430 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



FEBRUARY 



1S9S. 



an indefinite length. Let us sum it up 



by advising this; Get a good press 

 agent. Be guided largely by his ad- 

 vice. He should be engaged at least 

 two months before the time of hold- 

 ing the exhibition, and $100 to $150 is 

 not too large an amount to pay for his 

 services from that time until after the 

 exhibition is closed. Up until 

 toward the time for the exhi- 

 bition to open he will do nothing 

 but secure space for an occasional 

 short advance note of what is being 

 done in the way of preparation for the 

 exhibition. About three weeks before 

 the time of holding the exhibition 

 these notes should be larger and more 

 frequent, and probably he will select 

 the Sunday before the opening of the 

 exhibition as the day for what he will 

 call his "grand stand play." He can- 

 not figure on getting more than one 

 large advance notice, and he will ar- 

 range to have it as close to the open- 

 ingot the exhibition as he can get it. 

 Then he will arrange tor a good report 

 in the papers the opening day of the 

 exhibition. He will be at the exhibi- 

 tion hall the night before and will ex- 

 plain to the various reporters who call 

 just what is going to be done in addi- 

 tion to what can be seen already by 

 the reporter, and it would be wise to 

 provide him with a quantity of flowers 

 which he could present to each of the 

 newspaper men that call, 



A box of cigars and a tew bottles of 

 liquid refreshment in the side room 

 for the use of the press agent would 

 also prove a good investment. All 

 during the exhibition he should have 

 a supply of four or five dozen good 

 chrysanthemum flowers each day. 

 After showing a reporter around the 

 building and giving him the desired in- 

 formation for the repoiter's story, he 

 will finish up by presenting him with 

 a bunch of flowers and possibly a clove. 

 Sometimes the clove is preferred to the 

 flowers, though in the case of a lady 

 reporter the flowers are sufficient. 



In securing good press notices it 

 might be put briefly thus: In the 

 first place you must have the editor in 

 sympathy with you, that he may send 

 a reporter to the exhibition with in- 

 structions to give the story liberal 

 space. Secondly, you must give the re- 

 porter plenty of facts upon which he 

 may build a good story. Thirdly, you 

 must have the sympathy of the re- 

 porter, so that he will exert himself in 

 the matter. Fourthly, you must be suf- 

 ficiently lucky to have the story come 

 in at a time when there is no great po- 

 litical excitement which is making a 

 large demand for space in the daily 

 press. 



EEL-WORMS IN ROSES. 

 Last spring I did not propagate any 

 roses as my stock was badly infested 

 with eel-worms. I bought young stock 

 and when it was ready for planting I 

 found it also was infested with the eel- 

 worms. The roots were covered with 

 large galls and a glance through a mi- 



croscope showed the young by the mill- 

 ion. 



It was too late to secure a supply of 

 clean stock so I tried my luck at doc- 

 toring. I made a solution of one part 

 Rose Leaf extract of tobacco to ten 

 parts pure water, and soaked the ball 

 of every plant in it. They were then 

 set back in their pots again for a week. 

 They were then soaked again and at 

 once planted on the bench, while the 

 balls were wet with the solution. A 

 week later I gave the soil a sprinkling 

 of lime and have given the bench two 

 top-dressings of lime since, with the 

 result that up to date I have seen no 

 sign of eel-worms. 



GEO. W. GASKILL. 



Warren, O. 



POT PLANTS FOR MARKET. 



By .loaeph Reeve. 



(Read before the Chicago Florist Club 



Jan. 27.) 



In view of the present demand, the 

 growing of pot plants for market is a 

 subject of importance to both the 

 grower and the retailer. We have given 

 so mucli of our attention to the per- 

 fecting of the growing of cut flowers, 

 and devoted to this so much space, that 

 the growing of pot plants for market 

 has been left to a very few. It was very 

 evident to the retailers during the past 

 Christmas, that there is a brisk demand 

 for well-grown flowering pot p ants. 

 Should we not cultivate the tastes of 

 our customers in this direction? 



We have ascertained that to obtain 

 good prices we must grow flrst-class 

 stock. No off-colored, spindling plants 

 will do. The requisites are abundance 

 of flowers and foliage with graceful or 

 stocky habit and colors such as are 

 at present sought after. We should pay 

 particular attention to the obtaining of 

 the very best strains and varieties. As 

 we sell the greater bulk of plants at 

 holiday times we must aim to have 

 them in at their best for the time speci- 

 fied. In doing this we must avoid over- 

 crowding or overforcing. Only the most 

 careful cultivation will insure us com- 

 plete success. In takuig a summary 

 glance over our list of plants for mar- 

 ket, I will note such varieties as are 

 meeting with favor here and elsewhere. 



From October to January we have pot 

 mums, azaleas, cyclamens, primulas, 

 heaths, double geraniums, lilies, poin- 

 settias and epiphyllums; and in berried 

 and fruited plants, peppers, solanums, 

 ardisias and dwarf oranges. The mum 

 grown in from .5-inch to 8-inch pots is 

 very popular and salable if grown 

 dwarf and stout with few stakes, good 

 foliage and a reasonable amount of 

 characteristic flowers. Cyclamens are 

 most desirable when well done, and 

 make good profit to the grower and the 

 retailer. Primulas of the best varie- 

 ties, well-grown, singly or in pans, 

 make a good seller as a cheaper plant. 

 Azaleas forced in at Xmas in variety 

 are excellent plants and fetch good 

 prices. In bright red flowers, so much 

 sought after at Xmas, nothing is better 



than well-grown, well-foliaged poinset- 

 tias, and I believe epiphyllums would 

 also be good for this purpose. In ber- 

 ried plants very few are grown here,, 

 and I would suggest a trial. 



Rubbers in all sizes seem to be well 

 adapted as an ideal foliage plant for 

 most purposes and well-grown plants 

 sell quickly. My experience has led 

 me to ask wliy would not medium-sized 

 crotons make good plants for the warm 

 rooms of our customers in the winter 

 months? lu palms the demand is for 

 well-grown home stock. Imported 

 stock in kentias of late years has not 

 been so good and is very soft, it being 

 several months before it is properly fit 

 for sale. Ferns are very popular, being 

 much sought after, especially in Neph- 

 rolepis varieties, as cordata compacta, 

 Bostoniensis, exaltata and davallioides 

 furcans; and in pteris varieties, as tre- 

 mula, magniflca and serrulata. With 

 many Cyperus alternifolius is a good 

 seller as a cheaper plant. Ferneries 

 make a large demand for successive 

 batches of 2io and 3-inch ferns, and the 

 market does not yet supply these in 

 quantity needed at all times. 



Lengthening our list of plants, we 

 have cinerarias, liyacinths and bulbs in 

 general, lilies, hydrangeas, pot roses, 

 pelargoniums, fuchsias, marguerites^ 

 genistas, dendrobiums, forced shrubs 

 and flowering plum crabs. Most of 

 these we grow in general, but especially 

 for Easter, our specialties then being 

 lilies, good azaleas, pans of tulips, pot 

 roses and spireas, white flowers being 

 in the lead, with such exceptions as. 

 hyacinths and other Dutch bulbs, which 

 make excellent sellers in pots and pans. 



In bedding plants we find well tested 

 newer varieties and novelties are the 

 best sellers, if well grown and hard- 

 ened off. Our midsummer plants are 

 cut down to a few, perhaps the cream of 

 them all for color and effect, but at 

 present they do not appeal very strong- 

 ly to the pockets of our customers, 

 though they help to set off a retail 

 store. They are fancy leaved caladiums, 

 gloxinias, tuberous-rooted begonias, 

 auratum lilies and fancy coleus. 



SIMPLE FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



A Flat Cluster of Calla Flowers. 



Although calla flowers, like the flow- 

 ers of the tuberose, are not used in 

 such numbers as they once were, for 

 certain purposes they are useful and 

 appropriate, as for instance in church 

 decoration, where the odor of the more 

 graceful Easter lily may be objected 

 to; and there are still many to whom 

 the calla is one of the choice flowers, 

 especially for use at funerals. For this 

 purpose they should be arranged in a 

 loose fiat cluster, somewhat as shown 

 in the illustration, care being taken to 

 overcome the natural tendency of the 

 perverse flowers to assume the form of 

 a closely packed cylindrical bunch. 



These were provided with a backing 

 of their own foliage, but as calla leaves 

 wilt quickly, and their petioles are soft 



