THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



73 



refer to when receiving a curtain lecture 

 from your second wife. 



You will expect me to say something 

 about prices, but it is impossible. Sea 

 sons alter prices. There is, however, 

 one thing we should observe. The charge 

 for loaning palms in January should be 

 double that in June. You may think it 



and a pleasure to me. It was both. It 

 brought vividly to mind the days of 

 &quot;auld lang syne&quot; and the mother coun 

 try, which, however true and loyal is 

 your allegiance to your adopted country, 

 must and should forever remain a warm 

 spot in the heart of every man worthy 

 of the name. 



Dining-room Decorations for a Reception. 



all right to cut down your neighbor s 

 price on plants and so get the job by a 

 lower figure. You will find it is not all 

 profit. Every time your palms go out 

 they are of less value, however well you 

 protect and guard them. 



One other thing. Get a reputation 

 for having clean, healthy, perfect palms, 

 and above all have a reputation for hav 

 ing the job done at the hour you agree 

 to. If the wedding is at 6 p. m., say to 

 the lady of the house: &quot;Madam, I will 

 be out of your house at 4 p. m., all 

 cleared up, and you will have no occa 

 sion to worry.&quot; See that you keep your 

 word and you will feel as good as I do 

 at finishing this rather long chapter. 



DECORATIVE MATERIAL (Wild). 



The great use of our wild or native 

 plants for decorations dates from 

 about twenty years ago and is ever on 

 the increase. An incentive to it was 

 the much greater observance of Christ 

 mas day as a church festival and our 

 greatest and most joyous holiday. The 

 hundreds of carloads of holly used in 

 our northern cities today had a very 

 small beginning. It is just twenty-five 

 years ago that a patron of mine, a lovely 

 woman, one of those who make you glad 

 you live and contented with your lot, 

 sent me a holly wreath on Christmas 

 eve. She had brought it from New York 

 city, and thought it would be a novelty 



For a few years the use of holly in 

 creased slowly, but for several years 

 past immense quantities have been sent 

 north, and it must grow in unlimited 

 areas to stand the annual drain of our 

 holiday wants. Most florists who grow 

 and retail have to handle these native 

 decorative materials, and how to pre 

 serve them in good order is of chief im 

 portance. 



Holly arrives from beginning to end 

 of December. It is made into wreath 

 ing, but much larger quantities are used 

 as sprays and branches. Holly wreaths, 

 either all holly, or ground pine and 

 holly, are made and sold in enor 

 mous quantities. The large wreaths of 

 holly, two and three feet in diameter, 

 are handsome and look well in large 

 decorations. It should when received be 

 kept in the cases and they should be 

 stored in a cold shed, but not where 

 they will get zero weather. When 

 frozen so hard the berries drop off when 

 thawed out. Cool but not too cold is 

 right. I have never found a better place 

 for the wreaths when made than a cold, 

 dark cellar, but in the absence of that 

 a coldframe with some coarse paper 

 to lay them on, and not more than three 

 or four deep will do, and cover the 

 glass with mats or boards to keep out 

 the light and excessive cold. You can t 

 make these wreaths all on Christmas 

 eve, and have to begin making up a 

 week or more ahead. 



Ground pine or lycopodium, which Mr. 

 and Mrs. Poor Lo and family gather 

 in the woods of Wisconsin, is easily 

 kept. It comes in crates and should be 

 always kept outside, but covered with 

 a cloth of some kind, or the exposed 

 parts quickly get browned. It will 

 keep a long time, fresh and green in 

 the crates or made into wreaths or 

 wreathing, if kept cool and dark; be 

 neath a bench in a cool house or in the 

 coldframe will do. When we bring in 

 the bundles to prepare for making up, 

 dip each bunch in water for a minute or 

 two ; it will make it more pliable and 

 easier to work up, but don t leave it 

 in the tub over night or it will turn 

 black after you have made it into the 

 wreaths. 



Mistletoe is imported from France. 

 We have the southern mistletoe, but it 

 is not the kind the Druids worshiped 

 and has no such associations, and al 

 though it may answer the purpose 

 (the pleasant purpose) of kissing your 

 wife s sister beneath, it is not the real 

 thing. It seemed in better demand than 

 ever last year, and as its privilege 

 powers are better known it will be a 

 favorite with young and old of both 

 sexes. I think last Christmas was the 

 first, season that we had any more than 

 realized the cost of it. It had been in 

 other years mauled about in a dry store 

 fo^ a few days till there was nothing 

 but the bare twigs left. We placed it 

 in a cool, moist, dark cellar, and han 

 dled it just as little as possible, only to 

 sort it over into 25 cent, 50 cent, $1, $2 

 or $3 sprays, and in that way were not 

 only able to furnish nice berried pieces, 

 but made a little money besides. It s 

 not a large commercial transaction, but 

 you may as well do it right. 



Laurel, so called (Kalmia latifolia), 

 is the finest material for wreathing, and 

 thousands of yards are used for many 

 and various kinds of decorations. It 

 lasts a long time in good appearance, 

 fresh and no dropping of leaves. It 

 is clean and pleasant to handle. Though 

 not so cheap as the ground pine wreath 

 ing, it is a hundred times richer in 

 effect. Laurel is procured from the 

 Allegheny mountains at any time and is 

 widely distributed. It will keep after 

 cutting a long time in any cool place. 



The branches of the noble Magnolia 

 grandiflora, which grows in latitudes 

 where the thermometer does not go be 

 low 15 degrees of frost, make a fine 

 decoration, and should always be used in 

 sprays or branches. The fine, bright 

 glossy green of the leaf is seen to great 

 advantage contrasting with the bronze 

 old gold color of the underside of the 

 leaf. The branches when received should 

 be kept cool and moist and not exposed 

 to hard freezing or allowed to shrivel 

 from dryness. 



The leucothoe sprays are very orna 

 mental. They make magnificent wreaths 

 or wreathing, being exceptionally easy 

 to handle for this purpose. Their use 

 is not confined to the holidays; like the 

 laurel, they are used throughout the win 

 ter months. Keep cool and moist. 



Though small in bulk, the greatest in 

 value of all the wild plants is the galax, 



