78 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



ering. Customers often say when buy- 

 ing a plant: "You can send it home 

 Thursday or Friday," or another will 

 say: "Saturday or Sunday morning, 

 whichever you choose." Always choose 

 the earliest moment they allow. You 

 are sure to have plenty for the last. 

 So on that part of the bench nearest 

 the door is all of Thursday's deliver- 

 ies, the card of the donor fastened on 

 with baby ribbon and the address very 

 lightly fastened on with wire. It is 

 not safe to fasten that address card on 

 securely till you see the weather, as 



know the city well and also know a 

 great many of the residents. Never 

 send a load of twenty or thirty differ- 

 ent deliveries with one man. It is 

 waste of time. The driver knows the 

 route to save time, and the house in 

 most cases, and tells his helper that, 

 "Here is Mrs. Brown's, who gets that 

 lily and that deutzia," and while the 

 less valuable man is waiting for Mary 

 Ann or Kate to receive the plants the 

 driver is studying out his next call. 

 Drivers, or delivery men are just like 

 those of any other calling; there are 



Azalea, dressed with crepe paper and lace ribbon. 



it may have to be pinned on to the 

 wrapping paper that protects the plant 

 1'rom chilly blasts. When Thursday 

 night comes all of Thursday's deliver- 

 ies should be gone, the space devoted 

 to Thursday should be clear, and so 

 with the other days. Friday's orders 

 should be looked out and got ready 

 on Thursday and what is sold on Fri- 

 day to be delivered that day should 

 be put on the table to go out with the 

 next load. As long as plants are on 

 that Friday bench your wagons have 

 not done for the day. 



The delivery man is a very impor- 

 tant personage these days. He should 



good and bad, but a good one is a 

 jewel. Only smile at calamities that 

 can't be helped, such as hailstorms or 

 cyclones, but swear to your heart's 

 content at the lubber who comes home 

 with damaged plants and says, "The 

 lilies blowed over and I let that big 

 azalea fall." 



There is always a great number of 

 plants that you are reasonably sure 

 you will sell, and these should all have 

 their pots washed a day or two ahead. 

 Nothing can be more disgusting than 

 a greasy, dirty pot, and no plant 

 should be delivered, however cheap, or 



warm the weather, without some wrap- 

 ping paper around the pot. 



The lily certainly occupies the most 

 important place among Easter plants. 

 The Bermuda grown longiflorum is 

 the favorite; a single plant in a 5 or 

 6-inch pot or three plants in an 8- 

 inch. It is seldom that the longiflo- 

 rums are too early, and should they 

 be a week or ten days ahead of time 

 they keep finely in a cool, shaded 

 house, but should not be put there till 

 at least one flower is open or the 

 whole plant and buds will get stunted. 



Azaleas are next in importance and 

 perhaps in value of plants sold equal 

 the lilies. There is no excuse for hav- 

 ing the azaleas out of date because 

 they can be kept almost to the freez- 

 ing point during winter and open 

 quickly when put into a heat of 60 

 degrees at night. There is always a 

 good demand for azaleas from Christ- 

 mas on, but don't have many left 

 after Easter, for people have seen so 

 many then that they are tired of them. 



Rhododendrons are seldom too early 

 and you do not want many of them. 

 A warm house with abundance of 

 syringing will bring their fine flowers 

 out. 



The Ghent or hardy deciduous aza- 

 laas want seven or eight weeks in a 

 moderately warm house. They are 

 very attractive and do not drop their 

 flowers at Easter as they do later in 

 warmer weather, and the colors are 

 such beautiful shades of yellow, or- 

 ange, red and pink that when deco- 

 rated with suitable crepe paper they 

 sold well last year. 



Lilacs need about four weeks in the 

 greenhouse and always sell well, and 

 are so good for cutting if not sold. 



Metrosideros (bottle brush) is very 

 odd and finds favor with a few, but 

 the sale is limited. It should be al- 

 ways grown one year with us before 

 being sold. 



Acacia armata, called often Mimosa 

 paradoxa, is a beautiful plant, but 

 should not be offered for sale the sea- 

 son that it is imported. Cut down 

 and grown in pots during the summer 

 it makes a beautiful plant the follow- 

 ing winter or spring. It will be too 

 early for Easter unless kept very cool. 

 A. Drummondii is also very pretty and 

 can be treated the same way. 



Deutzia gracilis is most easy to 

 force and should be given seven to 

 eight weeks in the greenhouse. 



Cytisus, although a poor house 

 plant, is so floriferous and makes such 

 a compact, pretty plant that it is al- 

 ways worth growing. Keep very cool 

 or they will be over too early. 



Spiraea (astilbe) is always wanted 

 for church decoration, and when peo- 

 ple learn that a spiraea should always 

 be stood in a saucer with an inch of 

 water in it, they will find it a long- 

 lasting house plant. 



Mignonette in 4 and 5-inch pots sell 

 well and should command a good 

 price, as it takes six or seven months 

 to grow a good pot. They can't be 

 forced; they must come along slowly 



