Fgbruaht 3, 1916. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



The "Father and Mother" Wreath, a Combtnation of Two Designs Constructed for a Special Purpose. 



it at its best grow it fairly cool, about 

 50 degrees at night; then the pure white 

 racemes possess more substance. This 

 is a most graceful plant and one of 

 such easy culture that no one need be 

 afraid to try it. From cuttings put in 

 now — which root as easily as heliotropes 

 — strong plants in 8-inch or 9-inch pots 

 can be had in flower next January. 

 Cuttings put in as late as September 

 will make nice little plants in 4-inch 

 or 5-inch pots. 



Bouvardia Humboldtii. 



In order to propagate Bouvardia 

 Humboldtii, the popular, sweet-scented, 

 pure white bouvardia, prune back one 

 or two of the old plants which have 

 been resting and place them in a warm, 

 moist house. The plants will soon 

 throw out a fine crop of succulent cut- 

 tings. Rub these off with a heel and 

 insert in a warm cutting bench. They 

 will soon root and can be potted on in 

 a warm house, gradually hardened and 

 planted outdoors early in June. Eight 

 or ten weeks in a well prepared piece 

 of land will give you quite nice plants 

 the first season. While most of the 

 bouvardias are best if propagated from 

 root cuttings, B. Humboldtii is an ex- 

 ception. 



CALIiAS NOT FLOWERING. 



My callas were planted in solid beds 

 and were partly dried off after last 

 season's growth. These were started 

 about August 15 and have made fine, 

 strong, healthy growth, but do not send 



up any flower stalks. The night tem- 

 perature is 52 degrees. Can you tell 

 me the cause of the trouble? 



G. K.— 111. 



Your plants have too much root run 

 and for that reason will not flower 

 freely early in the season, like pot- 

 grown ones. I do not know what you 

 can do to hurry along the flowering. 

 You will have to wait until the plants 

 are heavily rooted and you will prob- 

 ably get lots of flowers in late winter 

 and spring. Another year try your 

 callas in pots and they will start to 

 bloom in October and continue until 

 early summer. Three tubers in each 8- 

 inch pot will give fine results. Feed 

 with fine bone as a top-dressing, in addi- 

 tion to using liquid manure, and you 

 will get a wonderful crop of flowers. 

 C. W. 



A COMBINATION WBEATH. 



If men in general are known by the 

 company they keep, a florist is as surely 

 known, in many cases, by the charac- 

 ter and financial standing of the pa- 

 trons he keeps — or fails to keep. 



Customers of small means may have 

 to be satisfied sometimes with inferior 

 fiowers or designs, or at least they 

 must accept the floral "seconds" with 

 as good grace as possible if they have 

 not enough money to purchase any- 

 thing better. If beggars must not be 

 choosers, neither must buyers be choos- 

 ers beyond the limits prescribed by 

 their pocketbooks. If they cannot af- 

 ford to deal with the florist who fur- 



nishes first-class stock, arranged with 

 exquisite artistic discrimination, they 

 must needs go to a second-class florist 

 and buy second-class wares — unless, per- 

 chance, they find one of those resource- 

 ful florists who cater successfully to 

 "all sorts and conditions of men.'* 



But wealthy people are not under the 

 necessity of trading with any florist 

 who has not established the right sort 

 of reputation. If they are willing and 

 able to pay for the best, they will go 

 to the florist who can supply the best. 



There seems to be reason, then, for 

 drawing a fairly positive inference in 

 regard to the character of the flowers 

 and designs furnished by A. Kottmiller, 

 of New York city. The Eeview of 

 November 25 contained a picture of a 

 wreath that was made by Mr. Kott- 

 miller for the tomb of C. P. Morosini, 

 a partner of Jay Gould, and the illus- 

 tration on this page shows another 

 wreath that was prepared by Mr. 

 Kottmiller for one of the leading fam- 

 ilies of . his big and rich city. The 

 character of such patronage is a testi- 

 mony to the character of his mer- 

 chandise. 



In the present case, however, the 

 wreath speaks for itself, and speaks 

 convincingly, as the picture is clear 

 enough to do a fair degree of justice 

 to the original. The flowers used are 

 orchids and valley, and they are so ar- 

 ranged as to form what is designated 

 as a "combination father and mother 

 wreath," ordered in memory of the 

 parents. 



