DECEMBEIt 17, 1003. 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



J73 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Christmas Reminders. 



With the general grower and retailer 

 there will be little room or time to do 

 much but prepare .your stock for the holi- 

 day sales ami there is nothing so im- 

 portant as being prepared, with your bus- 

 iness down to a system. I yery distinctly 

 remember years ago a young man in our 

 business whose cash sales would average 

 •$i!.30 a day and his charges about $3.7."). 

 He had one bencli, or counter, in the 

 shed, which was used for w-rapping phuit.s. 

 In one corner were the books of the firm 

 and scattered about was a ball or two 

 of string, wrapping paper, etc. Before 

 suspension of business for the day and 

 after this tremendous rush a young man 

 (the only help) was kept busy twenty 

 minutes jjutting things in their places, 

 cleaning up, 3'ou may say. 



I know and freely admit that there are 

 times and liours in a rush when some dis- 

 order is inevitable, but in the great ma- 

 jority of eases it is not pressure of bus- 

 iness that's the cause; it is the absence 

 of the bump of order. Midshipman 

 Easy's father had a phrenological ma- 

 chine for depressing vicious bumps and 

 developing the useful and virtuous. But, 

 in the absence of the machine, remember 

 your failing and try and be orderly and 

 systematic. There is a place for every- 

 thing, and it should be there. Nothing 

 raises an irritation of the epidermis in 

 me quicker or more violent than to se<^ 

 plants, either on the bench or on the patli, 

 that are past their usefulness and never 

 can yield a cent. And in the sheds there 

 is often great disorder and needed room 

 taken up witli useless truck and muck. 

 Remember tliat the smaller the place the 

 greater the need of order and system and 

 economy of space. If you have acre.-: 

 around you there is plenty of room "out 

 of doors" for things the elements won't 

 hurt, but city places have not that f 

 commodation. Here are a few reminders 

 of some things that can be seen to ahead 

 of time: 



All sorts, sizes and shapes of boxes f'lr 

 cut flowers should be made up and ready 

 for use. You will find some clean dry 

 place for them. To keep a woman, or 

 man, either, waiting while Charlie runs 

 back to make up a box to hold a dozen 

 roses impresses the customer that you ^-t 

 slightly ' ' one horse. ' ' All ribbons, 

 mat.s, paper, etc., you are supposed t^i 

 have in "elegant shape." 



The Care of Cut Flowers. 



It pays on this occasion to have a good 

 smart lad who is familiar with the busi- 

 ness to take care of the cut flowers and 

 do nothing else. Harry dives into a 

 vase of fifty roses or carnations to select 

 a dozen and leaves three or four hanging 

 over the edge out of water. But it's not 

 in tliat trifle so much as in the cellar 

 that a manager of your stock of cut flow- 

 ers is necessary. I am sorry for the man 

 who has not a cool, moist cellar. I quite 

 understand that I say "moist!" For 

 roses it is most certain that the atmof- 

 phere should be slightly moist, and 1 



liave never seen it do anything but good 

 to carnations, or any other flower. 1 

 mean such moisture as would bo produced 

 by a w'et or damp floor. 



The ice box is the great attraction of 

 a store. Magnificent are some of the 

 creations in this line, and fascinating to 

 tlie obseiTer, but a poor place to keep 

 floi\'ors if you expect them to be satisfac- 

 tory to your customer. I am not going 

 to enlarge on store management, it's no; 

 my forte, but I will just remind you tliat 

 if you want to u.se cut poinsettias in aii>' 

 decoration you must cut them twenty-four 

 hours ahead of time and when fresh cut 

 put the stems in a jar in almost (not 



serve a good lot of carnations without 

 unduo "embalmificatiou." 



Dressing the Plants. 



Now to the greenhouse. Those having 

 (inly a retail store should have every plant 

 iu it dressed for the occasion, but if yon 

 have a conservatory iu the rear, or a 

 greenhouse at your back, there is no need 

 of every plant being decked with mat and 

 ribbon. Enough of everything you have 

 should be on display in its best frills and 

 tucks and others can be fixed up as need- 

 ed. There is no possible excuse why the 

 pots of every plant you are likely to sell 

 at this season sliould not be scrubbed an<l 

 clean. If you wash a few that don 't 

 sell, there are no regrets. 



At least ninety per cent of all the 

 ]ilants sold at Christmas time are en- 

 trusted to Santa Claus. They are remem- 

 brances to friends and loved ones, and 

 tlie prettier and more dainty they can be 

 made, the more they please. So don't 

 think you can keep up with the procession 

 unless you trim up and embellish your 

 plants with the best of taste and mate- 



Agapanthus Insignis. 



quite) boiling water and keep them in 

 the store or greenhouse, not tlie cool cel- 

 lar or ice box, or they will droop their 

 heads like the 9,999 rejected ones at De- 

 troit. 



Don't put violets into the ice box <■- 

 very cool cellar, either. Expose a few 

 for sale, but keep the stock in a close box 

 in bottles of water in the temperature of 

 tlie greenhouse. Valley, narcissi and 

 Romans should be cut at least twent' • 

 four hours before sending out and the- 

 are flowers that an ice box can't spoil. 

 Bead Mr. Baur's notes on how to re- 



rial. You can many times, most times, in 

 fact, get more money for the plant well 

 trimmed and a good profit on your ribbon 

 and mat. We iiave seen photographs of 

 plants of various kinds trhnmed up in 

 New York. The ribbon in some cases 

 seemed overdone; it looked as if the plant 

 was there to snpjiort and show oft' the 

 ribbon. Yet when net overdone, some 

 ribbon tastefully arranged will catch the 

 eye and help to sell the plant or basket 

 of plants. 



I am not artist enough to tell you what 

 shade of ribbon will adorn all our 



