Decbmbeb 15, 1921 



The Florists' Review 



41 



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CHRISTMAS PLANTS 



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PLANTS FOR THE HOLIDAY. 



Good Demand in Sight. 



Once more we are approaching the 

 festive season, when plants are always 

 in large demand. Business for some 

 time has not been up to that of a year 

 ago, but Thanksgiving showed conclu- 

 sively that the army of plant and flower 

 purchasers has not decreased, and while 

 sales did not quite come up in money 

 value to those of the year 1920, this was 

 because prices averaged lower in nearly 

 all lines offered. The florists may con- 

 gratulate themselves that their business 

 has weathered the period of depression 

 far better than have many others which 

 might be named, and now that the tide 

 of depression is receding, now that the 

 nations of the world are earnestly en- 

 deavoring to render future wars impossi- 

 ble, which means reduced taxes and 

 more money to spend for flowers and 

 other commodities, a feeling of optimism 

 is amply justified. The florist who has 

 plants and flowers of good quality, pre- 

 sents them in the right way, sells at a 

 fair price and lets the public hear about 

 them is going to have a good Christmas. 



Protection in Transit. 



Christmas comes when days are at 

 their shortest and when the sun is at a 

 low angle. Occasionally it is cold; some- 

 times it is balmy and spring-like. In 

 the last few years we have had more 

 disastrous storms at Easter than at 

 Christmas, but the weather is a pure 

 lottery and pot plant growers never care 

 to gamble on balmy holiday weather. 

 This, of course, is .a big country and 

 there may be snow and zero in Chicago, 

 rain and fog in New York, a tempera- 

 ture of 75 degrees in the shade in 

 Florida and southern California and in- 

 tense cold in the Rocky mountain states. 

 The man who ships plants must cover 

 pots and plants heavily. I'aper excludes 

 a remarkable degree of cold, and many 

 shipments whicli are actually frozen can 

 be thawed out in a low temperature 



gradually and sustain little injury. A 

 cellar kept about 40 degrees is ideal to 

 thaw out frozen shipments in, and cold 

 water sprayed on those which seem al- 

 most hopeless will often take away all 

 frost damage if the plants are kept in 

 the dark until they are well thawed out. 

 The price of old newspapers has 

 slumped tremendously since a year ago, 

 and no one will make any mistake iu 

 stocking up heavily on these. Some 

 white or light cream wrapping paper 

 can be used over the newspapers for re- 

 tail purchasers. Soft paper is necessary 

 to protect delicate flowers like orchids, 

 gardenias, poinsettias, camellias and b<'- 

 gonias of the large-flowered type. Cot- 

 ton batting is also of value, as it pro- 

 tects the blooms from bruising aud is 

 a great protector from cold. 



Wliat Is New? 



It is not easy to get new plant ma- 

 terial for each recurring holiday. A 

 conmion query, especially from critical 

 customers, is, "What have you that is 

 new?" And the average retailer has 

 to confess usually that he has prac- 

 tically nothing. The number of peo))le 

 well informed floriculturally is increas- 

 ing steadily, due in no small manner to 

 the formation all over the country of 

 garden clubs, to which many thousands 

 of well-to-do and intelligent women be- 

 long — of course, there are some men, but 

 the women are in the overwhelming ma- 

 jority, and florists depend on thciu for 

 their livelihood far more than on mere 

 man. These well informed and critical 

 persons demand novelties and the best of 

 the older varieties. Their knowledge oi 

 flowers sometimes is greater than that 

 of the salesman who waits upon them in 

 flower stores. We greatly need a school 

 for retail salesmen, to broaden their 

 knowledge of ])lants and flowers, and it 

 seems to me that a short course at one 

 or two of our colleges, like Cornell, Am- 

 herst, llrbana, Storrs and Pennsylvania, 

 if it could be conducted in the siimnuT 

 months when business is at its lowest 

 ebb and give students opportunities to 



see plants growing and to ascertain 

 their names and needs, would be vastly 

 helpful and should command the sup- 

 port of all wide-awake and jirogressive 

 retailers. 



But to return to novelties, there are 

 not many. But a few which are some- 

 what uncommon will be mentioned in 

 these notes. While a strong call exists 

 for scarlet and brightly colored flowers 

 for Christmas, novelties in other colors 

 will be found to sell. W^e have in former 

 notes spoken of the necessity of careful 

 watering in the store; few men, com- 

 paratively, know how to water properly 

 and if this is so in greenliouses and 

 stores, think of the difference when 

 jjlants reach the warmer, more arid and 

 less ventilated homes! Tie on a tag 

 stating that such and such a plant 

 should be watered djiily in order to keep 

 it in condition. It does not pay to sell 

 plants which quickly go to pieces. This 

 makes poor business for the florist. The 

 better the plants stand and the longer 

 l)eriod of pleasure they give, the more 

 certain are buyers to come back for 

 more. 



Cyclamens in Center of Stage. 



Once more cyclamens till the center 

 of the stage for Christmas. Tlie im- 

 l)rovement in them of late years has 

 been simply marvelous. One sees a 

 glorious picture in a well grown house 

 of tliciu. They are iieautiful even with- 

 out flowers, as the foliage is handsome 

 and varied, just as attractive and much 

 hardier and more (lural)le than many so- 

 called fine foliage j)lants. Each year a 

 number of usually successful growers in- 

 cur failure through the att.acks of the 

 mite and some others fail from an in- 

 judicious use of fertilizer. Extreme 

 cleanliness is necessary for successful 

 cyclamen culture, as, indeed, for many 

 more ])lants, but Jill growers do not yet 

 appreciate this fact. 



Kalmoncolored cychnncns seem to sell 

 better' at Cliristnuis than all others; 

 scarlet and blood-red are rather too 

 dark; for pure white the call is moder- 



Moderatcly Priced Plant Arrangements of the Type that Will Be Popular this Christmas. 



