THE FLORISTS MANUAL 



2\9 



Tea Weeks Stocks. 



two plants are all you want. A plant I 

 remember very well was trained along 

 the roof of a small propagating house. 

 It was in a 12-inch pot, but its roots 

 had long ago passed through the pot 

 into a bed of coal ashes, and every 

 spring it bore hundreds of its lovely 

 umbels of flowers. 



That was an object lesson of the vir 

 tue of coal ashes; but it has been long 

 known and frequently demonstrated in 

 our houses that coal ashes will suit 

 many plants. A neighbor of mine uses 

 them entirely in place of sand for his 

 propagating houses and succeeds quite 

 as well as when he used sand. 



STEVIA. 



The only species we grow and find 

 profitable is what we know as serrati- 

 folia, or sweet stevia. It is an easily 

 grown plant, but the flower is light and 

 feathery, so that we value it highly at 

 the holidays, and common as it may be 

 we should miss it very much. 



After flowering cut down the plants 

 to within six inches of the pots and 

 stand them in some cool, light house. 

 You will get a great many cuttings 

 from a few plants. Propagate in Feb 

 ruary or March, and plant out at the 

 end of May. Any garden soil will do. 

 They should be at least two feet apart. 

 Stop them frequently till the last of 

 August. 



Before any danger of frost lift and 

 pot into 6-inch or 7-inch, but let the 



plants stand outside as long as you can. 

 When you have to take them&quot; in give 

 them the coolest (but light) bench you 

 have. You want them at the holidays, 

 and if kept light and very cool they 

 will be robust and stout and give you 

 fine spikes. Never let frost touch them, 

 but they will thrive in a very low tem 

 perature. 



STOCKS. 



The ten weeks stocks are beautiful 

 summer flowers, favorites with all. 

 Their cultivation is very simple; for 

 sowing seed and after-care see Aster. 

 They embrace many and varied colors, 

 from crimson to purest white. 



We grew for many years a pure white 

 strain of the ten weeks stocks which 

 made a handsome dwarf pot plant, as 

 well as being useful for the flowers, but 

 there is not now the same use for it. 



The intermediate and East Lothian 

 stock is much raised in Europe for win 

 ter blooming. Sow in August and Sep 

 tember, and as soon as the seed leaves 

 are formed put into 2-inch and shift on 

 and flower in 5-inch, and if wanted for 

 spring use keep in coldframe. 



The Brompton stock is the most hand 

 some of all, and where it does not freeze 

 more than 15 degrees in winter it is a 

 grand flower. 1 have seen spikes of 

 the Brompton that I am sure were more 

 than a foot long and three inches in di 

 ameter, and in a cottage garden. It is 

 a biennial, and if attempted here should 



be sown in August, wintered in a cold- 

 frame and planted out in spring. In a 

 more temperate climate it should be 

 planted in the border in October. 



STORE MANAGEMENT. 



The evolution of the florist s store 

 from its beginning, with most of us 

 twenty-five years ago and with the old 

 est not more than forty years, is re 

 markable. It has kept pace with the 

 enormous increase in the use of flowers 

 and perhaps has been no little incentive 

 to our patrons in the laudable luxury 

 of the use of flowers. 



We can all remember when the seeds 

 man in many of our cities combined cut 

 flowers and plants with his business. 

 Now the line is as distinctly drawn be 

 tween the seed store and the flower 

 store as between a bank and a barber 

 shop, although I have heard with sur 

 prise and regret that one of our most 

 widely known New York wholesale and 

 retail seed, bulb and requisite houses 

 has recently opened a cut flower depart 

 ment. This is to be regretted; it is a 

 step towards the department store and 

 is to be condemned, in our line particu 

 larly and on principle generally. We 

 all remember exhibitions called florists 

 stores. 



When the florist first essayed to rent 

 a store and make it his exclusive busi 

 ness, the window decorations consisted 

 in the main of straw baskets, a stuffed 

 dove and some beautiful designs in 

 wheat, all suggestive of the inevitable, 

 but nothing to gladden the eye or 

 heart. The gradual transition to the 

 modern, first-class store of today would 

 be interesting to note, were it any bene 

 fit, and what will be the appearance, 

 appointments and tempting luxuries of 

 fered to the public by a florist of a 

 future generation would be highly in 

 teresting could we foresee the higher 

 development of our business. Instead 

 of a basement or a narrow, cheap store, 

 the florist now demands the best stores 

 in our very best streets. 



Before I attempt to say what a high- 

 class retail store should be, it is quite 

 pertinent to mention a few things that 

 it should not be. The florists and their 

 clerks (or more properly shopmen) must 

 have the reputation for good temper, 

 civility and a most patient and obliging 

 disposition, for the florist is asked more 

 questions and more little favors than 

 any other class of shopkeepers. If a 

 lady faints in the street-car she is car 

 ried into the florist s store. If a glass 

 of water is wanted by a temperance 

 man, if your neighbor wants to use the 

 telephone, if a stranger wants to know 

 where Mr. Tile, the hatter, is. or even 

 when one lady will meet another, it is 

 all at Mr. Bud ; s, the florist, that they 

 come in. A civil, polite answer should 

 be given to all. Perhaps by discreet 

 affability you have made a friend. 



Your store should never be known as 

 a place where other florists congregate. 

 If they have any business with you, 

 let them do it quickly and get out. No 

 loungers of any kind, friends of your 

 own or of your employees, male or fe 

 male, should be tolerated during business 



