^ become money-bound, or, to make 

 myself understood, he is worrying as to 

 how we will dispose of all our money, 

 for has not every dozen tulips we sell 

 during the week grown into an elaborate 

 table decoration with palms, ferns, etc., 

 thrown in, by the time the news appears 

 in the society columns? But this is get- 

 ting away from the excuse for this 

 article, and the real reason why so many 

 of these swindlers attempt to work flower 

 stores is that by the aid of the death 

 notice it is easy to make up a story that 

 will defy detection. 



A First Experience. 



The writer has come in contact with 

 several gentlemen intent upon making a 

 comfortable living without unnecessary 

 physical exertion. In each of these in- 

 stances a different story was told, always 

 a most plausible one, too. 



Several years ago a middle-aged, well- 

 dressed man happened into the store late 

 one afternoon and, with tears balanced 

 upon his lower eyelids, told of having 

 suddenly lost his only near relative, a 

 dear sister. Ordering a wreath and a 

 spray, he came forth with a check for 

 about one-third more than the amount of 

 the order. 



So far, so good. This was nothing out 

 of the ordinary and, but for the rule of 

 the house never to accept a stranger's 

 check, he of the sad expression would 

 have departed with about $10 easy money 

 jingling in his pocket. Still, our man 

 insisted upon the pieces being made up, 

 saying that as we would not accept his 

 check we might collect at the house. If 

 he had not forgotten to shed more tears 

 that might have insured his getaway, but 

 the sudden drying of the lachrymal flow 

 aroused suspicion and he was finally 

 asked to tell his story at police head- 

 quarters. When last heard from, he was 

 becoming quite graceful with the lock 

 step. 



A Second Attempt. 



Our last experience was with a dapper 

 young fellow who would have nothing 

 less than several dozen best Beauties, 

 price being no consideration whatever. 

 While he looked as though he had some 



