320 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



AUGUST 24, 1899. 



Ferns. 



Ferns are yearly increasing in popu- 

 larity and it is safe to say they will 

 take a double stride the coming sea- 

 son. Millions of small ferns are used 

 every year in this country for table 

 decoration, and though much of the 

 stock is well grown still there is room 

 for improvement in the way of va- 

 riety. The tendency of public taste is 

 towards more variegation, to such an 

 extent that small crotons, etc., are 

 used among the ferns. This demand 

 for high color effects may be of short 

 duration because such plants are more 

 difficult to keep alive or in good con- 

 dition, but the use of ferns in general 

 is sure to increase, and their cultiva- 

 tion affords better opportunities than 

 many of the overcrowded special lines 

 of our business today. There is room 

 for good fern specialists near every 

 large city and fashionable seaside 

 resorts, and if you are near enough or 

 can open a place where the retail sec- 

 tion can be handled, there is all the 

 more in it. 



Of course the fern business has its 

 troubles too. Perhaps there is not a 

 branch of our business that is more 

 troublesome; in fact many florists will 

 not handle them because of the ever- 

 lasting complaints accruing from ig- 

 norance of cultivation. Ah, yes, most of 

 you have from time to time heard the 

 dreadful "kicks;" "the dish wasn't 

 filled nicely," "it was too high," "too 

 scraggly," "they didn't last a week," 

 "the center plant wasn't the kind 

 wanted," etc., etc., etc. It is safe to 

 say that many of the meanest and 

 smallest traits in human nature are 

 displayed by your customers on the 

 question of fern dishes. Cut flowers 

 are acknowledged as perishable, ferns 

 they imagine should be imperishable 

 and when "Mary Ann" in the kitchen 

 pours boiling water on the fern dish, 

 or "Sarah" in the parlor puts them 

 out in the frost to "fresh up," or 

 "Jeems," in the pantry puts them on 

 the shelf to dry roast, Madame cannot, 

 will not, understand why the ferns die 

 so quickly; she will listen to the lame 

 excuse of ignorance or neglect from 

 the servant and back comes the dish 

 with a yard of complaints and threats. 



Yes, often many a good customer is 

 lost to you through the wretched little 

 fern dish, and still with all these diffi- 

 culties and unpleasantness the import- 

 ance of this section of trade cannot be 

 ignored, and there is money and pleas- 

 ure in it too if intelligently handled. 

 The great majority of people will list- 

 en to reason and it is no use to try 

 to stuff them with a lot of nonsense. 

 If sensible customers once find out 

 that you "jolly" or deceive them, they 

 not only lose confidence in you, but 

 they will always be suspicious of you, 

 and though they may not demonstrate 

 the facts still it's only human for the 

 feeling to be there. You yourselves 

 entertain it towards those with whom 

 you deal. To those who have any kind 

 of plant trade, short printed slips giv- 

 ing practical hints on general cultiva- 

 tion are of the greatest service and 

 will often save you time and unpleas- 

 ant arguments. 



It is difficult for many florists to 

 keep a stock of ferns in good condi- 

 tion for any length of time, because 

 some have no place to put them but 

 the dry board floor window where it 

 is hard to keep them watered. Those 

 who have no greenhouse should pro- 

 vide themselves with a stock of shal- 

 low fibre or zinc pans in which the 

 plants can be kept in moisture without 

 messing up the store. Last season 

 you will remember good ferns were 

 scarce. It is generally the rule that 

 growers try to rush this class of stock 

 off their hands as early as possible, 

 forgetting that there is a continuous 

 demand for it and that the season in 

 any case does not open till very 

 late. Then again very few growers are 

 able to provide you with equal quanti- 

 ties of suitable varieties; many will 

 imagine their stock the finest and will 

 send you nothing but one or two kinds 

 of pteris with which it is utterly im- 

 possible to please or do good work. It 

 is wise to visit the fern grower occas- 

 ionally and show him what you want 

 and impress upon him that substitutes 

 are undesirable. 



As to varieties most useful, perhaps 

 there is more of the Adiantum cunea- 

 tum types used than any other, but 

 there is often a call for A. gracilli- 



muni, the most delicate of all the 

 class; it is often hard to procure and 

 more of it should be grown. The de- 

 mand for A. Farleyense is becoming 

 enormous, and the coming season it 

 will be as usual far ahead of the sup- 

 ply; small sizes of this fern will be 

 used a great deal next winter for dish- 

 es; the 5-inch stock will be the most 

 popular for general use, and no florist 

 with any pretensions at all can afford 

 to be without a supply of this, the 

 grandest of all the commercial ferns. 

 A more extensive cultivation of it, 

 whilst it might reduce the high price 

 now charged for it, would certainly 

 result in greater profits, for a vast 

 amount more of it would be used. 



Cibotiums, though expensive, repay 

 themselves tenfold if carefully hand- 

 led, they are extremely beautiful in 

 decorations, apart from this they are 

 one of the cheapest plants you can put 

 in your window because they are the 

 most effective. Try a few of the Bos- 

 ton ferns in wire hanging baskets, 

 and have some Ficus repens hanging 

 beneath; arranged in this way they 

 are of the best decorative plants you 

 can get. They grow well that way, 

 and if properly furnished are sure sell- 

 ers. 



Ferns will be more generally used 

 in decorations, and in order to show 

 to best advantage must either be sus- 

 pended or tilted over. Nephrolepis 

 davalloides furcans is fine for this 

 kind of work. Lomaria gibba is all 

 right if you can keep it where you 

 can water it freely, but you often have 

 to put such plants where water is out 

 of the question, and lomarias won't 

 stand dryness. Nephrolepis sub-cordata 

 drops too quickly, and though a cheap 

 fern will not be popular for that rea- 

 son. There is a scarcity of large tree 

 ferns (Alsophila australis) at present, 

 not that it pays to use them for deco- 

 rations, but once in a while one is 

 needed for a conservatory, and in a 

 case like this where they can only be 

 purchased in one or two places in the 

 country a good price should be got 

 for them. Pteris tremula is a fine fern 

 for decorations. Years ago this va- 

 riety was grown in 6-inch pots and 

 was sold and used to great advantage. 

 Small ferns for table ferneries 

 should never be in larger than 2% or 

 3%-inch pots, and should not be taller 

 than from 3 to 6 inches. There is lots 

 of use for plants larger than that, in 

 fact there is often an unaccountable 

 dearth of large ferns. The most use- 

 ful sorts are Davallia stricta, Gymno- 

 gramme chrysophylla and G. Argo- 

 philla. Pteris argyraea, P. cretica albo- 

 lineata, P. hastata, P. serrulata, in fact 

 most of the pteris are excellent for 

 small ferneries. Lastrea aristata var., 

 Adiantum tetraphyllum and A. macro- 

 phyllum, Selaginella Kraussiana, or as 

 it is better known, Lycopodium den- 

 ticulata and S. Emiliana, are the best 

 edging materials and some should be 

 grown in the same size pots as the 

 ferns. S. arborea deserves a wider 

 acquaintance. 



Cyperus alternifolius and Acorus 



