FEBRUARY 17. 1898. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



499 



not in demand, excepting for enteiiain- 

 ments of certain college societies and 

 as colors of football and basebiill 

 teams, but of a good red C. P. we are 

 much in need: one the same shade as 

 Portia, with just as long a stem but 

 stiffer. and of the same keeping quali- 

 ty, with twice the size of bloom, and 

 one that is as free a bloomer. Of cour.se, 

 there are Jubilee. Meteor. Morello and 

 many other fine reds, but they are so 

 scarce you cannot get them wh°u you 

 want them or sell them at listed prices 

 when you have them, as they must be 

 classed as fancy, with a fancy price, or 

 the grower will be left. Now. what is 

 wanted is a good, large, dark red. 

 something better than Portia, that can 

 be sold as first-class with good whites 

 and pinks, etc. 



Yellow is still a novelty. No mer- 

 chant can quote it as he does white, 

 pink and red and be sure he can get 

 them. There is no doubt that if a free 

 l)looming yellow could be found and 

 produced freely enough so vour mer- 

 chant could depend on it. it would find 

 a ready sale at prices above all other 

 colors, but I have never known the 

 time when I could promise 1.000 yel- 

 low carnations one day in advance, no. 

 not fourteen days. Now. in white, pink 

 and red, I will promise you 100,000 in 



Mrs. James Dean. 



fourteen days, if price is satisfactory. 

 So. I class a yellow C. P. as a novelty 

 until one of you gentlemen will grow 

 one that will bloom as freely as the old 

 DeGraw, 



As to the variegated carnations, such 

 as Helen Keller, Mrs, Bradt and many 



others, they are also novelties, and 

 though to my taste, they are very beau- 

 tiful, still, as your merchant, I -vill 

 say that, commercially they are worth- 

 less, except as a novelty. They are sel- 

 dom asked for and when they do find 

 a market it is through a forced sale. 



due to chance. Excepting in a hou.se 

 devoted to your own pleasure. I would 

 advise growing very few variegai;ed C. 

 Ps. Clear colors are what "knock!" 



Now. gentlemen, your merchants are 

 not idiots, although a few of them may 

 appear a little "daffy," They do not 

 expect you can grow every flower to 

 perfection, but they do expect that vou 

 can separate the perfect from the im- 

 perfect blooms and bunch them sepa- 

 rately and even make a third class, if 

 necessary. Carnations should be tied 

 2.5 in a bunch. Four bunches will then 

 make 100 and your merchant sells all 

 his goods by the hundred and he trusts 

 to his grower's count. In the Chicago 

 market, the growers are all known by 

 number and a customer soon learns the 

 number of the grower who produces 

 the stock he wants. He naturally buys 

 stock from the lots in which he has 

 found 2.5 perfect flowers to the bunch 

 and will ask for that grower's number 

 next time; so, for your own sake, as 

 well as that of your merchants, be 

 sure there are 25 perfect blooms in 

 every bunch. No matter how scarce 

 flowers are. do not count short. Put in 

 one extra rather than one short. Many 

 growers have yet to learn that six bad 

 ones or even sixteen are not equal to 

 one good one. so never put a "ringer" 

 in your bunch, for the customer ^\ho 

 buys 100 first-class carnations of your 

 merchant expects to get 100 and will 

 make no "kick" if there are 101 first- 

 class ones, or he will say nothing if 

 there is an extra two or three, but. if 

 for the 100 he gets 92 that are perfect 

 and 8 that are "ringers." gentlemen, 

 "the fur will fly." An extra one or two 

 should really be included in the bunch 

 to allow for an occasional broken neck. 



Put your second-class stock in sepa- 

 rate bunches and your merchant will 



