THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



227 



give them plenty of water. Drain the 



pot when starting new bulbs, and use 



good fibrous loam with a fourth of de 

 cayed manure. 



VASES. 



The florist adjacent to or in a town or 

 city, who does a general retail business, 

 will have many vases to fill, and if his 

 establishment is near a leading cemetery 

 it will be one of the principal features 

 of his trade. I know several who con 

 sider it their most important business. 



Filling vases for cemeteries in some 

 cities is at a price very close to any 

 profitable margin, and if one or two set 

 the price low the rest have to follow, for 

 few people will pay more than their 

 neighbor does. In some cemeteries the 

 florist agrees to fill and water the vase 

 for the season,, and although the price 

 charged for the watering, $2.00 to $2.50, 

 for the service from June 1 to the time 

 frost kills the plants, does not seem 

 much to charge, it is by far the most 

 profitable part of the business, if you 

 have perhaps 200 or 300 of them. 



I know some florists who have almost 

 a corner on certain cemeteries, and 

 there they charge a good price for fill 

 ing, including a coat of paint. We are 

 so situated we cannot do that. We charge 

 50 cents for one coat of paint and 75 

 cents for two coats. 



Our best cemeteries are now kept in 

 the most perfect shape ; walks, drives and 

 grass kept as trim as in the private 

 grounds of the wealthy, and with shade 

 trees scattered here and there in judi 

 cious groupings, the pleasant surround 

 ings marred only by the over-use of mon 

 uments and statuary which in their glar 

 ing whiteness dispel at once any comfort 

 able or cheerful feeling that might other 

 wise be associated with a cemetery. And 

 the innumerable white iron vases only 

 still further add to the cold dismalness 

 of the scene. Why should it be so? 



Some day a better and more advanced 

 idea of our final resting place will be 

 shown by subduing the ostentatious dis 

 play of wealth and marble. Graves will 

 be leveled and a small marker will de 

 note the spot where the departed lies, 

 and the whole cemetery will be a beauti 

 ful garden with its necessary features 

 reduced to inconspicuousness. Monu 

 ments are not by their size and cost the 

 slightest indication of the worth or 

 genius of the person gone before. The 

 most commonplace man lies at the foot 

 of an imposing column, while the remains 

 of a President of the United States rest 

 near a humble stone. The remains of 

 ex-Prfsiuent Fillmore lie in our beauti 

 ful Forest Lawn, known or noticed by 

 few, and till within a few years in a 

 sadly neglected grave. But this lavish 

 display is good in one way it distributes 

 wealth, and the greatest good a wealthy 

 man can do with his money is to spend it. 

 Work is the best of all charities. We 

 can help some by telling our customers 

 to have their iron vases painted dark 

 green or drab ; a few have done so, but 

 not enough. 



Most of our vases, whether for the 

 grounds or cemeteries, are iron, stone, or 

 rustic woodwork. The stone vases are 



usually large, and are costly but much 

 superior to any in appearance. I have 

 never noticed any difference in the health 

 of the plants in any of these styles. 

 Sometimes the handsome, massive, stone 

 vases are left without any outlet for the 

 water to escape; always see to that if 

 you are consulted. If a long dry spell 

 occurs they do very well, but if we get a 

 week s rain in July the consequence is 

 disastrous. 



The wooden vases, or baskets, as they 

 should be called, are lined with green 

 moss, before the soil is filled in. Plants 

 always do well in them, but as the drain 

 age is most perfect they take a large 

 amount of water in August and Septem 

 ber to keep them green. 



Plants do excellently in iron vases. The 

 great majority of the iron vases are now 

 what is called the reservoir pattern. 

 There is an iron basin which holds three 

 inches of water immediately below the 

 roots, separated from the earth by the 

 casting but connected with the water in 

 the center by a funnel of two inches in 

 diameter, which dips into the water and 



right on theory, but in practice are often 

 more harm than good. 



When the frosts have killed the plants 

 in the vases we empty them. The 

 wooden baskets are stored in our sheds. 

 The tops of the iron vases are turned up 

 side down and the soil taken out of the 

 stone vases, or, as is often done with the 

 large vases, we fill them with some neat 

 evergreens for the winter; the Chinese 

 arbor-vitae and retinospora are good for 

 the purpose. We make no charge for 

 emptying the vases. Our people are 

 mostly steady customers and if they are 

 not we do it for our satisfaction, for 

 what would look worse than withered 

 plants where all else was neat and trim? 

 It is no longer as it was when Gray 

 wrote : 

 Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid 



Some heart once pregnant with celes 

 tial fire; 



Hands that the rod of empire might have 

 swayed, 



Or walked to ecstasy the living lyre. 



All now is neat and cared for. Even 

 rural cemeteries are now well kept. Be- 



A Rustic Vase. 



which we fill with sphagnum. The in 

 ventor meant it to be filled with a sponge 

 so that the soil would be always soaking 

 up the water by capillary attraction. This 

 also works well in dry seasons, but in 

 wet times when the reservoir is always 

 full the soil gets saturated and the plants 

 die, and we frequently have to lift off 

 the top of the vase and empty out the 

 reservoir. This is a ease of sub-water 

 ing to excess. I prefer the vases without 

 reservoir. The reservoir vases look all 



fore I leave the precincts of what should 

 be a most pleasant and beautiful spot, 

 and as far as care goes is, I must say 

 that the abolishing of fences and the 

 care and control of the whole grounds 

 by the cemetery authorities, who treat all 

 alike and study general appearance and 

 not individual, is a vast improvement 

 over these cemeteries where the lot own 

 er pays some outside person for its care. 

 It is &quot;the whole locality or section that 

 should be pleasing and beautiful, not one 



