MARCH 2, 1899. 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



329 



Meteors, tlie whole edged with the fo- 

 liage of white Pandanus Veitchii. The 

 use of the white pandanus is illustra- 

 tive of Mr. Battles' genius for finding 

 and using new material. When the fo- 

 liage of Pandanus Veitchii has too 

 large a proportion of white it is known 

 that the plant is on the way to disso- 

 lution and must be got rid of. Such 

 plants can be had at a reasonable rate, 

 but should never be sold as plants. 

 Mr. Battles buys them, decorates his 

 store with them, and when a good op- 

 portunity to use the foliage arrives, 

 he cuts the whole plant down and uses 

 it entire in his scheme of arrange- 

 ment. The price of the theatre bou- 

 quet mentioned above was 5*25.00. 



Another very handsome and more 

 graceful bouquet seen at the same 

 time was of long sprays of Acacia pu- 

 bescens with lily of the valley worked 

 in near the handle and tied w-ith blue 

 ribbon of a shade to match the dress 

 of the lady who was to cany the bou- 

 quet. 



Cibotiun^ Schiedei is a tree fern 

 that Mr. Battles has found very use- 

 ful, the large fronds being especially 

 effective when laid on the cloth in a 

 dinner table decoration. He iinds that 

 the fronds of this fern last very well 

 and give satisfaction. 



He is always on the lookout for 

 good material that has not been used 

 by other florists. Primula Forbesii 

 has entered into many arrangements. 

 Acacias he uses whenever he can se- 

 cure good sprays. Recently he has 

 used camellias with great effect, thus 

 reviving temporarily this old favorite. 

 Another revival was that of the old 

 Bon Silene rose, which he had grown 

 specially for him and the buds cut 

 just as they were showing color. These 

 entered into some of his most effec- 

 tive bouquets. 



He is very particular about the rib- 

 bon he uses. Being dissatisfied with 

 all the ribbon supplied him for Ameri- 

 can Beauty roses, he finally had a rib- 

 bon manufactured specially for him 

 at considerable expense and has the 

 maker under contract to supply it to 

 him exclusively. He feels that this 

 expense was well repaid by giving him 

 a ribbon that could not be duplicated 

 elsewhere and which gave a special 

 finish to bouquets of Beauties made 

 by him. He carries these special ef- 

 fects so far as to employ a young wo- 

 man who had a special training in the 

 tying of bows and who watches care- 

 fully for any new touches in this art. 

 The class of ladies who buy flowers 

 from him are quick to note these little 

 touches and to appreciate them. 



In funeral arrangements fiat clusters 

 still lead in favor, crescent wreaths 

 coming second and crosses third. The 

 bunches are made of most any season- 

 able flowers and are generally tied 

 with ribbon. In stemming, wires are 

 used exclusively, toothpicks having 

 been entirely abandoned long ago. 



An effective funeral design noted in 

 the store at the time was a crescent 



wreath of ivy leaves with very short 

 cycas leaves freely worked in over 

 them and bunches of violets and lily 

 of the valley interspersed with a loose 

 tie of purple ribbon at the wide part. 

 This was attached to an inconspicuous 

 easel which could be folded under in 

 case it was the desire to lay the 

 wreath flat on the casket. The wreath 

 seen was on a 24-inch frame, but this 

 style is made on as large as a 36-inch 

 frame. 



A pretty wreath that was part of 

 tlie window display was a large cres- 

 cent of browned magnolia leaves with 

 two plants of white pandanus crossed 

 at the widest part of the crescent and 

 Asparagus plumosus draped across. 



Orchids are freely used and enter 

 into nearly every window display 

 when they are obtainable. 



Mr. Battles uses as little ice as pos- 

 sible in his business, depending upon 

 having perfectly fresh flowers to start 

 with ajid moving them rapidly. 



CAREFUL PACKING. 



We were considerably impressed 

 with the careful packing of the flow- 

 ers of the new carnation, Olympia, 

 brought to the Philadelphia exhibition 

 by Mr. J. N. May, Summit, N. J. While 



it is probably too elaborate for ordi- 

 nary use, the result is worth the trou- 

 ble in the case of flowers for exhibi- 

 tion. 



Disks of heavy paper or soft card 

 were cut in the form shown in the 

 accompanying engraving, with the 

 center hole of a size to fit snugly 

 around the calyx and with a slit to ad- 

 mit the stemj and one of these was 

 pressed up under each flower. As the 

 collar was a trifle larger than the 

 flower the edges of the flower were 

 protected from bruising. Then the 

 whole length of the stem was protect- 

 ed by being tied to a light wooden 

 stake of the same length as the stem, 

 and the stem was attached to the 

 stake by four or five ties of light raf- 

 fia. The flowe:-s so prepared were 

 placed in a case with several trays. 

 no flower resting on another, and the 

 lower end of the stems covered with 

 damp sphagnum. 



It seems needless to say that the 

 blooms arrived in splendid condition. 

 Olympia, by the way, is a remarkably 



large flower, the blooms on exhibition 

 averaging 3% inches in diameter. It 

 is marked much like Bradt, though the 

 form is different. The blooms shown 

 excited much favorable comment. 



NEW YORK. 



The Market. 



New York is simply limitless in its 

 magnitude, and yet when one attempts 

 to pick out items of interest to the 

 average florists, ah yes, there's whei-e 

 there's food for thought. What does 

 interest the average florist? The grow- 

 er, the wholesaler and the retailer are 

 all in different classes and perhaps the 

 only one thing in which they will con- 

 centrate their thoughts on is busi- 

 ness. Well, business at present is 

 anything but what we'd like it to be, 

 and boys, it's no use getting the bines 

 over it; let's do what we can and let 

 the culls go in the barrel. 



Prices this *veek are: Meteors, $2 

 to $10; Maids and Brides, |2 to ?S; 

 Beauties, specials, $25 to $50, next 

 grade ?12 to $25, and the next grade, 

 $2 to $6; Von Sions, $1 to $1.50; 

 golden spurs, $2 to $3; Valley, 75 

 cents to $1.50, extra $1.50 to $2; Pa- 

 per Whites, 50 cents to $1; hya- 

 cinths, 50 cents to $1; pansies, 25 to 

 50 cents; swainsona, 25 to 35 cents; 

 violets, 20 to 50 cents; smilax, $15; 

 asparagus, $35 to $50; Harrisii, $6 to 

 $10; carnations, common, 50 to $1, 

 fancy $1.50 to $4; tulips, 50 cents to 

 $3, and so on; but what's the use of 

 prolonging the agony of such stuff, 

 no one thanks a correspondent for 

 saying the market is dull or that 

 prices are abominable, and I am sure 

 we find no pleasure in writing them. 



Easter Prospects. 



The question before the house is 

 what is Easter going to be, and Mr. 

 Editor, New York does not hesitate 

 in saying that the prospects for Easter 

 are very, very bright; all the growers 

 need to do is to get their stock in 

 good shape and be careful who they 

 sell it to. Don't be too anxious to get 

 rid of good things for they are scarce. 

 We will have quite a few novelties 

 this Easter; Ernst Asmus grand new. 

 rose Liberty will be in great demand; 

 so will John H. Taylor's new rose 

 Admiral Dewey; Ward, Dailledouze, 

 May and other carnation specialists 

 have some magnificent new flowers to 

 offer and they will be in great favor. 

 There will probably be more azaleas 

 on the market this Easter than ever 

 before, and perhaps it will be wise to 

 cut the price. 



Mr. Alex. Guttman has resigned his 

 position as manager of Traendly & 

 Schenck and has associated himself 

 with James H, Blauvelt, . wholesale 

 florist, at 36 W. 27th street. The style 

 of the firm is Blauvelt & Guttman. 



Hitchings & Company have the con- 

 tract for erecting the conservatories 

 for the Botanic Garden in Bronx Park, 

 New York. The work is now under 

 way and it is planned to complete the 

 lange during the present year. 



