FEBRUARY 10, 1S98. 



The Weekly Florists* Review. 



465 



A Vase of Roses. Simple noral Arrangements. No. 4. 



cheese. I would appreciate suggestions 

 from any one who has had experience 

 with these pests. They have worried 

 nie more than anything with which I 

 have had to deal lately. 



"SUBSCRIBER." 



I have foimd to my sorrow that mice 

 and rats can cause a great deal of mis- 

 chief in a carnation house. The mice 

 olimh up on the tiower stems and by 

 their weight cause the stem to bend 

 over near to the ground; or when the 

 stem is supported I have noticed them 

 climb up to the flower, bite it off below 

 the calyx and let it drop to the ground, 

 when they descend and eat their meal, 

 consisting of the seed pod. I could al- 

 ways kill them with poison scattered 

 over the bench. 



The rats of which "Subscriber" 

 speaks must be of the educated class. 

 I remember some rats at our place that 

 would not touch poison nor enter any 

 trap. The boys made a trap of a board 

 heavily weighted that would drop when 

 the bait underneath it was just lightly 

 touched, but these rats got away with 

 the bait without being caught. At last 

 the only thing we could do was to 

 watch for them and shoot them. I did 

 not notice that the rats touched any of 

 the carnation buds. 



The best preventive for these dep- 

 redators is a cat or two. Since giving 

 them free access to all the houses, I 

 can see neither rats nor mice. There 

 may once in a while be a pot thrown 

 over, or they may take a walk over 

 some plants, which I wish they would 



cease to do, but these little unpleasant 

 things will not cause much damage, 

 and can not be compared with the dep- 

 redations of rats and mice. Get a cat. 

 FRED DORNER. 



SIMPLE FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



A Vase of Roses. 



The florist is often required to ar- 

 range loose flowers in vases or other- 

 wise, usually for the adornment of ta- 

 bles or mantels. Orders for this class 

 of work sometimes come slightly out 

 of the regular course of business, like 

 the following: A lady telephoned that 

 she had just got a lot of roses that 

 were to be used to fill a large rose bowl, 

 and she did not know how to place 

 them. Would I send one of my young 

 men over, with some maidenhair fern, 

 to fix them for her? I did not yet 

 angry and refuse to have anything to 

 do with the job, as some would have 

 done, because we did not furnish the 

 roses, but the young man went, accom- 

 panied by a lot of good adiantum, ar- 

 ranged the flowers to the lady's satis- 

 faction, and we charged her a good fair 

 price for the material and service. 



Once when I was much younger than 

 now, I did get angry at one of the 

 tactless, unbusinesslike patrons some- 

 times met with, usually women, and re- 

 fused further negotiations. She brought 

 some hyacinth bulbs to me in the hotel 

 corridor, and asked me to start them 

 for her, and said: "I hope you will 

 bring me back the bulbs I give you. and 

 not substitute poorer ones in their 



place, as these are very choico." T 

 drew my dignity around me, buttoned 

 it close, and thus replied: "Madam, 

 you evidently do not know me. If you 

 think I am capable of doing such a 

 thing you had best keep your bullis." 

 She tried to reopen the deal, and apol- 

 ogized as well as she could, but I went 

 away leaving the bulbs in statu quo. 



The illustration this week is sent for 

 two reasons: First, to show what may 

 be done with very ordinary material, 

 if care is mingled with it: as the flow- 

 ers shown were some left after the best 

 had been culled from the lot, and four 

 of the roses were quite unsalable; and 

 the holder is simply one of the cut 

 flower vases in which roses are kept in 

 the refrigerator. Secondly, it shows 

 how color values may be rendered in 

 black and white by an ordinary photo- 

 graph, by using proper care and appli- 

 ances. 



The roses used were, beginning at tha 

 back of the group. President Carnot, 

 Meteor, Beauty, Kaiserin, and Bride; 

 and the object aimed at was to make 

 the best use of the material, and avoid 

 undue crowding. W. T. BELL. 



Franklin, Pa. 



VIOLET NOTES. 



The watering of violets is a theme 

 on which there seem to be many theo- 

 ries, but I think real success comes 

 from using a good amount of common 

 sense coupled with good judgment re- 

 garding existing surroundings. To lay 

 down any hard and fast rule is to in- 



