J68 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



and fifty, all tied by the grower ready 

 to retail. They are often huddled into 

 a box a foot deep. That may do for 

 some grades, but the finest should have 

 a box some six or seven inches deep and 

 the bunches placed one behind the other 

 and each bunch wrapped in tissue paper. 



Lily of the valley is easily handled, 

 and if each bunch is wrapped you can 

 pack quite closely, but let each bunch 

 be reclining on the other and only one 

 layer deep. It is weight that express 

 men charge for and not space, so when 

 supplied with suitable boxes it is use 

 less to crowd and spoil flowers for the 

 sake of another box. 



Orchids are not packed every day, 

 except by a few specialists, but laid 

 on a bed of cotton-batting, with the 

 same material put between the flowers 

 and sufficient covering to keep them 

 from shaking, they travel all right. 

 Cypripediums will, of course, travel with 

 less care than the softer flowers of 



and even if every flower was stuffed 

 full of batting and every flower sur 

 rounded with it, there would be a great 

 many damaged flowers. We have found 

 the best plan is to get a box of suf 

 ficient depth and across it, say a foot 

 from the bottom and the same from the 

 end, fasten a strip of wood (an inch 

 square will do). Then take half a 

 dozen spikes of lilies and bunch them 

 up with their flowers fitting in among 

 each other and fasten that bunch on to 

 the strip of wood a few inches behind 

 the flowers. See that the flowers do 

 riot touch bottom, sides or any part of 

 the box, or another bunch of flowers. 

 The lily flowers will swing, but move 

 all together, and will not bruise each 

 other. 



This principle we found a good plan 

 when carrying lilies to town at Easter 

 time. If you loaded up a hundred plants 

 in the wagon and let them stand up 

 singly, however mild and quiet the day, 



Plants in Pots Prepared for Packing. 



cattleya, odontoglossum and co3logyne, 

 but with plenty of batting they travel 

 well and two days journey to them is 

 the same as two hours. 



The Lilium Harrisii and longiflorum 

 are the most troublesome flowers to 

 pack and have arrive without a grumble. 

 If you let them rest on tissue paper 

 their own weight will break their petals, 



they would swing into each other and 

 many would be broken; but if half a 

 dozen are tied together and cannot 

 swing into another bunch, they will 

 travel perfectly. 



In packing the cut stalks in a box 

 you can put as many bunches as you 

 choose, but never let one bunch touch 

 another, or have any chance to do so. 



Bulbous stuff does not travel well 

 when unexpanded. You should not at 

 tempt to pack them more than oue 

 layer deep, and lightly covered with 

 tissue, but a great many can be put in 

 a box, as they do not hurt in the least 

 to be packed tightly together. 



We do not have any more camellia 

 or gardenia pacjting, and there is a vast 

 army of young florists who perhaps 

 never handled one. The slightest tifuch 

 of your fingers on the petals of a 

 camellia would leave a mark. You had 

 to handle them from the under side of 

 the petals and in traveling each one 

 had to lie on a bed of batting and 

 be covered with a layer of the same. 

 And the same care must be taken with 

 gardenias or their petals will soon be 

 a dirty yellow. 



Eueharis flowers should also be 

 packed in batting or their beautiful 

 flowers are easily bruised. 



I don t know that there is any spe 

 cial method for the other flowers we 

 use. Common sense will suggest the 

 right plan. As before stated, the main 

 point is not to crush with over-crowd 

 ing, and don t leave room at ends, sides 

 or top of box for any shaking or mov 

 ing. 



A few months in the autumn and 

 again in the spring are the easiest and 

 safest times to send flowers on any 

 journey. The temperature is just right, 

 no fear of frost and no need of ice, 

 and during the cool days of October 

 and November is when our chrysanthe 

 mums are mostly handled. Fine flow 

 ers of these, like the good roses and 

 carnations, should be laid out in rows 

 with tissue paper between their fine 

 heads, and they are so heavy that one 

 layer of them is always enough. In 

 saying one layer it is always under 

 stood that when you commence with 

 the first row of flowers, whatever they 

 are, that you have a roll of tissue paper, 

 or a roll of excelsior wrapped around 

 with tissue paper, and that the first 

 row of flowers rests against, which 

 brings them up as high in the box as 

 the last row put in, each succeeding 

 row lying just behind the other, 

 separated or not by a strip of tissue. 



In the hot summer months there are 

 not many flowers going long distances. 

 When roses are sent a journey and the 

 thermometer is 85 or 90 degrees, lumps 

 of ice are distributed among the stems 

 or placed in the bottom of the box; 

 but if much is used it should be fastened 

 so that it does not roll around. It is 

 surprising how few flowers we get 

 frozen when the weather is considered, 

 but when going a journey by rail in 

 the winter months always pack for zero 

 weather. You can t tell how long they 

 may be on the expressman s wagon, and 

 there is where we get the trouble, if 

 any. 



This question of good packing is of 

 great importance to the grower who 

 ships most of his product to the whole 

 sale house or commission man. The lat 

 ter may be a very conscientious man, 

 there are a few, but he can t possibly 

 unpack all he receives and that is left 

 to more or less careful help. Then your 



