MAY 22, 1913. 



The Florists^ Review 



15 



I 



THE RETAIL 



I 



FLORIST 



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CIBOTIUM AND CATTLEYAS. 



One of the favorite large designs of 

 the Fleischman Floral Co., Chicago, is 

 the cross; whenever George W. Wien- 

 hoeber is approached by a customer 

 who wants a piece that will overtop all 

 others at the funeral of some proitninent 

 citizen, where there is sure to be a 

 wealth of flowers, he is rather apt to 

 locommend a big cross — and he makes 

 many of them six or seven feet high. 

 The accompanying illustration shows 

 one of Mr. Wienhoeber 's crosses. It 

 was, as the picture shows, of massive 

 l)roportions. The cross itself was made 

 of prepared magnolia leaves on a 

 mossed wire frame. At the intersec- 

 tion of the arms there was a mass of 

 cattleyas with which a little Mexican 

 ivy was used. The base of the design 

 of course had to be large, in proportion 

 to the height of the cross, but it could 

 not be heavy. Cibotium Schiedei ap- 

 pears to be the ideal material for the 

 purpose, with a few kentia leaves to 

 break the line and orchids to lend rich- 

 ness of coloring. 



IS THE WHOLESALER UNFAIR? 



I was much interested in a letter 

 from A. T. P. in The Review of May 

 8, page 11, under the title of "What Is 

 the Wisest Course?" The letter tells 

 of "an old established firm that dis- 

 poses of its surplus flowers, principally 

 carnations, to fruit stands around town 

 at an extremely low figure, low enough 

 80 that they retail at 35 cents per 

 dozen, while the market price at pres- 

 ent is 75 cents. ' ' 



Now, it would almost seem that the 

 old established firm that A. T. P. 

 speaks of must be the wholesaler that 

 furnishes private parties in our town 

 with flowers at wholesale prices, for 

 receptions, pink teas, auction bridge, 

 etc., and causes the poor retailers to 

 be looked upon as highway robbers. 

 Nobody seems to think that we retail- 

 ers are at any expense at all, or that 

 we have to live, though the cost of 

 just existing is considerable these 

 days. Besides, when flowers are sold 

 so cheaply, people do not want any- 

 thing "so common." I prefer to lose 

 or give away my flowers when busi- 

 ness is dull, rather than reduce the 

 price to so low a figure, as the nig- 

 ;,'ardly buyers never want to pay more 

 when prices advance and the fastidious 

 customers do not want to buy anything 

 so cheap. 



I wish more members of the trade 

 would give their opinions on this sub- 

 ject and pay their special respects to 

 the firms that wholesale to private 

 parties. S. C. 



THE LIVE-WIRE FLORIST. 



[.\n extract from a paper submitted to the 

 KerbT ^**^ Society of Florists by William 



I do not know of any undertaking 

 ■where the business chances are greater 

 against one than the grower's end of 



the florists ' trade — chances such as 

 those he must take with hail storms, 

 wind storms, zero blizzards, freeze-outs, 

 boiler explosions, fungoid or bacterial 

 disease, insects, and disruption of crop 

 plans due to varying weather condi- 

 tions. Then he must figure on the wear 

 and tear on his greenhouses, high in- 

 surance rates, and moving out the old 

 soil and moving in the new, with a tern 

 perature hovering near 110 degrees un 



a good salesman, polite and courteous, 

 with some executive ability, and must 

 be a good judge of human uature, which 

 will assist him in handling working 

 people. He should have some artistic 

 ability in arranging flowers and plants, 

 and should be a sort of mechanical 

 genius, handy with every detail, from 

 erecting greenhouses to installing the 

 heating apparatus, piping, etc. He 

 must always be on the alert, eager to 

 learn the latest methods of other suc- 

 cessful growers. Last, but not least, 

 he must be square and honest and a 

 good manager, financially. Show me a 

 man of this caliber, turning out high- 

 class flowers each year, and I will show 

 you a live-wire florist. And it matters 

 not whether he served one year or forty 

 years at his trade, or if his former occu- 

 pation was that of a butcher or a shoe- 

 maker, or whatever it may be; he is 

 delivering the goods in his line and 

 should be respected. 



Cross of Magnolia Leaves, Orchids and Cibotium. 



der the glass. These are only a few of 

 the chances with which the grower 

 must contend. 



Now, in regard to the qualification 

 of the live-wire florist: He should he 



Does the retailer take the chances or 

 have the worries of the ofttimes over- 

 worked grower? He should assist all 

 he can during the glut of the market, 

 and do it cheerfully. 



