166 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL HORTICULTURE 



instead of a beautiful 7-in. Cyclamen at its best. It is a good thing 

 to have it that way, and a still better thing if you prepare for it. 



One has no trouble hunting up country florists who, around 

 Christmas time, will invest a lot of money in expensive plants, but 

 make no effort whatever to use their own stock in connection with 

 them. They are satisfied with selling a 4-in. Chinese Primula for 

 fifty cents instead of adding twenty-five cents for trimmings in the 

 way of green and berries and a pot-cover and making it a $1.50 

 plant. And as yet they don't take advantage of what there is on 

 hand so as to get the most out of it. 



HOLLY AND HOLLY WREATHS 



The only time of the year when Holly is used by the florist is 

 at Christmas. The man with just a store and no dark, cool place 

 in which to keep his cut Holly often loses more money than he makes 

 in the handling of it; but with the florist who has greenhouses, 

 frames and proper facilities, Holly can play an important part. 

 Not only does the handling of it pay, but usually a customer who 

 buys a few wreaths or loose Holly will also buy other things. 



You cannot afford to handle poor Holly. Your stock must be 

 the very best there is obtainable. Let the local grocer or fruit stand 

 handle the other kind. Place your order for Holly with a responsible 

 firm and don't wait until the last minute to have it delivered. Try 

 to have it on hand by the eighth or tenth of December; open and 

 examine every case and give the contents a sprinkling of water, 

 then close them and place them, if possible, in a cool, dark cellar. 

 In that way Holly will keep perfectly for weeks if necessary; but 

 expose it in a dry, hot or sunny place and it will go to pieces in a 

 few hours. Those who have deep coldframes that can be kept free 

 from frost couldn't find a better place for storing it, especially if 

 shutters are placed over the frames to darken the inside. 



If you ask your patrons to pay from seventy-five cents up to 

 three, four, or five dollars for Holly wreaths, according to size, 

 you must deliver goods of a superior quality as compared with those 

 usually offered on the street. To do this you should procure the 

 best Holly on the market and handle it in the right way. A good 

 case of Holly will make about thirty-five seventy-five-cent wreaths, 

 besides five or six dollars' worth of selected long branches of loose 

 Holly; but to get such results one must use up everything. 

 You will get some cases full of short branches fit only for wreaths, 

 and others with nothing but long branches, but usually they run 

 half and half. If you have call for selected loose Holly, as soon as 

 you open a case put what good branches there are aside and just 

 use the short stuff for the wreaths; when the case is empty, make 

 up bundles to sell at fifty cents, seventy-five cents and a dollar each. 



