548 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



APRIL 5, 1900. 



the back of any man. A gang of three 

 or four should always be at it and 

 it goes with a snap and a vim and a 

 cheerfulness that lightens the drudg- 

 ery. I have keenly enjoyed myself in 

 days past running along a bench with 

 a barrow full of soil, but like the bowl- 

 ing game 1 am better now at telling 

 where they ought to be hit. 



WM. SCOTT. 



THE QUEEN OF EDGELY. 



Tlu.s is the name ut the new rose 

 that originated four years ago as a 

 sport of the American Beauty at the 



nurseries of The Floral Exchange. 

 Edgeiy, Pa., and which has been under 

 careful observation ever since. 



It is identical with American Beauty 

 except in color, which approaches that 

 of Mme. Testout. The flowers are 

 from five to seven inches across when 

 expanded and the stems run up to 

 eight feet in length. The rose will be 

 distributed in March, 1901. 



At the exhibition of the American 

 Rose Society in New York last week 

 it was given a certificate of merit as it 

 was a newcomer and had no competi- 

 tor and could not enter the prize lists. 



Easter Crops. 



In many estaldishnunt- little else 

 will be thought of.now but the Easter 

 crops. And little can be said that can 

 help you very much. The weather 

 with us continues dull, but I never 

 saw weather to suit everybody, and 

 while you may pray for sun t] bring 

 out your lilies you may sail welcome 

 dull weather, for it will save your 

 azaleas. 



Remember one impor.'ant fa:t: do 

 not put p'.ants suddenly into a cold 

 house from a strong heA unles.-; they 

 are fully in bloom. Nearly all plants 

 will keep many days in a cool, shady 

 house. And in the case cf lilies th;y 

 are all the better for your customeis 

 when they have b?en hardened off. and 

 so are most things, notably Crimson 

 Ramblers, which hang in perfecMon a 

 long time after being tuLy out. 



What I am going to say seems unne> 

 essary, but yet you se; places where 

 the stock is scattered all over the 

 place. Some few customers like to 

 wander through a dozen houses and 

 profess to be so fond of flowers, or 

 perhaps it is "posies," but they are not 

 your buying customers; they are only 

 the visitors; your good pat!ons like to 

 see your display as quiokly as possible, 

 make their selection and bo off. The 

 old lady who tells you that her Leop- 

 ard plant is better than any of your.-i, 

 or that she has a beefsteak geranium 

 that was sent fiom Washingtan, is 

 more welcome about th? Ko :r,h of 

 July. 



So make one of your houses a show 

 house where there is a group of every- 

 thing that you have to offer, and noth- 

 ing on that bench but what is slick 

 and gorgeous. Don't try to make your 

 benches a medley of everything, how- 

 ever artistic it may be. That style is 



all ri^hl in a private place or botanic 

 gardens, but quite out of order in a 

 commercial place. Have blocks of stuff 

 so that you can quickly say, "Any of 

 these are one dollar, that lot is two 

 dollars," and so on. A greenhouse can 

 be ai? gay as a florist's shop window 

 and far more of it and the most of the 

 visitors will think your whoie place 

 is as full of bloom as the hundred foot 

 house they see. 



I must again impre.-js on you how 

 much it will facilitate business to have 

 a bench in another house where all or- 

 ders or plants selected can, whenever 

 possible, be looked out and labsled. 

 Thursday's delivery should be looked 

 out on Wednesday, and Friday's on 

 Thursday, and kept entirely distinct, 

 and so on. If you have any executive 

 ability about you Easter is the time 

 when its exercise wi.l help you out. 

 Nothing should be left undone that 

 must eventually be done. Pots should 

 be washed and instead of setting them 

 back on sand or ashes they can be set 

 on coarse paper. If you should wash a 

 few pots that don't sell it will not be 

 a great loss. 



The freak or fad of crepe paper is 

 now in such general use that it is no 

 good kicking, and it is so much in use 

 that the man or firm who does not use 

 it will not be in favor. Properly use:l 

 it most assuredly greatly adds to the 

 attractiveness of the plants and we 

 don't wait now to l)e asked to put it 

 on. but every plant get-; this chea') 

 dec oration. Don't lot every man with 

 dirty hands be bothering with the 

 crepe, but let some one of nimb'e fin- 

 gers and a little taste be a'lotted that 

 job. When once practiced at it, it will 

 go as quickly as a bank teller handles 

 the long green. 



I don't care what time of year it is 

 or how warm, a plant should never go 

 out without some wrapp ng piiper 

 round the pot, and a little way up the 

 plant. The absence of it looks crude 

 and reminds one too much of a seven- 

 year-old Philipino. Once more be pre- 

 pared for a rush, for you will have it, 

 and with the greatest of care and sys- 

 tem there is confusion enough. 



As a grower and retailer both I have 

 to remember with much sorrow the 

 folly of keeping a lot of fiowers till 

 the last moment. Four years ago this 

 Easter I had ten thousand carnations 

 arrive at my store at 7 p. m. on the 

 Saturday after most of the business 

 was over and they could all have been 

 sold for $5 or $6 per hundred whole- 

 sale a few days before. WMth all our 

 years of experience and this themj b=- 

 ing ventilated again and again, as 

 growers we are inclined to hoard up 

 till the last moment. Easter prices 

 prevail from at least the Wednesday 

 previous, so if you can sell, what ob- 

 ject is there in keeping everything for 

 the last moment? The commission 

 man wants his flowers on the Thurs- 

 day and Friday, and if received before 

 that the commission man and retailer 

 have just as much facility for "salt- 

 ing " them as the grower. There is too 

 much good stuff grown now for old 

 inferior flowers to have a show and 

 the man who gets in in good time 

 stands the best prospect of getting the 

 best price. It is not at all unusual to 

 see better prices at the commission 

 house on the Thur.'-day than on Satur- 

 day. 



With a late Easter as this year we 

 will hope and trust that delivery will 

 be easy; precaution against cold will 

 not be necessary, perhaps. But a low 

 temperature, say 40 degrees, with a 

 cutting wind, is disastrous to flowers 

 coming out of a warm house, and un- 

 less it is warm and still a covered wag- 

 on must be used. There is only one 

 plant at Easter that is really hard to 

 deliver and that is the worst of all, 

 viz., the favorite Easter lily. Some 

 retailers believe that a good way is to 

 have plenty of errand boys and dis- 

 patch a boy with a lily. In a wagon 

 they shake against each other and 

 broken petals is the result. A dozen 

 broken lilies tor which you have to 

 refund or replace will pay the wages 

 of more than a dozen boys for a day. 

 They are the only flowering plant that 

 bothers us, and as we have to deliver 

 three or four dozen to one church we 

 find that the best plan is to tie the 

 heads of about eight or nine together 

 in one bunch. Then they can swing 

 as much as you like and no harm will 

 come because they all go together. But 

 look out for a neighboring bunch or 

 the side of the wagon. 



WM. SCOTT. 



LIME IN CARNATION SOIL. 



I have just road the question put by 

 X. V. Z. on "Lime in Carnation Soil,"' 

 and Wm. Stuart's reply. Being very 



