FKBRUAUY 15, 1300. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



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Exhibitions. 



Just a word or two to flower show 

 committees. Some of your schedules 

 have already been compiled: most oth- 

 ers soon will be. Don't look at or judge 

 things exclusively from your own point 

 of view. Remember, you are supposed 

 to not merely gratify your own fancies, 

 but to offer the general public a feast 

 of beauty, and at the same time lessons 

 which shall be indelibly imprinted in 

 the memory. We are sorry to see that 

 the American Rose Society, which will 

 hold its first exhibition in New York 

 next month, has not considered the 

 decorative part worthy of notice. 

 There is no class calling tor the art of 

 arrangement. Of course, growers were 

 on the committee, and they consider 

 only their department. The society 

 appeals for support to all lovers of 

 roses, which is very wise and proper 

 and should be favorably re.';ponded to, 

 but the proper way to seek the support 

 of the retailers would be to offer them 

 a share in the glory of the exhibi- 

 tion. 



The Rose Society's schedule for the 

 March show contains over 200 classes 

 and a money value of 11.400 is offered 

 in prizes, but not a dollar of this large 

 sum is offered as a prize to show how 

 the "queen of flowers" should be used 

 in any way. We fail to see the justice 

 of this and hope it will be rectified. 



We are glad to note that the Carna- 

 tion Society has offered a cup for deco- 

 rative work, and sincerely hope there 

 will be many given next year. Of 

 course, it is early to speak of it yet, 

 but it would be well to provide for a 

 good representation of all sections of 

 the trade at the S. A. F. convention 

 show; prizes for the most artistically 

 arranged exhibits in the different 

 bi'anches would produce good effects. 



When making up your schedules, no 

 matter be the show in country, village 

 or in great city, remember the eye of 

 the public is held by the work of the 

 artist; give the retailer a chance to 

 show his ability. We are to have a 

 practical demonstration of floral art 

 decoration at the S. A. F. convention 

 next August, and though materials of 

 a class are scarce or unobtainable at 

 that time, yet there will be sufficient to 



give good lessons, and the wall space 

 and galleries of the hall are suitable 

 for such. 



Street Fakirs. 



We are informed that a fight is on 

 between the San Francisco florists' 

 store keepers and the street venders. 

 We hope the store keepers will organ- 

 ize everywhere and compel the au- 

 thorities to confine this nuisance to a 

 limit which will render it harmless. It 

 appears the flower fakir in 'Frisco 

 pays $10 a quarter as license: in New 



York he i.s .-uppu.-id i., |].i> ..un $2 a 

 year, but the majority pay nothing. It 

 you could watch them on the main 

 streets in New York you would see 

 how they dodge the police by running 

 from one side of the street to the 

 other; most of them are dirty faced 

 (Jreeks who work on tne padrone sys- 

 tem for a few cents a day. 



It is all very well for the grower and 

 the wholesaler to defend this system 

 of selling flowers to tlie pul)lic; they, 

 of course, profit by it; but the retailer 

 does not, and now, suppose one of 

 these Greeks came in front of a whole- 

 saler's place with a b.isket of flowers 

 and sold them to that wholesaler's 

 trade, how then? We venture to pre- 

 dict that the day will come when the 

 retailers of every city will combine to 

 protect themselves against such evils; 

 it cannot be tolerated much longer. 

 Here we have these parasites, this 

 fungus of our busine.is, organized to 

 lieat down the market whenever they 

 can; they club together, let one man 

 buy in big lots to get them cheaper, 

 and then divide; in this way, and with 

 the further advantage of having no ex- 

 pense, they can even afford to buy 

 high-grade stock and sell for less than 

 half what the legitimate'dealer must 

 charge for his. 



It would appear that each branch, of 

 our business today must adopt meas- 



Camation Genevieve Lord. 



