6 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



JAMUABT 12, 1011. 



you and never buy from you again, if 

 you are not wise enough to go and ask 

 for what is your own, doing it cheer- 

 fully but firmly, and making the call 

 soon after — sometimes very soon after — 

 the "next pay day." 



Good help is certainly a blessing, but 

 inefficient help is a loss in more ways 

 than one. If you have not good help, 

 the best way is to go after it until 

 you get it, and often that means that 

 they must be personally trained. The 

 best help is developed from boys and 

 girls — or grown-ups, for that matter — 



BETAILEBS' DELIVERY CABS. 



The leading retail florists in Chicago 

 are rapidly changing their delivery 

 equipment from horse-drawn vehicles to 

 motor wagons. The automobile has two 

 advantages for the retailer. In the first 

 place, a car will do the work of two or 

 throe teams, but it also has the ad- 

 vantage of being a first-class advertise- 

 ment. A handsome car looks like pros- 

 perity — like business. 



In order to make the automobile de- 

 livery economical it is necessary to keep 



New Packard Delivery Car of C A. Samuelson, Chicag:o. 



who have a real fondness for flowers 

 and plants. This kind of help pays, 

 and is worth all the trouble it takes to 

 get it. All delivery boys should be 

 clean and quick, . as well as obliging. 

 Just talk to them and show them the 

 necessity of being so. or offer, if it 

 seems advisable, to mid an extra quar- 

 ter to their wages, or whatever you 

 think the improved service is worth. 



It Pays to Advertise. 



Advertising pays. Give it all due 

 attention. It is as interesting, too. as 

 any card game, when once you get into 

 it. Its cost must be, like other things, 

 in proportion to the size of your trade. 

 The advertisements should change from 

 time to time, even if they consist of 

 only the merest heading and a short 

 sentence over a price list, but if you 

 wish to work up a trade in a dull town, 

 talk interestingly abou,t flowers or ferns 

 — just what you wish to push — and give 

 people the prices of a few things. 



Keep, on hand a supply of boxes, pa- 

 per, ribbons, wirework, etc. A little 

 study over sales will show what proves 

 most salable, and there is no good rea- 

 son, therefore, for letting necessities get 

 out of stock. Add something entirely 

 new and distinctive to your stock once 

 in a while, especially in the line of rib- 

 bons, letting their cost be in keeping 

 with the kind of work in which they 

 are used. It is little things that most 

 frequently need watching, so that they 

 shall not l;e wasted or cost out of pro- 

 portion to their use. V. S. O. 



Derby, Conn. — The Ansonia Floral Co. 

 had charge of the decorations at the 

 midwinter reception and dance given 

 in St. Mary's hall by Prof. M. E. Carey. 



the machine quite constantly employed; 

 an automobile standing in the garage 

 will eat its head off just as quickly as a 

 horse in the stable. But it is charac- 

 teristic of the leading retailers in Chi- 

 cago that their business extends more 

 or less all over the city. It is at least 

 necessary to make frequent trips from 

 the store to the wholesale section, and 

 the downtown retailers have deliveries 

 to make in all sections of the city. This 

 is where the automobile is economical. 

 A trip can bo made to the far south 

 side in a fraction of the time that would 

 be required with a horse. 



One of the accompanying illustrations 

 shows the new car put on the street 

 just before Christmas by C. A. Samuel- 

 son. It is a Packard chassis, with a 



body specially built for the florist, high 

 and wide, with space for the carrying 

 of bulky plants. With its plain, high 

 finish, its brass trimmings and its fore- 

 doors, the machine attracts attention 

 wherever it goes. Mr. Samuelson was 

 delayed in getting the car into service 

 by the trouble the body-maker had in 

 putting a perfect finish on the large 

 panels of the sides. These were in the 

 first place made of wood and refinished 

 time after time, only to show checks 

 just as it was thought the job was going 

 to turn out perfectly. In the end the 

 side panels were made of pressed paper, 

 the same material that is used for car 

 wheels by the railroads. 



Muir, at 3530 Michigan avenue, did 

 business forty-five years with horse- 

 drawn delivery vehicles; after forty- 

 five days' experience with an auto, it is 

 stated that: "We would find it a hard 

 matter to get along with horses now." 

 This is a Pierce-Arrow machine, supplied 

 by H. Paulman & Co., Chicago, and has 

 a body of unusual proportions built 

 especially for the florist. The color is 

 dark blue and the machine is one of the 

 most noticeable on Chicago's streets. 



THE COST OF BIBBONS. 



Florists have not failed to appreciate 

 that in the recent past they have been 

 getting exceptionally good ribbons at 

 lower cost than ever before. The ex- 

 planation in part is found in the follow- 

 ing from a textile journal's review of 

 the year: 



"Fashion, which decreed that flow- 

 ers, feathers and a dozen or so other 

 decorations were to be used for milli- 

 nery purposes, wrought havoc with the 

 ribbon business throughout the year. 

 While the greatly restricted consump- 

 tion would have been a serious matter 

 in itself, there were other factors that 

 made for a reduction of mill profits and 

 oftentimes mill losses. The chief of 

 these was the extraordinary competition 

 for the comparatively small business 

 that was procurable. Prices were re- 

 duced to such low levels in order to ob- 

 tain orders for occupation that profits 

 were a secondary consideration. Based 

 on the cost of raw material and the cost 

 of production, it is doubtful whether 

 ribbon values were ever as low as dur- 

 ing the year 1910. Narrow ribbons, and 

 particularly baby ribbons, sold freely 

 throughout the year. These are used 

 for so many purposes that they have 

 become almost indispensable in more 

 than a score of ways; but although the 



Pierce-Arrow Delivery Car of Muir, Chicago. 



