80 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



NOVBMBBB 30, 1005. 



a silver cup valued at $25 for the best 

 twelve blooms, one variety, open to 

 private gardeners only. 



Schlegel & Fottler Co., Boston, offer 

 $15 for the best vase of dark pink carna- 

 tions, 100 I'looms to the vase. 



Wm. Niiholson, Framingham, Mass., 

 offers $10 for the best fifty blooms of a 

 dark pink carnation. 



Patten & Co., Tewksbury, Mass., offer 

 $10 for the best 100 blooms of a varie- 

 gated carnation of Mrs. M. A. Patten 

 type. 



The premium list will be ready the first 

 week in January with all premiums, in- 

 structions and entry blanks, everything 

 necessary to intending exhibitors for the 

 show at Boston, January 24 and 25, 

 1906. Write to the secretary for a copy. 

 Albert M. Herr, Sec'y. 



THE VERSATILE FLORIST. 



The average florist, unless he is the 

 possesor of a bulging bank account, and 

 so can say to another, a carpenter or a 

 plumber, for instance, "Do this," and 

 he does it, must be capable of doing 

 many things himself. 



He must be able to build a green- 



house, to lay brick, to do plumbing and 

 steam-fitting, to butt in and set glass, 

 to grow good plants and sell them, to 

 arrange a tasteful decoration, on three 

 minutes' notice, to make out bills, and 

 collect them, and to give sensible advice 

 on divers subjects, to all sorts of people. 

 We have always been ready, willing 

 and able, to mark a card neatly, but re- 

 cently one of our patrons gave me an 

 order for some chrysanthemums, to be 

 sent to his wife on her birthday, and 

 when I asked him if we shouM send his 

 card, or any complimentary communica- 

 tion with the flowers, he said, jokingly, 

 that we might send a little poetry with 

 them. 



I knew his wife, and her name, and 

 partly as a joke on my part, I hatched 

 and sent the following couplet on his 

 card: 



Fair Margaret, to you, my pet. 

 Come many happy birthdays yet. 



Meeting the lady a few days after, I 

 asked if I had gotten her husband into 

 trouble ; but she said I had not, and that 

 she appreciated my poetry very much. 

 Think of it, she not only appreciated it 

 but called it poetry. W. T. Bell. 



CUTTING THE BLOOMS. 



Care should be taken when cutting 

 the blooms to leave the most suitable 

 eyes to provide stems for the future 

 crop. During the winter, and especially 

 during holiday season, when every inch 

 of a stem means a higher price, there is 

 ii strong temptation to cut low in order 

 to get this longer stem. This, of course, 

 considerably enhances the value of that 

 particular crop, but at what a price! 

 The next crop must of necessity be lon- 

 ger in coming tq maturity and the 

 chances are that it will be of an in- 

 ferior grade. 



The operation of cutting should never 

 be done in a hurried manner, nor 

 should any carelessness be tolerated, as 

 this is a certain way to decrease the cut 

 in quantity and also to lower the 

 quality. 



The practice of cutting by lamplight 

 during the early hours of the morning 

 leads to the same result. Under such 

 conditions it is almost impossible for 

 even the most careful and experienced 

 to select the proper eye at which to cut. 



If there were any real necessity for 

 this practice it might, even with all its 

 attendant evils, be tolerated, but it is 

 surely against the best interests of the 

 trade to pack and ship this hurried cut 

 immediately it is taken in order to get 



it into market the same morning, witli- 

 out giving it any more preparation 

 than a dip in water for a few minutes. 



Storing the Blooms. 



As soon as possible after the cut is 

 taken, and before the wound has had 

 time to dry, the stems should be deeply 

 immersed in water at a temperature not 

 to exceed the temperature of the house 

 from which they were cut, nor yet so 

 low as to approach 41 degrees. They 

 should then be placed in a room and 

 partly excluded from the light. This 

 room should be at a temperature of 

 from 48 to 52 degrees. 



The most satisfactory shipments are 

 those made from stock which has been 

 treated in this manner for at least ten 

 hours. If they are not shipped in 

 twenty-four hours they should be reas- 

 sorted and have the water changed. 

 After being in the cooler for thirty-six 

 hours the conscientious grower will re- 

 fuse to ship them to his customers. 



Every year we hear the same com- 

 plaints from retailers and commission 

 men, who, during the holiday season, re- 

 ceive large consignments of pickled 

 stock from the growers. The damage 

 done to the trade by such transactions 

 is incalculable, besides destroying the 

 confidence and friendship which ought 

 to cxiiit among the craft. 



Packing. 



The greatest care should be exercised 

 in packing, so that the necks may not 

 get broken or the petals bruised. 

 . The use of clean boxes and clean 



paper, especially next the buds, gives 

 the flowers a much fresher appearance 

 than if soiled paper or newspaper be 

 the material used. 



The wrappings should always be 

 abundant and sufficient to withstand 

 severe frost. 



The addresses and routing instruc- 

 tion should be plain and legible, as the 

 expressmen have usually sufficient 

 troubles of their own and are not usu- 

 ally experts at hieroglyphics. 



By attending to these matters, which 

 we should do if we wish for the pros- 

 perity of our customers, which is iden- 

 tical with our own, we will please the 

 majority of them and have a clear con- 

 science, which is a great reward in 

 itself. RiBES. 



TOO DRY. 



I am sending you, under separate 

 cover, two diseased rose plants, one a 

 young plant, the other an old one. They 

 seemed to grow nicely for awhile; then 

 the new leaves turned yellow and 

 wilted; then the stem did likewise. I 

 think the trouble is in the roots, but 

 cannot locate the cause. The soil is a 

 good, heavy loam. The plants have 

 had plenty of ventilation and kept a 

 little on the dry side; never have been 

 too wet to cause the ground to sour. 

 Would a spray of whale oil soap or 

 other similar solutions be injurious to 

 roses and mums affected with aphis? 

 I have been using tobacco stems, but it 

 is not effective enough. I do not care 

 to use nicotine extracts unless com- 

 pelled to, as I have plenty of tobacco 

 stems and whale oil soap. E. E. C. 



These specimens reached me in very 

 poor shape; in fact, one of the speci- 

 mens must have been dead a very long 

 time and was therefore entirely useless 

 for diagnosis. The other specimen pos- 

 sessed no leaves and very little wood, 

 which also makes an examination 

 rather unsatisfactory. 



From what evidence I had there was 

 every appearance that the plants had 

 suffered from want of water, never 

 having had enough even to sustain the 

 foliage. They are also slightly af- 

 fected with eel-worms, but not to the 

 extent of killing the plants. 



The fumes from tobacco stems, if 

 properly applied, are bound to be ef- 

 fective so f.'ir as aphis is concerned, as 

 no aphis can exist in a house which is 

 periodically and systematically sub- 

 jected to these fumes. 



Whale oil soap, if not used to excess, 

 will have no injurious effect on roses, 

 but roses are grown yearly by the mil- 

 lion, and good roses too, and which 

 never even get a smell of it. 



Keep the night temperature as near 

 56 degrees as possible and with a small 

 crack of ventilation on to keep the air 

 sweet whenever the weather will per- 

 mit, and allow the temperature to run 

 up to 75 degrees during the day, when 

 the sun is shining. 



See that the soil is thoroughly mois- 

 tened throughout and not wet on the 

 surface only, and do not attempt to 

 feed in any manner until the plants 

 have regained their health. Kibes. 



IN THE OIL REGIONS. 



Will you allow me space in your paper 

 to give some of our readers a chance to 

 study and explain after carefully read- 

 ing the following statement of facts T 



We have a house 18x125, three-quarter 



