January 25, 1906. 



The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



627 



selling and keeping qualities of any 

 new varieties that are being introduced. 

 Orowers throughout the country, should 

 also write to the wholesalers in that 

 particular section where new carnations 

 are being distributed, for their opinion. 

 I think it would to a great extent pre- 

 vent growers from buying undesirable 

 varieties. 



Give Wholesalers Fresh Stock. 



Another feature: See that your flow- 

 ers reach the wholesaler in as perfect 

 condition as possible. You have spent 

 your time and energy in growing them, 

 yet all these efforts are for naught if 

 the packing and shipping are not at- 

 tended to with the proper care. The 

 wholesaler wants good stock fresh and 

 carefully handled, and the name of the 

 carnation is not by itself a salable as- 

 set. 



The stiff-stemmed varieties should be 

 tied as low as possible in bunching, so 

 as to let the flowers spread nicely, and 

 they will then show up well. The fewer 

 flowers in the bunch the better they will 

 carry for shipment to the wholesaler, 

 and twenty-five should be the most put in 

 a bunch. 



Should your facilities for shipping be 

 such that, for instance, you can deliver 

 stock to the wholesaler by wagon; or 

 when they are choice varieties, then I 

 would advise to pack the carnations in 

 boxes, in layers; of course these should 

 not be bunched. I need not go on to ex- 

 plain how they should be packed, for 

 that point has been covered before and 

 you know I must make my paper as 

 brief as possible. 



Growers should systematize their pick- 

 ing, bunching, packing and shipping, as 

 well as possible. For it all helps 

 to ^ve satisfaction to the wholesaler, 

 retailer and general, flower-buying public. 



It is a fact that there are not so 

 many early and small grades of chrysan- 

 themums grown throughout the country 

 as heretofore. Tor that reason I should 

 thmk that varieties of carnations that 

 • could be brought in crop in good shape 

 during the fall, should prove profitable 

 to the grower, as good prices can be OD- 

 tained for them. Fancy scarlets that 

 could be brought in heavy crop for De- 

 cember are profitable to grow. 



Another question which seems to me 

 very important, is how best to keep 

 carnations after they are cut; and in 

 my opinion this is an important ques- 

 tion for the American Carnation Society 

 to solve. The wholesaler at most times 

 through the season, has to display the 

 stock for at least three hours; although 

 at certain times of the year the blooms 

 are really sold before they come in. 

 Then they are promptly repacked and 

 transferred to the retailer; but when it 

 IS necessary to display the stock, and the 

 same is grown perhaps a little soft, and 

 perhaps not picked at just the proper 

 time, as is often the case with growers 

 who do not pick daily; in that case I 

 tell you, the wholesaler is up against it, 

 as we would say, when making his re- 

 turns to the growers. 



For System of Grading. 



I think we ought to have a better sys- 

 tem of grading. We would not require 

 so many distinctive grades as is given 

 to roses, but to keep the poorer flowers 

 separate would certainly be a good idea, 

 for it often happens that a retailer when 

 buying carnations, say, he has an order 

 for 25, 50 or more, of a certain variety, 

 and in picking up the bunch finds one or 



Carnation Aristocrat. 



two poor flowers, he soon puts that bunch 

 back; for he will tell you that the 

 flower buyer detects a poor flower quick- 

 ly. The first class retailer would not think 

 of sending his customers poor flowers, 

 and besides we do not want to do any- 

 thing that will tend to discourage the 

 flower buying public; indeed, no; we 

 want to encourage exhibitions and flower 

 shows and educate the flower buying 

 public as much as we can and as fast 

 as we can. 



When the retailer can depend upon a 

 certain grower's stock and knows that 

 it is carefully bunched and carefully 

 sorted, it is an advantage to him for it 

 saves time, and invariably he will be 

 glad to pay a little more for this grow- 

 er's stock, and I need not explain fur- 

 ther the advantage to the grower, whole- 

 .saler and retailer. Therefore I recom- 

 mend that the growers make two grades; 

 the seconds should be sold as such, and 

 there is enough demand to clear up the 

 small amount of second grade stock that 

 may come into the market. I know some 

 growers who have for several years 

 graded number 1 's and number 2 's, and 

 it would be a great thing if every grower 

 julopted the same plan. 



Ship Regularly. 



I believe it is to the best interests of 

 us all, for the grower to have the fullest 

 confidence in his wholesaler, and to con- 

 sign his flowers regularly, and not to hold 

 them back for special occasions. I know 



tliat this is a delicate subject and I ap- 

 proach it only after due consideration, 

 w'e can understand that in years gone 

 by, when there were no flowering plants 

 grown for the Christmas and Easter 

 holidays, there was something to be 

 gained by keeping every flower possible 

 tor the holiday sale, when flowers were 

 scarce and prices went soaring upward. 

 Those times, gentlemen, are a thing of 

 the past, because flowering plants and 

 plants of all kinds play a prominent part 

 at holiday time, and such has been the 

 case in the past five years, anyway, in 

 the section of the country that I hail 

 from. 



There is no more scarcity such as there 

 used to be at holiday time, the increase 

 ill glass has done away with that fea- 

 ture of the holiday business considerably. 

 Ship your flowers when they are ready; 

 of course you should hold back just a 

 little, as the normal increase in demand 

 requires that you do so; but you should 

 use careful judgment in picking and 

 keeping the flowers, etc. For instance, 

 take Easter Sunday; suppose a whole- 

 saler has an order to ship carnations to 

 reach the retailer the day before, which 

 will be Saturday morning. These car- 

 nations must leave the wholesaler's es- 

 tablishment on Friday, and if the grower 

 has had these picked much before Thurs- 

 day, it is not likely that they will give 

 satisfaction to the retailer or to hia 

 customer. So in holding back try to 

 govern your picking so that flowers will 



