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Januabt 8, 1920. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



sum in pink and white, are beautiful 

 and much sought. 



The increasing use of pussy willow 

 at Christmas-time becomes more mani- 

 fest each year. Its use in combina- 

 tion baskets and boxes with butterflies 

 attached here and there added material 

 ly to the selling power of the article. 



Enterprising florists can buy the un- 

 developed willow from nurseries and 

 open the branches in water. If wanted 

 for immediate use, the buds can be un- 

 covered by slightly cutting the shell at 

 the base and removing it with an up- 

 ward motion of the finger nail. 



H. E. K. 



BOOSTING FOR VALENTINES. 



There is every indication that the 

 trade will take hold of St. Valentine's 

 day in more energetic fashion than ever 

 before. It seems to be realized that 

 St. Valentine's day affords a splendid 

 opportunity, ready made. Like the 

 ready-made suit which requires only 

 slight alterations to fit any form, St. 

 Valentine's day requires only slight 

 change to be just what we want. It is a 

 day on which from childhood people have 

 been educated to send remembrances, 

 fine or funny, to their friends. All we 

 have to do is to induce them to send 

 flowers. For two or three years the 

 Chicago Florists' Club has distributed 

 St. Valentine's day stickers and posters 

 at slightly more than cost. This year 

 the S. A. F. publicity campaign has 

 taken up the idea and it looks as though 

 the Chicago success would be repeated 

 on a national scale. It is said that Sec- 

 retary Young's mail the first day after 

 the stickers and posters were offered 

 contained seventy-eight orders. It also 

 is reported that the Detroit Florists' 

 Club has ordered 50,000 stickers for the 

 use of its members and that the order 

 from Pittsburgh was for 75,000. If 

 every florist in the United States puts 

 a poster in his window and a sticker 

 on each parcel and letter which goes 

 out of his place the first two weeks in 

 February, a pretty good proportion of 

 all the prosperous people in America 

 will use flowers as their valentines this 

 year. 



EXPRESS MERGER DESIRED. 



When the railroads are returned to 

 their owners March 1, according to the 

 proclamation issued by President Wil- 

 son December 24, the express companies, 

 which have been operated by the gov- 



ernment in combination, under the name 

 American Eailway Express Co., will al- 

 so be returned to the separate com- 

 panies. These, it is now understood, 

 desire to continue in combination and 

 operate as one corporation. They have 

 asked if it would be a violation of the 



been carefully chosen as bearing a di- 

 rect relation to the business. 



The beds on the parkway, shown in 

 the view of the dwelling, are mostly 

 oriental ligustrums. The large shrub 

 inside the fence is second growth Caro- 

 lina laurel; the original tree, planted 



This Florist's Supply of Greens Grows Beside His Greenhouse Door. 



Sherman anti-trust law if they were to 

 remain as a unit. 



Those who looked forward to the time 

 when the express service, split^ifp into 

 the former companies, would be im- 

 proved by the restored stimulus of 

 competition, have doubts as to the 

 benefit of such a merger to shippers. 

 Doubtless the express companies can 

 operate more cheaply and profitably to 

 themselves as a unit, but the query in 

 the trade's mind is whether the benefit 

 would be passed along to users in the 

 form of better service and lower rates. 



HOW THEY DO IT IN TEXAS. 



Advertising which gives living proof 

 of the advertiser's knowledge of his 

 business and is not merely a series of 

 claims is shown in the two accompany- 

 ing illustrations, giving views of the 

 public's approach to the Corsicana 

 Greenhouses, Corsicana, Tex., of which 

 Mr. and Mrs. William Clowe are the 

 proprietors. The plants and shrubs have 



thirty-four years ago, died during one 

 of the dry summers. The tree by the 

 mail box in the other illustrations is also 

 a Carolina laurel. Mr. and Mrs. Clowe 

 say that they find this the best green 

 they can get in that region for ground- 

 work in designs. The palm in the close- 

 up view is a Washingtonia filifera, 

 which was planted from a 6-inch pot 

 in the spring of 1901; all the leaves on it, 

 as well as some that grew too much over 

 the door and window and had to be cut 

 off, are this season's growth. Some sea- 

 sons the leaves turn yellow from the 

 cold, but the stem is never hurt; it is 

 now sixty inches in circumference two 

 feet from the ground. 



By the greenhouse, in the nearer view 

 of it, is shown a hedge of Poncirus tri- 

 foliata, sometimes known as Citrus tri- 

 foliata, which is thick with white 

 blooms in the spring and often again 

 in the fall and yellow with fruit in Octo- 

 ber. The green agave, also shown, has 

 never been hurt with cold; its owners 

 are expecting it to bloom now any sea- 

 son, as it is twenty years since it was 

 set out. On the parkway, but not shown 

 in the illustrations, are sabal palmette 

 and other palms which are hardy there. 



SCALE ON LEAVES. 



I am enclosing herewith some leaves. 

 Kindly examine them and tell me what 

 the trouble is, what causes it and what 

 can be used to rid the plant of it. 



A. F. K. C— Wis. 



Plantings on the Florist's Grounds Are Educational Advertising. 



The leaves were covered with scale. 

 Spray the affected plants with whale oil 

 soap, Aphine or fir tree oil. This will 

 kill many of the scale insects. Spong- 

 ing with any of these remedies and a 

 little nicotine extract added is also ef- 

 fective. Give the plants a thorough 

 spraying with the hose the day after 

 sponging or spraying with insecticides. 

 Use a fine nozzle and direct it below the 

 foliage where the scales are. C. W. 



