304 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Dbcembeb 29, 1904. 



tensively next year, but the supply trade 

 feels that there is at least one more good 

 year for this specialty before it is run 

 into the ground. 



The Christmas bell, or some other factor 

 hurt the sale of cape flower wreaths but 

 in some sections the immortelle wreaths 

 sold better than ever, possibly partly be- 

 cause a good looking wreath could be 

 bought cheaper than ever before. They 

 were of German manufacture and made 

 of immortelles not good enough to bunch. 

 In many sections the supply was not 

 equal to the demand. Most of the wreaths 

 were embellished by the retailers with 

 ribbon and green before being shown to 

 the public. 



CHRISTMAS GREENS. 



The trade in Christmas greens was this 

 year, in many respects, much more satis- 

 factory than the past couple of seasons. 

 There was enough bouquet green to meet 

 all requirements of the legitimate trade, 

 with no great surplus to demoralize the 

 market, nor any shortage to put prices 

 beyond reason and make trouble for 

 those who had booked orders in advance. 

 The market closed about where it had 

 stood for three weeks. 



The holly situation was not so satis- 

 factory. The receipts were lighter than 

 in the past couple of years, with the re- 

 sult that the grocers and butchers handled 

 less holly and the trade and the shippers 

 got better prices. Keally good holly was 

 very scarce and the market closed strong, 

 prices higher than at any time in the past 

 two or three seasons. Even poor holly was 

 readily salable at the price of fair to 

 good stock last year. It was used in 

 making up wreaths, the berries being sup- 

 plied by Ilex verticilata, the Christmas 

 or red berry, soid by hundreds of cases 

 and received of very good quality. 



Galax leaves were used to a greater ex- 

 tent than ever before. Leucothoe was 

 also used in quantity and one western 

 house sold many cases of mahonia leaves. 

 In the east laurel had its usual use and 

 box green for wreaths and festooning 

 made a great advance in popular favor. 

 This is an evergreen not yet used in the 

 west. 



Mistletoe was of better quality than 

 ever before and also in abundant supply, 

 with the result that prices in quantity 

 were moderate. The weather was mod- 

 erate, permitting the stock to reach mar- 

 ket in the best of condition. 



CARNATION NOTES.-EAST. 



Treatment After Christmas. 



It is hoped that your plants have given 

 a good Christmas crop and if so it Ja 

 obvious that they have received wh.it 

 might be called a severe pruning. To be 

 careless in watering is bad enough at 

 any time, but at this time especially 

 80. The removal of quantities of bloon 

 within a few days destroys the balance 

 between roots and top. All efforts 

 should ue made to restore this balance 

 as soon as possible. 



A heavy watering or the application of 

 extra food in any form before the plants 

 have recovered from the strain would 

 only Invite disaster. Keep the soil a 

 trifle on the dry side for a few days. If 

 the weather is cloudy very little water 

 will be needed but look sharp for spi'ts 

 that are apt to dry out by heat from the 

 pipes. With bright weather a gentle 

 shower over the plants is beneficial. Use 

 but little water and give plenty of ven- 



tilation even at the expense of fuel. This 

 should be done early in the morning in 

 order that the foliage may be dry before 

 night. 



I hesitate to advise overhead watering 

 during the short days of winter as some 

 may overdo the matter. We must watch 

 the weather very closely and if not quite 

 sure of a pleasant day, put off overhead 

 watering and water sparingly at the root, 

 if the plants show signs of flagging. 

 Every care possible must be taken to get 

 our plants into vigorous growth, for 

 propagation in earnest will soon be in 

 order. 



Perhaps you have a good place to put 

 your cuttings wl^en rooted, but if not get 

 one ready. See that fresh soil is at 

 hand and do not delay too long getting 

 some in to warm up. Geo. S. Osborn. 



CARNATION NOTES. -WEST. 



Propasatins;. 



Now that the holidays are over and 

 you can get down to the routine work, 

 you suould begin to work up your young 

 stock for next season. While there are 

 many varieties which will make as fine 



stock as anyone could wish for, from 

 February cuttings, yet there are many 

 varieties that should be propagated in 

 January or earlier and there are no vari- 

 ties I know of that are injured a particle 

 by being propagated this early, provided, 

 of course, that you take proper care of 

 the young plants after they are potted 

 up. They must not be potted into small 

 pots and left to become stunted, but must 

 be shifted as required. If you are un- 

 willing to do this you had better wait 

 until February before putting in your 

 cuttings. 



If you have some varieties of which 

 you want all the cuttings you can get 

 you will have to begin early and take 

 them off as they grow. You need not sac- 

 rifice all the blooms, but take off all the 

 young head cuttings from fhe shoots 

 that have not begun to run up. These 

 stubs will break before the other shoots 

 have all bloomed and the plant need never 

 be cut down too severely. Don't take out- 

 tings that are too small and weak. Of 

 course, there is a large difference in varie- 

 ties and what would be a fair cutting of 

 one variety might be a small one of an- 

 other. We prefer the cuttings that grow 

 out at the lower joints of the flower 

 stems, but don't take them from too high 

 up. A cutting that has an inch of stem 

 between the flower stem and the lowest 

 leaves is not fit to use in most cases. An- 

 other advantage in starting early is that 

 if, perchance, you should be unfortunate 

 enough to lose part of your cuttings you 

 can still get in another batch in good 

 time, instead of having to buy. 



We are this year trimming our cuttings 

 somewhat less than we used to do. After 

 making a clean cut at the base, cut back 

 all those blades that stand out away from 

 the cutting and leave all those that stand 

 upright, unless they be long enough to 

 droop over. 



Use clean, sharp sand and have about 

 three inches of it on the bench after it 

 is packed. Sprinkle the surface lightly 

 after pacKing to prevent it from plowing 

 up too much when making the furrows 

 for the cuttings. After putting in the 

 cuttings give them a good soaking to 

 settle the sand around them. The out- 

 tings should be about a half-inch to 

 three-quarters of an inch apart in the 

 row and the rows about one and one-half 

 to two inches apart, according to the size 

 of the cuttings. 



While, of course, a specially built prop- 

 agating house or bench is a very desirable 

 thing, yet that does not signify that you 

 cannot successfully root your cuttings with- 

 out them. A bench built of good, sound 

 boards, just tight enough to hold the 

 sand and yet open enough to allow water 

 to pass through, will root your cuttings 

 nicely. If you cannot root your cuttings 

 on this, I doubt very much whether you 

 will be successful with the most up-to- 



The Visitors at Cottage Gardens, New York Florists' Gob's Outine, December 7. 



