10 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



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Makch 2, 1911. 



may seem. In every community there 

 are people who appreciate the artistic 

 touch and are glad to pay its price. 



Better Value with Fewer Flowers. 



Say, then, that you will decorate a 

 room or one feature of it for so much, 

 and do not bind yourself to a definite 

 number of flowers or other materials 

 of a certain grade. That will allow 

 you an opportunity to use fewer, finer 

 and larger specimens if it suits the pur- 

 pose, or a larger number of smaller 

 ones. If decoration is artistically done 

 with reference to the place, not many 

 will inquire about the number of flow- 

 ers employed. In fact, impress upon 

 them that they get better value in an 

 artistic effect than in superabundance 

 of material. 



All this takes for granted that your 

 material is worth so much, your time 

 so much and the wear and tear so 

 much, added to the value of the pic- 

 ture. In other words, do not make the 

 selling price of the flowers and the 

 making-up materials, added to the time, 

 the only determining factors in esti- 

 mating the price of work. All these 

 things must be considered, but they are 

 by no means the only ones. 



"But the other man won't do that." 

 Well, probably he has the same opinion 

 of you. At any rate, let him go his 

 way. Big quantities, too much for the 

 money, do not pay. It can not last in 

 the long run. Gertrude Blair. 



THE WOBLD DESIGN. 



The accompanying illustration is re- 

 produced from a photograph of a unique 

 design made by the Fleischman Floral 

 Co., Chicago, February 27. The design 

 was ordered by the friends of John J. 

 Bohn, publisher of the Hotel World, 

 who was instantly killed by an auto- 

 mobilie. The idea, of course, was to 

 connect the name of the paper with the 

 form "of the design, a reproduction of 

 the world in flowers. George Wien- 

 hoeber states that the piece was over 

 seven feet high, the oceans on the 

 sphere being made in white carnations, 

 with violets for the continents. Every 

 now and then a maker-up is compelled 

 by the necessities of his business tD 

 study the design of some society or 

 other emblem, but in this case it seems 

 a safe assertion that the florist had to 

 get out his geography, for the design, 

 though it shows only the western hem- 

 isphere in the picture, was complete on 

 both sides; the whole world was there. 



FEATUBING THE ACCESSOBIES. 



Every modern flower store carries in 

 stock a great nuany things besides flow- 

 ers, and upon the skill with which they 

 are displayed depends to a large extent 

 the volume of business done with the 

 innumerable accessories which so en- 

 hance the attractive qualities of the 

 work turned out,- and which add so 

 materially to the profit that is made in 



the operation of the store. In fitting 

 up a flower store it is worth while to 

 give considerable study to the facili- 

 ties for the display of the accessories. 

 You know the old proverb, "Out of 

 sight, out of mind." Pause long enough 

 to give a thought to the fact that the 

 old saw applies to yourself and your 

 clerks as well as to your customers; 

 ^lesmen are as prone as others to for- 

 get. Whatever you have to sell, it 

 should be kept in sight — in sight of 

 everyone and all the time. 



The illustration on the opposite page 

 was prepared from a photograph made 

 recently in the new store of C. P. Muel- 

 ler, Wichita, Ean., who has achieved 

 two worthy ends in his effort to make 

 things handy as well as up-to-date. In 

 the first place, he has an attractive es- 

 tablishment, one that would be a credit 

 to a much larger town than Wichita, 

 but a no less im,portant fact is that he 

 has so arranged his store that the 

 basket^, vases, jardinieres, pot covers 

 and ribbons are where clerk and cus- 

 tomer both have them in view — and 

 seeing is believing in this as well as 

 in other things. By all means keep 

 your accessories attractively in sight — 

 play them up and your use of them 

 will increase, and with this increase 

 will come added profit. 



THE BEGINNEB. 



The World in Flowers. 



I was much interested in the paper 

 published in The Review, by S. S. Ski- 

 delsky, entitled "Are We Progressive?" 

 especially in the question he raises 

 about the would-be florist. There is no 

 doubt that there is a common delusion 

 that there are tremendous profits to be 

 made in the growing of flowers that in- 

 duces many small capitalists, who have 

 absolutely no knowledge of the subject, 

 to go into the business; most of them 

 after a few years sell out at probably 

 one-third to one-half the original cost; a 

 few struggle along and by hard work 

 manage to make both ends meet. This 

 constant flow of capital into the busi- 

 ness, for which there is no adequate re- 

 turn, must tend to reduce the profits of 

 the legitimate grower. 



It does not follow, because a man 

 has succeeded in raising a few plants in 

 his own little greenhouse or hotbeds, or 

 because he has, or thinks he has, a love 

 for flowers, that he is competent to 

 grow stock for market. If this man 

 wishes to become a florist, there are 

 opportunities offered in private estab- 

 lishments, which work would probably 

 suit him better. Is there any other pro- 

 fession in which the ways and means 

 are so easily accessible to the public as 

 the florists'? Could not a more definite 

 line be drawn between private and com- 

 mercial horticulture? I do not think 

 we require horticultural schools so much 

 as schools where commercial growing 

 can be taught. Why do not some of our 

 best growers take pupils? We seem to 

 have plenty of colleges, presided over 

 by learned professors, which is all very 

 well for the private gardener. I believe 

 horticultural schools for young men, 

 who are not and never have'worked at 

 the business, only tend to increase the 

 number of incompetents. They get 

 chock full of theory, and when they 

 start at the practical work they expect 

 to begin too high up, without having a 

 thorough knowledge of small details, 

 which, in this business, is one of the 

 chief factors which go to make suc- 

 cess in growing; also it tends to make 

 them forget the hard work, even 



