128 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



JUNE 28, 1900. 



caught or tied in two and three 

 small looped bow knots— not pinned 

 on the ribbon, as many do it. You 

 must cut some of the loops. It is 

 very easy to make small bow knots 

 and have the blooms caught in them; 

 if you cannot do this trick fix the 

 bows and tie your flowers on with fine 

 white silk or linen thread. 



Any man or woman in the flower 

 business should master the art of bow 

 making. When you are tying flowers 

 on the ribbons of a shower bouqujt 

 they should be thicker near the 

 bunch; try to create the effect that 

 the flowers are dropping from the 

 bouquet and are being caught by the 

 ribbon loops. Very little if any 

 greens are allowable, perhaps a small 

 tip of their own foliage is best. 

 Greens make the ribbons appear 

 heavy, which is opposite to what is 

 wanted. The ribbon hanging in front 

 of a shower bouquet should not be 

 longer than 24 or 26 inches and few 

 of them ever that; they should not ba 

 all hanging straight down like so 

 many strings, but have a few caught 

 up like a garland loop. Don't have 

 any apparent studied, measured dis- 

 tances between the flowers on the 

 ribbon, and don't conflne them to the 

 front of the bouquet. 



Tinfoil the handle and then en- 

 twine it with white ribbon, tying at 

 the top and bottom short cluster 

 bows of the same sized ribbon used 

 in the loops. If you use good Judg- 

 ment in the amount of ribbon, the ar- 

 ranging of flowers, the general neat- 

 ness and flnish of such a bouquet, you 

 will be able to get up something very 

 pretty with many new points. We 

 have described in detail not because 

 we considered it necessary in this par- 

 ticular case, but there are many be- 

 ginners, and old hands, too, who re- 

 quire such information. 



Your Customer. 



Shower bouquets are no longer fash- 

 ionable, but it is often necessary to 

 accede to demands or suggestions, 

 and many customers either suspect 

 your ability to make up certain work 

 or that you are unable to procure the 

 proper material if you tell them such 

 is not stylish. It is generally safest 

 to bend and add value to the sugges- 

 tions of your customer, no matter if 

 they are crazy- the average human 

 is vain and thanks no one, especially 

 the tradesman, for disputing the 

 value of his ideas. It is only where 

 you are asked for opinions as to what 

 is right or wrong where you should 

 try to be equal to the requirements 

 and advocate that which will elevate 

 the business and add to your reputa- 

 tion and treasury. 



We forgot to refer to many other 

 ways of making so-called shower bou- 

 quets. Some use vines instead of rib- 

 bons; they are more in the order of 

 spray bunches. If very delicate vines 

 can be procured it is possible to make 



up fine work, but they are usually too 

 heavy, and in the case of sweet peas 

 we prefer the plain round bouquet 

 with cluster of narrow ribbon, or next 

 to that, one made as described above. 



Cheap Funeral Work. 



If any of you have much of a trade 

 in cheap funeral work or are fortu- 

 nate enough to get in a largj order 

 where almost anything goes, we want 

 to inform you that the, common white 

 alder flowers, which abound ia ' the 

 greater part of the country, are fine, 

 and the cheapest material to usa for 

 ground work or even feslooning. 

 Very few persons will be able to re- 

 cognize it when In conjunction wth 

 other flowers. We have used it of- 

 ten and to great advantage. 



Stimulating Business. 



You should try to induce all first- 

 class restauraceurs or hotel proprie- 

 ,tors to have a few vases of floweis 

 where their patrons could most enjoy 

 them. When carnations or roses are 

 overplentiful it might be well to sug- 

 gest to many that you will offer spe- 

 cial inducements for them to put a 

 flower on each guest's plate, if not a 

 few flowers in the center of each ta- 

 ble. A vase of flowers is put in the 

 center of each dining table at the 

 Waldorf-Astoria and many other 

 places in New York, and there is no 

 measuring the amount of pleasure 

 and good the custom brings forth. 



You will find even the poo.-est 

 strives to be in style, and there is no 

 doubt that many dining rooms would 

 be made more beautiful if the florist 

 would offer a reasonable proposition 

 and argue that it was the proper thing. 

 A vast amount of cheap flowers could 

 be properly dispensed with, and even 

 if the returns were small there might 

 be many a good sale of plants made, 

 and then again the general public be- 

 ing accustomed to thus seeing the 

 flowers may continue the good work 

 in their own homes. 



Another thing to keep in mind is 

 that in every large city there is, es- 

 pecially in summer time, quite a few 

 people living in hotels who like to 

 have a vase of flowers, in their room. 

 Every retailer should have a few 

 cheap glass vases suitable for this 

 part of the trade. Often it is wi=e 

 to have such a vase or two arranged 

 on the counter or in some part of the 

 store; the customer is liable to take 

 a fancy to anything that's pretty; the 

 dread of exorbitant prices kills many 

 a good desire. 



The wholesale pottery stores are 

 filled with many pretty and cheap 

 glass vases which could be given wUh 

 flowers instead of fancy boxes and 

 ribbons, and the result would be more 

 beneficial; for an empty vase is an 

 open mouth asking for flowers. 



IVBRA, 



AZALEAS. 



"L. C. L." asks: "Please state wheth- 

 er azaleas should be cut back any, and 

 should they be kept growing?" 



Repeatedly are there some cultural 

 directlolis regarding azaleas in your 

 columns, but L. C. L. has evidently 

 missed them. The azalea is an impor- 

 tant plant and its summer treatment 

 varies according to the condition it is 

 in. 



If it is a plant that has borne an iiii- 

 mense crop of flowers and has made 

 but a feeble growth, then as soon fts 

 flowers were gonp it Sht3uld haVe been 

 cut back — that is, cut back, leaving 

 only a small portion of last summer's 

 growth. This should have been done 

 as soon as the flowers were dropped, 

 and after two months' growth inside 

 they should b? plunged out in frames 

 in the broad sun and given plenty of 

 water and syringing. No such thing 

 as resting ever occurs with azjleas, 

 except, perhaps, in the dead of winter, 

 when, if kept very cool, their growth 

 is nearly arrested, but spring and suni- 

 mer is their growing time. 



Another condition of the plant would 

 be those that promised but few flowers 

 but made a good growth early in the 

 spring. With those little pruning or 

 trimming is needed, and all that would 

 be necessary is Just shortening of the 

 strongest growths of this spring. In 

 other respects treat them as you do 

 those first mentioned. Keep the plung-* 

 ing material Well up to the rim of the 

 pot and never let them suffer fcr want 

 of water, and early in July give them a 

 mulch of decayed cow manure, to 

 which add a fourth of sheep riianure. 



This spring we had plants of several 

 varieties that were cut back hard in 

 the spring of 1S99 and they were better 

 flowered than any newly imported 

 plants. 



Many growers now import in the 

 spring, grow the plants over summer, 

 and sell the following spring, .'ud thi.s 

 is undoubtedly the most satisfactory 

 way, especially for the purcha-s^r. 



Full instructions for the care of aza- 

 leas appeared in the Review d.irlng 

 April and all this advii-e is unfortu- 

 nately two months behind the date, but 

 that we can't help. WM. SCOTT. 



CALYCANTHUS FLOWERS. 



Why is it that the flowers of some 

 plants of calycanthus are not fragrant, 

 while others are? I have sold quite a 

 number of plants that I obtained in 

 the nurseries and many patrons com- 

 plain that the flowers of their plants 

 are not sweet scented. I would like to 

 know the cause. The wood has a spicy 

 taste and smells sweet. J. H. 



Whether the flowers are sweet scent- 

 ed or not depends altogether on the 

 species. Those of C. floridus are al- 

 ways sweet, though it must not be for- 

 gotten that the flowers of this and 

 oth^F species haye. ©ore odor when 



