The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



845 



r. 



.<«^<#^i*^<»^(«^<«-^<«'-s.i«^'«^<«^.<*^<»^ (♦^<«^<*^(«^(«^^«^( 



9-Vi*i 



THE RETAIL ^^^^t 

 FLORIST I 



out. 



of a (•l:i>-.. ~(i. hn , or school buying plants 

 from .\uii, uiii iiiiiiht arrange to have 

 thciii ijiaiitiil lur tlipm; in many cases 

 we notice plants in pots put around some 

 monuments, only to be dried up and 

 swept away in a day or two. Where there 

 is no room to put plants nut, hi'Hcr in 



dUce II..' lurlV I.. :mI.i|,( llir u,,.;in, 



.-\^Mill. ;i> I.I til.' (;i:ili,l Xlliiv I'.. -I -, ^^. 

 scarcciv .Mil I1..I.I 111. 1.1 .,-|i....-.lil.' III. 



what we s.-.. 1I....1. i....>.i.;j ul..!-i .... 



parade on .M....... .:. 1 li:.\. W .' :.i. m 



clined to tliii.k il.ji .... I. |...-i -h....l,l ;.i 



least carry a w.-ll ina.l.- wi.'.illi. ;in.l tl.iit 

 every man in the jiost cnuld be imlui-ed to 

 pay 25 or 50 cents for an individual 

 wreath, providing it was made prettily, 

 and in quantity, small, pretty wreaths 

 could be made for that price. Again, let 

 us say that for Christmas and Easter 

 we make herculean efforts to capture 

 trade; would it not pay to make up a 

 set of Memorial Day wreaths? Not arti- 



Decoration Day. 



Decoration day must now be consid- 

 ered in many ways. 'Tis not altogether 

 the day of sad memories which occasioned 

 its na'ming. The extraordinary march of 

 time with its ever increasing army of 

 new people must needs change condi- 

 tions. Originally a day set aside for the 

 decorating of the graves of those who 

 fell in defense of the republic, it has be- 

 come a great and grand institution, a 

 national day upon which the smiles of 

 prosperity quickly dry up the tears of 

 adversity. The young girl, in her gaudy 

 dress on pleasure bent, may be seen go- 

 ing half way to the cemetery with her 

 widowed mother, and the picture typi- 

 fies the present and the country, and in 

 this light must the ilorist consider it. 

 The past made the present possible, but 

 the present is too much innoculated with 

 its get thereisms to stop to acknowledge 

 the debt. 



Upon the florists of this country de- 

 volves the duty of preserving the orig- 

 inal intent of Memorial Day, and in our 

 humble opinion some organized effort 

 should be made with that end in view. 

 The decorating of the principal monu- 

 ment in each city on that day by the flor- 

 ists would result in a vast amount of 

 good to the trade, for it would remind 

 others of their duty. Here in New York 

 the day is a general holiday, almost 

 every line of business is shut tight. 

 There is quite a business done in flow- 

 ers to be worn on the street, and the 

 Greeks' stands are the most patronized; 

 the stores do very little business, espe- 

 cially in the afternoon, and should be 

 closed. Almost everyone who can plans 

 to go out of the city and many boxes of 

 flowers are taken to friends. 



The principal part of the trade, how- 

 ever, is in small bedding plants, and 

 the growers attending the plant market 

 derive nearly all the benefit of this section. 

 Of late years some of the Sunday-schools 

 have in an organized way bought a num- 

 ber of plants to decorate prominent 

 graves. Usually the Sunday before Dec- 

 oration Day the general public go out 

 to the cemeteries to decorate family 

 graves, consequently it may be said the 

 greatest plant trade is done a week or 

 more before the 30th. Al'most every kind 

 of plant and design is used. Some ter- 

 rible things are seen on graves some- 

 times, and we often wonder if the flor- 

 ists' tongue or the ideas of the customer 

 are responsible; we fear it is both in 

 the majority of cases. This much can be 

 said, however, to the credit of the peo- 

 ple who have lived a few years in this 

 country, that they prefer natural to ar- 

 tificial flowers for decorating purposes. 

 Of course almost anything you have 

 growing can be used, and it is perhaps 

 only business to try and sell every- 

 thing, but we should not forget that there 

 are many things inappropriate. 



Let's talk things over. Don't you think 

 that you could induce some school or so- 

 ciety to invest a small sum in connection 

 with the greatest event in the history of 

 their country ? True, you may not make 



to 



in praise of the manner in which New 

 York monuments have been decorated for 

 the past seven or eight years, and every 

 year it grows worse. Ten or fifteen years 

 ago (here used to be considerable rivalry 

 ...... ...J (!..-■ lH-=t lI..ri-(- as to who could 



I. 1 H 1h I H...I .... .1m principal monu- 



I I... I .,1 !.■. .1.1 ■ ...IS the W(n-k |ia3 



I... .. I. 11 i.i . nil. .11-. II - ..r worse; the con- 

 sciiicnci.s arc that willi a few exceptions 

 the life ell'ort of many a famou.s sculptor is 

 made for the time a thing of ridicule. 



The Son^^ of I lie American Kcvolutioil 

 and the hi-l. >-.. i.c ..f New York are 



the only iw" - n. a ho show dignity 



and revcii-ii.-.- m il..'ii .lecorations for 

 this occasion. The ioriii.i .. . - ;. ."o lii.li 

 round wreath of green ._';.l,i n 1 m in 

 and outside of the wrc.iili mI iii.i/c 



.II.' ;il»:i\> W.I I iikmI.' and are very 

 I III. In.', (111.- i- |,hi..'.| on the Nathan 

 II:. I., \\ .i-l.iii'ji.iM .1 ml .Montgomery mon- 

 ..III. Ill- li. I'.', 'III.' l.iiliT snciely has 

 .i.|..|il.'il ill.. .•T.'~i'.iil \v I nil h III! my leaves, 

 ii.'.l III 111.' I<.|i «iili lii-h iiihI ,\merican 

 ,silk ll,ii;s; thc^c III.' |.ul nil I lie graves 

 of those who were prominent in the re- 

 bellion of 1798. 



The Swedish and Norwegian singing 

 societies of Greater New York yearly 

 march to the Battery, at old Castle Gar- 

 den, and each club" puts a wreath of 

 flowers on Ericsson's statue. Their col- 

 ors, of course, form a great part in the 

 decoration, but they put wreaths around 



CZ1 czi d: 



lig Bell ul Appl.- Bl.i: 



A Wedding 



Hid llie Monogram. 



Decoration. 



ficial stock, but well-made designs in nat- 

 ural material. We are of the opinion 

 that if such were on exhibition in your 

 window, and on your counter from now 

 on, many could be sold. Some special 

 effort should be made to have our trade 

 more closely identified with the day. It 

 is n.iw I.I nil iiiii'iit and purposes a flor- 

 ists' .lii\, lull ii i- yearly becoming more 

 ima,i;iii:ir.\ .iml I.'— a fact, and it is the 

 profossiiin',- mvi] fault. 



We regret to say we cannot say much 



his neck, pile his hands full, and tie 

 more on his legs until it seems that the 

 poor statue similes and scowls at its 

 plight. Of late the colored people alone 

 take care of Lincoln's monument, with 

 characteristic results. Regimental mon- 

 uments are disfigured bv cheap paper 



iiiu.l.i, II. ,u. 111.. I 11;, mil,, "liiii i.'ll.' de- 



siu'..- I,;il,.\.ll,' I'.i-i iii.ik.'- ...in., at- 



I'nt pole from which to suspend 



