'900 



HORTICULTURE 



June 14, 1913 



Of Interest to RetailJ 

 Florists 



GRADUATIONS. 



We are now in the midst of the 

 graduation season and we will soon 

 wake up to the fact that this portion 

 of our business has fallen off greatly 

 the past few years. The day that 

 Ijrought the rush of baskets and bou- 

 quets for school delivery has gone, and 

 ■we only receive a few straggling or- 

 ders for bunches of flowers for college 

 or high school graduates. 



Where are the orders we once re- 

 ceived yearly tor the public school 

 graduates? Who is responsible for 

 this falling off? As near as I can sur- 

 jnise it must be the heads of the 

 schools instructing the pupils not to 

 have a floral display when graduating 

 exercises are taking place. There 

 must be some reason why such in- 

 structions were given. 



In one of our prominent cities, some 

 years ago, a public school turned out a 

 large graduating class of children, 

 some from parents in very comfortable 

 circumstances, others poor. Can you 

 imagine the humiliation and embar- 

 Tassment of the poorer children grad- 

 uating with high honors and receiving 

 only their diplomas, while those bet- 

 ter off graduating with smaller per- 

 centages were receiving large baskets 

 and beautiful bouquets? Surely the 

 hearts of the poor little graduates must 

 have ached, and the hearts of the poor 

 -parents must have felt a pang, also; 

 and so noticeable that the school 

 hoard forbade flowers being passed 

 from the platform. Now, the ilowers 

 are sent to an adjoining room and 

 called for after the exercises. This 

 to an extent, accounts for the falling 

 ■ off of flower demands at public schools, 

 as the visitors do not see what the 

 children receive until after the gradu- 

 ating exercises are over. 



What can be done to bring back the 

 ■school flowers? We must find some 

 way to restore that which we see fad- 

 ing from year to year and a beautiful 

 custom slowly but surely sinking into 

 oblivion. Try a neatly lettered card 

 in the window, "Flowers for Gradu- 

 ates," and make up a few samples of 

 small baskets and bunches. This 

 might arouse a little enthusiasm in 

 some people who have a relative or 

 friend about to graduate. The pieces 

 must be reasonable in price and with- 

 in reach of all. When these small 

 tributes start to arrive in quantities 

 .and each child receives something, 

 we may feel we are once again on the 

 road we left off years ago. Do not let 

 the old custom die out; start now to 

 make a small display and repeat next 

 year, and so on, and perhaps before 

 many years the call for school flowers 

 will be on again. This can only be 

 done by co-operation among the re- 

 tailers; one man cannot do it alone. 

 Mr. Storeman. 



FLORIST 

 WASHINGTON DC. 



independence Kan. — A. L. Patridge 

 is now sole proprietor of the firm of 

 Kishpaugh & Patridge. His estab- 

 lishment will hereafter be known as 

 the Patridge Greenhouses. 



CHICAGO NOTES. 



T. T. Hey of Maywood, 111., is away 

 to rest and recuperate. 



Mrs. Horton, bookkeeper for Bas- 

 sett & Washburn, is having a needed 

 vacation. 



The stock of E. H. Hunt is being 

 sold out to jobbers, no bid for the 

 vi-hole being accepted. 



The rose sale, June 4th. for the ben- 

 efit of the Frances Willard National 

 Hospital, brought nearly $4,000. Both 

 natural and artificial flowers were 

 used. 



Frank Ayers, who spends his leisure 

 hours touring the surrounding coun- 

 try, says it looks to him as if the 

 local peony crop is severely injured 

 by the frost we had in May. 



Miss Nettie Parker, of the Chicago 

 Carnation Co., whose illness was men- 

 tioned last week, proved to have diph- 

 theria. Her friends are pleased to 

 hear that she is convalescing. 



Two new houses are being added 

 to the equipment at Plant "A," Poehl- 

 mann Bros., Morton Grove. One is a 

 125-foot lath house and the other a 

 cooling house of the same size. 



Chicago experienced a drop in tem- 

 perature of 46 degrees the night of 

 June 6th. The thermometer had 

 reached 92 degrees when the drop be- 

 gan. More business was done by flor- 

 ists the next day than during the pre- 

 vious six. 



Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Washburn leave 

 on June 29th with a party of friends 

 for a western trip. Their itinerary in- 

 cludes the Grand Canon of the Colo- 

 rado, Pasadena, Cat. where they will 

 visit E. B. AVashburn and family and 

 return by the Canadian Pacific. 



C. L. Washburn had a narrow es- 

 cape from a serious accident, June 

 10th, when a taxicab in which he was 

 riding came to so sudden a stop that 

 he was thrown entirely over the seat 

 in front, striking on his head. It is 

 characteristic of Mr. Washburn to 

 make light of the injury to himself 

 and deplore the loss of an expensive 

 hat, which he says looked as if an 

 elephant had stepped on it. 



Miss Olga Tonner has moved into 

 the premises formerly occupied by the 

 Chicago Carnation Co. The Chicago 

 Carnation Co. now occupies the north 

 room and all of the east side of the 

 space including the part they formerly 

 sub-let to D. Freres and Miss Tonner. 



The extra room is necessary for their 

 large shipping trade. Zech & Mann 

 have now one of the most commo- 

 dious and best equipped salesrooms 

 and offices in the Atlas Block. All is 

 completed except the extra ice-box. 



At a recent church wedding, said 

 to be the most elaborate seen in Chi- 

 cago in many years, the decorations 

 were largely plants. George Wein- 

 hoeber, manager of the Fleischman 

 Co., used 750 large plants in the deco- 

 rative scheme. They consisted of hy- 

 drangeas, daisies and pink roses, 

 massed together about the altar and 

 in the windows where boxes were 

 used. For these the plants were 

 placed- closely together without the 

 pots and the soil covered with moss. 

 The cut flowers were 4,000 white peo- 

 nies. The aisles were all bordered 

 and the same effect carried out at the 

 altar rail. The bridesmaids carried 

 hats filled with small roses, daisies 

 and snapdragons, while the bride's 

 bouquet was of white orchids. 



\'isitor: Paul M. Palez, Little Rock, 

 Ark. 



ST. LOUIS NOTES. 



The Connon Floral Co., at Webster 

 Groves, Mo., lost some glass the past 

 week, when a lot of hail fell in their 

 section. 



The wholesale houses have agreed 

 to close their places from June 16 to 

 Sept. 13 every day at 5 P. M., and at 

 12 on Saturday. The employees are 

 much pleased with this arrangement. 



Ludwig Zimmer, who is known as 

 the Biddle Market Florist, will sail for 

 his old home in Germany the latter 

 part of this month. He will return 

 early in September to reopen his store. 

 This is a yearly event with Mr. Zim- 

 mer. 



The Engleman Botanical Club held 

 an interesting meeting on June 7, at 

 the Missouri Botanical Garden. W. 3. 

 Wells and C. W. Garrett read papers, 



WASHINGTON, 

 D.C. 



^=3«^^^ GUDE'S 



OUOE QROS.CO 

 FLORISTS 



<ZIA F ST^N.W 



Member Florists' 

 Telegraph Delivery. 



