454 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Febbuaky 27, 1902. 



rieties, as the blooms of one variety will 

 probably bring double the price of an- 

 other and it would be unfair to expect 

 as many blooms per plant from the high 

 priced variety as you would from the 

 other. 



There are. however, few varieties that 

 will not be found profitable if each plant 

 will produce on an average twenty 

 blooms during the season and most of 

 the varieties we have today will produce 

 that many or more good blooms to the 

 plant, or 20,000 blooms in a season from 

 1,000 plants. It is a well known fact 

 that the cut will not be any ways near 

 the same during each month, and it 

 would be impossible to say how these 

 figures should be divided between the 

 six months. For instance. White Cloud 

 produces the largest number of blooms 

 during January and February, and I can 

 safely say that we cut as many during 

 these two months as we do during the 

 other four. Ethel Crocker produces well 

 aJl winter and then winds up in April 

 and May with an enormous crop. 



Mrs. Lawson seems to be the steadiest 

 of the three, but the quality varies more, 

 especially the stem. Mrs. Joost pro- 

 duces about like Crocker, only it comes 



THE RETAIL FLORIST. 



Carnations. 



The divine llower is the chief topic of 

 the hour among the greater portion of 

 the llorists of this continent. The an- 

 nual meeting and e.xhibition held at In- 

 dianapolis last week will (as every an- 

 nual meeting has done) result in great 

 good to the popularity of the carnation. 

 In many sections now it runs a close 

 second to the rose, and therefore can be 

 considered as the second most important 

 commercial llower in the United States. 

 In this sense it deserves serious consid- 

 eration. The great trouble lies in the 

 fact that the retailer's ideas and en- 

 deavors devoted to increasing its pop- 

 ularity among the flower-buying public 

 are sadly hampered by the grower's esti- 

 mate of its value. The present season 

 has so far been a most remarkable one 

 for carnations; unpreeedentedly high 

 prices have been the rule. True, a cer- 

 tain percentage of the flowers have been 

 the best ever sent to the market, and 

 yet on the other hand a vast quantity 

 have been a total loss to many retailers. 



It is not our desire to criticise varie- 



New Scarlet Carnation Mrs. Potter Palmer, as Shown at Indianapolis. 



in much earlier in the fall and it is 

 very steady all winter. Jubilee usually 

 gives us a crop about the holidays and 

 then another late in February and 

 March. America is best from Decem- 

 ber on, while Crane seems to be fine in 

 the fall and fair all winter. Mrs. Bradt 

 comes in about November and continues 

 good until warm weather sets in but it 

 must be propagated early and kept grow- 

 ing in order to get plants that will pro- 

 duce twenty blooms in its season. Flora 

 Hill throws more and better blooms dur- 

 ing September, October, November, 

 March, April and May than it docs dur- 

 ing December, January and February. 



Mr. B. must learn the varieties separ- 

 ately and then .iudge for liimself, not 

 merely which variety produces the most 

 blooms, but which variety earns him the 

 most money per square foot of bench 

 space, as the quality of one variety may 

 easily offset the quantity produced by 

 another. A. F. J. Batjr. 



ties or methods of culture, but only to 

 look at the flowers from a retailer's 

 standpoint. It matters not how fine your 

 flowers may appear on your plants in 

 your greenhouses, it is their value and 

 attractiveness on our counter that con- 

 cerns us most. During this season more 

 than any other it has been our experi- 

 ence that a great number of carnations 

 have kept very badly. "Various reasons 

 have been assigned for their early prone- 

 ness to sleep, such as damp weather, 

 etc., etc., but to our mind it depends on 

 growers' methods of gathering and stor- 

 age more than aught else. Though it 

 must be admitted that there is a varietal 

 weakness, still it is an every day oc- 

 currence in all parts of the country that 

 one man's blooms of the same variety 

 will last twice as long as the others. On 

 many occasions there is an unwise haste 

 to send in undeveloped flowers without 

 their even having been put in water, and 

 then again others keep them until they 



are in the last stage, with the result 

 that there is much trouble and loss to 

 th'e buyer and harm to the future of the 

 variety. 



Carnations are not bought for their 

 beauty alone, but for their supixised 

 lasting quality. J,t should be remem- 

 bered that the retail florist business is 

 most of all a daily haphazard invest- 

 ment in very perishable stock, and the 

 public are becoming more critical and 

 harder to please all the time. These 

 facts render it imperative that the car- 

 nation specialists, and even small grow- 

 ers, give more attention to the keeping 

 qualities of tlieir product and that re- 

 tailers study well and try to provide 

 themselves with proper facilities for dis- 

 play and preserving. Carnations are 

 very susceptible to surroundings, easy to 

 choke in a warm room or poorly cooled 

 box ; they will not stand excessive damp- 

 ness and to shove a great bunch into a 

 narrow, half water-filled vase means 

 short life to them. 



Unlike some flowers, size will never 

 be able to detract from the beauty of 

 carnations, rather the other way. There 

 will always be an appreciative demand 

 for the largest blooms obtainable, and 

 consequently financial recompense and 

 fame to be attained thereby will always 

 insure a fair supply, but there are many 

 ways to consider the carnation as a com- 

 mercial flower. There appears to be an 

 all-consuming tendenc.v on the part of 

 all growers to devote their entire ef- 

 forts for size. The present types tend 

 towards few flowers and higher prices, 

 which is very good in a limited way, 

 particularly with regards to large cities 

 and elite trade, but it might be good to 

 remember that there always was and 

 always will be a very much larger de- 

 mand for good average flowers at a 

 moderate price. The man who produces 

 quantity of fair sized blooms does more 

 good to himself and the world than he 

 v, ho brings forth the large and the few. 

 !More attention should be given to the 

 production of varieties that \vill be pro- 

 ductive all the year around. The time 

 will undoubtedly come when these flow 

 ers will be supplied as they are now 

 -sought in quality and quantity at all 

 times. 



Many of the largest carnations grown 

 tcday are failures considered from an 

 ideal standpoint. Size, form and color 

 are important factors to the success of 

 any flower, but there is a growing de- 

 mand for fragrance, too. Sweetness and 

 I>eauty are twin values in most flowers, 

 and there is keen disappointment where 

 one exists without the other. The day 

 may shortly come when in general as in 

 very many instances now, size will be 

 subservient to color and fragrance. 



Speaking of color, brings forth many 

 important points. Judging the values of 

 color from a commercial point of view, 

 they may be placed in the following or- 

 der: Jledium pink, dark pink, white, 

 light pink, variegated, scarlet, crimson 

 and yellow. From an artistic stand- 

 point we would change them to light 

 pink, crimson, scarlet, dark pink, yellow, 

 white and variegated. There are sev- 

 eral other important points to consider 

 color from : each of them, however, de- 

 pends on circumstances or surroundings. 

 There is perhaps a generally effective 

 one where pink and scarlet are the two 

 principal claimants, between which it 

 is sometimes diflTicult to choose. With 

 one or two exceptions the variegated or 

 striped varieties in cultivation today 

 are not capable of supplying the color 



