312 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



JANIIATIT 7, 1904. 



tlie donors. That should appear on a 

 card which accoiiipaiiies the p\evi: 



Trimming. 



Wo are now re:ulv fm' tlio .l.-liylilful 

 mrt of the work, where tlic talent tor 

 design will begin to assert itsolt Ihere 

 is nothing prettier for the top ot a pil- 

 low than a spray, more or less elabor- 

 ate according to the space. But it no 

 more than half a dozen roses are used 

 Iho sprav can be Just as gracctul as it 

 half a huudred were used. Short, slen- 

 dersiemnied roses will do very well. 

 Their pliability is a virtue. N ery de- 

 cidedlv in these, and to some extent 

 en all" so-called straiol.t stems, there is 

 a curve or a turn toward the top ot the 

 stem that marks the character ot any 

 one flower as an individual, or we might 

 say as a unit of ornament. Cut the 

 stem of a rose in a wrong place am. 

 vou have destroyed its indivuhiality, 

 ;,n<l made it indeed a stiff, detormed 

 thino-. A little study will make it easy 

 to find these personal traits, these points 

 wluT.' one flower differs from every oth- 

 er flower of its kind. To be able to 

 .liscovor these individual peeuluinties 

 first and second to combine the ditter- 

 ent individuals in their proper relations, 

 is the sum and substance ot floral art. 

 If one can grasp these basic principles 

 :,s a foundation, he will save himselt 

 much labor in later years, trying to get 

 10 the bottom of things. 



Studv the lines, curves and turns in 

 each flower. Some bend one way, some 

 •mother; some nod, some look up, some 

 twist around themselves. Those that 

 eurve toward the right we mil select 

 this time for our spray around the name 

 on the pillow. Those that, incline lu the 

 opposite direction will do for a branch 

 spray, and the heavier, larger flowers 

 will form the base of the spray. 



In the second illustration there are a 

 number of roses selected at random for 



the sphagnum, till the upper end of the 

 toothpick disappears. Observe that the 

 pick, as it carries the roses for the 

 spray into the si_ihagnum, is inserted at 

 nil angle of about 45 degrees to the 

 surface of the pillow. This places the 

 roses in easy positions on therr srdes. 

 Wheri^ the sprav is elaborated with one 

 or more brandies, be careful to keep 

 the main part the larger, and trace all 

 branches to the one source. 



Add some delicate green, stemmedas 

 the roses are, keeping it in line with 

 the sprav lines of the roses. To hide 

 the part" of the wire-stand visible in 

 front, fasten part of a string of separ- 

 ated sniilax on the right side of the 

 frame, and train from that point over 

 the right hand corner of the pillow, and 

 in the opposite direction across tl'.e 

 frnnio. fnstening with No. 36 wire. 



Material. 

 Almost any kind of flowers handled 

 in stock may be used 'on a pillow. 

 Where to use them, and how, is where 

 to exercise the care. Only a few are 

 suitable for backgrounds, but some one 

 or two of them are in season at all 

 times of the vear. For ordinary uses 

 this must be a double flower like the 

 aster, carnation, or chrysanthemum, and 

 of even top surface and one color; that 

 is, each flower should be a solid color. 

 Some asters and chrysanthemums when 

 opened fnllv, show considerable yellow 

 center. Tliese are not suitable for 

 background work. The yellow centei-s 

 here "and there make the surface look 

 patchy. The background should be 

 either" one solid color, or regularly shad- 

 ed from dark to light. But don't at- 

 tempt to shade without havrng interme- 

 diate colors, as well as tints and shades 

 of the color. Pansies and violets are 

 among the single flowers suitable for 

 backgrounds. A pillow of violets with 

 lighter flowers as trimming makes a su- 



may be used for trimming, as the roses 

 are used in the pillow illustrated. The 

 single radiate flowers, such as daisies 

 and cosmos, do not aijpoar to advantage 

 here. 



'I'here arc many styles of arrangemen,. 

 for a pillow, especially with Uie soIkI 

 background style, for with that con- 

 struction one is free to use any design 

 on top without interfering with the det 

 inite outline of the piece. A creseeiit 

 wreath of roses around the name is 

 made in the same way as this spray. 

 A delicate veil of asparagus or adian- 

 tum can te thrown over the whole. \ cr_ 

 tical panels of fine green, borders of 

 small flowers are popular. 



The ideal pillow is de;p, 1 ght ap 

 pearing, soft and restful. It shonl.l 

 be very neat, yet easy and free, with a 

 certain sense of symmetry to tlie hn- 

 ished j.iece. Gertrude Blair. 



A Character Study in the Bend of Rose Stems. 



the study of individuality. Their de- 

 cisive curves are placed just above the 

 horizontal line. Kight there is the point 

 where thev may be safely cut, and still 

 retain their grace. After cutting each 

 flower at its decisive point, stem the 

 lower end on a whole pick, wrapping as 

 in the case of the carnations. Tf roses 

 have large or abundant foliage, take off 

 part of the leaves. One will naturally 

 give the spray the direction of the let- 

 tering. Insert the stemmed roses 

 1hrou"-h the carnation background into 



perb iiiece. Very much the same eflect 

 in color can be obtained with dark 

 pansies carefully shaded. 



Roses are not at all suitable for back- 

 (^rounds, with the jiossible exception of 

 Clothilde Soupert. F.ven that variety is 

 too soft and frail. Lilies may be usee 

 as trimming with good effect if the pil- 

 low is twentv inches or over. Swain- 

 sona, vallev, Koman hyacinths, freesras, 

 and other delicate bulbous flowers, vio- 

 lets, chrysanthemums, , asters, and, in 

 fact, almost any other ordinary flowers 



ROSES. 



Propagation by Grafting. 



This method of i.ropagation as i-om- 

 pared with propagation by cuttings, 

 seems at first sight irksome and difticull. 

 Those who have had no experience in this 

 class of work are usually a little afraid 

 to make a trial, the bugbear of faihire 

 being ever present in their minds. lo 

 the European trained florist whose curri- 

 culum embraced all the dift'erent methods 

 of grafting a dissertation on this sul>- 

 iect mav seem a waste of space, but to 

 the ma'ioritv of the American trained 

 whose 'knowledge consists of what he 

 mav have been able to pick up by acci- 

 dent or absorb from his environment an 

 article on this subjeet given from a prai-- 

 tical standpoint has quite a .liflerent 



value. 



Grafting operations usually begin in 

 .Tanuarv and are continued by smue grow- 

 ers even as late as Jlay, but the most 

 successful batches are produced from the 

 middle of January to the middle ot 

 March, as during that period we have 

 more control of conditions as regards tem- 

 iierature, moisture and shading than wi- 

 rau have when the season is further ad- 

 v.'inied. 



The Grafting Frame. 

 Tlie first essential towards successful 

 crafting is to have a good frame or 

 pit in which to place, and care for the 

 liewlv grafted stock. This can easily be 

 .-onverted out of an ordinary bench by 

 boarding up the back and front, so as 

 to conserve the heat, much in the same 

 wav as we make a propagating bed out ot 

 aii'ordinarv bench when pressed for room, 

 but to get" full benefit it must be as air 

 tight as possible. 



There should be suflicient luping to m- 

 mire at all times a bottom temperature 

 of 7') or 80 degrees. The boards of the 

 bottom should, if -possible, be at least 

 fifteen or eighteen inches above the pip- 

 ing and have a covering of loose ashes at 

 least one inch deep, on which to place 

 the plants. The glazed sash sh(nild be 

 high enongh to give the iilants ample 

 headroom. 



The Style of Graft 

 Munv are the styles of grafting rec- 

 ommended, but as expediency and speed 

 are the principal objects to be attained, 

 nearly everv propagator has his own, 

 usuallv being the one at which he is most 

 expert. Wliip and splice grafting in 

 varicms forms, with or without the 1ongm>. 

 being bv most experts considered th<' 



