570 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



March 20, 1902 



Soil is heavy and a nuisance in the store. 

 Wet moss will suffice, and it is good to 

 get it ready now. We saw many sim- 

 ple baskets during the week that will go 

 well if properly filled. The day of high 

 colored fancy ' baskets is gone; plain 

 colored simple ones will lead this time. 

 Very high handles will be used for roses, 

 and" you can untwine a Crimson Rambler 

 and fix the handle with it. Don't forget 

 that a loose spray here and there will 

 add to the beauty of a design. 



Flat baskets of all manner of plants, 

 such as primroses, bulbous flowers, ferns, 

 small palms, etc., will sell well. Put a 

 dash of color in the form of short high 

 bows o:^ ribbon at the side or on the 

 handles. Many thousands of the dif- 

 ferent kinds of cut flowers can be used 

 in baskets in this way. Fix up a bas- 

 ket of green plants; you can make some 

 variegated; insert a cheap rase among 

 the plants and fill it with a bunch of 

 spring flowers in one color, others in 

 varietv. Use ribbons to match the 



we are going back to the one-colored 

 ribbon. Gauzy and fancy striped eifects 

 have had their day, unless on such 

 things as ericas, boronias, epacris and 

 a few others requiring light treatment. 

 Gauze ribbon is more or less a failure; 

 that is, it requires too much of it to 

 make a show. We always prefer taffe- 

 tas for most plant work, because you can 

 make better bows with it. Flat bows 

 are next to useless on most stock; you 

 need to have the semi-high bow in order 

 to make the ribbon show prominently 

 among foliage or flower. Satin ribbon 

 will be used in large quantity and ma- 

 hne and others will be good for variety's 

 sake, but . the principal run will be in 

 good colors in plain self and soft hued 

 effects. Need no longer put a bolt of 

 ribbon on a plant; just enough to give 

 it a festive touch or add color. Baby 

 ribbons and tassels will be used to finish 

 off bows, and some in exceptional cases 

 will again tie special cut-flower boxes 

 with bright taffeta broad ribbons; that 



An Easter Plant Arrangement. 



flowers. Stock made up like this is not 

 wasted; you merely display it in a 

 catchy way, instead of leaving it all in 

 the icebox. Some will make a specialty 

 of automobile, caravan and sedan chair 

 baskets; others will bring forward egg- 

 shaped vases. A large variety is neces- 

 sary in some stores, but most florists 

 need only offer good plants at a fair 

 price to "do a big trade. Though trim- 

 mings will add brightness to your stock, 

 the people care more for the quality and 

 price of the plant itself. 



Easter brings an annual crop of what 

 may be called "mushroom" florists, spec- 

 ulators who open vacant stores to sell 

 plants that week only. Some effort 

 should be made to protect the interests 

 of legitimate florists from that element. 



Now, as regards ribbons. Of course 

 you can use up anything you have in 

 "stock. This is a good time to get rid 

 of all the remnants. Dealers will natur- 

 ally try to sell whatever they have, but 



is, the sizes from 16 to 80 and over will 

 be the most generally used. 



These fancy affairs run into big 

 money; better be careful how you use 

 them. There is a vast quantity of stock 

 bought for Easter that is never used and 

 in the mad rush lots of stuff is spoiled. 

 The trimming table should be kept clean 

 and dry. with some one to keep the stock 

 from being mussed up. Some people will 

 slash water and put dirty pots on every- 

 thing. Cleanliness saves stock and is a 

 general necessity in all florists' estab- 

 lishments. Get as many of your orders 

 out on Saturday as you can. Cut flow- 

 ers take up first place on delivery Sun- 

 day. When a plant is sold, try to finish 

 the tagging and carding and other fix- 

 ing at once; tie it up and put it in the 

 delivery route. A little planning now 

 will save much trouble and expense later. 



The sliipping department is an all-im- 

 portant institution, requiring a cool 

 head in charge. Everyone has their 



system of handling a rush of trade. The 

 simpler, the more practical. The least 

 handling of papers and plants, the bet- 

 ter. A neat pocket order pad and rub- 

 ber bands for card and sheets are good 

 to have. Don't have all the little neces- 

 sities stuck in one place at the end of 

 the store.- Some people are very haughty 

 and demand quick service. This can 

 only be done by alertness and having 

 things accessible. 



Many stores would be more attractive 

 and show plants to more advantage were 

 a case of smilax judiciously used, both 

 on the exterior and interior. Clear 

 away all the useless furnishings and give 

 your customers space to examine the 

 plants. There wUl be a few of the over 

 sensible who will prefer to send a Bos- 

 ton fern or a palm or Pandanus Veitchii. 

 Might be well to have one or two in evi- 

 dence, and we forgot to mention that 

 Crimson Eamblers trained in the shape 

 of standing crosses are to be had in 

 limited quantities, and that these are 

 most appropriate for churches and ceme- 

 teries, and, by the way, it will be well 

 for some to have a galax wreath or cross 

 made up read}' for immediate sliipment. 



Clean wooden boxes, both for cut flow- 

 ers and plants, to ship out of town, is 

 another important thing to consider 

 ahead. Most of you know what a nui- 

 sance it is to work with an old saw at 

 the last precious moment. Be good to 

 the weather man, and in your dealings 

 remember ,vou are in business 365 days 

 and as many nights in the year. 



IvERA. 



CARNATIONS. 



Saving Carnations for Easter. 



One of the nuiiii questions confronting 

 us just now is: How to get as large a 

 supply of bloom as possible for Easter 

 without diminishing the quality of our 

 stock? That we must save up our blooms 

 for a few days in order to meet the extra 

 demand is quite certain, as even a spell 

 of hard forcing would not bring out 

 enough blooms if they were sent in and 

 disposed of in the regular way. So the 

 question is, How to handle the cut for 

 at least a week previous to Easter so as 

 to have an extra supply of blooms, and 

 to have them in as good condition as if 

 they had opened up only the day before? 



After the holidays there were a good 

 many complaints about pickled stock and 

 still more about carnations not keeping 

 well and it can all be traced right back 

 to the forcing and pickling that was done 

 just prior to the holidays. Every year 

 we hear of many cases where the blooms 

 cut for a month after Christmas were 

 too soft for any use, just because the 

 houses were handled improperly prior to 

 that time. It seems impossible to make 

 some growers understand that it is not 

 a waste of fuel to have the ventilators 

 up an inch while they are keeping up 

 steam in the pipes and that especially is 

 tliis true when the temperature is run 

 several degrees higher than usual. Of 

 course I do not mean to advocate keeping 

 the ventilators up right along during 

 zero weather, when it keeps us hustling 

 to keep the temperature up to the proper 

 figure. But I do advocate opening the 

 ventilators at every opportunity, when 

 it can be done without pushing the boil- 

 ers too hard. We often have spells dur- 

 ing the winter when we must keep up 

 steam both day and night for lack of 

 sunshine and we always make it a rule to 



