496 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



SEPTEMBER, 



carnival in New York would at pres- 

 ent be laughed at by the local florists, 

 but if a few of the rich people were 

 to speak of it. why. of course, it would 

 be a glorious idea. When outdoor flow- 

 ers are plentiful there is very little 

 10 lose, but much to gain in advocat- 

 ing their use in such a way. 



No village is too small, no city too 

 large, for a floral fete, and because 

 there are one or two cynics or possi- 

 bly a majority of your fellow florists 

 against you or indifferent, go ahead, 

 get up your small committees, wait 

 on the principal citizens with gener- 

 ous and inexpensive plans, and never 

 fear your detractors will be the first 

 to rush for a share of the success. 



Street Stand Prices, 



The prices of flowers sold on the 

 street stands and in the dry goods 

 stores of New York this week are; 

 Carnations, 15 cts. per doz. ; roses. 25 

 cts. per doz.; spikes of double tube- 

 rose, 3 cts. each; asters, 10 cts. per 

 doz.. and so on. Plants in the dry 

 goods stores are sold at: small ferns 

 for dishes, 5 cts. each; flve or six 

 leaved Areca lutescens. 12 to 14 inches 

 high. 25 cts.; kentias, five leaved, 

 $1.00; Dracaenas terminalis and am- 

 abilis, 12 to 17 leaves. 50 to 75 cts ; 

 24-in. rubbers, $1.25; rubbers. 12 to 

 IS inches, 49 cts., etc. We have only 

 two stores dealing in plants; they 

 have a trick of putting a high price on 

 some of the plants, we presume to 

 fool the people into thinking that they 

 are getting bargains in the cheaply 

 marked ones, which are in many cases 

 no better. 



When" I told the manager of one of 

 these concerns, who happens to be 

 also the bookkeeper for the prominent 

 grower who supplies the plants, that a 

 retailer would be asked the same pricf 

 at the greenhouse for these same 

 plants, he said: "No. anyone could 

 buy them there at $35.00 per lOO." But 

 who could afford to do that and sell 

 one by one for 49 cts.? No one can 

 blame a man nowadays for making an 

 honest dollar whenever or wherever 

 he can. but we rather think that if a 

 grower goes into the above sort of 

 trade he ought to stop selling to flor- 

 ists, or else keep his prices up to 

 theirs. Some protection is due the 

 people who buy from such sources. 



First Qass Prices. 



Highest prices in first class stores 

 at present are: Beauties. $3 to $6.00 

 per doz.; Liberties. $3 to $4 per doz.; 

 Meteors. $2 to $3; Victorias. $2 to .$4. 

 Testouts. Maids. Brides. Carnots. Gol- 

 den Gates, range from $2 to $3 per 

 doz. for select stock; $4.00 is an ex- 

 ceptional price for long stemmed Test- 

 outs and Victorias, which are hard to 

 get. Perles, Hostes, Cusins, Morgans 

 and such are sold for $1.C>0 to $2. CM) per 

 doz.; Valley, $1 to $1.50 per bunch; 

 cattleyas. $6 to $9 per doz. These are 

 of coui-se Broadway prices: often they 



are lower, and in a few instances 

 higher, just as opportunities occur. 



In the smaller stores of the city stock 

 is sold for about double what it costs; 

 that is what the average florist can 

 only aim for in the matter of cut 

 flowers; a larger profit is only made 

 when cheaper grade stock is used in 

 design work. Many imagine there is 

 in this way a 100 per cent profit in 

 the retail business. They are blind 

 to the enormous expenses most retail- 

 ers are subject to, which reduces their 

 proflts in most cases to a small, ver.v' 

 small, pittance. 



S«asonabIe Flowers. 



Good grade flowers are not over 

 plentiful, they are improving, of 

 course, but will not be up to the stand- 

 ard until cold weather sets in. We 

 expect to see fairly good chrysanthe- 

 mums about the second week in Octo- 

 ber. Cattleyas are the choicest flow- 

 ers obtainable at present; they are be- 

 ing worn occasionally on the streets, 

 but principally at the theaters in the 

 evening. They look beautiful on the 

 white or black laced evening gowns 

 worn at present. 



Don't attempt to arrange cattleyas; 

 send them loose with a few fronds of 

 fine fern; no greens are worn with 

 them. Dendrobium phalaenopsis are' 

 coming in quite plentifully; some of 

 the whitish sprays are fine for wed- 

 ding spray bouquets; very little 

 greens are used, and narrow ribbons 

 of the richest quality are best. 



IVERA. 



PYRETHRUM AND ROSES. 



Please tell me through the Re- 

 view how to handle pyrethrum (fever- 

 few) so it will bloom in winter. I 

 have a greenhouse that ranges from 

 55 to 60 degrees at night in winter. 



Will you also tell me how long old 

 roses will bloom in such a house be- 

 fore being thrown out? 



I am an old soldier who is trying 

 to eke out a pension by running a 

 small greenhouse. How I envy those 

 St. Louis fellows who can belong to 

 a club and listen to such papers as 

 are listed in their program and pub- 

 lished in the Review of Sept. 13. 



L. H. R. 



"Pyrethrum." the well-known fever- 

 few, lifts easily from the open ground 

 and flowers sparingly during the 

 early winter months in a cool house. 

 The same house that you would grow 

 geraniums in will do. But why 

 bother with it? It is a cheap flower, 

 and will never pay for the room. 

 In the summer it is useful for cheap 

 bouquets and takes care of itself out 

 of doors, but we would never think 

 of lifting it. except a few plants to 

 give us stock for another year. Your 

 house is too warm for feverfew. 



Roses in a foot of soil have often 

 done well for four or five years. In 

 shallow benches of three to five inches 



of soil they are occasionally kept in 

 for two years with fair success. The 

 usual plan followed by rose growers 

 nowadays, where plants are grown 

 the second year in shallow benches, i^ 

 to lift the plants in .June or July that 

 are then one year old. saving all the 

 roots possible, but not too much soil, 

 and planting them in a new bench; 

 with a little shade and plenty of 

 syringing, they soon get hold of the 

 new soil and give fine crops. They 

 want useless wood pruned out when 

 lifting and usually need tying down. 



If you have a solid bench that is 

 doing fairly well it is not too late yet 

 to give it a top dressing. Remove 

 two inches of the old soil, and even 

 more if you can without too much dis- 

 turbing of the roots, and then re- 

 place with a compost of one-half 

 heavy sod and one-half cow manure. 



L. H. R. says he Is an oid soldier. 

 I have known retired generals and 

 colonels to have a taste for garden- 

 ing and keep a gardener, but this is 

 a true case of the sword and bayonet 

 being turned into the pruning hook 

 and garden trowel. I don't ever re- 

 member an old soldier taking to gar- 

 dening. Their occupation is destruc- 

 tive; the gardener's is productive. 

 How calm and peaceful and happy 

 must be the hours spent in tilling 

 the soil, watching the buds expand 

 and the blossoms show their color 

 after the years spent in turmoil and 

 blood and destruction. 



In all ages up to the present, but 

 less this day than ever, the warrior 

 has received all the glory. The more 

 heads he cut off or orphans made or 

 devastation spread, the greater the 

 glory. The laborer in the laboratory, 

 the shop and the field was a nobody, 

 although it was they entirely that 

 moved the world from darkness and 

 savagery to light and civilization. 

 But a better time is at hand. The 

 higher and broader our education, the 

 less we need of bayonets. 



I wish more of our florists' clubs 

 would take up such useful discussions 

 as those of St. Louis. It is just what 

 we all should do and what we are or- 

 ganized for. WM. SCOTT. 



'VERBENA SEED. 



S. W. writes: "I have good luck 

 with all seeds except verbena seed, 

 which don't half come up. What is 

 best treatment?" 



Just allow me to say that garden- 

 ing operations are not controlled by 

 "luck." Management is the word, in- 

 stead of luck. If a crowd of people 

 stood under a tree and a bolt of 

 lightning came down and killed one 

 of them, that would be luck — bad 

 luck, of course. If a neighbor lost 

 all his glass by a hail storm and you 

 escaped, that would be good luck. 

 Luck enters more or less into the 

 choice of a wife, but in raising ver- 

 benas from seed you have either pro- 

 cured worthless seed, or covered it too 



