DECEMBER 15, 1S9S. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



53 



"When you have little to spare of that 

 commodity, to arrange crepe on the 

 plant, but it can be done ahead ot 

 time if you will only be careful in 

 ■watering. Crepe saturated with water 

 is worse than a starched collar when 

 it is 9S degrees in the shade; it wilts 

 badly. 



Summary. 



One more hint: There are many ot 

 your plants that are rully developed 

 in flower, or at least would be no bet- 

 ter if further out, and a good number 

 ■of them you are sure to sell. They 

 should be found a moderately cool 

 place and have their pots washed 

 several days ahead of time. Nothing 

 can be more disagreeable than to have 

 to be scrubbing a jar perhaps while 

 the customer waits. 



Another department will perhaps be 

 taken care of by another pen, but It 



cannot be impressed on you too 

 strongly to have every convenience 

 ready to your hand. i3ee that you 

 have neat, plain cards and envelopes 

 for the use of your customers. Be 

 sure to have twine of several sizes, be 

 sure and have paper of all textures 

 and sizes, and above all see that your 

 supply of boxes of every size from 

 the tiny violet box to the 5-foot 

 American Beauty "trunk" is at hand 

 and made up ready for Immediate use. 

 I have endeavored to remind you of 

 a few things you can do beforehand 

 which I believe will help. It is a try- 

 ing time. We sigh for business, but 

 when it comes in cyclonic style we re- 

 volt. So the last hint is, keep cool, 

 go to bed early, rise early, keep 

 whistling when you are not selling, 

 and drink cold tea till Jan. 1, 1S99. 

 WILLIAM SCOTT. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 



The season just closed has proved 

 that many of the old "stand-bys" can 

 still keep their place with any of the 

 new varieties. What variety in pinks 

 can touch Viviand-Morel, for instance? 

 It has been a splendid color this year 

 and as usual built up into a magnifi- 

 cent flower. Pink Ivory, too, was well 

 colored; quite different from its 

 streaked and washed appearance of a 

 year ago. Mrs. Perrin, though small, 

 finished finely, but Glory of the Pacific 

 was disappointing. lora was well fin- 

 ished, but this variety needs lots of 

 care in shipping; every flower must be 

 kept separate, or the petals will inter- 

 lace, and the flowers are practically 

 ruined before they are separated. Belle 

 •of Castlewood is off color, but other- 

 wise a splendid variety. Maud Dean 

 "we must discard on account of its poor 

 ■center. I like best in pink. Morel, Mrs. 

 Perrin and lora, in the order named. 



Golden Wedding in yellows more 

 than maintained its reputation. Its pe- 

 culiarities are now better understood 

 and it has covered itself with glory. 

 Bonnaffon everyone now grows, and it 

 ranks as the best commercial yellow. 

 Modesto makes a mammoth flower 

 from the crown bud, is a splendid col- 

 ■or, fine foliage, etc., but the stem is far 

 too weak. Yellow Queen still ranks 

 high as an early variety. Henry Hur- 

 rell as a second early deserves to be 

 grown more extensively. It is fine iu 

 every way, its strongest point being its 

 keeping qualities. It will keep well for 

 a month on the plant and improve 

 ■every day. Minerva is too soft for com- 

 mercial work. Bramhall is out of date. 



Eugene Dailledouze is still a grand 

 fiower, but hardly up to the present 

 day standard in rigidity of stem. 



Rieman on the terminal bud is ex- 

 cellent for late. Jeanne Falconer makes 

 an enormous flower, but the color is 

 poor. Some growers question the fact 

 as to whether the society was justified 

 last year in naming Peter Kay as syn- 

 onymous with this variety. Personally 

 I think tfiey were, for I grew Jeanne 

 Falconer and Peter Kay side by side 

 and not a particle of difference could 

 I see. The most beautiful yellow I saw 

 this year was a European variety 

 named Phoebus, a good grower, with 

 a decidedly aristocratic look. 



My favorites in standard yellows are 

 Wedding. Bonnaffon, Henry Hurrell 

 and Rieman. For a dark variety I 

 would give the preference to John 

 Shrimpton on account of its fine dwarf 

 habit. The new Black Hawk of course 

 is superior in color, but I am now sim- 

 ply reviewing the older varieties. 



In whites Mrs. Robinson and Jerome 

 Jones stand out as commercial favor- 

 ites. The question is whether they 

 do not stand out too prominently, for 

 wholesaler, retailer and the general 

 public get sick of them. I belie^^e it 

 pays to have enough variety to keep 

 your customers interested. At the 

 present time everybody is growing 

 Jones and Robinson, and the public 

 are Jones and Robinson sick and will 

 often turn petulantly away, saying, 

 "Oh, do please let me see something 

 else." But to proceed. Ivory and 

 Niveus still keep their place. Autumn 

 Bride as an early white made an extra 

 good showing. It is a great improve- 



ment on Mrs. Twombly, though liable 

 to damp sometimes if the weather is 

 warm. Mrs. Peabody is a very disap- 

 pointing variety. The flower is fine in 

 every way, but the neck is long and 

 weak, and as a commercial variety 

 Mrs. Peabody is out of it. Mayflower 

 was fine as usual. I have only words 

 of praise for this variety^ habit, stem, 

 flower, everything Al. 



Prices show little improvement over 

 last year, but all must concede that 

 the quantity of flowers sold was enor- 

 mous and the mum still holds its po- 

 sition (a high one) in the list of cut 

 flowers from September to Thanks- 

 giving. It is a curious fact that we al- 

 waj-s hear just about now that So and 

 So is giving up growing mums to a 

 large extent, no money in them, etc., 

 etc. Next fall So and So will appear 

 with his usual quantity or perhaps a 

 few more. "Just giving it another trial. 

 Couldn't" quite get out ot 'em, you 

 know," and so the thing goes on ad in- 

 finitum. BRIAN BORU. 



ECHEVERIA AND AMMONIACAL 

 MIXTURE. 



"G. H. M." inquires if echeveria seed 

 sown now will make plants big enough 

 for bedding in the spring? I take it 

 for granted that the echeveria meant 

 is E. secunda glauca. as that is the 

 species so largely used or formerly 

 was for carpet bedding. Most all the 

 echeveria are easily raised from seed, 

 secunda among them, but it would be 

 too late now to raise plants from seed 

 that would be of any use for bedding 

 the coming season. They increase 

 very rapidly from off-shoots and I 

 would advise procuring a stock this 

 spring and planting out as soon as 

 frost is past. When used for any de- 

 sign they are usually planted in some 

 stiff and by no means rich soil, as 

 growth is not desired, but if you want 

 them to send out lots of their off- 

 shoots give them a richer soil. Seed 

 sown now and grown along in flats 

 during the summer would make nice 

 plants for another year. 



In connection with this little suc- 

 culent, I may remark that'fifteen years 

 ago this plant was used by the mil- 

 lion. It was the leading plant in our 

 very formal so-called flower gardening, 

 especially so when the style of garden- 

 ing assumed the form of sun-dials or 

 presidents' features, but that day is 

 past and echeverias are now seldom 

 seen, except perhaps as an edging to a 

 bed. As Mr. Kanst, of Chicago, re- 

 marked to the writer this summer, 

 "Yes, carpet bedding is gone; we have 

 back the old-fashioned flowers with 

 some new ones, and I am glad of it." 



Ammoniacal Mixture. 



I think that in the columns of The 

 Review appeared a few months ago 

 perhaps a more correct method of 

 making the above. May be the Edi- 

 tor can find it, but the following 

 answers my purpose very well. I use 



