228 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JULY 26, 1900. 



pie appreciate them more if special 

 care be taken in handling them. If 

 you can get cattleyas, advocate them 

 for every class of fine trade. 



Carnations, with a few exceptions, 

 are poor, A bunch of white is always 

 handy for boutonnieres or funeral 

 boxes, and even a bunch of Scotts help 

 to fill up or can be made pretty for 

 center bowl; 50 cents per dozen for 

 the cheaper grades, 75 cents or $1,00 

 for fancy. 



Never were so many sweet peas 

 grown, and never were the varieties 

 prettier, yet the vast majority are of 

 the poorest sorts and short stems. We 

 badly need a change in the method 

 of bunching sweet peas. It is sad to 

 look at the miserable bunches which 

 come into the market by thousands, 

 just a dozen scrawny little flowers in 

 a bunch. These flowers should be put 

 up 25 or 50 in a bunch, then they 

 would look like something. These 

 flowers help many a florist out of dif- 

 ficulties. They are cheap and if of 

 good stem and color are good to have 

 in stock. 



Wreaths of Sweet Peas. 



There are few designs prettier than 

 a well made wreath of lavender sweet 

 peas, and a good price can be got for 

 it. Green the wreath back and front 

 with Asparagus Sprengeri. Stem your 

 flowers, some short, others long, 3 or 

 4 on a stick. Make the wreath al- 

 most solid with short ones, then top 

 off with long ones. Make the wreath 

 round down to the counter and have 

 no green showing but a small fringe 

 of adiantum beneath the bottom layer. 

 Incline your flowers to meet, laurel- 

 wreath like, and tie with strictly ac- 

 curate shaded or white taffeta rib- 

 bon. A very good effect can be got 

 by using dark indigoes, which have be- 

 come popular. You can do finer work 

 by using only one color in a design, 

 be it purple, lavender or white, for 

 males or old folks; delicate pink 

 shades are permissible for children or 

 young females. Whatever you do, try 

 to avoid mixtures or skimpy looking 

 work. These flowers are cheap; satis- 

 fy your customers. 



Asters. 



Asters are becoming prominent on 

 the market. The purple ones make 

 a fine wreath and it is about the best 

 thing to recommend for shipping or 

 lasting, and you should get from $8.00 

 to $12.00 for a good wreath of pur- 

 ple asters. Make them same as de- 

 scribed for sweet peas, solid first and 

 festoon after; this gives it a substan- 

 tial and graceful appearance. What- 

 ever you do, don't give the impres- 

 sion that galax leaves are the only 

 thing to recommend for long dis- 

 tances. Many do this because they are 

 cheap and easy to work up. Asters 

 are more beautiful, and the thing that 

 is most beautiful is sure to give greit- 

 est satisfaction. 



Aquatics. 



Water lilies form an important item 

 in the New York market. They are 

 very beautiful in wreaths, exclusively 

 or mixed, or for steamer work, or 

 table decorations. They have a cool- 

 ing effect on the table. If the outer 

 petals are taken off and a few blue 

 corn-fiowers are mixed between a pret- 

 ty bowl for center decoration can be 

 fixed with them. Water lilies are 

 most appropriate for breakfast, lunch 

 or evening meal; they are just the 



thing for an al fresco affair. If you 

 have any miniature lakes to fix up 

 or have any decorations to do for any 

 sort of nautical event, use aquatic 

 flowers exclusively. You can get all 

 the colors you want; blue water hya- 

 cinths; pink, white or yellow water 

 lilies; and nothing is finer than the 

 lotus. Very little green, and that if 

 possible of their own foliage, should 

 be used with aquatics. You might use 

 fancy caladiums, either as fioating 

 leaves or for edging: the colors blend 

 well with nymphaeas, IVERA, 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Azaleas, Etc. 



This is a good time to give your 

 azaleas and other hard-wooded plants 

 that are plunged out in frames a good 

 mulching. Last year we used well 

 rotted cow manure and added a tenth 

 of sheep manure, putting on a good 

 inch over the surface. I am sure it is 

 of the greatest benefit to all these 

 plants, and the strong growth was 

 noticeable on azaleas, acacias, etc, 



A good man should look after these 

 plants; not one who will say, "I didn't 

 think they wanted a watering, they 

 looked damp." They want faithful 

 watering and after they are watered 

 a thorough syringing. All this is done 

 with a hose here and is only a pleas- 

 ure. It is not the laborious donkey 

 work that they make of it in the fat 

 and flat lands of Belgium. The wooden 

 shod natives of Belgium get there all 

 right in growing fine plants, there is 

 no discount on that, but they are serfs 

 and beasts of burden compared with 

 our young men, and our young men 

 ought to realize it and put their best 

 foot and brain power forward all the 

 time for their employers, for they get 

 three times as much for their labor 

 and skill. 



Orchids. 



There are two common orchids that 

 I have noticed sweltering in green- 

 houses of late that would be much liet- 

 ter out of doors. They are Cypripe- 

 dium insigne and Coelogyne cristita, 

 both most useful. We used to think 

 C. insigne so common and subdued in 

 color that it was not of great value. 

 We are very much of a different opin- 

 ion. It has all the qualities to make 

 it commercially the peer of any com- 

 mercial orchid in spite of its being so 

 largely grown and comparatively 

 cheap at times. Both these orchids 

 have made their growth and will do 

 finely out of doors in the shade. The 

 sun up till 9 a. m. and after 5 p. m. 

 will do them good and sufficient sy- 



ringing to keep the moss green and 

 growing. When you see the sphag- 

 num growing you have got the condi- 

 tions just right. 



Violets. 



Presuming that you planted your vio- 

 lets last month, which many did, in- 

 cluding the writer, the principal ob- 

 ject now is to avoid red spider. You 

 may say, "Oh, spider is easily kept 

 down," Mind it is by a faithful and 

 scientific syringing every morning. By 

 a scientific syringing I mean just what 

 I say, for there is the same skill re- 

 quired to handle the hose that is de- 

 manded in the skillful handling of the 

 billiard cue or hammerless Parker, and 

 not at all strange is it that the same 

 individual is good at all of them 

 (Darby road for instance). 



Moist weather does not keep down 

 spider, nor a thunder storm, for it 

 washes the upper surface of the leaf, 

 and since the days that red spider 

 and all the plant suckers were a new 

 thing on earth and protoplasm existed, 

 the insects have found the under part 

 of the leaf is the proper resort. A 

 good attack of red spider on your vio- 

 lets will cost you many dollars. 



Carnations. 



The very important operation of fill- 

 ing your carnation benches is now in 

 order. Planting should begin early in 

 August. We do not put our soil into 

 a pile and chop it over, but plowed 

 it up 4 inches deep In early spring 

 and plowed it three times since. A 

 month ago we spread over a light 

 dressing of rotten stable manure. This 

 week we have sown on the bone 

 flour. 



It is not so easy to get at the right 

 quantity as by spreading it on the 

 benches, but it is much easier to do. 

 Well harrowed in, then plowed again 

 just before carting to the houses and 

 with the handling that it then gets it 

 is far better incorporated with the soil 



