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The Weekly Florists' Review* 



APRIL 2t;, 1900. 



it is good to have your boolvkeeper do 

 the sorting out and addressing at the 

 same time, and when on Easter or 

 Christmas eve your cut flower or plant 

 man starts to fill orders, a file, on 

 which the orders are placed in proper 

 rotation, should be handeil him with 

 another upon which to put his exe- 

 cuted ones when properly marked. 

 This simplifies his work and will en- 

 able him to do several times the 

 amount of work done by those who 

 have to refer to books and bother 

 writing tags with every order. In 

 this way. too. delivery routes can be 

 arranged; nothing should be handled 

 twice if the same result can be reached 



the plant and place it in the section it 

 belongs. We repeat again that every 

 florist should send out a leaflet giv- 

 ing cultural directions with every 

 plant, and the utmost precaution 

 should be adopted to insure careful de- 

 livery. 



We saw many deplorable sights 

 among plants this Easter. The flow- 

 ers were battered or completely de- 

 stroyed; it is safe to say that more 

 than 2.5 per cent of plants and flowers 

 sent out on an occasion like this are 

 utterly worthless when delivered; this 

 not only causes much chagrin but 

 greatly injures the trade. Your tag 

 should never be on anything you 



Ii;iskets in Flei^clinKiiin's Window. 

 New York Stores at Easter. 



by doing it once. Cool .calculation 

 will profit you more than nervous 

 prostration. It is better to stop a mo- 

 ment and think than to become fren- 

 zied and make errors. 



Try to keep your plant orders and 

 accounts separate from your cut flow- 

 ers, for two reasons: You will the 

 more readily see which pays best, and 

 cut flowers as a rule are more urgent 

 in delivery than plants; it is a great 

 trouble to separate them when late. 

 One of the best ways to do with plants 

 is to prepare them for delivery imme- 

 diately after being sold. By this we 

 mean put the card and tag on at once, 

 hand them over to the shipper, who 

 may wrap paper around the bottom ot 



would be ashamed to acknowledge as 

 yours, and everything sent out at any 

 time, particularly in a case like this, 

 should be done in a way to give sat- 

 isfaction, because that is the best 

 method of advertising your business. 



In regard to cut flowers, it will pay 

 you to have some one specially de- 

 tailed to take care of the stock, put it 

 in water and keep it from being 

 mauled about; much of the profit is 

 often wasted by carelessness in this 

 way. These observations are always 

 in season with the florist. The rules 

 which are good for Easter are good 

 any time; it Is only a matter of ex- 

 pansion. 



A few New Y'ork florists have a man 



to make up the violet orders and de- 

 liver them by special wagon to insure 

 their being delivered in time for 

 church Easter Sunday. Violet tinfoil 

 destroys the sweetness of violets and 

 looks cheap, besides; if the stems must 

 be covered either twist the ribbon 

 round them or use the small laca 

 handkerchief. The most important 

 thing connected with the violet is its 

 fragrance. The best cut flower boxes 

 seen were the rich plain ones. Somo 

 pretty boxes were those with a spray 

 of flowers in the center of the lid. The 

 colored paper and cheap wallpaper ef- 

 fects are in disfavor. 



The supply of good plant baskets, 

 especially pot covers, ran short. It 

 was impossible to get any on Satur- 

 day. Some abominable and trashy 

 colors were among those offered; you. 

 couldn't match them in a rainbow. 

 Will some one invent a good cheap 

 class of pot covers, also a wool cap for 

 the protection of lilies? The things 

 which were plain and had quality sold 

 best. All seem satisfied with the busi- 

 ness done. It's a pleasure to read the 

 reports from all over the country. 



Trailing arbutus is being sold on the 

 streets and in the stores. When this 

 beautiful little flower appears spring's 

 warm smiles have succeeded in drying 

 winter's cold tears. IN'fiRA. 



NEW YORK STORES AT EASTER. 



We have much pleasure in giving you 

 glimpses of some New York florist 

 stores, taken specially for these col- 

 umns on Easter Saturday. Pictures 

 speak better than words sometimes. 

 Otir instructions to the artist were to 

 procure illustrations of groups of 

 "made-up" work, showing the differ- 

 ent styles, rather than of extensive 

 displays, consequently we would ask 

 you to look upon these as representa- 

 tive detail work, not of quantity of 

 stock, which was something enormous! 

 Then again, owing to the rush of peo- 

 ple, it was impossible to either obtain 

 many desirable pictures or do justice 

 to those presented. Broadway and the 

 principal avenues of New York are 

 busy places on Saturdays, and we wish 

 to thank all for the courtesies ex- 

 tended. 



We were pleased to note that most 

 of the first-class stores did not use any 

 crepe papers this Easter. Baskets and 

 ribbons were the only forms of decora- 

 tions used; the best element will have 

 none of the dresses which turn a flor- 

 ist's store into a paper doll shop. The 

 cheaper stores of course still had their 

 rolls of paper, and the combinations 

 seen in the delivery wagons on Satur- 

 day and Sunday were enough to make 

 an automobile run wild. 



These views show but a few of the 

 principal stores in the center of the 

 city, but they are sufficient to repre- 

 sent the typical up-to-date American 

 flower shop, and there is no possibil- 

 ity of comparison with them in any 

 city of Europe. Very much of the 

 work turned out this Easter was very 

 creditable — in fact, a great advance on 



