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The Weekly Florists' Review. 



APRIL 21. 1S9S. 



curs. This is tlie more necessary 

 wlien we have a season like last year, 

 which was wet till late, when the dry 

 spell came on. We had one piece that 

 we made no attempt to water, as it lay 

 rather more moist than the others, 

 and owing to the rains nearly all sum- 

 mer and the nice appearance of the 

 plants we did not realize in time that 

 we should have watered them. Had 

 they grown dry all summer they would 

 not have suffered so quickly, but hav- 

 ing grown freely all season, they were 

 softer than they otherwise would have 

 been, and so felt the change more 



two denominations. Beautiful as all 

 this was. there has been- a great 

 change; it has become our greatest 

 season of all the year. The day is one 

 of gladness to all classes. Apart from 

 Its sacred associations. Easter is the 

 awakening from the sleep of winter to 

 the life and animation of spring. Kind- 

 ly greetings and an exchange of some 

 remembrance are now becoming al- 

 most universal, at le.-ist in our land, 

 and who is more the beneficiary of 

 this Christian custom than the flor- 

 ist? Many another business gets an 

 impetus at this season, but none rela- 



Heath and Epacris in fancy basket and silver jardinieres. By Stumpp, New York. 



quickly. The result was it hardened 

 them up quickly, .giving them a severe 

 check, from which they took a long 

 time to recover, and part of them re- 

 ceived a good dose of red spider as a 

 consequence of the clreck. 



The moral of all this is that when 

 you think your stock is the best is the 

 time the violet growers' motto, "eter- 

 nal vigilance," is perhaps most imper- 

 ative. Certainly we shall cause rain of 

 our own to fall on our violets this sea- 

 sou if nature fails us, if only for a 

 short time, R. E. SHUPHELT. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF EASTER. 



The Easter of '98 will long be re- 

 membered by the florist, not only for 

 the perfect weather which prevailed, 

 but as a considerable advance on any 

 previous year in the general use of 

 our and nature's products. Fifteen 

 years ago the florists in large cities. 

 or, for that matter, any city or com- 

 munity, looked forward to church or- 

 ders as the coveted part of the busi- 

 ness. Not only the order from the 

 church, but many elaborate designs as 

 memorials were sent by members of 

 the congregation, and these decora- 

 tions were largely confined to one or 



tively more than our innocent call- 

 ing. 



It has increased from year to year. 

 and never were there as many plants 

 and flowers sold as the Easter just 

 past. Fashions come and go, and come 

 again. The Easter card had its day, 

 but it is hard to believe that such an 

 appropriate, guileless gift as a pretty 

 plant or bunch of flowers can ever 

 drop from popular favor. As previous- 

 ly mentioned, I believe all florists will 

 agree with me that we dispose of more 

 of our products at Easter than on any 

 one day or week of the whole year. 

 Long may it be so and ever increase, 

 and may we all be deserving of the 

 kind patronage of generous people. 



He is a dull man who does not profit 

 by the experiences of the past; and 

 what are they? To the writer, some 

 of them are as follows: The public, 

 our patrons, expect, and reasonably, 

 too. that every plant delivered to a 

 friend should be neat, tasty and. how- 

 ever inexpensive, at least attractive. 

 The days of dirty flower pots are some 

 time past, and now the days of the 

 bare pots are past. I am not an ad- 

 vocate of the florists' stores being rib- 

 bon counters, but the naked earthen- 



ware pot is not the thing to accom- 

 pany the beautiful plant. If our pa- 

 trons wish to pay for several dollars' 

 worth of ribbon to adorn a lilac, let 

 them have it; they will pay for it. 

 Usually those most willing to indulge 

 in the abnormal are more able to pay. 

 The crepe paper as a covering for the 

 plebeian flower pot was very generally 

 used, and even for the inexpensive 2.5- 

 cent hyacinth it greatly enhanced their 

 appearance in the eyes of those who 

 were receivers. This is a tax addi- 

 tional to former expenses, but the in- 

 creased business and an improved way 

 of conducting it will easily pay these 

 little charges. 



It will largely depend on your taste, 

 your promptness, your general neat- 

 ness and the all 'round condition in 

 which a plant arrives at its destina- 

 tion. 



About your future orders: To digress 

 one moment — a clever and good gard- 

 ener may have watched over .-i plant 

 for months, studied temperature, para- 

 sites, and care in every way, and when 

 his pets had reached perfection and 

 he had realized a good price for them, 

 tney were ruined by some careless de- 

 livering of an ignoramus. The man 

 who sees that the orders are carefully 

 packed and started right on their des- 

 tination is quite as valuable as the 

 man who sells them. 



The most important impression I 

 received this past Easter was that an 

 exchange of gifts is getting now to be 

 so general that, even with the wealthy, 

 unless they can "remember" all their 

 friends with a plant or box of flowers 

 at a moderate cost "per head," they 

 will slowly discontinue this most 

 amiable practice. Among the very 

 wealthy a big price is often paid for a 

 large and handsome plant, but it is 

 so rare that the general florist neeil 

 care little if he has to disappoint his 

 customer in this respect. He cannot 

 supply everything, even if he kept a 

 department store. 



While not in the least discouraging 

 is the importation of plants from Eu- 

 rope that we can properly use, yet un- 

 doubtedly too much dependence is 

 placed on these plants, and not near 

 enough to acceptable, moderate-sized 

 plants that can be easily produced at 

 home, and are much better relished by 

 our patrons, especially those whose 

 pockets are not bursting and who al- 

 ways will be in the majority. 



Take notice that azaleas had but a 

 very moderate sale and lilacs and sev- 

 eral other of these bulky plants went 

 slowly, I have no wish to lower the 

 business, but it is a fact that the plant 

 mat sold from 50 cents to $2 had the 

 call, and the dollar plant wa^ certain- 

 ly the favorite, even with the well-to- 

 do. The lily held its own, even a 

 stronger favorite than last year, and 

 there is not the slightest reason why it 

 should not remain the emblematic 

 flower of Easter, Grow more yourself 

 and depend less on costly importa- 

 tions. I have in mind several things 



