456 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



blamed the weather. We were alwa3's 

 under the impression that weather could 

 have no effect on the stock as it is pre- 

 served. 



Leucothoe sprays, both bronze and 

 green, are being mucli used in New York 

 for a background to flat bunches or as 

 sprays in cut flower boxes. They are 

 very useful with large flowers. 



I\t;ra. 



POINTS TO RETAILERS. 



At the last meeting of the Chicago 

 Florists' Club Mr. E. Buettner led in a 

 discussion as to what the retailers should 

 do to increase the sale of flowers. He 

 sharply criticised the window displays of 

 most retailers and said the vases of 

 flowers of all colors were usually jum- 

 bled together without any taste what- 

 ever. If a customer comes in several of 

 these vases of flowers are set before her 

 to select from, and the seller depends 

 entirely upon the quality of the stock 

 to sell it. He held that sales could be 

 much enlarged if stock was presented in 

 a more attractive manner and instanced 

 the expansion in the trade in plants, 

 since some effort had been directed te- 



lle was positive that two bunches of 

 flowers could be sold where one is sold 

 now if the retailers would study ways of 

 presenting their wares attractively, as 

 there are lots of people who will buy if 

 the desire for possession is raised by an 

 attractive arrangement. He told of an 

 instance he had noted where a bowl of 

 wall flowers had attracted no notice from 

 customers until the retailer had made a 

 pretty arrangement of them in a hamp- 

 er. It quickly sold at a good price and 

 others followed as fast as they could be 

 made up. 



He continually emphasized the neces- 

 sity of tempting the buyers by artistic 

 arrangement rather than depending upon 

 sales by the dozen merely. He held 

 that a pretty bunch of two dozen carna- 

 tions could be sold in most cases to the 

 lady who had called with the intention 

 of buying but one dozen. He held that 

 there had been more progress in the at- 

 tractive presentation of groceries to 

 the prospective buyers than in flowers. 

 He also spoke of the importance of pret- 

 tily arranging flowers in the box for 

 delivery. 



The various points mentioned were en- 

 dorsed by several of the retailers pres- 



Cyclamen Grandifiora Fimbriatum. 



ward presenting them to customers in 

 such a way as to bring out and enhance 

 their decorative value. 



He spoke of the average bunch of vio- 

 lets as resembling Kruger with his 

 whiskers and scored the retailers for 

 being content to offer violets to their 

 customers bunched just as they came 

 from the growers. He said the growers 

 were not supposed to be artists, but the 

 retailers ought to be, and should make 

 some effort to show it. 



He mentioned the great care given by 

 dry goods merchants to displaying their 

 wares to best advantage, and the fact 

 that their best talent is devoted to the 

 arrangement of their window displays 

 in a way to attract buyers into the store. 

 He felt that the great majority of the 

 retail florists were woefully negligent of 

 their opportunities in this respect. 



ent. Mr. E. Wienhoeber said that the 

 neater and prettier the bunch presented 

 to the customer the easier it was to sell 

 it. and often a much larger quantity was 

 sold simply because the customer wanted 

 the arrangement as it was, even if it did 

 contain more flowers than she had in- 

 tended to buy. 



Mr. E. Enders, with C. A. Samuelson, 

 further emphasized the matter. They 

 make it a point to change their windov? 

 display frequently, and are constantly 

 studying on new features. Often a 

 glimpse of something in the window, or 

 the general effect, brings a passing car- 

 riage and its occupant back to the store 

 and generous sales result that would 

 have been lost but for the window dis- 

 play. And regular customers come fre- 

 quently to admire the new features. As 

 a result sales follow when customers 



had intended to merely admire. Some 

 had come to look for these changes and 

 occasionally they had an inquiry as to 

 what the main feature would be next 

 week, showing a lively interest had been 

 developed. 



The growers and wholesalers were 

 touched up a little in regard to laxity 

 in properly grading their stock. There 

 were some interesting good natured pas- 

 sages at arms and the meeting was a 

 lively and interesting one. 



THE CYCLAMEN. 



The accompanying engraving is from 

 a photograph taken Jan. 25 of a house 

 of cyclamen plants being grown for seed 

 at the establishment of Messrs. Lehnig 

 & VVinnefeld, Hackensack, N. J. The 

 house is 12x100 and contains about 500 

 plants, which have been selected for 

 seed growing from a lot of about 14,- 

 000. 



They say that with the cyclamen more 

 than anything else it is necessary to 

 have good strong seed to produce good 

 flowering plants. The seed plants must 

 be vigorous and healthy and of medium 

 size, namely twelve to fifteen inches in 

 diameter, and the foliage distinctly 

 marked. The flowers must have a 

 strong, stiff stem, not too long, but suf- 

 ficiently so to carry the blooms well 

 above the foliage. The flowers must be 

 perfect in form, of good size, and last, 

 but not least, of a clear and desirable 

 color. They take no striped or double 

 ones for seed purposes. 



The plants seen in the picture are 

 supported by model carnation supports, 

 the idea being to hold the seed pods up 

 in an airy position and protect them 

 from water and damage from lying on 

 the soil. They allow fifteen to twenty 

 seed pods to form on each plant, and 

 whenever more flowers appear on the 

 plant they pick them off to avoid any 

 overdraft on the strength of the plant. 



From now until the seed ripens the 

 plants will require even more water than 

 before, and it is well to give liquid ma- 

 nure once a week. The seed will ripen 

 by May and June and will be ready to 

 pick as soon as the seed pods show signs 

 of bursting. Each pod contains fiftj' to 

 one hundred seeds, which at first are 

 white, but soon turn to the familiar 

 brown color. 



In regard to culture Messrs. Lehnig 

 & Winnefeld say: "Seed can be sown 

 from August till September in boxes or 

 pans having good drainage. Keep well 

 moistened. In about six weeks the young 

 plants will make their appearance, and 

 when the second leaf appears they should 

 be transplanted. We have heard it 

 stated that good cyclamen can be grown 

 only jn leaf mold. It is, of course, a 

 good thing if to be had. but we have 

 ocen exhibition plants grown without 

 any leaf mold whatever. 



"If you have good airy houses with 

 modern ventilating apparatus, grow 

 them therein. If not, then use frames 

 with top and bottom ventilating. Do 

 not house the plants in the fall until 

 there is real danger of frost. Give a 

 light and airy house and keep the tem- 

 perature a trifle lower than for carna- 

 tions. 



"The demand for cyclamens at Christ- 

 mas time is very rapidly increasing. 

 Though we have increased our number 

 of plants every year, we have never been 

 able to fill all orders. Many more plants 

 could have been sold in New York last 

 Christmas had they been obtainable." 



