,»--.?* 7 ' ^-!r;?,^»*»».r*-:.PJW-\iTT i?i'^^>;'f'^ f7 



'^'^i'f.^^^.X^'flJfv^^." 



10 



The Rorists^ Review 



June 5, 1919. 



sown in any light soil, in pots, pans or 

 trays, and are covered with soil to the 

 depth of half an inch. The seedlings, as 

 their roots are easily broken, require 

 careful potting, but when placed in a 

 warm and shaded house they soon be- 

 come established, if looked after care- 

 fully. Being reasonably rapid growers, 

 the plants soon reach a salable size. 



Livistona and PhoBnix. 



Livistona rotundifolia has been 

 grown in quantity for some years, but 

 the seed supply seems somewhat uncer- 

 tain and the seeds vary in percentage 

 of germination. However, if the seeds 

 are received in good condition and are 

 sown according to the same methods 

 as those suggested for arecas, there is 

 a reasonable prospect of success, al- 

 though it must be borne in mind that 

 the livistona requires some attention in 



order to attain the perfection of shape 

 and size that is sometimes seen. 



Most kinds of phoenix «onie readily 

 from seeds, but practically lUl of the 

 species that are found in commercial 

 collections are somewhat slow growers 

 during the first year or two from the 

 seed, and hence can scarcely be con- 

 sidered easy-money propositions, but 

 they are undoubtedly ornamental and 

 useful to the decorator and certainly 

 should form part of the stock of a pro- 

 gressive grower. 



By way of summary, it may be said 

 that fresh seeds, prompt sowing, care- 

 ful handling, suf&cient heat and mois- 

 ture, and precautionary measures 

 against insects on the young plants, are 

 among the high lights on the subject of 

 growing palms from seeds. It is hoped 

 that the suggestions here offered may 

 serve to encourage some beginner in 

 this line of work. 



THE RETAIL FLORIST 



1rra^1|■■^1r^rl«v1rirsv1Iysv1rl«v^rirwr^r/sv1r)«\1rrs^ 



FAQEANTS AND FLORISTS. 



Dollars for Decorators. 



Among the things that are coming 

 back are the flower pageants, put in 

 eclipse by the world war. They have 

 started again and they mean a lot to 

 florists. 



Before the war put an end to all such 

 nonessential demonstrations, half the 

 towns in America had their annual pa- 

 rades of floats, most of which included 

 some form of flower decorations, while 

 some were exclusively flower parades. 

 These were of all degrees of ostentation, 

 from the famous Pasadena pageant and 

 the wheeled-chair parade at Atlantic 

 City, which we all have seen pictured in 



tlie movies, to the Fourth of July pro- 

 cession of dolled up ' ' Lizzies ' ' at 

 Pumpkin Center. And they are com- 

 ing back. The first one reported was at 

 Memphis the other day, a feature of a 

 centennial celebration. Florists, who 

 are skilled decorators, should welcome 

 the return. 



Our Servicefi in Ibequest. 



At Pumpkin Center the vehicles all may 

 be of amateur preparation, but in the 

 cities there always is someone, usually 

 several somebodies, shrewd enough to 

 see that the work of the professional 

 decorator is almost certain to eclipse the 

 best the novices can do. That means a 

 call for the florist, even though no nat- 

 ural flowers are used. 



Usually the florist's work wins what- 

 ever prizes are offered, justifying the 

 professional fee, so that it is only a mat- 

 ter of comment when several florists are 

 employed by as many contenders. But, 

 aside from the fee, there is valuable 

 publicity for the florist who gets a 

 good job to the attention of a large part 

 of the people of his community. 



How It Worked at Memplii£. 



To stimulate interest in the Memphis 

 centennial pageant May 20 some good 

 prizes were offered, a flower bowl val- 

 ued at $500 for first and a large silver 

 Vase worth $350 for second. The result 

 was that the Idlewild Greenhouses re- 

 ceived commissions to decorate two au 

 tomobiles and won for its customers the 

 two premier prizes. To quote W. H. 

 Englehart, vice-president and manager, 

 ' ' We have received a lot of advertising 

 out of this." 



The ' ' floral ' ' parades are quite likely 

 not to call for the use of many natural 

 flowers, but they are just as much with- 

 in the florists' province for all that. The 

 success lies as much in the idea for the 

 decoration as in its execution and, if 

 natural flowers are not used, natural 

 greens usually are and the rest of the 

 stock comes from a dealer in florists' 

 supplies. As Mr. Englehart said, "We 

 used the finest ribbons on these cars, 

 along with the other material, and they 

 sure did show up wonderfully woll. ' ' 



As this class of business develops, the 

 florists' only real competitors will be 

 the decorators for the department 

 stores, most of whom use a distinctly 

 inferior class of material in their work. 



AN ATTRACTIVE GOTHAM SHOP. 



One of the neatest and most attractive 

 flower stores on upper Madison avenue. 

 New York city, is t^hat of A. Meyer. As 

 will be seen by the accompanying illus- 

 trations, Mr. Meyer has an exceptionally 

 modern home for his business, although 

 the building it occupies is far from being 

 a new one. He is one of the progres- 

 sive New Yorkers who have turned the 

 homes of the wealthy into business es- 

 tablishments on the lower floors and 

 apartments on the upper, thus cutting 

 considerably the rent in the most desir- 

 able neighborhoods. 



One of the great attractions of the 

 store, 1062 Madison avenue, is the show 

 window. It is equipped with a system 

 of ventilation which keeps moisture 

 from the windows and the stock in good 

 condition. Mirrors are so arranged that 

 the window has the appearance of be 

 ing much more extensive. It can be 

 seen for some distance by pedestrians. 

 The floor of the store is of tile, sloping 

 toward the center, so that it is possible 

 to spray the plants, which are arranged 

 along the sides, without much labor aft- 

 erward. 



Mr. Meyer occupies the first three 

 floors of the building. One of them i^ 

 devoted exclusively to artistic pottery. 



One of the illustrations shows the in- 

 terior of the store, with Mr. Meyer 

 seated, and the other the attractive 

 front and the window with its display 

 of fall flowers. 



A. Meyer in his Attractive New York Store* 



A BOOST IN BALTIMORE. 



Baltimore 's new mayor is a gentle- 

 man and a scholar; we owe him a good 

 turn when the time comes because he 

 certainly gave the trade a big boost 



