156 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JANUARY 11. 1900. 



early to trim or train many of the 

 plants intended for that event. Crim- 

 son Ramblers will stand more atten- 

 tion than has been given them; there 

 is a vast number of ways you can 

 ti-ain them; but let us have some in 

 basket shape. Whatever you do don't 

 put Easter plants in too big pots; they 

 not only make your plants look poorer 

 and smaller but they kill the chance 

 of sale; don't economize on plant pots, 

 it's poor policy. 



Get some wire baskets, plant As- 

 paragus Sprengeri on the bottom and 

 sides and fill the top with Begonia 

 Glory of Lorraine; they'll sell at 

 Easter and the better they are the 

 bigger the price. 



Various Notes. 



Chorizema ilicifolium is in bloom 

 now and a beautiful thing it is. What 

 a grand thing to go with Ma Capucine 



riages or cars, you must put them 

 close to but not touching the glass and 

 have some fairly high up. Some of 

 the New "i'ork stores suspend a flat 

 basket by ribbons and fill it with 

 bunches of flowers; sometimes they 

 are pretty, other times the combina- 

 tions of ribbon and flower color are 

 enough to make a negro turn white. 



Some day the north and the east 

 will be in closer touch w-ith the west 

 and south, and lots of the fine mate- 

 rial growing out there will be used in 

 decorative work. The California pep- 

 per referred to in a recent issue was 

 used this Christmas in New York. It 

 is very good for many kinds of basket 

 work and will no doubt become popu- 

 lar, but we hope to see the day when 

 olives, oranges, magnolias, etc., will 

 be shipped on the branch and used 

 extensively so. 



We notice that among the promi- 



Scallen's. 

 NEW YORK STORES AT CHRISTMAS. 



rose! Painters can get their colors 

 from paints but we have to be satis- 

 fled with what's on the market, more's 

 the pity. 



There are several varieties of nar- 

 cissus and other bulbous stock com- 

 ing in. The yellow trumpets always 

 seem to herald spring and they are 

 welcome in the stores, but so far they 

 are poor in quality. It is well to have 

 a good bunch of spring flowers such 

 as freesias in a neat vase on the count- 

 er; many customers take a fancy to 

 and purchase flowers if they are put 

 where they can smell them. In several 

 stores in New York, and for that mat- 

 ter in every city, whenever a good 

 customer is seen nearing the store, 

 some of the flnest stock is hurriedly 

 put out on the counter in order to at- 

 tract a sale, and it is often a very suc- 

 cessful ruse. 



If you want your flowers in the win- 

 dow to show prominently at a dis- 

 tance, especially to people in car- 



nent private gardeners a great many 

 flowers such as antirrhinums. Canter- 

 bury bells, wallflowers, etc., are being 

 grown under glass for cut flowers. 

 Many beautiful snapdragons are in 

 bloom now; most of the seed was 

 sown in August. Of course you might 

 not get much on the market for this 

 kind of stock, but all the same the 

 wealthy would not have it grown if 

 they did not want it, and nowadays 

 they seem to take a pride in walking 

 into your store and telling you of this 

 and that they have growing in the 

 country. 



There are very few things prettier 

 than a well made wreath of pansies, 

 but you must either have them one 

 color or group them to harmonize. 

 Beaconsfleld is far the best kind we 

 can get here for funeral work, and it 

 requires from 750 to 1,000 flowers to 

 make a wreath properly. We do it 

 this way: First put every flower on a 

 No. 36 wire; then put them on sticks. 



four to six in a group at irregular 

 lengths; get a 30-inch even width 

 wreath and fill it full and round with 

 green moss; if we can we get a lot of 

 2y2-inch Adiantum cuneatum, cut the 

 roots off one inch from the top. and 

 work these in thickly so that they hide 

 frame and moss and form a perfect 

 wreath of fern; if we cannot do this 

 then we solidly green the wreath back 

 and front with Asparagus Sprengeri, 

 then cover the front side with short- 

 stemmed fern; having thus thoroughly 

 mo.Ksed and greened the wreath, we 

 start at one side with our flowers and 

 arrange them so they will form a full 

 half circle, that is to say, when the 

 wreath is flat on the counter the 

 flowers will touch it on both sides. 

 We have some stemmed short so as 

 to break regularity and yet the whole 

 wreath must be uniform. We save a 

 group of our longest stems for where 

 we finish and with these we make a 

 branched cluster, perhaps with ivy 

 tips, to take the place of ribbon. 



Many will say; "Oh, pshaw, that's 

 nothing new; we can do that easily." 

 Well, somehow we try to see all the 

 grand wreaths at big funerals, but we 

 tell you that you don't often care to 

 own up to your work at these affairs; 

 most of them are what we know as 

 "pancakes," or they are thrown to- 

 gether with sphagnum moss protrud- 

 ing. It requires fine ability to arrange 

 a wreath properly, and even with the 

 smallest flowers, such as violets, it is 

 decidedly wrong to have them all even 

 heights and jabbed together. 



The days of tinfoil are fast disap- 

 pearing, and so they ought, for if there 

 is any one thing outside noise to mar 

 the effect or solemnity of a funeral it 

 is the grotesque, nerve-racking glitter 

 of tinfoil. To be sure, we need some- 

 thing to hide grey moss, but the cere- 

 mony of having a boy carefully meas- 

 ure and plaster this art destroying 

 stuff on the backs of every design 

 seems to be a sacred law. Well, to be 

 up with the twentieth century you 

 must change, do better work and use 

 more of nature's products. 



Orchids, with the exception of cyp- 

 ripediums and a few others which are 

 seldom wanted, are scarce at present. 

 A limited quantity of Cattleya Trianae 

 are coming in and they are very 

 grand; they retail at from 75 cents to 

 $1.00. C. Percivaliana didn't seem to 

 go so well this season; it wasn't be- 

 cause they're small, for the color is 

 gootl; it's their peculiar odor. It's un- 

 fortunate the odd shape of the cypri- 

 pedium flower will not permit it to be 

 worn; the colors are very beautiful 

 and will harmonize with any dress; 

 try C. Harrisianum with valley or Me- 

 teors; even by itself the color is 

 grand! We are sure that if a few 

 more colors were introduced a vast 

 quantity more of C. insigne could be 

 sold. 



New York Florists' Stores. 



We have pleasure in presenting the 



second batch of views taken specially 



for this department on Christmas eve. 



The entrance to Hodgson's grand 



