OCTOBBR 9. ItMli;. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



637 



New Store of Chapin Bros., Lincoln, Neb. 



Handling the Flowers. 



With this cooler ^veather your en illa- 

 tions are bound to improve in quality as 

 well as quantity, and the better the 

 blooms, just that much better should the 

 liandling be. When the blooms are 

 ^mall and cheap one is inclined to pack 

 tliem up almost any old way, but it 

 pays to handle these fine large blooms 

 with care. Many a lot of tine blooms is 

 luined after it is cut by Ix'ing han- 

 <llcd roughly or packed too tightly in a 

 l]OX or some other way. It is not only 

 size of bloom and length of stem that 

 our retailers are willing to pay the top 

 price for, but perhaps the most impor- 

 tant point of all is their fresh appear- 

 ance. A badly bruised petal is often 

 enough to put the linest bloom into tlie 

 next lower grade. 



I could never i)elieve that carnation 

 blooms could l)e shipped in the best of 

 shape when the blooms are tied up in 

 bunches of 25, as many growers do. 

 There are bound to be some blooms 

 ciushed in the center of the bunches, as 

 it is impossible to pack them so that 

 each bloom will be free to itself. We 

 find that packing the blooms in layers 

 is by far the most satisfactory where 

 the stock is of such quality as will jus- 

 tify it. It takes a little longer to pack 

 and unpack the blooms, but you get them 

 to 3'our cvistouier in good condition and 

 he will be pleased when he takes them 

 out of the l)Ox. W'e usually put two 

 layers in a box with a piece of heavy 

 paper between them to keep the stems 

 from mashing into the blooms below. If 

 you are packing several varieties, pack 

 the hca\y and solid blooms in the lower 

 layer, because in the first place they 

 will hold up the lighter ones Ijetter, and 

 being on the bottom their weight will 

 not injure anything. 



An expert cut flower packer is a valu- 

 able man in a large place and it surely 



pays to havS one man do all of it as far 

 as possible, so he can become an expert. 

 Xever sj^rinkle water on carnation 

 blooms, but you can lay damp tissue 

 paper between the stems. When you 

 finish a layer you should nail a cleat 

 over the stems to keep the blooms from 

 moving around in the bo.x and if the box 

 is a long one there should be one or 

 more cleats about the center of the box. 



There has been considerable complaint 

 in times past of carnation blooms going 

 to sleep soon after reaching the retail 

 store. Growers and storemen each ac- 

 cused the other of being at fault and 

 for a little while last winter it was hard 

 to tell who had the best of it. No doubt 

 a great many carnations are caused to 

 go to sleep by being kept in poorly ven- 

 tilated storerooms and in other ways in 

 the stores, but a great many more are 

 given their knock-out drops before they 

 leave the grower's ])lace. Too often the 

 blooms are picked by the armload and 

 laid on a table a half hour or more be- 

 fore the stems are put in water. If the 

 sorting room is warm this will cut their 

 lasting quality in two, and in any tem- 

 perature it is not good for the blooms. 



One himdred blooms is plenty to cut 

 at one time and they should be set in 

 water as soon as picked. It will not in- 

 jure them if they are taken out of the 

 water after a half hour and laid on the 

 table wliile being graded, etc. Tlie water 

 should not be too cold and the storage 

 room should be kept as near 45 degrees 

 as possible. If the blooms are to travel 

 an_y distance they should be in water sev- 

 eral hours, over night if possible. The 

 .storage room should be well ventilated, 

 but no draughts should strike the 

 blooms. Do not pick bloom,s from plants 

 that are sufTering for want of water, 

 nor when the sun is shining very strong. 

 The best time is in the morning. 



A. F. J. Baub. 



A WESTERN STORE. 



We present herewith exterior and in- 

 terior views of the new store of Messrs. 

 Chapin Bros., Lincoln, Neb. 



The interior view hardly does the 

 store justice as it does not show the 

 front part where are two large mirrors 

 5 by 10 feet and a fine plant display. 

 The store is lighted by forty electric 

 lights, of which fifteen are in the win- 

 dow and twenty-five in the store proper. 

 The fixtures are all of hand carved oak 

 and Ihey make a fine contrast with the 

 walls which are decorated in white and 

 gold. The ice box is lined with mirrors 

 and is lighted by two electric lights. 



In addition to this handsome store the 

 firm has 25,000 feet of glass, all in fine 

 shape. A new house 25.xl50 was built 

 this past summer and is planted to 

 American Beauties. 



The firm reports business as having 

 been excellent the past summer and as 

 Nebraska will have a bumper crop this 

 year they look for a record breaking 

 trade this winter. 



CARNATION NOTES-EAST. 



Cloudy Weather. 



The damp, rainy weather which has 

 jirevailed the pa.st two weeks tends to 

 make the plants take on a soft growth. 

 Naturally you will hold the plants as 

 dry as possible without injury during 

 such a spell, but be careful not to over- 

 do the matter. 



It is surprising how well the carna- 

 tion will stand a long period of dry 

 weather in the field, due to the fact that 

 moisture is drawn from below by capil- 

 lary attraction. Under glass, with raised 

 l:>enches, the conditions are entirely dif- 

 ferent. In bright weather the surface 

 soil dries out rapidly if kept broken up, 

 as it should be, while below it may be 

 moist. In the case of some soils during 

 a rainy period, just the reverse often 

 happens, the surface being moist while 

 the lower soil will be quite dry. 



It will be well to look to this matter 

 in wet weather, and if necessaiy to wa- 

 ter make a slight furrow between the 

 rows: water very carefully without wet- 

 ting the foliage, dra^ving the soil back 

 to a level as soon as no water shows on 

 the surface. I have heard growers state 

 that they never watered on a cloudy day, 

 and while not advocating its regular 

 practice, I am sure there are times when 

 conditions demand it. 



Stems and Buds. 



Your plants should now be sending 

 up strong shoots, which must be kept 

 within the supports and not allowed to 

 sprawl about, resulting in crooked stems. 



Let nothing put aside the operation 

 of disbudding regularly, at the same 

 time removing all imperfect buds. Have 

 you ever considered the loss resulting 

 from failure to give proper attention to 

 these details? 



I venture to say that ^vith many grow- 

 ers by reason of inattention to either or 

 Ix)th of these details, at least one blos- 

 som is lost or the value of two lessened 

 50 per cent on every plant under culti- 

 vation. Suppose 20,000 are grown, and 

 assuming the average net price per bloom 

 to be 2i cents (which is low) there is 

 strong probability that the receipts 

 might have been larger by $500 for the 

 season. 



Twisted Growth on Joost. 



Noticing an inquiry last week regard- 

 ing twisted gro\rth on Joost, will say 



