112 



The Weekly Florists* Review, 



December 10. 1903. 



The arrangement of roses is a low 

 basket with a high handle of grape- 

 wooil, filled with a eonibination of Pres- 

 ident Carnot and Mnie. c:hatenay, a 

 number of which were well open, with 

 manv buds interspersed, the two shades 

 of pink blending nicely. There was lit- 

 tle foliage used other than that of the 

 roses and a few sprays of Asparagus 

 pluniosus. On one side of the handle is 

 a bow of green ribbon, of a shade to 

 match the foliage. 



Violets are commonly sold in small 



fancy boxes or baskets, but where some- 

 thing out of the ordinary is wanted 

 small high-liandled baskets may be 

 used, with ribbon. 



do through your order books for prev- 

 ious years and list the names of cus- 

 lomcrs who bought Christmas trees. 

 Call them up on the telephone and you 

 will likely get their order again, or, if 

 this is too big a task, a good way is to 

 send a printed postal card inviting the 

 customer to call and select his tree and 

 have it reserved for him. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Cbrisimas Greens. 



A feature of our business at the holi- 

 day season of late years has been the 

 "green" business. It has grown till it 

 takes up a lot of time and we must ei- 

 ther make up these wreaths and garlands 

 ourselves or buy them. Some can be 

 bought to advantage, while others are 

 difScult to get in the right quality. Hav- 

 ing these wreaths and wreathing in suf- 

 ficient quantity, and kept so that they 

 will be in good order for Christmas eve, 



exposed to very severe weather. The 

 cases should be stored in a cool shed. 

 A dry heat will shrivel it up. A cool, 

 rather moist cellar would be the ideal 

 place. Use the short stuff for making 

 wreaths and the good branches and 

 sprays for selling as 50 cents' worth, 

 or a 'dollar's worth, or two dollars' 

 worth, for there is a great demand for it 

 in that way. 



If you don't have this cool cellar for 

 storing the loose branches, and more par- 



HoUy Wreath with Winter Berry Worked in and Ribbon to Match Berries. 



will require no little thought and man- 

 agement. 



The Care of Holly. 



Holly is, perhaps, our most important 

 article in this line. It should never be 



ticularly the wreaths when they are made 

 up, perhaps a week ahead of time, then 

 we have found they keep very well be- 

 neath a bench in a cool greenhouse, lay- 

 ing coarse paper on the ground, to keep 

 the wreaths clean, and newspaper over 



them, to keep the light away. Don't put 

 down more than two layers of the 

 wreaths, or the weight will flatten out 

 the lower ones. Some make these holly 

 wreaths with ground pine on one side 

 and holly on the other. We never have 

 demand for any but all holly. Get 

 your local wire worker to supply you 

 with the wire frames for the wreaths; 

 he will supply them as cheap and neater 

 than you can make them. 



Laurel Wreathing. 



The so-called mountain laurel, Kalmia 

 latifolia, is by all odds the nicest ma- 

 terial for wreathing. It is a pretty 

 green, clean, does not drop and has not 

 the cheap look of the ground pine 

 wreathing. Use it in all decorations 

 where you can. It is perhaps double 

 the cost of the ground pine wreathing, 

 but it looks it and is worth it. Here 

 is an article, though, that you can buy 

 by the yard, made up, rather cheaper than 

 you can buy the sprays and make it up 

 yourself. 



We are always asked for some laurel 

 wreathiag ' ' extra heavy, ' ' and this we 

 have to make up for the occasion, for 

 wliat you buy is not good enough. This 

 beautiful shrub adorns the bleak and 

 snowy slopes of our Allegheny moun- 

 tains 'and no amount of frost hurts it. 

 A cold frame, with the light excluded, 

 is a very good place for it, but don 't 

 make too great a thickness of it, for it 

 flattens out in the sardine style and then 

 it's anytliing but ornamental. That is 

 the only trouble with the wreathing you 

 buy ; it needs to be rufBed up and 

 shaken out. 



Bouquet G'efn. 



I suppose the old ground pine, which 

 has several aliases, will come next in 

 importance. We all know that it is a 

 carpet to some parts of our most north- 

 ern states and is as hardy as an icicle, 

 but it browns up quickly when used in a 

 warm room. Even while in crates un- 

 packed some cloth or covering of some 

 sort should be thrown over it to keep 

 the exposed outsides from losing its 

 fresh green color. We used to soak the 

 bunches for an hour or two before mak- 

 ing into wreathing. That we found 

 wrong. To dip the bunches in water for 

 a minute or two will make the sprays 

 pliable and easier to work, but if over- 

 wet it will all the quicker turn brown or 

 black after being made up. With us, 

 about one-tenth as many ground pine 

 wreaths are sold as holly. 



The wreathing that is made up by tens 

 of thousands of yards and sold to the 

 florists for them to retail is altogether 

 too thin and dried up an article for our 

 use and we much prefer to make the 

 wreathing and then store it away in some 

 frame or very cool shed, but always cov- 

 ered, so that the light and air will be 

 excluded as much as possible. 



The above three materials are the prin- 

 cipal things for our holiday decorations. 

 There are other things used in a small 

 way. Tlie beautiful leaves of the Mag- 

 nolia grandiflora are very ornamental on 

 small branches, but not often seen. 



Wild Smilax. 



There is nothing for me to say about 

 that most decorative of all hardy climb- 

 ers, the southern smilax. It is in season 

 from October until April and you buy it 

 by the case when you want it. The 

 merest novice can tack this up and it 

 can't be otherwise than graceful. It's 



