J 86 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



iial warfare, with fears within and foes 

 • without. If it is not the spot it is the 

 black fly, and if it is neither of these it 

 is something else in the vfay of insect or 

 mould or mildew, just as bad. It is pos- 

 sible there is a decline in the vigor of 

 plants long in cultivation, and divided 

 again and again in propagation, or per- 

 haps less careful methods of culture pre- 

 vail, but the fact stands up stern and 

 apparent that the output and quality are 

 greatly reduced now compared with the 

 past. 



The ealla is another plant which seems 

 destined to decline under the attack of 

 disease, and we hear one of the largest 

 growers near this city has practically lost 

 his whole stock by rot. 



Peter C. Erdman, long regarded as one 

 of the most skillful of oiir carnation 

 growers, voices the general sentiment 

 when he says the great need of the trade 

 is still a first-class market white. On 

 his place old Lizzie McGowan still stands 



at the head of commercial sorts for pro- 

 ductiveness, line flowers and good health, 

 but it has faults known of all men. 

 White Cloud gives some magnificent 

 blooms, but many flowers are distorted, 

 llie calyx bursts or the flower fails to 

 open, and the variety will be discarded. 

 Flora Hill docs better, the flowers being 

 large and the bloom continuous, whilst 

 on his place Mary Wood is a perfect 

 beauty in shape, pure white color and 

 freedom of bloom. 



One of the oldest gardeners here is 

 Obadiah Kemp, now 86 years of age, but 

 still able to discourse of flowers and 

 plants and with interesting reminiscences 

 of local aiTiirs horticultural. He is an 

 Englishman bj birth, who came to this 

 country about 184::, and bought land in 

 the suburbs which is vow selling at 

 prices wonderfully multiplied over what 

 it cost, thus securing him provision for 

 comfort and ease in his declining years. 

 Eix. 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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Carnations from a Store View-Point. 



Well and fondly, too, do we remember 

 the old days when long stemmed carna- 

 tions were the exception in the market. 

 We might say the grower practiced then 

 what might be called dis-flowering as 

 much as he does dis-budding to-day, and 

 vft. ^ay fiftnri years ago, the carnation 

 hold :i Ihl'Im I I'lace in floral art than it 

 diir- Id ,l;i\. In those days a carnation 

 lunc luMiii. till. Ml ball decoration was a 

 common occurrence in the highest so- 

 ciety; bouquets and baskets of carna- 

 tions were considered the prettiest of all 

 floral favors, now they are seldom seen. 

 Of course, it was necessary to introduce 

 outlets for short stemmed flowers in 

 those times, and many of the froatioiis 

 have never been equaled. To l.n Mir mi 

 nation is expected to sell ii rli \ii t,,i 

 the time has given way to -< m ih ( In 

 the old days the ingenuity nni :il.:lity 

 of the floral artist overshailowcd tlir 

 poverty of material; in the present days 

 the rich gorgeousness of material smoth- 

 ers or dwarfs the ideas of the store men 

 to a lamentable degree. Beauty of flower 

 never diminishes in the hand of the 

 artist. No matter how fine the grower 

 may produce carnations, the retailer can 

 add to their value and should be able 

 to do so, though in justice to them we 

 must admit his recompense may be small. 



The prices of carnation flowers have 

 steadily increased. Last Christmas and 

 New Year's unprecedented and entirely 

 unreasonable prices were asked and de- 

 manded by grower or agent. There may 

 be some short-lived glory, some momen- 

 tary exultant gulp of satisfaction en- 

 joyed by grower and wholesaler in get- 

 ting or exacting the highest possible 

 price, but there is a vast amount of harm 

 in the aftermath. 'Tis our place to talk 

 upon the subject from behind the retail 

 counter, which is after all the most im- 

 portant factor in the business. 



We go out in the morning to buy our 



stock and get from the different sources 

 as many carnations as the day's business 

 justifies. It may be hundreds, it may be 

 thousands. And for them we pay prices 

 ranging from 3 to 10 cents. We have 

 not had time to put them in water be- 

 fore the door opens and a millionaire's 

 wife asks you: "What have you got that 

 will keep and is inexpensive?" You rec- 

 commend carnations, and your lowest 

 prices are from 75 cents to $2 per dozen. 

 Suppose she takes any of them, there is 

 always the unthinking, imperative re- 

 quest for plenty of greens to accompany 

 them. Y'ou pay 25 cents for a bunch of 

 geranium, .^1 |ii i- luiiiclred for adiantum, 

 an cqui\.iMiii i.m -milax or asparagus; 

 you caniioi , uu ji |..r the greens, and 

 when Veil -io|, t,, lijnir out the expenses 

 In.iii iniliiiiij ilir ilnwn^ 111 a box until 

 I hrv ,M (■ <lrliMi,.,l io liri ladyshlp you 

 ini'jlil h.nr 111. nil' a iVw rriits and VOU 

 im-hL iuuo lo.-,t tl„ii, ; the matter is" in 

 doubt till j'our stock is all sold. 



A poor man comes in, he wants to send 

 some girl a few flowers, he naturally 

 imagines carnations are cheaper and will 

 last longer, your conscience smites you 

 and you either sell at cost price or 

 charge at a meager rate of profit, and if. 

 as is usual, you put in lots of greens to 

 make a big showing, you have sold at a 

 loss. The "shopper," man or woman it 

 may be, visits you, mauls over your 

 stock, sneers at it, tells you So and So 

 sells the same kind and quality for al- 

 most half what you have asked, and if 

 you really preserve your patience and 

 make a sale, and after they have selected 

 your finest blooms, broken off two or 

 three others, and chewed down your 

 price, make out a profit, you deserve to 

 be known. There is the occasional tele- 

 phone order, or selection made by some 

 wealthy person when price is not consid- 

 ered because it is a charge order; these 

 latter are the merciful elements which 

 lighten the scales of your business de- 



Every retailer, every one who buys 

 flowers for his store, will agree with us 

 when we say carnations are too high- 

 priced, and the endeavor to put them on 

 the level of importance with the rose can 

 only result in regrets. That wonderful 

 strides have been made in their cultiva- 

 tion, that the carnations of to-day are 

 beautiful evidences of the highest in- 

 telligence, that they are, at least some of 

 them, magnificent, there is no denying; 

 but very few of them are worth what is 

 charged for them at wholesale. Most 

 retailers will pay an exorbitant price 

 for a bunch of this or that merely to 

 put them in their windows to let their 

 customers see they handle the best, it 

 pays them to have them in their window, 

 but it injures them to ask anything more 

 than they paid for them; these invest- 

 ments should not be considered as an 

 indication of the value of the flower. 



We are not advocating cheapness in 

 fiowers when denouncing high prices, 

 there is a medium, let live, honest, 

 height upon which all may walk. A 

 business, like a good character, can 

 seldom be built up on an unthinking or 

 unreasonable policy, and the flower busi- 

 ness, which is perhaps the most change- 

 able, the most unreasonable of all, in- 

 jures itself by its severe attitude towards 

 that upon which it lives. It may be 

 true, as some growers assert, that the 

 cost of production of some varieties de- 

 mand high prices, if so, those varieties 

 have no long future before them. 



At present we see three great grades 

 of carnations on the market — the very 

 poor, which nobody wants; the medium, 

 which all use; the finest quality, Avhich 

 all admire, but few can pay for. The 

 man who cultivates the first" ekes out a 

 wretched life; he who grows the second 

 may be happier at the year's end than he 

 who labors incessantly to produce the 

 last. There is to-day, there has been 

 for the past year or two an unsatisfied 

 demand for reasonable sized carnations 

 at a fair price, and the man who succeeds 

 in producing and disseminating a var- 

 iety that will accomplish as much as 

 Grace Wilder or William Scott will do 

 more for floriculture than he who brings 

 forth thelarw-t and fanri.^t of all! 



In considi'i inn . a i iiit ion- fi..in the re- 

 tailers' couni.i. M, noi-i mdj< llicm as 

 we see and lia\.. .\|.,ii,ii,r with them. 

 In the first place, a long name is but a 

 millstone upon any flower; the sure ab- 

 breviation of that name in many cases 

 entirely obliterates the object of the in- 

 troducer. Not one customer in fifty will 

 ask the name of any carnation you offer, 

 and if told very few remember. The short- 

 er and more attractive the name the bet- 

 ter for the flower's future. There are 

 sonic poor varieties of carnations on the 

 market today. Perhaps the carnation 

 that "goes to sleep." as the shriveling up 

 habit is generally termed, is the greatest 

 enemy to the future of carnation popu- 

 larity. When a customer, good or bad, 

 comes into your store and buys carna- 

 tions and pays a high price for them on 

 the supposition that they are even then 

 cheap because of their expected lasting 

 quality, there is a sad disappointment on 

 the morrow, and the truth is too often too 

 vividly plain in your own ice-box that 

 both you and your customer are victims. 



There are three or four possible causes 

 for the early closing of carnations. Lack 

 of knowledge or consideration for what is 

 required to produce long keeping stock, 

 improper or too long a storage before 

 shipping. It is true that a few varie- 

 ties are particularly addicted to this 



