JANUARY IS, 1900, 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



J 87 



- 1- -^■-*^" 



Criticism. 



OlK-e in a, while and in a niiiii'lalioiit 

 way wo liear from a few wlio iinagine 

 llipnist'lvps liiirt by some criticisms in 

 tliis cleparUucnt. We usually don't 

 stop to notice such thingt?, but iu these 

 particular cases we wish to express 

 our sympathy for their illusions and 

 ask them to lools. at things in the right 

 light. This section of The Review 

 was started to assist an immense part 

 of the trade, and in particular to en- 

 courage higher standards in the finest 

 of fine arts. 



You will certainly agree that any 

 art, no matter what section it belongs 

 to, has come to its present state of 

 perfection mainly by the prods of crit- 

 icism. If you read the great dailies 

 or magazines, you will find that names 

 are mentioned and things are torn to 

 pieces by critics, and you, in many 

 cases, agree with them, especially as 

 to the drama. But the critics in all 

 ages have been a dreaded set, mainly 

 because the vast majority of human- 

 ity can only smile in the sunray of 

 praise. Florists as a rule are sus- 

 ceptible to praise: they anticipate it 

 for almost everything they grow or ar- 

 I'ange. We find no pleasure in dis- 

 turbing their equanimity, but in some 

 cases we look upon it rather as a 

 duty. Friendship caii never influence 

 our pen. We feel that all are capable 

 of doing better than they have yet 

 done, and in order to spur them on. 

 we shall not fail to condemn the liad 

 and praise the good. 



As an answer to our critique on 

 "Art at Flower Shows," we have re- 

 ceived assurances that many societies 

 will provide for a better representa- 

 tion of floral arrangement at the shows 

 this year; this is what is badly wanted, 

 for the greatest crowd will always be 

 found where decorative art is dis- 

 played; let us hope it will not be of 

 any ordinary quality, such as one 

 would hastily get up on an order. 



Window Disp'ays. 



We regret to state that there is so 

 much deserving criticism that we can- 

 not find space enough for it— but here's 

 a little more: Last week in a Broad- 

 way florist's window we noticed a 

 large vase filled with aj-tiflrial peach 



blossoms: they were finely manufac- 

 tured, and might deceive at a distance 

 poor folks such as live down in the 

 tenements where flowers are rarely 

 seen. Now, would you want us to 

 praise that window decoration? Well, 

 we could not: we prefer to denounce 

 every attempt to degrade our art, and 

 we think the worst form of degrada- 

 tion is in trying to substitute arti- 

 ficial for natural flowers. 



On the same day we walked up Fifth 

 avenue and came to a florist's window 

 displaving a sign, ■■Latest in Mantel 

 Decoration. ■■ Well, although the man- 

 tel was almost entirely hidden with 

 foliage, it would have been pretty only 

 for the ugly, long looped bow of ter- 

 rible colored printed millinery ribbon 

 that hung at one side. If that is the 

 "latest" in decoration, we wonder 

 what will be "last." Ribbons of any 

 kind are out of place on a mantel, es- 

 pecially as an adjunct to floral decoi- 

 ation. 



You've seen the little "Lord Fauntle- 

 roy" boy with the broad sash bow hid- 

 ing his face, or the ribbon-mad girl's 

 house where it's on everything, even 

 to the coal scuttle: well, they supply 

 the models for some florists' designs. 

 If the ribbon was self-colored it might 

 pass in many cases, but it's the kind 

 milliners refused to buy two years ago. 

 But to return to this Fifth avenue 

 window: it is prettily tiled in green 

 (if the grey moss and violet boxes 

 were hid 'twould be better), and there 

 are some very attractive things often 

 seen there. 



Fleischman draws a crowd 'round 

 his window. On a bed of smilax and 

 ferns he has sixteen white doves; they 

 are attached to a violet decorated 

 chariot in which stands a pretty doll 

 holding baby white ribbons that are 

 tied to the doves; a concealed electric 

 fan shakes the ribbons and gives a 

 natural touch to the design. If the 

 chariot -ft'ere filled with blossoms and 

 the doves were not so formally ar- 

 ranged it would be prettier. Small's 

 showed a very handsome basket of cat- 

 tleyas. and Thorley— the always beau- 

 tiful—a vase of fine American Beau- 

 ties. 



Never were there so many fine car- 

 nations seen in the New York stores 

 as there are at present; they form the 



principal portion of most of the florists' 

 window flowers. We will deal with 

 them exclusively next week. 



American Flowers Abroad. 

 We notice that our old and esteemed 

 Chicago friend. Ess, sends a communi- 

 cation to the Florists' Exchange on 

 American flowers in Euroiie. There is 

 nothing very new in Ihat; twelve years 

 ago we fre(iuently sent boxes of roses 

 over to parlies in London and Paris, 

 and they were worn in fine condition 

 there. They were slower boats at that 

 tin e, too. We rememlier having a sjie- 

 cial zinc-lined box made for one young 

 lady who visited Europe every year and 

 insisted on having American grown 

 roses to wear every day whilst 'crossing 

 the ocean and the week after landing. 

 We filled the box with Marechal Niels, 

 Niphetos and Cusins. ptit the box in the 

 ship's ice box, and the steward gave 

 our customer fresh roses each morn- 

 ing Flowers are now very often 

 taken by passengers from New York 

 to Liverpool and Southampton. 



With the present quick steamer ser- 

 vice it is a very easy matter to shiji 

 many kinds of fiowers: arrangements 

 can be made with stewards to have 

 them cared for; and we look forward 

 to the time when we will not only 

 ■ send exhibits of cut flowers over for 

 European shows, but that we will at 

 least supply traveling Americans with 

 whatever flowers they may need, and 

 that we shall also send flowers to 

 European markets. Our American 

 Beauties and extra grade carnations 

 would sell well over there in winter. 

 We may even yet open an American 

 florists' store in London, and if it were 

 run right there could be no doubt as 

 to its success. You must know that 

 they cannot grow fine ro.--e.^ in England 

 during winter on account of fog, etc.: 

 what thev get now are mostly from 

 the soutli of France, and we have 

 often thought that if some growler 

 would adopt the American system of 

 culture, say on the Isle of Wight, to 

 supply the London market, he might 

 do better than in the close competition 

 here. 



Flowers in Market. 

 If you were to ask us what were the 

 finest flowers obtainable in New York 

 at present, we would say Cattleya Tri- 

 anae. Thomas Young, Jr., sells those 

 grown bv Arthur Herrington, and 

 Lager & Hurrell have a fine crop co ■ - 

 ing in. These flowers are the gems of 

 the market at present. Cattleyas and 

 Farleyense may not be new, but they 

 are very hard to beat for bouquets or 

 table decoration. The darkest shades 

 in cattleyas are the most popular with 

 New York ladies. 



We are afraid that the clumsy, heavy 

 bridal bouquet has resulted in the 

 death of that very important part of 

 our trade. As in many other sections, 

 it has been overdone, and the florist 

 is mostly to blame. There is just a 

 chance to succeed in reviving the cus- 

 tom, and we ought to study it. Of 

 course the finest bridal bouquet that 

 vou can make is that of white orchids, 

 and they are rather scarce just now. 



