18 



The Florists^ Review 



Decbmbbb 12, 191^. 



most of their business with flowers ar- 

 ranged instead of loose; they can make 

 them go farther and can charge for the 

 arrangement as well as for the stock. 

 It has been proved time after time that 

 the public comes to the florist for deco- 

 rations, not necessarily flowers, but any 

 pretty arrangement that is bright and 

 cheerful. Such good sellers can be de- 



vised by any experienced florist with 

 a minimum of material and of a charac- 

 ter to appeal to his special class of 

 trade. Get busy now and prepare for 

 a record demand — sell cut flowers to 

 those who will pay your price, but have 

 something else you can push and which 

 will relieve the shortage. 



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COLD STOSAGE UUES. 



I planted my cold storage giganteum 

 lilies October 5 and they are now from 

 four to eight inches high and nearly all 

 are showing buds and will be too early 

 for Easter. I have not had previous 

 experience with cold storage bulbs. 

 What can be done to lengthen the stems 

 of these plants without blasting the 

 buds? H. H.— ni. 



The lilies mentioned would, of course, 

 be much too early for Easter. Cold 

 storage stock always lacks the strength 

 of fresh bulbs. Do not attempt to keep 

 your plants cool or you will stunt them 

 and probably blast most of the buds. 

 Keep them warm; 60 to 65 degrees at 

 night. To lengthen the stems, shade 

 the house, or the part of it where the 

 lilies are growing. By keeping them 

 shaded and having a warm, moist, grow- 

 ing atmosphere, you can draw up your 

 stems materially. C. W. 



FOSCINa LTLIXTM SPECIOSUM. 



I have on hand 100 bulbs of Lilium 

 speciosum roseum and rubrum. I do 

 not know if they are cold storage stock 

 or not, as I have never forced any of 

 this kind of lilies. I would like to 

 know how to treat them to get them 

 to bloom this winter. J. P. C. — S. C. 



There are no fresh bulbs of either 

 speciosum or auratum lilies coming this 

 season from Japan and you probably 

 have cold storage stock, although some 

 home-grown bulbs are procurable. It is 

 late now to start speciosum for winter 

 blooming. If started in August it can 

 be flowered for Christmas, If potted 

 and started now it should be placed in 

 a moderately cool house, kept at 45 de- 

 grees to 50 degrees at night. Later 

 the night temperature should not go 

 above 55 degrees, as speciosums will not 

 stand hard forcing like giganteums or 

 longiflorums. It will be spring before 

 your plants will flower if started now. 

 There is no special diflSculty in forcing 

 cold storage speciosums, but care must 

 be taken to water moderately until the 

 pots are well filled with roots. 



C. W. 



CANDIDUM FOS EASTES. 



Please tell me how to handle candi- 

 dum lilies so as to have them in time for 

 Easter. J. C— N. Y. 



Keep your plants in a coldframe un- 

 til the first week in January. If you 

 pack leaves between the pots, it will 

 prevent them from being broken by the 

 action of frost. Expose the plants to 

 some frost before housing them. Start 

 them in a temperature of 45 to 50 de- 



grees and never give them more than 55 

 degrees at night) if you want flowers 

 of good size and substance. Keep a 

 sharp lookout for green aphis; a weekly 

 fumigation will keep your plants clean. 

 Your plants may need some moving 

 around to time them exactly, but it wiS 

 pay to go to this trouble, as lilies will 

 be scarce next Easter and are sure to 

 command high prices. Eemember that 

 you cannot force candidum as you would 

 longiflorum. With warm treatment the 

 flowers will be only half the size of 

 those grown cooler and they will be 

 lacking in substance besides. C. W. 



CALLAS DAMPING OFF. 



On account of the scarcity of bulbs 

 this season, we planted a double supply 

 of callas. Our plants are beginning to 



bloom and are strong and healthy look- 

 ing, but are damping off so badly that 

 it is necessary to throw some of them 

 away daUy. We planted one or two 

 bulbs in 7-lnch and 8-inch pots. We 

 thought the trouble was due to too much 

 water, so gave them less, but there was 

 no improvement. The temperature is 

 not too high, as we have not had the 

 steam on for winter as yet. We have 

 given the plants a dressing of bone 

 meal, spaced them apart and tried every- 

 thing we can think of, but without suc- 

 cess. Any suggestions will be followed. 



J. U. M. — Miss. 



I am inclined to think that the bulbs 

 of your callas may not have been sound, 

 even though they appeared so when 

 potted. Calla bulbs partially diseased 

 will throw up strong growths and some- 

 times later will act as yours have done. 

 Your cultural treatment seems to have 

 been all right. Callas like a good sup- 

 ply of water and, given good drainage 

 and pots full of active roots, there is 

 little likelihood of their being over- 

 watered. Do not give too heavy top- 

 dressings of bone meal. For a 7-inch or 

 8-inch pot, two tablespoonfuls once a 

 fortnight will suffice at this season. An 

 overdose would help to cause damping 

 off and must be guarded against. A 

 night temperature of 55 degrees suits 

 callas to a nicety and if the pots can be 

 stood in single rows around the side of 

 a house where they can get lots of sun, 

 danger of damping off should be ma- 

 terially lessened. 0. W. 



THE RETAIL FLORIST 



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INCREASING BUSINESS. 



Undoubtedly the most interesting in- 

 formation secured by the questionnaires 

 sent to the members of the F. T. D. in 

 advance of the meeting of the associa- 

 tion in Cleveland October 8 and 9 by 

 Secretary Pochelon were the figures 

 showing the amount of incoming and 

 outgoing telegraph delivery orders han- 

 dled by some of the prominent firms. 

 The figures they submitted covered a 

 year's telegraph delivery business and 

 are as follows: 



BRBITMETBR'S SONS, DETROIT, 



Orders sent 1,526 Aggregating $ 6,246.00 



Orders received 1,046 Aggregating 4,901.00 



JOY & SONS. NASHVILLE. 



Orders sent 2,600 Aggregating $10,000.00 



Orders received 1,500 Aggregating 6,000.00 



REDONDO FLORAL CO.. LOS ANGELES. 



Orders sent 200 Averaging $ 5.70 



Orders received 400 Averaging 5.84 



MAX SCHLING. NEW YORK. 



Orders sent 1,152 Aggregating $14,157.00 



Orders received 2,340 Aggregating 12,064.00 



J. M. GAS8BR CO., CLEVELAND. 



Orders sent 1,200 Aggregating. ...| 6,000.00 



Orders received 700 Aggregating 2,450.00 



BERTERMANN BROS. CO.. INDIANAPOLIS. 



Orders sent.... 800 Aggregattng $ 4,000.00 



Orders received 1,200 Aggregating 5.000.00 



KNOBLB BROS.. CLEVELAND. 



Orders sent Aggregating $2,342.00 



Orders received .... Aggregating.... 1,486.00 



An analysis of the figures will show 

 the extent to which the telegraph de- 

 livery business has grown since the 

 F. T. D. was organized ten years ago. 

 However, the retailers of the country 

 now appreciate what the telegraph busi- 

 ness means to them and more and more 



are going after orders of this kind. 

 There are now 419 fiorists in the United 

 States, Canada, Great Britain and the 

 Hawaiian Islands represented in the 

 Pink Part of The Review. This is a 

 growth of twenty-six during the last 

 month and more are coming in each 

 week. 



When, as is shown by the figures 

 quoted above, a concern can add from 

 $3,000 to $25,000 per year to its gross 

 business by getting after the telegraph 

 delivery business, it is worth while to 

 do so. 



FOK A MORMON FUNERAL. 



The death recently of Joseph Fielding 

 Smith, president of the Church of Lat- 

 ter Day Saints, commonly called the 

 Mormon church, called on the florists 

 of Salt Lake City to furnish many 

 elaborate funeral pieces. Among them 

 was the huge wreath shown in the ac- 

 companying illustration. It was ordered 

 by telegraph by an eastern florist and 

 was made by the Bailey & Sons Co., 

 Salt Lake City. The wreath was six 

 feet high. 



INDIANA ASSOCIATION. 



December Meeting. 



The December meeting of the State 

 Florists' Association of Indiana was 

 held December 3 at the Claypool hotel, 

 Indianapolis. Although the attendance 

 was small, an unusual amount of busi- 

 ness was transacted with a good deal 



