142 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



December 10, 1897 



serves a double purpose. It is not only a 

 finish to the bed, but liaving a stiffer stem 

 than the vincas it holds the latter up in 

 position. They would be apt to sprawl 

 over without this support around them. 



MISCELLANEOUS SEASONABLE 

 HINTS. 



Wrapping and Delivering Plants. 



A reader of the Rk\ie\v has asked me 

 by mail to give hini some points about 

 wrapping and delivering plants. As the 

 season is soon here when that will be a 

 most important part of our work, if I can 

 remind my friend and an\' others of a few 

 useful hints I shall be glad. There is 

 nothing more really annoyingthan to find 

 after months of care, work and anxiety, 

 you have produced a nice attractive plant, 

 found a purcliaser, but the delivery has 

 spoiled all; it has been frozen, or what is 

 more unpardonable, broken or jammed or 

 shaken aliout until all its beaut\' is gone. 



How nuich the success of our business 

 depends on the com]jlele way in which it 

 is done ! If vou are the only florist in a 

 small town your customers may have to 

 put up with dirty pots, frozen plants, or a 

 plant that has lost its flowers in delivery, 

 but in our large cities where we all have 

 about the same quality to offer, where 

 competition is keen, the punctual and 

 perfect way your ordersare delivered will 

 redound largely to the welfare of your 

 future business. By far the large majority 

 of your plants and flowers .sold at Christ- 

 mas and New Years are bought and sent 

 to friends as a remembrance of the joyous 

 time, and that is where mistakes and 

 carelessness are more annoying than when 

 a plant is bought to adorn the home of 

 the purchaser. In this case they know 

 when it arrives if it is unsatisfactory and 

 can teleph' ne at once their more or 

 less just complaint, and if you are a wise 

 business man and are convinced the com- 

 plaint is warranted, you will duplicate the 

 order with expedition and cheerfulness. 

 When plants are sent as presents, as many 

 thousands will be in a few days, Ihe re- 

 cipient has no chance to grumble and the 

 donor does not know there is anv cause 

 to, so all is well for a few days till Mrs- 

 Reniembrance calls on Mrs. Thankful, 

 and there she sees a wretched, leafless or 

 broken down plant, with her card at- 

 tached. Its proper place would be the 

 refuse barrel, but it is given a place in 

 this finely furnished rjom from respect 

 for Mrs. R.'s kindness. Mrs. R. is deeph' 

 vexed. If she calls aud gives you a rep- 

 rimand you are lucky, she intends to give 

 you another chance. If she sulks and you 

 don't get the grumble, she is disgusted 

 with you and intends to try someone 

 else next time. To sum up: Promptness, 

 with neatness and care in delivering, ac- 

 companied with a good article, are about 

 all the requisites to command good sales. 



I don't know that any new devices have 

 been discovered in wrapping plants of 

 late. It often happens that at Christmas 

 we still have open weather, even mild 

 weather, when little or no wrapping is 

 needed, and at Easter, when we would 

 expect good weather, the frigid air com- 

 pels us to well protect every plant we send 



out. This is a calamity and it is far better 

 for all concerned when seasonable weather 

 prevails. We will suppose there is 15° of 

 frost and six inches of snow . That will 

 suit Santa Claus and he is by far the most 

 important personage on earth on Christ- 

 mas eve. 



Small and medium sized palms entered 

 largely into our sales the past two or 

 three years and will increase. The large 

 growers of these have reduced the pack- 

 ing of all their plants to a science, and 

 set vou a good example how to tie up a 

 palm, drawing in the bottom leaves with 

 the two hands, and a helper tying them 

 fairly close to the stem, then raising your 

 hands, bringing in other leaves, and fol- 

 lowing \vith another tie, till the ends of 

 the leaves are reached. A double thick- 

 ness of tissue paper surrounding the 

 leaves, witli a covering over the whole 

 plant and pot of a heavier paper, will en- 

 sure its safe arrival if not expo.sed too 

 long without the shelter of a close wagon 

 or large box. Dracienas and rubbers 

 can be handled in the same way. For 

 tying the leaves in close, raflfia is much to 

 be preferred to string; it is less liable to 

 cut into the leaves, and looks more busi- 

 ness-like. Ferns, such as Nephrolepis 

 Bostoniensis, are among the easiest of 

 our plants to tie up, as they admit of 

 their ironds being brought clo.se together. 

 On the packing table lay a sheet of wrap- 

 ping paper, on it some tissue (or should I 

 call it fine manilla), then lay the fern on 

 its side in the bottom left hand corner, 

 begin to mil the pot with the paper sur- 

 rounding it. It the paper is large enough 

 to make two coverings of the plant so 

 much the better. A tie aliout at top of 

 pot or pan will be necessary, and another 

 tie half way up the plant will do. The 

 paper should always be of sufficient length 

 to fold in neatly and be securely fastened 

 with pins, and when you put in the last 

 pin it is an excellent place to pin on the 

 address card of its destination; it is in a 

 conspicuous place, easily seen by your 

 delivery man, and much less trouble than 

 a special piece of string round the plant 

 with the tag dangling from it. 



Begonias, cyclamens, primroses, lin- 

 unis, solaiuims, and many other flow- 

 ering plants, can be wrapped in the same 

 way, always remembering that the larger 

 and broader the plant, in proportion to 

 the pot, and the more rigid the growth of 

 the plant, the more carefully must you 

 wind round the covering of paper. Prim- 

 roses, if grown stout, sturdy, and brittle, 

 and that is the only way to grow them, 

 will snap their leaf-stems if quickly or 

 carelessly draw'u in. The poinsettia 

 wants very careful handling. After it 

 has had one envelope of the paper draw 

 the whole plant down three or four inches; 

 this will incline every leaf, as well as the 

 bracts, upwards, and greatly obviate the 

 cracking or bruising of the leaves. 



The azalea will take a little longer to 

 prepare for safe delivery than any other 

 of our popular plants, and they merit all 

 the time necessary. The head can be 

 tied in very little, and to roll them over 

 in the paper as described for a fern would 

 crush many of the flowers. They must 

 be carefully covered with soft paper, fas- 

 tening it round the stem below the 

 branches and on top with pins. If a large 



specimen it would be necessary to put 

 stakes around the plant, then covering 

 with paper. Whatever the weather, even 

 if it were July, no plant should be sent 

 out without the pot being covered, not of 

 course as any protection, but without it 

 it looks crude and is certainly unpleasant 

 for maid or "missus" to handle at the door. 

 It is to be hoped that few florists, even 

 greenhouse men, are yet so far in the 

 gloom as to send out a pretty plant with 

 an unwashed, dirty pot. "If such there 

 be, go mark him well;" he should be 

 relegated to the depths of a stoke-hole to 

 sift ashes for the balance of his working 

 days. 



Crepe paper of many pretty shades is 

 now much used for covering the pots. 

 For a stately palm 1 think this would be 

 much out of place, but for a flowering, 

 medium or small plant it is highh- 

 proper. The plebeian red flower pot was 

 all right on the humble window sill, but 

 is not in keeping with the appointments 

 and taste w Inch adorn our present draw- 

 ing rooms. The card, which in almost 

 every case is left to be attached to the 

 plant, when sent as a remembrance, 

 should not be fastened to the plant with 

 a piece of grocer's string, or worse, wire; 

 it should be tied on with a ver}- narrow 

 ribbon; you can buy it. 



You can .save an immense amount of 

 the worr}', anxiety and unavoidable rush 

 of the last two days preceding one of our 

 harvests, by being well prepared for it. 

 .All the plants that you are likely to dis- 

 pose of should have their pots scrubbed a 

 few days ahead, .so that they are clean 

 and dry. Cards and suitable envelopes 

 should be in waiting for your customers. 

 Crepe paper should be cut (it won't tear), 

 in various sizes to suit 4. $, 6, 7 and S-inch 

 pots, and in a variety of colors. And 

 many of your plants, particularly in the 

 stores, should be already adorned with its 

 pot covering of crepe; it will often help 

 considerably to catch the eye of the pros- 

 pective Iniyer. Don't ask the young man 

 who makes the sale to retire to the rear of 

 the store or the shed of the greenhouse to 

 tie up the plant. Let that be left to one or 

 two good hand}' fellows wdiohave nothing 

 else to do; and if they are good at it they 

 are valuable help and should be well 

 paid. 



If the weather is very severe, a plant, 

 however well it is wrapped, will travel 

 scarcely a city block in the hands of a 

 messenger without getting chilled or 

 frozen, so we have to depend on a close 

 covered wagon; if heated so much the 

 better. But we don't all have a covered 

 wagon with a hot water attachment. In 

 very cold weather I have used long sub- 

 stantial boxes with a tight fitting cover, 

 laying the plants down carefully; the last 

 in, the first out, always giving your de- 

 livery man (not the driver) a complete 

 list of the names and addresses of every 

 stop, with description of articles. For in- 

 stance, "Mrs. Alphonse Myphin, 999 

 Pansy St., one azalea, one cylcamen, 

 bunch of mistletoe." In that way the man 

 in charge of the deliver)- can't go far 

 wrong. But you will say, all this is un- 

 necessary. We have done that for years. 

 I hope you have. 



In conclusion let me say that whether 

 you send out j-our plants and flowers in a 



