82 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



NOVKMBER 30, 1905. 



best part of the bouquet was jjiduihI 

 pine and broom splints, the Howers being 

 .short-stemmed, ])rijiiroses, tiu-iisias. ge- 

 raniums and other sliort stuff. A plate 

 of boutonnieres was always on the coun- 

 ter jit 5 cents each. 



' ' The first funeral design, a wreatli, was 

 constructed of twigs cut from shrubs 

 formed on a hoop from a tub, the flowers 

 and green tied on. For this a ciuirgc of 

 $1 was made when the design was called 

 for. The lady was so well jdeased that 

 she gave $1.50, saying tliat $1 was not 

 enougli for it. When short of Howers at 

 a time when he liad what lie would call 

 a large order, a wreath, anchor or cross 

 and star, the whole amounting to per- 

 haps .to, Mrs. (iasser would come to the 

 rescue. Knowing the art of making wax 

 flowers she would hurriedly inake uj) the 

 larger flowers, such as callas, camellias 

 and tuberoses. Customers were so 

 pleased with them that they would 

 frequently come back after two and 

 three weeks to tell how well they kept. 

 Then Mr. Gasser would explain. The 

 abutilon also had to fill in double space 

 bv being turned inside out, turning back 

 the petals and jiinchiiig out the column 

 of stamens and substituting a little 

 double ininnose dr;(wn through with 

 wire. People wondered what flower it 

 was. And so they mana-uvred in all sorts 

 of ways to fill the orders." 



By careful mettiods and perseverance, 

 the business was developed and the range 

 of operations extended until the enter- 

 prise became one of the most extensive 

 of its kind in the state. 



A few years ago, it being necessary to 

 rebuild the plant and provide room for 

 further growth, the greenhouses were re- 

 moved to Rocky River, about nine miles 



from the city, where there is approxi- 

 mately 200,000 feet of glass, combining 

 all the latest improvements, for in Mr. 

 Ciasser's travels he has taken shrewd in- 

 ventory of the value of every new 

 wrinkle in greenhouse building and has 

 been quick to adopt, at little thought of 

 expense, any which appealed to him as 

 in the line of practical improvement. 

 The city store is at 232-234 Euclid ave- 

 nue, where both a wholesale and retail 

 business is conducted. 



THE EDELWEISS. 



The sentimental association of the 

 shamrock makes it a valuable specialty 

 for florists to handle, and next to it in 

 interest for the public comes, probably, 

 the edelweiss. There has long been a 

 too general impression that the edel- 

 weiss cannot be grown successfully in 

 this country, but it is nevertheless to 

 be found in quite a number of rock- 

 eries, one of the accompanying illustra- 

 tions showing the plant in the rock 

 garden at Lincoln park, Chicago, where 

 it attracted a constant stream of vis- 

 itors when in flower last spring. The 

 other picture shows a single plant in a 

 pot. 



Alois Frey, head gardener at the 

 park, is like the edelweiss, a native of 

 Switzerland, and it was from the Alps 

 that he obtained the seeds from which 

 these plants came. The seeds are, how- 

 ever, obtainable from many seedsmen. 

 It is necessary to sow the seeds early, 

 say in February, in shallow pans or 

 small pots of light soil. Keep cool and 

 moist and prick off as soon as large 

 enough, finally planting out in the rock 

 garden, where they flower well the 



Gnaphalium Leontopociiuiii» the Edelweiss. 



second year but are then apt to die out. 

 They will endure full exposure to the 

 sun. 



The plant is thickly covered by a 

 whitish wool, the conspicuous part be- 

 ing the woolly leaves which form a star- 

 like cluster around the true flower, 

 which is small, yellow and unattractive. 

 The plant is considered an emblem of 

 purity. Botanically it is Gnaphalium 

 Leontopodium, although modern writers 

 have found a small variation in the 

 style which causes them to put it in 

 another genus and call it Leontopodium 

 alpinum. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The history of this Department's 

 growth during the past eight years may 

 be epitomized in the statement that the 

 appropriations for its use have increas- 

 ed from $2,500,000 in 1897 to consider- 

 ably over $6,000,000 in 1905, and that 

 this increase in appropriations has been 

 accompanied by a much greater increase 

 in the amount of work done. Not only 

 has the work of the Department been 

 vastly augmented, but its scope has been 

 correspondingly broadened and its prac- 

 tical value heightened. 



Another interesting evidence of the 

 growth of the Department during the 

 past eight years is afforded by the re<'- 

 ords of the appointment clerk's office. 

 These show that the total number of per- 

 sons on the rolls of the Department of 

 Agriculture July 1, 1905, was 5,446. Of 

 this number those rated as scientists and 

 scientific assistants numbered 2,326. On 

 July 1, 1897, the total number of per- 

 sons on the rolls of the Department was 

 2,443, of which number those rated as 

 scientists and scientific assistants num- 

 bered 925. These figures show an in- 

 crease in the total force during these 

 eight years of 3,003 persons, while the 

 increase in the number of those rated as 

 scientists and scientific assistants was 

 1,401. 



Plant investigations have been a fea- 

 ture of the Department 's work since its 

 establishment, although the organization 

 of the Bureau of Plant Industrv was 

 not effected till July 1, 1901. It con- 

 sists now of eleven offices, each of which 

 is charged with the handling of a group 

 of important plant problems. The work 

 is carried on by 508 employees, about 

 sixty per cent of whom are engaged in 

 scientific work. 



In the organic law which created this 

 Department it was made the duty of the 

 head of the Department to diffuse just 

 as much as to acquire information of 

 value to agriculture. 



Under the circumstances it is not sur- 

 prising to find that whereas in 1897 the 

 total number of publications was 424. 

 in 1905 the total number was 1,072, and 

 whereas in 1897 the number of printed 

 pages of original matter was 11,715, in 

 1905 the number of printed pages of 

 original matter was 20,000. — Secretary 

 Wilson in his annual report. 



Columbus, O. — In these days when 

 the whole United States is the field in 

 which the cut flower shipper operates, 

 the Livingston Seed Co. points with 

 pride to the success which attended a 

 recent shipment of cut chrysanthemums 

 to Seattle, Washington, a distance of 

 2,500 miles. Kach bloom was wrapped 

 in tissue and eacli stem where cut was 

 wadded in damp moss wrapped in 

 waxed paper. 



