MAY 3, lOW. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



69 J 



A'Cfaat with the Country Retailer. 

 It is quite a while since we had a 

 chat with the country retailer. We 

 know he's busy now, but we want to 

 remind him of a few important things. 

 Grow only the best, and grow it well. 

 Nurserymen tell us It has been one 

 of their best seasons; an enormous 

 quantity of all manner of stock 

 has been and is being sold and 

 the small florists have been gener- 

 ous purchasers. This looks like pros- 

 perity and confidence in the fu- 

 ture, but don't buy with a view of 

 selling everything. Plant a tew fine 

 things around your own place. Let 

 the people see that you know what a 

 good thing is. Needn't bother with 

 the wee, small microscopic weeds; 

 they belong to the botanical gardens; 

 recommend and plant the varieties 

 of herbaceous flowers which give most 

 satisfaction and which will also fur- 

 nish a succession of bloom suitable for 

 cutting. 



Many of the best flower buyers live 

 the greater part of the year in their 

 country residences, and even it your 

 place is a distance from theirs they 

 are liable to see what you have if it's 

 worth noticing, and to see beauty is 

 to admire or buy. Therefore every 

 country florist should have an abund- 

 ance of flowers around his place at all 

 times. This can be had by planting 

 such as Irises, paeonies, rudbeckias. 

 hollyhocks, foxgloves, tall-growmg 

 phloxes, delphiniums, pompon chrys- 

 anthemums, Canterbury bells, dwarf 

 cannas, dahlias (especially the cactus 

 or star varieties), salvias, asters, 

 stocks, antirrhinums, cosmos, sweet 

 peas, mignonette— the variety is end- 

 less; we cannot make a catalogue of 

 our paper; you ought to know the 

 good things; we seldom see them 

 where they should most be. 



Many of the very best flowers can 

 be had at a small cost and they pay 

 for themselves tenfold, not alone in 

 the pleasure and brightness they in- 

 fuse into your life, but in most cases 

 the amount of lucre they put into 

 your pocket. Yes, dig up that bad- 

 looking section along the road, around 

 your house, or along the end of your 

 greenhouses, and make it produce a 



little of the best of everything from 

 now till next winter. We would like 

 to see more roses grown in the garden 

 and feel sure they could be made to 

 pay. 



Roses in pots or flats will sell well 

 next Christmas, or any time during 

 the winter. You must plant them now 

 and grow them so all summer in order 

 to force them into bloom in time. 

 Try a few Ramblers, Magnas, Luizets, 

 Jacques. Magnas will give you per- 

 haps the best results for Christmas, 

 but many other varieties will pay 

 during the season. Good flowering 

 plants sell well at other times besides 

 Easter and Xmas, and the man who 

 has them for sale can dispose of other 

 stock with them. 



Many florists who grow geraniums, 

 etc., for the market have their plants 

 grown to such a high pitch by the use 

 of plant physic that when they change 

 hands they usually go back and give 

 disappointing results. This method of 

 growing plants, whilst it may be of 



li-iiiliiir;u'y ui' iiriiii'-ilial'- ln-m-lit im 

 the grower, is bad and con<leranable. 

 A plant should never be degraded and 

 made like an opium fiend. When pooi 

 persons buy a 'geranium to grow in 

 their window or plant on a grave, 

 give them something honestly grown. 

 The tendency of the times seems to 

 wend its way among labyrinths of 

 mysterious concoctions named chem- 

 ical plant foods. The plant man of 

 to-day imagines he must first be a 

 chemist and last of all a judge of good 

 soil. Instead of leaving experiments 

 to government schools, every green- 

 house has its maniac, victim or sub- 

 ject, and the result is pitiable. Many 

 people wonder why their plants look 

 bad or die soon after purchase, and 

 even the florists themselves are puz- 

 zled, not knowing that the poor thing 

 is but a superficiality — a victim to 

 some crank's craze for chemics. 



The very same thing applies to cut 

 flowers. You may succeed in growing 

 your carnations or 'mums larger and 

 with more color, but they don't keep 

 so well as those which are the product 

 of good soil and intelligent methods 

 of cultivation. If you value your 

 trade, don't buy from the grower who 

 physics his plants continually. 



Then again, go shy on newly im- 

 ported stock. We know the argu- 

 ments regarding its cheapness and the 

 convenience of not having to grow 

 it so long, yet all the same we say 

 steer clear of it in most cases, and in 

 all cases be sure that it's alive when 

 you buy it. 



Now is the time to think of and pre- 

 pare for the flowers you will want in 

 summer and autumn. Just look over 

 your stock and see if you've got all the 

 good things. You might need variety; 

 in any case it is often desirable for 



Mcintosh's. 

 New York Stores at Easter. 



No. 4. 



