10 



The Florists' Review 



DacBMBaB 26, 1912. 



come accustoraed to expecting maxi- 

 mum prices in every department of 

 trade at Christmas. There is no reason 

 for anyone, grower or retailer, to feel 

 otherwise than satisfied with the Christ- 

 mas business in cut flowers. Naturally, 

 now that other salable stock is avail- 

 able, the retailers are apt to push the 

 less perishable articles, but the demand 

 for cut flowers is world-wide and con 

 stant. The box of cut flowers is the 

 refuge of the last-day Christmas buyer 

 who does not know what else to send. 

 It is as staple in a flower store as 

 sugar in a grocery. 



Greens have sold as usual. The holly 

 wreath has never-changing vogue. 



Easter Is Near. 

 The interval between Christmas and 

 the next great flower day, Easter, is 

 shorter this year than for many seasons. 

 The character of the Easter business is 

 radically different from that of Christ- 

 mas, but the experience of the current 

 week leads to every assurance thai 

 Easter of 1913 will consume everything 

 of salable quality the trade can have 

 ready in the third week in March. 





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I 



THE RETAIL 



FLORIST, 



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OHEISTMAS NOVELTIES. 



Possibly the best selling Christmas 

 novelty was the small split willow or 

 braid basket, dyed red, mossed and 

 filled with boxwood sprays, red ruscus 

 and winter berries, of course with some 

 red ribbon on the handle. Stores that 

 were ready in time sold these in sur- 

 prising numbers at from $2 to $5 each. 

 There were plenty of ways to vary the 

 filling, but in most cases the more red 

 the basket contained, without being all 

 red, the better seller it was. 



The Christmas trees mounted on 

 plateaus and trimmed up as shown in 

 The Review for December 12 proved 

 splendid sellers. A tree that cost 25 

 cents could, with the addition of the 

 "fixings," be given a selling value of 

 $2 or $2.50 in any store catering to 

 prosperous people. 



Buscus was everywhere. Retailern 

 who used ten pounds last Christma4 

 used 100 pounds this season. Where it 

 all came from is a question, for it is a 

 natural product, but that the supply 

 proved equal to the demand was a 

 proof of the resourcefulness of the 

 supply houses. In fact, most of them 

 were so resourceful that they provided, 

 at the last moment, just a little more 

 than they could sell, though earlier in 

 the season many were short. There was 

 considerable variation in the quality of 

 the ruscus, but the ordinary store florist 

 cares less for the length of the sprays 

 than he does for the color; a bright 

 red is wanted, not a dull, dark red. 



McCUTCHEON'S ROSES. 



There is probably no better known 

 artist than John T. McCutcheon, and 



the fact that the decoration shown in 

 the accompanying illustration wag for 

 one of his luncheons at the Blackstone 

 hotel will add interest to it. The func- 

 tion was in the English room, where all 

 the furnishings are dark. Consequently 

 Richmond roses were used. Since the 

 table was long, to seat thirty-two 

 guests, it was necessary to divide the 

 decoration into three sections, identical 

 except that the mound of roses in the 

 center was slightly larger than the two 

 at the ends. The decoration was bv 

 J'ohn Mangel. 



BENSON'S NEW STORE. 



Indianapolis recently has advanced 

 perceptibly in its importance as a 

 flower center and in the character of 

 its retail establishments. Indianapolis 

 always has been a first-class flower 

 town, with several firms doing a large 

 and profitable business. Recently the 

 number has been increased by the open- 

 ing of the new establishment of the 

 Hill-Heller Co. and one of the old es- 

 tablished retailers has advanced in 

 rank through moving from his old store 

 into a much larger and handsomer store 

 in the Denison hotel, which is one of 

 the best locations in the city. In the 

 accompanying illustrations two views 

 are given of the new Denison hotel 

 establishment. Lester F. Benson is pro- 

 prietor. He has now been in his new 

 quarters long enough to have demon- 

 strated that in this case, as in others 

 of its kind, the increased and improved 

 facilities have brought a prompt re- 

 sponse from the public. His business 

 is much larger than it was in the old 

 store. Mr. Benson has greenhouses at 

 Twenty-second street and Park avenue, 

 but he is not able to produce anything 

 like the quantity of stock he retails. 

 He is a large buyer at Indianapolis and 

 also in the Chicago market. 



Champaign, HI. — Thomas Franks & 

 Son have completed the enlarging and 

 remodeling of their greenhouses. 



A Decoration of Richmond Roses for a Luncheon for John T. McCutcheon. 



