640 



The Weekly Florists^ Reviev^,. 



May 25, 1899. 



vator, but the strong clay soil de- 

 served some. Buy the best strain of 

 seed there is in the market. 

 Geraniums. 

 You hear your brother florist fre- 

 quently say: "I ran out of this or 

 that. Sold it all." Now, don't sell it 

 all. It's a poor way to make money. 

 Plant out your needed stock of all 

 things that are likely to be in good 

 demand. If your ground is ready it 

 don't take long to set out a few hun- 

 dred plants, some of everything, and 

 particularly a good healthy stock of 

 your best varieties of geraniums. It is 

 unreasonable to expect to perpetuate 

 your stock of any variety by selling 



all the best plants, and about the 4th 

 of July put out for yourself a few 

 culls, the halt, the lame, the blind, 

 that were not good enough to sell. 



This careless selection of our stock 

 has been the cause of our declaring, 

 and hearing other people declare, that 

 so and so, either a geranium, a carna- 

 tion, or a fuchsia, is "played out." The 

 zonale geranium, an evei- popular 

 plant, is still improving, and I think 

 it is a most wise investment to buy 

 two or three or half a dozen each of 

 the new ones that have the best repu- 

 tations. You may get a jewel amongst 

 them that just suits the taste in your 

 locality. WM. SCOTT. 



DECORATION DAY. 



Whether It be shaft of enduring granite. 

 Or wee mountain daisy that mark the grave, 



Aye. let us tenderly on It 

 Place loves' garland for the true and brave. 



The nearer Decoration Day ap- 

 proaches the more we feel impressed 

 with its importance, and although we 

 have written at length on the subject 

 in a previous issue, we do not feel we 

 should make any excuses for again re- 

 ferring to it. It is a subject dear to 

 the heart of every American. 



Although Decoration Day was the 

 outcome of struggles between North 

 and South it is no longer remembered 

 as such. They were Americans brave 

 and true on both sides, and neither 

 can claim a monopoly of the finer 

 feelings of human nature which por- 

 tray themselves in love and remem- 

 brance. Nay, be the hero dressed in 

 grey or blue, his heart was the same 

 — it was brave and true, and whether 

 their last resting place be the Sunny 

 South or the Chilly North, Mother 

 Nature covers them alike with her 

 mantle of green. There was no sec- 

 tionalism in our war with Spain; 

 there was no stopping to consider on 

 which side of the Potomac we were 

 living. A common duty demanded 

 from all the same attention, and we 

 know the result. 



If we presume to be Nature's best 

 artists, to cull and arrange and offer 

 the most beautiful gems Mother Na- 

 ture can produce, then we should be 

 imbued with some of those sentiments, 

 those feelings which the flowers them- 



selves seem to be able to instill into 

 the hearts of all. We cannot rightly 

 claim to improve Nature unless we 

 fill out Nature's full intent; that we 

 do not do when we stand idily by and 

 indifferently witness the nation's 

 gratefulness on Memorial Day. Ar- 

 lington with its grassy mounds, its 

 granite shafts, its known and un- 

 known, nevertheless Illustrious, 

 should be a spot dear to the hearts of 

 the members of the Society of Ameri- 

 can Florists; and how little it would 

 require to show that such was the 

 case. But though this would appeal 

 to all in a national sense, still the 

 states, the cities, the towns, the vil- 

 lages, yes even the individuals, should 

 do their part. 



When we sat down to write on this 

 subject it was our intention to merely 

 give a few rough suggestions on the 

 usage of seasonable flowers. A pic- 

 ture of a soldier's grave in the far 

 away Philippines lay before us, and its 

 influence was greater than the ribbon 

 or the bouquet worn by dame fashion 

 in New York. This is not an apology. 

 It is only a reason given why we con- 

 sider the matter so important, yes all 

 important to the retail florists of this 

 country. We admit we are egotistical 

 enough to consider the retail florists 

 of this country as the most necessary 

 part of our business, because it is they 

 who make the market, and yet they 

 seem often indifferent to the impor- 

 tance of their position. 



The principle guiding the decoration 

 of graves was fully dealt with in The 



Review of May 4th. And now although 

 the usual crop of outdoor flowers here 

 in the north will be a little backward, 

 still nature is so persistent in holding 

 before our eyes such an abundance of 

 beauty, that looking at the matter 

 apart from its money aspect, we can- 

 not help but answer her appeals and 

 twine together her garlands of love for 

 the brow of bravery. And what you 

 do, do it well. If you cannot reach the 

 richer flowers or palms use the lowly 

 ones, for they are just as sweet. Flow- 

 ers lose most of their beauty and 

 meanings only when they are gnarled 

 and disfigured. Better to take the 

 flowers and arrange them loosely or 

 tie in a simple cluster than attempt to 

 construct them into some awful con- 

 glomeration. 



It is most unfortunate that we have 

 no national flower (what a pity 'tis 

 Dewey did not deck the Olympia with 

 something we could adopt), but we 

 have a glorious flag and round that 

 flag we can twine garlands of loveli- 

 ness peculiar to this land of ours. 

 Look around and behold all the gran- 

 deur of the woodlands, the splendor 

 of our gardens, do they not provide 

 every tint and tone, delicate and bril- 

 liant? It is true yonder flower may 

 be past its best, but here are twenty 

 to take its place. To enumerate a list 

 of available or suitable material is not 

 our purpose, for it all lies bc-<ore you. 

 Keep artificial rubbish out of it. 

 A poor intelligence only is required 

 in the manufacture of some pancake 

 design, but it needs the highest you 

 may have in you to create the ideal of 

 simplicity in its most beautiful forms. 

 And now let us turn to another side. 

 Decoration Day is the second greatest 

 holiday we have. Although a great 

 number of parties are formed to better 

 dispense and enjoy pleasure, whatever 

 floral decorations are used are mostly 

 informal. Very little business is done 

 anywhere in the afternoon, and we 

 would suggest that you put an Ameri- 

 can flag in your window, lock the door, 

 and let your employes partake of some 

 of the pleasures of the day. 



IVERA. 



ROSES FOR MEMORIAL DAY. 



S. S. P. asks: Will not the roses 

 Kaiserin A. Victoria, Pres. Carnot and 

 American Beauty force well for Easter 

 and Memorial Day if treated exactly 

 the same as H. P. roses; also could 

 they not be got in for Christmas? 

 What would be the best course to pur- 

 sue with the above varieties, to start 

 now for the season of 1900. 



The above mentioned varieties will 

 most assuredly respond to the same 

 treatment as is usually given H. P. 

 roses when wanted for Easter and 

 late spring blooming. Like growing 

 on H. P. roses for certain occasions 

 when the demand for them is great- 

 est, it is simply a matter of getting 

 your plants started on time, so as to 

 give them every advantage to develop 

 their growth and bloom under natural 

 conditions; thus insuring that high 



