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The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



Decembeu 14, 1005. 



without other accessory than a jardi- 

 niere. The brass pot cover goes splen- 

 didly with these, but it should be large 

 enough to take in the pot, not merely 

 to part conceal it, as in the illustration. 

 A few years ago the tendency was to 

 overdo the * ' embellishment ' ' of plants. 

 In some of the most pretentious stores, 

 especially in New York, the plants 

 would be so smothered in fold after 

 fold of crepe paper, with yard after 

 yard of ribbon, that the natural beauty 

 of the plant was lost, or at least ob- 

 scured, but the tendency has been the 

 other way for the past year or so. If 

 there are any plants which will stand 

 for heavy, high Avrappings it is surely 

 the Otaheite orange and the Ghent 

 azalea, on account of the usually bare 

 base. 



Berried Plants. 



Berried plants are popular at Christ- 

 mas. Best of all is the English holly 

 (the majority of which come by way of 

 Belgium) and which is seen in particu- 

 larly fine shape this year, although it 

 frequently loses both berries and leaves. 

 These are being imported in annually 

 increasing numbers, but they are for 

 only the better class of stores, retailing 

 at from $10 to $25 each. At the other 

 end of the line are Christmas peppers 

 and .Jerusalem cherries. Between, and 

 most useful to the average man with a 

 first-class trade, are Ardisia crenulata 

 and Aucuba Japonica. The former is 

 preferred by many because of its habit; 

 the aucuba usually has a bare base, like 

 the specimen illustrated. These are fre- 



quently sent out with ribbon tied in the 

 plants. 



Other Plants. 



Palms and ferns, while hardly deserv- 

 ing place as Christmas plants, are nev- 

 ertheless good sellers at Christmas for 

 gift purposes, and this includes rubbers, 

 pandanuses, etc., and applies with par- 

 ticular force to the new forms of the 

 nephrolepis, like elegantissima. The 

 araucaria is always a good seller at 

 Christmas, nearly always with the pot 

 covered with Porto Rican matting or 

 crepe paper and with a red ribbon tied 

 above the lower whorl of leaves. 



The azalea is profitable at Christmas, 

 as at Easter, but the red varieties can 

 not be had in good flower by that date 

 and the call at the holiday season is 

 first for bright colors. 



The cyclamen has its greatest run at 

 Christmas. It is not a plant which is 

 easily used in making up baskets, etc. 

 A well grown plant should be a globe of 

 rich, dark foliage coming down over the 

 top of the pot, the flowers carried well 

 above the green. The best embellish- 

 ment for a cyclamen is a close-fitting pot 

 cover of not too bright red. 



Omission has thus far been made of 

 what many would place first on the list 

 of Christmas plants. Begonia Gloire de 

 Lorraine. In nearly all first-class stores 

 this is one of the very best sellers and 

 it might easily be in all, but it is one of 

 the hardest plants to deliver in good 

 shape, especially at this busy season, 

 when more or less rough handling is 

 inevitable and it is the cause of fre- 



quent complaint, for not all Lorraines 

 hold their flowers in living rooms au 

 well as in the instances we hea,r about. 

 In one store the complaints have been 

 so numerous that the clerks have in- 

 structions to tell the customers that, 

 while sometimes the plants last first 

 rate, usually their life is not much 

 greater than the life of cut flowers. 

 Many others refrain from pushing Lor- 

 raine for the same reason and it is well 

 to always disclaim in advance all re- 

 sponsibility for its lasting qualities; 

 with one customer it may endure for 

 weeks and with another the flowers may 

 fall in a day or two. 



BOX SALES. 



In many cities leading retailers have 

 found that sales of special boxes of cut 

 flowers on certain days of each week are 

 an excellent means of advertising and 

 increasing business. John G. Heinl & 

 Son, Terre Haute, Ind., have just sent 

 out a neatly printed card which reads: 

 "Commencing this week we are putting 

 into effect a novel plan we believe will 

 prove very popular, viz : To prepare every 

 Saturday and Sunday, for prompt de- 

 livery, boxes of fresh cut flowers, rang- 

 ing in price from 50 cents to $3. In 

 each case they will contain generous 

 value for the price, and will afford 

 patrons an inexpensive means of provid- 

 ing flowers for the table or as gifts to 

 friends, without any trouble of personal 

 selection. It is only necessary that you 

 telephone us and advise the price you 

 wish to pay. Our reputation for hand- 

 ling only the best insures you entire 

 satisfaction. ' ' 



Primula in a Brass Receptacle. 



A GOOD SIDE LINE. 



A number of leading retail florists are 

 finding decorative pottery a very profit- 

 table side line. A stock of odd and at- 

 tractive pieces of art pottery occupies 

 little room, makes an attractive feature 

 of a store, is useful in the display of 

 goods and a source of much assistance in 

 any outside work. A florist who uses in 

 a decoration a vase of attractive mate- 

 rial, shape, color or workmanship, fre- 

 quently finds that his patron wishes to 

 have the vase remain after his guests 

 have admired it. He likes to have it on 

 hand when they come again and is not 

 inclined to question the florist's price. 

 Counter sales also afford a very good 

 margin of profit. 



A number of retailers have bought 

 stocks of such goods and the demand has 

 been so apparent that the manufacturers 

 and jobbers of them are now looking for 

 the trade. Among the leading dealers 

 in such lines are Burley & Tyrrell and 

 Pitkin & Brooks, Chicago, and handsome 

 lines are manufactured by the Eookwood 

 Pottery Co., Cincinnati, and the Zanes- 

 ville Pottery Co., Zanesville, O. 



DISEASED GERANIUMS. 



I send some geranium leaves, asking 

 fo know what is the matter with them 

 and what to do for them. Notice the 

 under side of the leaves and tell me if 

 you can what the trouble is and how to 

 treat it. I lost several hundred plants 

 last winter and it is beginning earlier 

 this winter. W. N. T. 



The geranium leaves have blotches of 

 yellow and some almost black, which, of 

 course, greatly impairs the health of 

 the plant. We have never been troubled 



