OCTOHKR 



lsiiii 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



463 



Carnations. 



There is very little rust appearing on 

 our carnations this year, in fact we 

 have forgotten to look for it. But we 

 did hear a son remark "I don't see any 

 rust this year." That's almost too 

 good to be true. Yet it is little in 

 evidence, and it is always most 

 troublesome soon after planting. It is 

 likely that the germs of this fungus 

 have been constantly present, but we 

 have put our plants in better shape to 

 resist it, and let us hope it will entire- 

 ly disappear. 



There is no time in the whole year 

 when the carnations want the proper 

 treatment more than at present. They 

 are established and growing, but 

 should now have an abundance of air 

 clay and night. If you get a good stout 



growth now and till November 1st you 

 cannot so easily spoil them, for they 

 are thoroughly rooted and established 

 and can endure more heat when nec- 

 essary. Plants that are lifted late and 

 then soon afterward are subjected to 

 fire heat are soon spoiled, and that is 

 how it used to be done years ago. 



Don't delay in tying. There is noth- 

 ing like doing it soon after planting. 

 Some varieties. Daybreak particularly, 

 soon sprawl over the bed and then ty- 

 ing is difficult to do and many shoots 

 are broken. There are several meth- 

 ods, but for quickness, neatness, wel- 

 fare of the plant and stems, there is 

 nothing I have seen equal to the "Mod- 

 el" wire support, and the very worst 

 is the old wooden stake. 



WILLIAM SCOTT. 



With the Buyers. 



John was buyer for a high-toned 

 shop, Fred was buyer for a middle 

 class store, Herbert was from the 

 country, where he grew some of his 

 stock, and Will ran a little store down 

 in the poor section of the city. Well, 

 they all met at the market yesterday 

 and chatted over the prospects, each 

 viewing the subject from his own cir- 

 cle of vision, influenced of course by 

 the different kinds of people and busi- 

 ness they were acquainted with (and 

 if you will notice, the combination 

 represents pretty near the whole of 

 the retail trade). 



John was the most optimistic of the 

 erpwd; the rich had become vastly 

 richer and the future looked very 

 bright. Herbert had done well this 

 summer despite the fact that he had 

 several failures by poor seed; he in- 

 tended to increase his stock and grow 

 more showy, hardy flowers. Will and 

 Fred had little to say, only that their 

 customers seemed to have sp?nt all 

 their money on outings and vacations, 

 and outside funeral work it would be 

 some time before things would be 

 stirring, but they had to keep up ap- 

 pearances, for appearances count for 

 very much in this world of today. 

 They had all been out to the growers 

 after plants and had discovered that 

 prices had gone up; large palms were 

 very scarce and untouchable in price. 



John said he could only handle the | 



very finest, for his trade demanded 

 such, though for decorating and con- 

 servatory work the usual grades of" 

 stock were used. He had bought a 

 lot of Livistona rotundiflora in 5 and 

 6-inch pots, elegant little stock, for 

 from $9 to $18 per dozen; they would 

 retail at from $3 to $5 each. This 

 little palm was going to be very 

 popular this year on account of its 

 general adaptability, though great care 

 is necessary to keep it in good condi- 

 tion. There was going to be a run on 

 big kentias. and he had got some good 

 bargains from a private place; he had 

 bought some lanky leaved plants from 

 one grower and intended to "make 

 them up" with smaller plants, for peo- 

 ple preferred good bushy plants well 

 furnished to the pot or tub, to the tall, 

 thin specimen; and then again made 

 up plants gave a much better effect in 

 decorations, and they were vastly 

 cheaper, provided you made them up 

 yourself. 



He expected a call for kentias that 

 would sell at from $5 to $10. and this 

 grade of stock was plentiful and could 

 be gotten cheap. Areca lutescens were 

 good this year and there was going to 

 be lots of them used, for they were the 

 most graceful of palms and necessary 

 for fine work; he had gotten some 

 fine bargains from a man who wanted 

 room for his "mums." Araucarias and 

 rubbers (with the exception of a few 

 large branched ones of the latter) he 



didn't bother with, because his people 

 were tired of that kind of stock, but 

 there was going to be a run on big 

 ferns, especially basket ferns, and As- 

 paragus Sprengeri was sure of popu- 

 larity; his stock had to be "specimen 

 grade," unless where intended for fill- 

 ing in. and it cost like fury, still every 

 first class store had to have 'em. 



Fred said he could only admire the 

 big stuff and couldn't touch it; his 

 class was the biggest plant for the 

 least money. He had bought some 

 things at the auctions, but as he 

 hadn't a greenhouse and could only 

 carry a limited number of plants, 

 though cheapness was a gigantic con- 

 sideration, still he had to be careful 

 to get hardy grown plants. Rubbers 

 were cheap, some nice little plants 

 could be had for 40 cents. Latanias 

 went well with him. He had bought 

 six or twelve of several kinds of 

 plants— hadn't room for any more. It 

 was funny, he said, to visit a grower 

 who had just gotten back from Eu- 

 rope; this class of men now carry a 

 pocket rule with them, and sell their 

 plants by the half inch, and seemed to 

 want to make up their recent expenses 

 and fun on every sale. Nixey, he had 

 got his best bargains at the Dutch- 

 man's over there, and the stuff was 

 well grown, too. Of course he expect- 

 ed to make from 50 to 100 per cent, on 

 his plants. 



Yes, he couldn't afford to refuse to 

 loan plants to his regular customers, 

 but he would be hanged if he was go- 

 ing to risk his good stock on John's 

 impecunious set. "Oh, by the way, 

 one of your best customers, John, Mrs. 



, was in day before yesterday; 



said you charged so high for every- 

 thing she Was going to try me. I sold 

 her two plants at big prices, too; am 

 going to nurse such people. Well, as I 

 was saying, that impecunious set, they 

 want to be high-falutin', but can't 

 stand for it, so they comes to me for 

 the loan of plants, and gets a box of 

 flowers from you, John. Yes, I know 

 them, but I've just so many plants I 

 loan out and no more, and they are 

 mostly what was left from last sea- 

 son. 'Boarders'? You say you fired 

 most of the 'boarders' and will re- 

 place with new slock, charging accord- 

 ingly. Well, I cannot do that, for 

 everyone knows every leaf on their 

 old plants, and besides I've kept them 

 in the back yard all summer, and you 

 see I save a little and make some. I 

 cannot charge too high for 'boarders' 

 because I have to humor and keep all 

 my trade. I have my new plants all 

 on the sidewalk and keep them well 

 syringed. No, the policeman doesn't 

 bother me, fo- I give him a small rub- 

 ber to take home, and do you know it 

 pays to do so, for I can make a big 

 spread and the people are compelled 

 to stop and look. Why, you'd be sur- 

 prised how many people come in, and 

 I have a neat little booklet on plants 

 I give them. Have made lots of new 

 friends and had good sales already. 

 Of course a lot of it is because the 

 early bird catches the worm;' his 



