628 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



1902. 



bersome "get ups," unless you are com- 

 pelled to as we have previously stated. 

 One can never depend on tastes, and 

 it is wise to submit food for all, but it 

 will redound to your own credit and 

 profit if vou seek to elevate as well as 

 feed a coarse taste. It is no longer 

 necessary to worry about carpenters and 

 outside mechanical aid (except in the 

 case of electricians) when contemplating 

 the decoration of even the most difficult 

 buildings. Education has made the flor- 

 ist independent of all other artisans. He, 

 if he will, is master of his own art and 

 the beautifier of all others. Where in 

 other days it was thought necessary to 

 build cumbersome structures and use 

 great quantities of lumber and nails for 

 what is considered an ordinary job to- 

 day, we realize and laugh at our folly 

 then and adopt simpler methods. A sash 

 cord or copper wire has taken the place 

 of ropes and timber hooks, and gummed 

 pasters have replaced nails and the con- 

 sequent damage. Wire netting has to a 

 large and increasing degree dispensed 

 with moss and the ideal in design has 

 superceded the incongruous models that 

 were familiar to past generations. 



Where there is a church wedding, for 

 instance, and either a cheap or expensive 

 job is to be done (mind you, the same ' 

 principle applies, you must give satis- 

 faction, that is all sufficient), your ma- 

 terial must be so arranged as to excite 

 a thought or cause a complimentary com- 

 ment. Therefore, whatever you use, put 

 it where it will show to its very best. 

 But we must cut this short' until next 

 week. In the meantime if any readers 

 are puzzled or anxious to know anything 

 pertaining to retail work we will most 

 gladly answer them. 



Just a few abbreviations that may 

 be important to those who have orders 

 for immediate execution. Orange blos- 

 soms are very plentiful and are the 

 traditional flower among one race of 

 people for weddings. They are suitable 

 for head wreath, boutonniere, hand bou- 

 quet or breast spray. No other foliage 

 permissible, unless in the case of large 

 hand bouquets. Brides, Ivory, Sarah 

 Nesbitt (Apple Blossom), Mrs. Oliver 

 Ames, White Lady, Cherokee, Lamarque, 

 Devoniensis, or any other white, or what 

 is called French white rose (by the way, 

 the French don't recognize dead white), 

 can be used, and don't forget an Irish 

 girl would always select Liberty roses 

 above all other were she told the tnith, 

 that it was an Irish rose, and then 

 again the American might choose the 

 American Beauty. 



The dead lines between white and 

 cheerful colors are fast fading away, 

 and better it is so. Why should a wed- 

 ding be all white? Who and what is 

 responsible for the cruel satire that a 

 bride should be dressed almost like a 

 corpse and carry naught but reminders 

 of snows and cemeteries? It's all pure 

 humbug — a looking backward several 

 centuries to the obscure and dampened 

 ideals of some court idiot. A bunch of 

 gardenias, apple blossoms, any spring 

 blossom, valley, orchids, carnations, any 

 colored rose, daisies, lilies — in fact, any 

 flower you know to be the bride's favor- 

 ite — is best to suggest, be it even pan- 

 sies, and no man will refuse his bride 

 her favorite flower, especially on her 

 wedding day. And, above all, no mat- 

 ter what it is, the groom should -n-ear 

 the same variety of flower in his coat. 

 Your decorations may be what you or 



they suggest, but let the bride carry her 

 favorite flower to the altar. 



In the meantime you need not get 

 flurried about special detail, if you have 

 a lot of stock left over after Easter. 

 Needn't buy much, even if you do have 

 particular folks to deal with; use what 

 you have to the best advantage; it is 

 often the case that you must pay more 

 for your materials than the job is worth 

 (a condition that is threatening the 

 trade today and should be discouraged). 

 An abundance will satisfy the majority 

 of people. 



Just a last word about Easter. Be 

 reasonable on plants and cut flowers. 

 Charge, if you like, on your made-up 

 work, where ability is really worth more 

 than stock. Don't lose one customer if 

 you can help it. Watch carefully the 

 temporary help; they may drive away 



Frame for the Empress Wreath Canopy. 



Patented by Reed & K>-1Ut. 



in a moment what it has taken you 

 years to reach. When you are packing 

 your Easter boxes of cut flowers, needn't 

 put in a lot of ugly, common greens; 

 just a few at the end of the box to 

 elevate the first flowers, and, in the case 

 of spring flowers, carnations, etc., it is 

 far better to have them bunched; have 

 them done in 12s or 258 before Sunday; 

 it is far better for a lady to take a 

 bunch of twelve carnations in a box than 

 hand it to her to pick that dozen out 

 singly. Get your flowers to the people 

 in good condition. 



Violets will be the principal flower this 

 Easter morning, and the sweeter your 

 customers get them the better for you. 

 Let's drop the humbug of having violets 

 picked on Friday intended for wear on 

 Sunday. Let us be up to date. Save 

 the future of the flower by serving it 

 sweet. No tinfoil needed; just velvet 

 ribbon for the very extra, silk ties for 

 the next, gauze or cords for the indiffer- 

 ent. Small green galax leaves under 

 all to keep them up. 



A best Easter to all. Iver.\. 



ROSES. 



Seasonable Hints. 



To protect the /ceding roots that are 

 now near the surface from strong sun- 

 shine and to keep the benches from dry- 

 ing out too quickly they should now get 

 a liberal mulching of rich compost. The 

 soil (if the plants have been doing good 

 work) will by this time be much ex- 

 hausted, and as the spring crop of wood 

 is coming on they will require some 

 fresh material to work on. By mulching 

 now the blooms can be kept up to size 

 for quite a long time, even in hot 

 weather. 



The compost should consist of two- 

 thirds well-decomposed cow manure and 

 one-third good rose soil; to this should 

 be added twenty pounds of dessicated 

 bone meal to each cubic yard of com- 

 post, the whole to be thoroughly incor- 

 porated and put on the bench one inch 

 thick. Passing the compost through a 

 •■)4-inch screen makes it more easily 

 spread and can be more readily assimi- 

 lateil than if put on in a rougher con- 

 dition. This mulching should, with the 

 aid of liquid feeding, keep the plants 

 in good bearing eoniUtion till planting 

 time. 



To Beauty benches, wluch should now 

 be making a heavy growth, this is in- 

 ilispensable, as without it manj- of the 

 buds will fail to attain to a salable 

 size. Those buds on extra strong soft 

 canes of Beauties which fail to fully 

 develop should be picked off instead of 

 cutting down the stem. At the base or 

 these buds will be found one or more 

 Duds, which in five or six weeks will form 

 excellent flowers. 



Young Beauty stock, which should 

 now be in 3-inch pots, should be fumi- 

 gated once a week, and syringed with 

 some force twice every bright day. Keep 

 all buds picked off, and give the plants 

 plenty of room on the benches. 



Those who have not already got their 

 sod piled up, should have it collected 

 and piled up as soon as possible before 

 the heavy spring work commences. 



RiBES. 



VIOLETS. 



In our last wo spoke about caring for 

 the plants promptly from the time they 

 were first planted; this also refers to 

 those planted outside, with only this dif- 

 ference, that not having paths to stand in 

 as you have in the house, we plant about 

 four rows, then skip a row for a path, 

 and also plant the rows so that they can 

 be worked with the hand cultivator, which 

 you cannot do in the house as you have 

 to plant too closely. To return to the 

 house, if at any time you find any moss 

 or fungus inclined to start in any spots, 

 dust them over with air-slacked lime; it 

 is good anjTvay, and can be used liber- 

 ally, not getting it on the violets them- 

 selves, and if applied when the house is 

 comparatively dry it bothers the slugs if 

 a few have gotten in by some chance. It 

 also sweetens and lightens up tne house 

 in the early winter. 



Unless you have some special demand 

 for very early violets you should keep 

 the first crop of buds cut off the same as 

 the runners; they are never very good 

 at the best, and there is no market for 

 violets until chrysanthemums are gone. 

 I mean as a rule; of course there are ex- 

 ceptions occasionally for a funeral or 

 I some such purpose. 



