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The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



OCTOBER 4. 19on, 



the soil is taken off the roots of small 

 plants, especially delicate things like 

 Lycopodium denticulata and the adi- 

 antums, they should not prosper in a 

 house unless under extreme care, 

 which is not possible in the dwelling 

 house, where servants are busy or 

 know little of plant wants. We have 

 known of a great many cases where 

 customers have refused to pay for 

 ferneries because they didn't last long, 

 and when you have to do a thing twice 

 for the same money there's nothing 

 in it. only lots of hard thinking and 

 possible loss of trade. There is too 

 much of that class of troubles in the 

 retail trade, and the only way to less- 

 en them is to do the work well. 



"Very few florists ever get their 

 money back by offering fern dishes tor 

 sale. Plated goods are not popular 

 with the class of people who use ferns 

 in the center of their dining table. 

 Avoid offering anything that is a pal- 

 pable fake. Better look for some 

 novelties in earthenware. A nice vase 

 or dish is always acceptable anywhere. 

 In this way too the basket trade may 

 develop into a permanent demand for 

 plants. Some pretty vases cost no 

 more than baskets. The latter soon 

 find their way to the cellar, the former 

 is kept upstairs where it is always an 

 advocate in the cause of plants. 



But here's another side of the ques- 

 tion: When your customers want 

 high priced vases they prefer to buy 

 them at the regular crockery stores 

 for the reason that they imagine your 

 prices are high. The florist's safest 

 plan is cheap and medium priced vases 

 and jardinieres with exceptional 

 shapes and colors. Such are very often 

 useful in work whilst awaiting a cus- 

 tomer. 



Returning to baskets of plants 

 again, the prices of those shown in 

 the New York stores range from $5, 

 $7.50, $10, some lower, a few higher. 

 Some care must be taken in watering; 

 don't spoil the basket. A few years 

 ago a firm started manufacturing very 

 handsome tiled plant boxes. They 

 would very likely sell well now it they 

 could be offered at a moderate price. 



The plant trade is necessary and as 

 far as permanent house decoration is 

 concerned baskets are a failure, for 

 temporary work they may be all right. 

 We have very few potteries in the 

 country that turn out jardinieres equal 

 to those of Europe in coloring. We 

 have often thought that the florists 

 should somehow concern themselves 

 In this matter for their interests are 

 affected. 



Rubbers. 



Small hranched rubbers are the 

 favorites in that class of plant; here 

 one or two growers make a specialty 

 of growing their stock so. We recent- 

 ly saw two benches of Ficus elastica 

 in an auction room. They were from 

 different growers but were of the same 

 Importation and size when the growers 

 bought them. One lot was now single 

 stem and about 18 to 24 inches in 



height. They were sold for 60 cts each. 

 The other "lot were 2% ft. high and 

 branched, and sold for $1.25 each. 

 There is about as much difference 

 when you come to retail them. The 

 latter lot was grown by a man who 

 knows the trick and profits by it, and 

 yet you know there are some people 

 who have the face to ask for informa- 

 tion from you and I and all who have 

 had to toil years and years to find out. 

 and they begrudge to pay the paltry 

 subscription to a trade paper. Verily 

 the people in the world are queer 

 lumps of animation. 



Window Displays. 



Very beautiful colored autumn 

 leaves, chiefly of the scarlet maple, are 

 shown in some of the Broadway win- 

 dows. They look very elegant, especi- 

 ally at night. Mounds of cuneatum 

 set off their colors to great advant- 

 age. 



We would like to tell some "Floral 

 artists" that dahlias and cattleyas do 

 not "go well" together; yet we very 

 frequently see them so displayed in 

 the gaudy windows. Very few flowers 

 are equal to cattleyas. Dahlias, gladi- 

 olus, and all outdoor flowers should be 

 kept a respectable distance away. 

 There is aristocracy 'mong flowers as 

 well as among peoples, and there is 

 always trouble where mixtures occur. 

 'Tisn't the mere color line, it is re- 

 finement. Dahlias are worth 50 cts. 

 per doz., cattleyas are worth more than 

 that each. There is beauty in both, 

 but the quality of it differs. 



Most of the principal stores have a 

 group of Livistona rotundifolia in 4. 5 

 and 6-inch pots. They are beautiful 

 little plants, suitable for most kinds of 

 table ornamentation, and are a pretty 

 item in the baskets of plants. One 

 grower is making a feature of Davallia 

 bullata in ball shape resting on a low 

 miniature gilded tripod stand: they 

 promise to sell well. It is a Japanese 

 style of growing the fern ball. Light 

 pink chrysanthemums are coming in, 

 4 to 5 inch diameter; these are bought 

 for novelty sake; there is no demand 

 for them. A good bunch of well grown 

 cosmos can be made very effective. 



Try a window of crimson cannas or 

 salvia before the frost cuts them. 

 There will be plenty of room for in- 

 door stock when winter's gales and 

 snow abounds. IVERA. 



CUT FLOWERS. 



Mr. C. H. Reed. Birmingham. Ala., 

 who receives a good many flowers 

 from Chicago shippers, says that 

 though he is 800 miles from that ship- 

 ping point there will be not more than 

 one shipment in flfty that is not en- 

 tirely satisfactory. He isays that ex- 

 cept in the very hottest weather there 

 is always some of the ice left in the 

 central compartment of the box and 

 the flowers in good shape. 



But before using them he cuts the 

 ends of the stems and places them in 

 water and then in an ice box in a cel- 



lar. He leaves them here for 8 or 10 

 hours if possible and he says that 

 when they come out they are in a bet- 

 ter condition than when they left Chi- 

 cago, and last several days. If not 

 given this treatment — and sometimes 

 there is not time to do so when the 

 flowers are needed at once — they will 

 last hardly a day. 



When he has a wedding order he ar- 

 ranges to have th-e flowers reach him 

 the day before so he may have time 

 to give them at least 12 hours in water 

 in his ice box. And he never has any 

 complaints as to their lasting qualities 

 after they have had this treatment. 



He treats the carnations just the 

 same as the roses. 



CARNATION MORNING GLORY. 



I wish to say a word for Morning 

 Glory carnation, sent out by Messrs. 

 Ward and Dorner. It is a shell pink 

 and of great promise with us. I saw 

 it at Mr. Dorner's last winter and it 

 pleased me so well that I bought 1000 

 rooted cuttings. They were planted in 

 the field April 15th and were brought 

 into the houses the last week of Au- 

 gust. The plants have averaged five 

 blooms each up to date (Oct. 2) and 

 bear five buds and 21 shoots in va- 

 rious stages of growth. 



Morning Glory did the best this year 

 of the twenty varieties we had in the 

 field, and burned less. We have now 

 in the bench 9,000 cuttings from 

 flowering shoots. We did not like to 

 throw them away. When rooted we 

 shall pot same for summer blooming. 

 We shall discard all other shell pinks 

 for Morning Glory. It takes fine. 



ALFRED MITTING. 



Morris, III. 



PROLONGING OUT-DOOR SUMMER 

 FLOWERING CARNATIONS. 



Those having only a limited num- 

 ber of houses for winter carnations, 

 and in trying to get the main crop In 

 for the holidays, often find themselves 

 very short of room in September, 

 October and November. 



We succeeded in having flowers not 

 only during the summers, but late into 

 the fall, by which time they were 

 blooming freely inside. 



Some of the new varieties are good 

 outdoor bloomers. We have discard- 

 ed Portia and flnd Crane much better 

 for red. Genevieve Lord is very good 

 in pink, but it is hard to flnd a better 

 variety than Wm. Scott. Thos. Cart- 

 ledge is very free and continuous in 

 Tidal Wave line. In white, Mrs. 

 Fisher is best for short white and 

 very continuous, whilst Flora Hill, 

 though very superior, is a cropper. 



When planting from 3-inch pots in 

 April, make the beds the width of 

 your hot-bed frames, with a good wide 

 path between and space to place the 

 sash when uncovering. If the frames 

 are shallow raise to the • sufficient 

 height and place boards beneath tem- 

 porarily, but close together. In case 



