1256 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



May 0, 1904. 



Having completed the body of the 

 bouquet, insert around the edge long 

 spraj-B of some delicate asparagus. Hav« 

 the lengths of the sprays vary slightly 

 over and under a yard. The stub ends 

 will slip in easily among the wires that 

 carry the flowers, and they will hang out 

 gracefuUj- as shown in the illustration. 

 Place in a tall, dry vase, a.s with the 

 first bouquet, and fasten on a few scat- 

 tering valley flowers, probably two or 

 three dozen in all, as we see illustrated. 

 Last of all, take four or five yards of 

 handsome sash ribbon, wrap the stem 

 end of the bouquet, cross the ends at the 

 top and tie the double bow, leaving one 

 end longer than tlic other, and flic bunch 

 is complete. 



Use of Other Forms. 



There are numberless variations on 

 these two styles of hand bouquets, ac- 

 cording to the number of flowers one is 

 restricted to, and one's own skill and 

 taste. Roses are often used for the latter 

 style, but not for the former arrange- 

 ment. But the real shower bouquet, the 



turn are used for the bridesmaids. 

 These can be made in either of the above 

 styles, wiring and tying the fronds pre- 

 cisely as was done for the flowers. 



Another attractive style is to use the 

 round bouquet of the second design with 

 a border of narrow ribbon cut in yard 

 lengths, tied around the stem end of the 

 bouiiuct by the upper end of the ribbon 

 and falling in the style of the green 

 sprays in the illustration, and caught in 

 the knots are single flowers or clusters 

 of the flowers of which the shower is 

 composed. No large bow of broad rib- 

 bon is used for this style. 



Gektkude Blair. 



VIOLETS. 



The Rise of the Specialist. 



In last week's issue of the Florists' 

 liKviEW I saw an article entitled ''The 

 Decline of the: .Specialist." I hope you 

 will pardon me for taking the liberty to 

 difl'er from your correspondent. I sub- 

 mit a few of the reasons for so doing, 



The Bride's Round Bouquet, with Shower of Green. 



ideal one, is of fine, delicate flowers. 

 Swainsona, daisies, violets, sweet peas, 

 freesia, white lilac, Roman hyacinths, and 

 all such delicate flowers are especially 

 attractive for this purpose, and all can 

 be made into hand bouquets in the same 

 manner as the valley, f'or a white and 

 oreen wedding, shower bouquets of adian- 



taking up each article that the writer 

 gives as his reasons for the decline of the 

 violet specialist. 



He says that anyone who will look 

 fairly and understandingly at the situa- 

 tion will be compelled to admit that the 

 day has passed when the grower can 

 make the good money growing violets 



that he did a few years ago. I liave 

 had considerable experience in growing 

 and selling violets, have also looked 

 fairly and understandingly at the situa- 

 tion and have come to the foUow'ing con- 

 clusions: 



First, that there is as much money in 

 growing violets now as there ever was; 

 second, that the demand can only be 

 met by tlie si)ecialist, consequently the 

 specialist should be the one who makes 

 the money. 



The writer gives overproduction as his 

 first reason, saying that wlien some one 

 else thinks you are having a good thing, 

 then 'all plunge into it. This is the case 

 on any kind of flower growing. It is hu- 

 man nature to do it. If they find it not 

 llie good thing they thought it was, thev 

 plunge into something else, but the spe- 

 cialist, because of present and past suc- 

 cess, goes more into his specialty than 

 before. 



The writer says the' demand is lessened 

 when the product becomes too plentiful, 

 while I believe the demand increases 

 when the product increases. There is 

 and, the chances are, at certain times 

 there will always be, an oversupply and 

 at certain times the supply will be far 

 short of the demand, like' last Easter, 

 for instance. The real lover of violets 

 will buy more when there is an ample 

 supply than when the product is scarce. 

 I believe the time is not far distant whe'n 

 violets will sell for far less money than 

 they have ever done before, and yet a 

 margin will be left for the growev. 



Another reason for the decline of the 

 specialist is given that violets never seem 

 to be grown with equal success year after 

 year and the writer blames the atmos- 

 pheric conditions over which we have no 

 control for this. I believe that the one 

 who thoroughly understands violet grow- 

 ing can have! the sanw or even better suc- 

 cess each year. The many failures in 

 violet growing can nearly all be traced 

 to those who, as this writer says, plunged 

 into it without any practical knowledge 

 of their culture. Some have had suc- 

 cess for a few seasons, while others have 

 not had any success. I liave no doubt 

 but chance played a great part in the 

 success of these plungers. 



But what are our greenhouses for but 

 to control the atmospheric conditions? 

 The modern violet house, when properly 

 handled, should overcome these condi- 

 tions. The specialist here has a decided 

 advantage. If a house now and then is 

 a failure he knows the cause of that 

 failure and profits by it in the future. 

 ITf has a broader field to work on and, 

 consequently, should have more and bet- 

 ter violets, and he has to, in order to 

 meet the demand. If the supply was to 

 he curtailed there would not be any 

 money in growing them, because you 

 could not grow so manv as you could 

 sell. 



I believe that for the one who can 

 grow and put upon the market first-class 

 goods, year in and year out, there is as 

 good a chance at making money in grow- 

 ing violets as there is in any other flow- 

 er, and the specialist above any one else 

 is the one who is going to make it. I 

 believe that the risk in growing violets 

 has been reduced to a minimum by the 

 specialist. If this was not the case the 

 large modern violet houses which have 

 lipen. and are being, erected by violet spe- 

 cialists clearly show that there is still 

 something in violet growing and that the 

 specialist is as yet not on the decline. 

 Willi Alt Si it. 



