April 11, 190S 



HORTICULTURk. 



49r 



HERE THEY ARE AGAIN 



Our Usual High Quality 



LILIES, ROSEvS, 

 CARNATIONS, 



FOR. 



EASTER 



VIOLETS IN BLOOM 



IN POTS 



Great Sellers. Try Them 



I 



FORD BROS. 



48 W. 28 Street, NEW YORK 



Tel. 3870-3871 Mad. S((. 



Red Letter Sale I 



For EASTER i 



Roses and Carnations, 



In AH standard Varieties 



Lilies, Bulbous Flowers, 



Etc. 



9 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 9 



s^- Get Busy on the Wire and 

 Make You Wants Known Early 



PRICES LOW 



K.E.FROMENTi 



57 West, 28th St.., New York 



TEL. 2200. 2201, Mad. Sq. 



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THE ROSE FROM A RETAILER'S 



VIEW AND THE PART THAT 



THE ROSE PLAYS IN 



DECORATIONS. 



(A paper by J. P. Sullivan, before the 

 Aniericau Rose Soeiety.) 



In attempting to treat this very 

 broad subject many phases ot it appear 

 for the consideration of the essayist 

 and the introduction of anything that 

 is really novel seems most difflcult, 

 but if the mere recital of that which 

 is well known, and the awakening of 

 increased interest in the subject is. 

 as T belive, valuable, the paper may 

 be entitled to a place in the report of 

 the proceedings of this society. It 

 ■will be observed that the question is 

 viewed from the iiosition of a retailer 

 of cut roses chiefly. 



The Pioneers. 

 The present great extent of the rose 

 trade was developed by many con- 

 tributing factors, but I believe the 

 chief of these were the pioneer retail 

 florists, who in their time were the 

 first to realize the commercial possi- 

 bilities of the Queen of Flowers. To 

 these men is due the honor of having 

 appreciated the full worth of the 

 rose and laid the foundation of its 

 illustrious career. They loved the 

 Rose and had faith in its future and 

 no unfavoral)le circumstances deterred 

 them in advancing the prestige of 

 their adopted flower, nor from courage- 

 ously asking a price for it commen- 

 surate with its actual value as deter- 

 mined by the cost of production. Many 

 of these pioneers have passed away 

 but their work is perpetuated, and 



their monuments are seen in the pres- 

 ent magnitude ot the rose industry. 

 These enterprising far seeing retailers 

 in the early days of their experience 

 were t|uick to perceive the manifest 

 delight and approval ot their discern- 

 ing customers on being shown a rose 

 of more than ordinary size and beauty, 

 and thus encouraged, they in turn 

 urged the growers on to increased 

 effoits, and the latter stimulated more 

 by the prospective reward than the 

 love ot their productions continued 

 to improve the existing varieties of 

 roses, and by the repetition of these 

 progressive steps in the Eastern 

 cities, chiefly Boston, there was 

 created the substantial beginning ot 

 the evolution of the rose in this 

 coui'try, which has continued to the 

 present day. Those were the days 

 when reigned old Safrano, Isabella 

 Sprunt, Bon Silene, Cornelia Cook as 

 forcing vaiieties, and the annually 

 forced crops of Gen. Jacq, Anna 

 d' Diesbach, Baroness Rothschild, 

 Merveille d'I..yon and a few other 

 hybrids. 



The Rose the Chief Asset. 

 And here is suggested the inquiry, 

 why have the retailers in tlie early 

 days of floriculture and continuing to 

 the present time selected the rose as 

 the basic element in their business 

 careers? Why have they continued 

 to maintain the rose most conspicu- 

 ously before their trade? Why are so 

 many florists today, while not Ignoring 

 the increasing value of many other 

 branches of the business making roses 

 a specialty and succeeding in their 

 efforts to permanently popularize 

 them? Because the retailers wisely 



view the rose as their chief asset in 

 merchandising. Without it their 

 places would be devoid of the essen- 

 tial attractiveness and proper equip- 

 ment of a floral store. As an article 

 of nierchandise or practically consider- 

 ing it, the florists realize that in no 

 other stock of cut flowers can they 

 operate with the same degree of im- 

 munity from possible loss that th© 

 rose gives them; they can as every 

 florist well knows stock up with a 

 supply of tight cut buds, which being 

 at once salab'e. continue to actually im- 

 prove on their hands for several days, 

 more or less according to the season 

 and varieties, before they begin ta 

 decline, and even (hen. they are just 

 about in the light condition for that 

 funeral design for which he wisely 

 suggests them. For shipping long 

 distances no flower is more suitable 

 or certain of satisfactory results 

 viewed alone upon its splendid keep- 

 ing qualities. Retailers of the sea- 

 board cities use roses almost e.Kclu- 

 sivcly in their so called "steamer 

 trade." 



I am reminded of the case of some 

 blooms of the Richmond rose, being 

 shown at a meeting of the Detroit 

 Florist Club three years ago. The same 

 flowers after being kept in a refriger- 

 ator were shown at the exhibition of 

 the American Carnation Society in 

 Chicago eight days later. When the 

 question of the dealer's supply Is 

 considered, the rose can be shipped 

 to him if necessary by his 

 grower situated far away, and the 

 availability of the rose in all seasons 

 adds great value to his chief com- 

 modity in stock. 



