NOVEMBER 9, 1E99. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



587 



piece the greening of it is just as im- 

 portant as the fixing of the flowers. 

 One fine bloom is all that is placed for 

 each guest; you can tie this with a 

 cluster bow of very narrow ribbon, no 

 extra foliage; place these where they 

 will appear part of the decorations, 

 facing out in a way that will show 

 the guests they are intended for wear; 

 the stem must not be longer than eight 

 inches. Gentlemen wear a small flower 

 of the same color. Chrysanthemum 

 foliage is not very ornamental on a 

 dinner table, therefore hide as much of 

 it as possible. 



Where lady judges are employed, the 

 lamp shade and ribbons usually win 

 the prize; of course there are excep- 

 tions in most cases, but our experi- 

 ence has taught us that they as a rule 

 pay more attention to the accessories 

 than to the florist's art. When a grow- 

 er is asked to be judge the quality and 

 variety of material counts for more 



In the case of wedding decorations 

 place your flowers where the people 

 can see them when they are all stand- 

 ing. Wild smilax is used in large quan- 

 tities, but in fine work if it be used 

 at all it is only as a background for 

 choicer vines. People are getting to 

 be very particular about the material 

 you use and if it be common keep it u n 

 of sight as much as possible until you 

 have it prettily arranged; this will 

 avoid any cheap effect. 



A bride's bouquet should not be any 

 higher than thirteen inches from the 

 tip of the handle up. The flatter it is 

 the more convenient it is for her to 

 carry; many times they are carried 

 upside down for relief from weight or 

 clumsy long handle; make your hand 

 bouquets dainty and light. White or- 

 chids lead; some sprays of Dendro- 

 bium phalaenopsis are very light and 

 make up well, especially for sprav 

 bunches. Lily of the valley is fine at 



mums are seen again, but only where 

 art is ignored. 



The latest in boxes is a dark-olive- 

 green-field-with-pink-rose wallpaper 

 cover. The best looking violet box is 

 a dark violet color with telescope lid. 

 Imported holly trees, 5 feet high and 

 well berried, were sold at auction in 

 New York last week for $2.75 each. 

 Stumpp bought the lot. They are worth 

 from $10 to $15 retail at Christmas; 

 twelve years ago we got from $50 to 

 $100 for similar trees; doubtless many 

 more of these trees will be in the mar- 

 ket before Christmas. 



Good, large specimen Boston ferns 

 are reported to be getting scarce, and 

 it is early in the season yet. Better 

 make some pans up and keep a stock 

 on hand: they'll be wanted. 



If you're short of vines you'll find 

 Hall's evergreen honeysuckle a good 

 thing. Small ivy tips will be used iu 

 funeral work this winter; leave some 



A political Chrysanthemum Show. From the Chicago Record. 



than anything else; this is not right, 

 for it is art that is called for and that 

 quality alone should determine. Of 

 course fine stock should always be 

 used, and whilst fully furnished tables 

 are pretty and desirable yet we think 

 there should be a class for flowers 

 alone that the poor man may ha-/e a 

 chance. 



Every artist knows this subject is 

 inexhaustible, but color and arrange- 

 ment are the two principal guides. 

 Yellow, pink and bronze are the saf- 

 est colors, with the preference strongiy 

 in favor of pink. Helen Bloodgood or 

 Harry Balsley types and colors are 

 good. Eugene Dailledouze goes well 

 with Farleyense. We think you will 

 find that incurved varieties will look 

 better than any other. If yellow is 

 used the richer it is the better. 



Other Arrangements. 



In the matter of other forms of 

 floral decoration we would like to see 

 vases used more than they are, in fact 

 a nicely filled Rookwood vase would 

 beat many other forms of table deco- 

 rations. 



present; some of that long valley is 

 grown too quickly and wilts; buy the' 

 cool grown. Jessamine and Bouvardia 

 Humboldtii corymbiflora makes a fine 

 and sweet bouquet. Orange blossoms 

 give us lots of trouble, but a few go 

 a long way. 



Orchids. 



Cattleyas are getting scarcer, though 

 they still are the most prominent flow- 

 er in all first class stores, and tnough 

 they have been overplentiful this fall, 

 from now on there will be a greater 

 demand for them and retailers should 

 push this jewel of all our flowers. On- 

 cidiums are extra fine this year; they 

 are seen in some of the Broadway 

 windows, and they are beautiful. 



Miscellaneous. 

 We notice many of the stores have 

 vases of red berries in their windows. 

 In most cases they are enough to jar 

 one's nerves, mixed as they are with 

 mums of every hue. There is nothing 

 more funereal than a window filled 

 with a mass of white mums. One New 

 York store has dollar boxes of flowers 

 with price on in the window. D;ed 



outside, but cover it; it looks better 

 with a reddish tinge on it. 



IVERA. 



WHY? 



Ed. Florists' Review: Why is it 

 that the products of the greenhouse 

 are lower in price this fall than ever 

 before, while everything else has ad- 

 vanced 50 to 100 per cent, in price and 

 still risiLg? While most all other busi- 

 ness men are in clover the poor grower 

 has to fight harder than ever to make 

 both ends meet. 



I would like to see a general discus- 

 sion of this matter in the hope that 

 it may lay bare some of the evil ways 

 into which we have drifted, and bring 

 forth some practical remedy. 



WESTERN GROWER. 



(On another page we print a very 

 cheerful report from an eastern grow- 

 er, and we have heard of a number of 

 western growers who find an improve- 

 ment in their returns over last year. 

 But the inquiry of "Western Grower'* 



