December 10, 1903. 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



115 



raine, but such blooms as are too ofteu 

 sold will not do it. 



I know as well as any one how hard it 

 is to apparently give away money by 

 selling a lot of stock for a normal price 

 when it could be kept a week and forced 

 onto an unsuspecting customer at double 

 the price, but I have seen both ends of 

 the business and all of us can readily 

 reason out what it will eventually do to 

 the man 's business who practices pick- 

 ling. A satisfied customer is the best ad- 

 vertisement. And a customer who will 

 tell his friends that your flowers are in- 

 variably fresh and the best, is better than 

 one who will have to admit that he has 

 had old flowers a few times from you, 

 but that you replaced them usually. As 

 a grower you need your customer's con- 

 fidence. He must know that whatever 

 you send him is fresh and just what you 

 represent it to be, and he will always be 

 willing to pay the top price to the grow- 

 er whose word is as good as his bond. 

 You gain by it, even though at times 

 you may think you could make a little 

 more out of your cut of a few days. 



Now, I do not mean to say that you 

 should cut your crop and send it in right 

 along, just as you do ordinarily. That 

 would be foolish and I would not advise 

 it. because we don 't do it ourselves. The 

 pubHc demands at least five times as 

 many flowers during the two days be- 

 fore Christmas as are needed on two 

 ordinary days and it looks to the grower 

 to supply them. This demand can be 

 met, with the proper forethought and 

 judgment, and with stock as good as is 

 sent in at other times. With proper cut- 

 ting and handling you can save practi- 

 cally all your cut of a week pre\'ious 

 and have it in fine shape and by put- 

 ting on a little extra heat you can in- 

 crease your cut to nearly double what 

 it is ordinarily. 



Now, here is where the judgment 

 comes in. Don 't get the idea that if you 

 can hold up 1,000 blooms in one week 

 that you can save up 2,000 blooms in 

 two weeks, and if a rise of 10 degrees 

 in the temperature will increase the cut 

 100 per cent that an increase of 20 de- 

 grees will increase the cut 200 per cent. 

 You can 't keep carnatioa blooms two 

 weeks and have them in good condition 

 to sell. Your plants will stand about 

 so much increase in temperature and 

 will unfold their buds more rapidly on 

 account of it and keep up the quality, 

 but when you step over that limit, al- 

 though unfolding will be more rapid, 

 resulting in a few more blooms, the in- 

 crease in the quantity will be more than 

 offset by a decrease in quality. Per- 

 haps you ■n'ill not care so much if the 

 blooms are not the very best ; they will 

 sell any way at Christmas. Yes, they 

 will sell, but after Christmas poor 

 blooms will not sell and if you overtax 

 your plants lor your Christmas cut they 

 will surely produce a soft and inferior 

 cut for some time after, and there is 

 where you lose more than you made 

 while you were plaving, your smart trifk. 

 Every year after the holidays we see 

 and hear of a lot of weak stemmed 

 stuff coming in that was ruined in just 

 that way. And often it comes from 

 growers whom we give credit for more 

 judgment. 



Just about two weeks before the day, 

 you should commence to increase the 

 heat by raising the temnirature one de- 

 gree each night for eight or ten nights. 

 This will give the buds a chance to swell 

 and unfold gradually and they will not 



^^^^^llr^¥' 



\ 



Large Flowered Cyclamen in Gilt Basket, Dressed with Red Ribbon. 



feel it so much. A too sudden rise will 

 cause them to make a jump and many 

 calyxes will burst as a result. By hav- 

 ing the temperature at the highest point 

 three or four nights you will get all the 

 blooms open that you can get without 

 hurting your plants and the greatest in- 

 crease in the cut will come just when 

 you want to use it, and there will be 

 less storing to do. 



Cutting must be done somewhat closer, 

 too, when the temperature is away up. 

 A carnation bloom that hangs on a plant 

 in a temperature 10 degrees higher than 

 normal will ripen quickly and will begin 

 to eleteriorate all the more rapidly. Un- 

 der the conditions the blooms should be 

 cut just as soon as the petals are un- 

 folded and kept in a room where the 

 temperature is about .50 to 52 degrees. 

 Not quite so cool as you ordinarily have 

 your cut flower room. You don 't want 

 to stop them from developing, which they 

 would do in a temperature of 4.5 tle- 

 groes. In 50 to 52 degrees they will 

 grow and develop into much finer blooms 

 than they would on the plants while 

 the temperature is . away up. 



\ weak dose of liquid manure will 

 help them and so will a sprinkling of 

 lime or wood ashe-s. Give the first named 

 vrhen you begin to raise the tempera- 

 ture and the latter a week later. They 

 shoidd not suffer for water, either. 



Now, another thing that does not be- 

 long to the, growing end. but which is 

 of much importance just the same. 

 Don't hold your stock until the last min- 

 ute. Consult your customer or selling 

 agent freely and take his advice as to 

 the best time to send in the stock. He 

 knows better than you do just when it 

 is wanted. Often a fine batch of stuff 

 brings little more than a normal price 

 just because it came in too late to 

 meet the best demand. 



A. F. J. BAtiR. 



CARNATION NOTES— EAST. 



Christmas Preparations. 



Christmas, the time of heavy demand 

 and good prices, is but two weeks away 

 and close attention should be given to 

 all the details that give to the product 

 that high finish so quickly perceived and 

 appreciated by critical buyers and, in 

 consequence, of direct benefit to ■ ■ 

 grower. While we would all desire an 

 extra large quantity at this time, it is 

 not advisable to give so much attention 

 in this direction as to lose sight of qual- 

 ity. Prices will naturally be high anif 

 I am one of those who believe, in order 

 to maintain the public's confidence anek 

 interest in the improvement of the car- 

 nation, that quality should compare fa- 



