August 29. 1901. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



395 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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Pencil Points.] 



Never be in doubt as to whether you 

 should repaint your store or not. If it 

 only half way needs it, do it. There's 

 nothing like a clean bright store or office. 

 No more shelves or dust collectors in 

 modern florists' stores ; nothing but a 

 good ice-box, counter and choice furnish- 

 ings. Unsightly and seldom required 

 supplies are kept out of sight. 



There is nothing like a change. It 

 may be for better or worse, but the world 

 of today requires it. See if you cannot 

 change something about your store for 

 the better. Most florists are busy just 

 now with vacations or alterations; both 

 should be attended to at once. 



The coming season will be like many 

 lives, a short and a merry one. This 

 will be particularly so in large cities. 

 Country life is yearly becoming more 

 attractive to the rich American, and in 

 consequence the cut flower trade suffers. 

 It is in very many cases doubtful wheth- 

 er the florist doing a good steady trade 

 among poor people is not better off than 

 he who caters only to the rich. 



We'll soon have the auction rooms 

 agoing to get the cash for growers' coal 

 bills. There will be big bargains on 

 small stock as usual early in the sea- 

 son, but the man with only his store 

 had better be careful; only those who 

 have glass can afford to plunge. This 

 also applies to newly imported stock, it 

 must become established and acclima- 

 tized before it will stand the wear and 

 tear and dust and draughts of store 

 usage. 



If you are growing ivies out of pots 

 in the field, dig the largest up at once 

 and pot them; careful handling will get 

 them in fair condition by the time they 

 are wanted. Newly potted plants are of 

 little value for retail work. Many grow- 

 ers "plunge" their ivies and thus have 

 them ready at all times. There will be 

 a good demand for large ivies this win- 

 ter. 



California privet (Ligustrum ovalifol- 

 ium) has become a very popular box and 

 tub plant in New York; it is a cheap, 

 safe and an immediately effective screen. 

 The possibilities with this material are 

 great; not all can atJ'ord to pay the price 

 demanded for bay trees, and in their 

 case privet is a good Siibstitute. Shape- 

 ly specimens, well furnished with small- 

 er plants at bottom, and grown in pre- 

 sentable tubs, will sell well next season; 

 retail nurserymen may make a note of 

 this, but be sensible in price. 



There has been a steady demand for 

 good sized Boston ferns all this summer 

 and in the future it promises to be 

 even greater than ever. Growers will 

 do well to prepare for a continuous sup- 

 ply of good, cool gi'own specimens of 

 this grand decorative plant. 



You can scarcely get anything more 

 effective than a well furnished lianging 

 basket of Asparagus Sprengeri; the great 

 value of this plant is not yet recognized; 

 the time will come when it will be bet- 



ter grown and more generally used, and 

 its greatest worth is seen when in hang- 

 ing baskets. 



Get your freesias in if you want them 

 when most valuable. 



Carnations will be later than usual 

 this season, but promise to be of finer 

 quality. 



Supply men inform us that the immor- 

 telle crop has been a total failure. This 

 news comes at a time when we were go- 

 ing to advise our readers to get up 

 their stars and hells for Christmas. They 

 tell us the price of red immortelles has 

 been doubled and that very few are ob- 

 tainable. Well, Europe needs immor- 

 telles more than we do; we can get along 

 without them; all the same we cannot 

 see why this country does not grow, 

 instead of importing, them. Once upon 

 a time small unopened immortelles were 

 considered inferior; now they are most 

 preferred : the dye and the size of the 

 bunch comes before size of flower (in 

 their case) on the American market. 



A western man has patented a bouquet 

 pin. It consists of a stick pin attached 

 to a piece of tin on which is fastened 

 a bit of wire; the intent is to wire the 

 stem of the bouquet or flower on to the 

 tin and it is stuck to the garment in 

 the manner of the badge ; it is called 

 au invisible bouquet holder or pin. It 

 may be a "go'' in some quarters, but our 

 experience has been that the old style 

 is best. 



From time to time we notice strange 

 ideas executed in regard to the attach- 

 ments for wearing flowers; little bottles 

 of water were once carried behind the 

 lapels of coats in which to stick the 

 stems of boutonnieres; the custom be- 

 came general in England, and we are 

 compelled to smile at the recollection of 

 that and other more recent innovations. 

 Thorley, last season, offered an expen- 

 sive violet pin. It was a short gilt chain 

 and metal violet with fasteners; some 

 people must be distinctive at any cost, 

 but a plain clean pin and quality in 

 flower is good enough for the best. 



All who can should see the floral pa- 

 rade at Saratoga, N. Y., the first week 

 in September. Some vile things no doubt 

 will be seen, but some pretty ones also, 

 and much of interest in general. An 

 immense amount of flowers are used for 

 this occasion. African marigolds are ex- 

 tensively grown for gi-oundwork on floats, 

 etc. The great trouble with the Sara- 

 toga annual fete is that florists will do 

 the work for almost nothing in order 

 to get it away from one another. Pity 

 where there is so much spring water 

 there should be so much foolishness. 



We notice that there have been more 

 floral fetes and floral dances this year 

 throughout the country than ever before, 

 but fear they have been more of the arti- 

 ficial than natural material kind; we 

 expect it to be so till the florist takes 

 his proper place. 



There is just a little too much of 

 that misty north and south business in- 

 troduced into arguments anent florists' 



conventions. There is no north and 

 south in ability or principle. New Or- 

 leans, Atlanta or any of the florists' cen- 

 ters of the south would have been more 

 acceptable to the majority, but what 

 can't be cured must be endured. 



We saw finer and better varieties of 

 sweet peas on Main street, Buffalo, this 

 summer than we did on Broadway, New 

 York; and more white asters in Kast- 

 ing's store one day than in any other 

 store in the state. Strange, very strange, 

 we saw only one florist's stand on the 

 streets of Buffalo; lucky for the Main 

 street boys that the Greek pest is not 

 established there; woe betide them, etc., 

 etc. 



It's a mistake to imagine that where 

 pass the greatest crowd is the best place 

 to open a florist's store. We know of 

 places where hundreds of thousands pass 

 in a day that are not worth considering 

 from a florist's standpoint. The busi- 

 ness seems to be concentrating more and 

 more to the residential sections. 



Rubber plants have been extensively 

 used to good advantage in garden vase 

 work this summer. A few years ago 

 experienced growers were afraid to grow 

 these plants in direct sun; now they 

 are almost all grown outdoors. The 

 market will be flooded with them this 

 fall; the branched ones will have first 

 call. Straight rubbers are less in de- 

 mand every year. 



Wonder what has been the matter with 

 small Cycas revoluta this summer; we 

 haven't seen them for sale at every cor- 

 ner of the street; queer how things run 

 out. 



Koman hyacinths have been cornered 

 by a syndicate in France. What a bless- 

 ing! The less we see the more we ap- 

 preciate is applicable to many things, 

 more especially where syndicate mater- 

 ial is concerned. 



Choice cut flowers are very scarce these 

 days, and seem particularly so when 

 most wanted. American Beauties are 

 coming in much earlier this year; it is 

 the best rose on the market at present, 

 and Kaiseriu is the next best. Asters 

 have not been satisfactory so far, but 

 better is expected of them during next 

 month. Some provision should be made 

 to have the aster crop last till chrysan- 

 themums are well in. Liliiun lancifol- 

 ium album and L. auratum with white 

 gladiolus are plentiful and furnish ex- 

 cellent material for funeral work. 



About the most despised flower we 

 have on the market now is Hydrangea 

 paniculata grandiflora; it is for the 

 while abundant everywhere and a source 

 of aggravation to most wholesalers. The 

 country is full of this stock and growers 

 should not expect much in return. It 

 is a mighty good flower for the poor 

 retailer to have in stock and will be 

 more so as the days get colder; fine 

 work can be done with it if used with 

 tact; the trouble is that everyone now, 

 even to the poorest, look for an abund- 

 ance of roses in the cheapest work, and 

 more because other material is not used 

 to advantage ; they fail to see good value 

 or beauty in other flowers. 



We are glad to learn that business at 

 the summer resorts has so far been un- 

 usually good this season. Ivera. 



BULBS. 



Roman hyacinths have been advanced 

 .?2 to $3 per 1,000 in price during the 

 last two weeks. The 7 to 9 and 9 to 11 

 Harrisii are very scarce, owing to a 



