8 Commercial Gardening 



enormously during the past twenty or thirty years, and the florists' shops 

 are the main outlets for most of the decorative plants and flowers grown 

 by market nurserymen. It would indeed be a poor prospect for the latter 

 if the business of the florist was interfered with or hampered by increased 

 burdens of taxation. The more florists there are in the country the better 

 for the growers of plants and flowers. Incidentally, the florists' shops are 

 a sign of the general prosperity of the people, because their trade may 

 be regarded more in the light of a luxury of art and taste than as an 

 actual necessity. 



The business carried on by the florist is of a varied character. He is 

 an adept at the making of bouquets of all kinds for weddings or Court 

 functions. Wreaths, crosses, anchors, pillars, cushions, and numerous other 

 floral emblems for the departed also come within his sphere of influence, 

 in addition to which he sells masses of cut flowers in a natural state, as 

 well as decorative pot plants, little shrubs, &c. And where the florist 

 happens to be also a nurseryman, he undertakes landscape work and 

 jobbing. In all these operations his raw material consists of plants and 

 flowers of all descriptions, hardy and tender, and he is ever on the watch 

 to invent new designs, or to arrange his flowers, &c., in such a way that 

 they will attract attention and excite admiration. Some of the leading- 

 London florists have made their names famous by the taste and original 

 ideas they display not only in the making of wreaths, bouquets, &c., but 

 in the artistic way they decorate or furnish banquet halls, theatres, 

 reception rooms, &c. All important public functions in any town or 

 city lead to business being done by the florist; and he who displays the 

 greatest taste, originality, and industry is the one most likely to be 

 patronized. 



The florist and furnishing trade indeed cannot be learned in a day. 

 Many an excellent grower of plants and flowers used in floral decorations 

 would make but a sorry job of it if he had to arrange his own procce 

 for a public function. It takes years to become an expert florist, and in 

 some branches of the trade, such as the making of wreaths, bouquets, &c., 

 women stand as good a chance as men, if not a better. The operator 

 must be not only skilful and quick in " mounting " the flowers on various 

 kinds of wires and "foundations", but must display considerable taste in 

 the arrangement of the individual flowers, and of their effects upon one 

 another. It is quite possible for the choicest flowers to be as easily 

 spoiled in effect in the hands of an incompetent florist as it is for good 

 viands to be spoiled in the hands of an incompetent cook. A skilled 

 florist will produce a finer effect with a few inexpensive blossoms than 

 an unskilled one will with a cartload of choice material, just as some 

 women can dress charmingly at little expense while others will look 

 dowdy in the finest materials and jewellery. 



There is no end to learning in the florist's business, and the fashion 

 of to-day may be out of date to-morrow. Great and wonderful changes 

 have taken place within the past thirty years in the way flowers are 



