100 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



DECEMBER 28. 1899. 



10,000; red berries (Ilex verticillata), 

 10,000 bunches; common ferns, 100,- 

 000; galax, 100,000; mixed greens, 500 

 boxes; holly, 4,000 cases; mistletoe, 

 350 eases; Princess pine, 200 cases; 

 garlands, 500,000 yards; wreaths, etc., 

 750,000; Christmas trees, 300,000; ferns 

 and foliage plants, 50,000; flowering 

 plants, 100,000. 



Who shall say we are a mere nation 

 of machines? We cannot compare 

 these figures with those of any other 

 city in the world, we simply give them 

 for consideration. Our country is only 

 125 years old, and when one city uses 

 almost the entire amount of stock we 

 name for its Christmas decorations of 

 IS&f) it i.s pretty safe to say we are far 

 from dying and that the future of our 

 art is brilliantly bright. 



We had the good fortune of being 

 able to get a few pictures of the New 



around you. It's all very nice if your 

 individuality in a business way can 

 stand out artistically prominent, but 

 don't lose sight of this very important 

 fact that it is far better for you to 

 give the people good flowers and plain 

 boxes than fancy boxes and poor flow- 

 ers. The highest forms of art are the 

 plain and simple ones. 



And here's another subject: There 

 is enough interesting history connect- 

 ed with most plants and flowers if we 

 would only learn it without going to 

 extremes in fabrications. We noticed 

 in a prominent Broadway window a 

 plant in flower of Epiphyllum trunca- 

 tum. This was labeled, "Century 

 Plant; blooms once every hundred 

 years." It's foolish to do this kind of 

 thing, because the great majority of 

 Americans know better. 



Very few flowers were worn on the 



Basket of Cyclamens with California Pepper on handle. 



York florists' stores on Christmas eve 

 and we wish to sincerely thank the 

 several artists for the courtesy shown 

 our representative in a very busj 

 time. The views will be published in 

 connection with this department as 

 soon as possible. 



One thing we particularly noticed in 

 several stores was that baskets of 

 plants were massed together, and we 

 think some good sales were lost on ac- 

 count of this. If you want your goods 

 to be attractive and show their full 

 beauty they must be arranged proper- 

 ly. You may often notice that the 

 basket or vase you put on a pedestal 

 or some place where it will be singled 

 out from the rest is the first sold. 



We are also of the opinion that too 

 much money is thrown away on flashy 

 trimmings in the way of wall paper 

 boxes, bad ribbon, awful colored pa- 

 pers and several other things you see 



streets Christmas day. Violets and 

 red roses were the most popular. We 

 noticed that a great deal of holly and 

 mistletoe appeared in buttonhole and 

 corsage. 



New Year trade promises to be fair- 

 ly good in the way of cut flowers. 



IVERA. 



THE WINTER BERRY. 



The Winter Berry (Ilex verticillata 

 — synonym, Prinos verticillatus) or 

 Black Alder has been a very important 

 item in Christmas decorative material 

 in the Chicago market this season. It 

 is a native slirub that grows about .>;ix 

 feet in height and blooms in May and 

 June. In fall the bright red berries la 

 trifle smaller in size than those of the 

 common holly) are thickly set on the 

 twigs, which are then bare of foliage. 

 The absence of foliage would seem to 



lessen the decorative effect, but when 

 these thickly berried twigs are ar- 

 ranged with suitable accessories the 

 effect is superb. 



These berried branches have been 

 used with splendid effect in some of 

 the finest decorations in Chicago this 

 winter and were a regular annual sup- 

 ply assured they would undoubtedly 

 soon become very popular. 



We understand, though, that the ber- 

 ries are of little value after severe 

 winter weather sets in and that the 

 large supply in the market this year 

 is due to the remarkably mild winter 

 up to this time. Could not this diffi- 

 culty be overcome by cutting the 

 branches after the first frost and stor- 

 ing away in a cool but frost-proof cel- 

 lar or root house? We would be 

 pleased to know whether this has been 

 tried. 



Surely it is worth some little effort 

 and expense to insure an annual sup- 

 ply of these beautiful berried branch- 

 es. They sell on sight at a good price 

 and are exceedingly useful in many 

 ways. During the past week many a 

 holly wreath was doubled in value by 

 the addition of twigs of the Winter 

 Berry. 



Another berried shrub of which 

 branches have lately been seen in lim- 

 ited quantities is an ilex of which the 

 specific name is not yet known by the 

 dealers (possibly Ilex Dahoon). In 

 this the foliage is present, small lance- 

 olate leaves, and the berries a bright 

 red. though not nearly so numerous as 

 in the case of the Winter Berry. It 

 would be very popular if it could be 

 supplied in quantity, and in good con- 

 dition at fair rates. 



CALIFORNIA PEPPER. 



Among novelties in Christmas mate- 

 rial noted this year were the berries of 

 the California pepper tree (Schinus 

 Moile) seen at Mr. C. A. Samuelson's, 

 Chicago. The berries are about the 

 size of peas, of a beautiful pale rose 

 color and are borne in panicles. 



We present in this issue two engrav- 

 ings showing how effectively these ber- 

 ries were used on the handles of plant 

 baskets by Mr. Samuelson. They were 

 also fastened in the bows of sashes of 

 ribbon and used in various other ways. 



While the color is not so brilliant as 

 that of other berries so freely used in 

 Christmas decorations, there is most 

 decidedly a place for this berry. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



The Christmas trade averaged very 

 much ahead of last year and some hold 

 that it was the largest Christmas 

 business in the history of the trade in 

 this city. The commission men as a 

 rule report supply in excess of last 

 year, though still insufficient to meet 

 all the demand except in white flow- 

 ers. The only stock that was in over- 

 supply was bulbous stuff, especially 

 Koman hyadnths, and there were some 

 of these last left over. A number of 



