1218 



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The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Apbil 18, 1906. 



been undertaken in this state, and Gen- 

 eral Palmer is one of the very broad- 

 minded men who has spent his money 

 without stint to promote the interest of 

 the state and to beautify Colorado 

 Springs and the country adjacent. 



Monument park, mentioned above, is 

 but one of his gifts to Colorado Springs. 

 There is another very rough and at 



present barren tract of ground two or 

 three miles north of the city which 

 the General is beautifying and convert- 

 ing into a park of a more rugged na- 

 ture, confining his planting there to such 

 things as are native and will thrive 

 without irrigation. This is also destined 

 to go ultimately by deed to Colorado 

 Springs when the work is completed. 



L 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Easter and Its History. 



It is good for the exercise of thought 

 and management by the florists that 

 Easter occurs on a movable date. It 

 may be accompanied by warm, balmy 

 spring, and then again sleet, snow and 

 frigi(£ty may be its handmaiden. Just 

 a word about this great Christian fes- 

 tival, the central event in the Christian 

 church. A thousand years before the 

 Qiristian era began the ancient Jews 

 commemorated Easter as the advent of 

 spring, and the pagan Gauls and bar- 

 barians of central Europe held their 

 spring festival. The Easter egg of the 

 Germans is a relic of the distant past. 

 The early Christians of different denom- 

 inations held bitter controversies as to 

 what date to fix certain events. At last, 

 about the fourth century, it was de- 

 cided that the moon should settle it. 

 Like all scriptural dates, i&aster is leg- 

 endary, uncertain and mythical. But let 

 us be thankful that it has come down 

 to us, for it is as necessary as the sun- 

 shine that we should have times of re- 

 laxation and rest. Aside from some 

 pious souls, Easter is chiefly looked for- 

 ward to for the advent of new suits and 

 dainty bonnets. Tor a number of years 

 our particular business has been enor- 

 mously benefited by the present lauda- 

 ble fashion of sending plants and flow- 

 ers to friends. Christmas is a busy time 

 with us, but I think it does not ap- 

 proach Easter in volume of business. 



Change in Easter Demand. 



Some twenty-five years ago church 

 decorations were our leading Easter 

 business. Not only did the "conunit- 

 tee on decorations" give the order to 

 a florist for the whole job, but elab- 

 orate designs were sent by members of 

 the congregation as memorials of friends 

 gone before. All this ia altered, and 

 there is noticing to regret on the part 

 of the florist. Plants and flowers are 

 sent to the churches by individuals, and 

 the ladies arrange them. But it will be 

 admitted by all that the great bulk of 

 our Easter business is now the exchange 

 of Easter greetings and good wishes, 

 which take the form of a pretty plant 

 or a box of flowers. When we decorated 

 churches, the gift, instead of a plant, 

 was a card. The card is gone and the 

 plants and flowers are king; long may 

 they reign. 



There is a difference in the way some 

 of us do business. There is the strictly 

 store man, the man who has a store 

 with houses at his back, and also the 

 man who does all the business in his 

 houses. It seems to me there is no time 



in all the year when system is so neces- 

 sary as in the week preceding Easter: 

 Above all, practice that old adage, 

 "Leave nothing for tomorrow that can 

 be done today," for as the week ad- 

 vances tomorrow will bring more work 

 than you can crowd into it. 



The Value of Space. 



The retail storekeeper will be fear- 

 fully crowded, and his window, his 

 best advertisement, should be a bower of 

 beauty. Keep no unsightly or unsala- 

 ble plant visible. Every plant should 

 be on dress parade, and in large stores, 

 where there may be $1,000 worth of 

 plants at one time, it pays to assign one 

 intelligent young man to their care. Too 

 many retail salesmen have not the feel- 

 ing of a gardener in their make-up, and 

 it does not make them weep to see an 

 azalea, spireea or rose drooping its wings 

 for want of a drink. Many of our 

 Easter plants have been forced. Others 

 are a mass of roots, and they are in no 

 condition to stand neglect. Every plant 



lost is the profit gone on two similar 

 ones sold. 



The florist with the salesroom attached 

 to his houses is sure to be'iemoved from 

 the city's throng, but he kafi a great 

 advantage in handling his plants, for he 

 can keep an assortment of his offerings 

 dressed and fixed up in his salesroom 

 and plenty of reserve in his houses. 

 And if you have no salesroom at all, 

 but merely your greenhouses, then de- 

 vote one house or part of a house to 

 your chief display. _ . ^ /^ ^ . 



Embellishlne the Plants. 



There may be a difference of opin- 

 ion how far it is good taste to decorate 

 a plant with ribbons. As mentioned 

 above, the great majority of our Easter 

 sales go to a friend of the purchaser, 

 and first impressions are everything. So 

 if you can add a dollar to the price of 

 a plant by using 50 cents' worth of 

 ribbon, by all means do it. Perhaps, 

 from an artist's eye, or the best taste, • 

 a ribbon cannot add to the beauty of a 

 plant. A white or pink ribbon tied on 

 our native hawthome in the woods would 

 certainly be no embellishment, but our 

 plants are artificially grown, often arti- 

 ficially tied and shaped, and therefore 

 there is nothing of bad taste to further 

 add the artificial. 



While on this subject, let me say that 

 it is not fair or right for the whole- 

 sale grower to send to the city store- 

 keeper a lot of plants with dirty pots. 

 They should be washed. The grower 

 has every facility to do this, and the 

 storekeeper has not. How we have al- 

 tered in our way of sending out our 

 products ! The bills for flower boxes 

 and fine paper of many kinds now form 

 a big item of expense, but every other 

 retail business does the same, and the 

 man who thinks he can save on these 

 items and does not keep up with re- 



Twig Basket with Daisies, Sweet Peas and Asparagus. 



