U94 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Septbubbb 27, 1906. 



Vegetable Forcing. 



STARTING CUCUMBER SEEDS. 



In th6 starting of cucumbers, ^ it is 

 well firs^ to make sure that the seed is 

 good. The age of it, unless it ';has been 

 saved at' home, is not easily determined. 

 The only way to make sure is to try 

 a few apd learn-their. germinating qual- 

 ities be^re making extensiv^,^antings. 

 With hojne-saved seed, or ' seeq that is 

 not too old, the only thing to'^d out is 

 whether '_ or not the seed'^is good and 

 full. It often happens 'that a seed may 

 look all righ};, but on pressing between 

 the finger and thumb, it will be found 

 to be but an empty shell. As they have 

 to be haiidled singly anyway, at planting 

 it is quite an easy matter to press the 

 seed sufSciently, before inserting in the 

 soil, to make sure that it is full and firm. 



The seed should be inserted in the soil 

 with the thin or wedge-shaped end down, 

 not the full, pointed end. This puts it 

 in such a position that the root which is 

 first emitted after germination had taken 

 place, strikes straight down into the soil. 

 The soil used for planting the seeds 

 should be moist enough to stand for a 

 few days without water, but must not be 

 too wet. We use 2-inch pots, putting 

 two seeds in each, and try to have the 

 soil in such a condition that water does 

 not need to be applied until the seeds 

 axe well started. We plunge the pots 

 into damp sand in a propagating case 

 supplied with bottom heat and keep the 

 case rather close for a day or two, which 

 prevents evaporation, and does away with 

 the necessity of applying water directly 

 to the soil, thus eliminating the danger 

 of rotting the seed before it has had 

 a chance to start. Where water is ap- 

 plied, it must be used judiciously until 

 the plants have gained suflBcient strength 

 to use it up. The trouble known as 

 stem-rot often has its beginning at an 

 earlier stage of the plant's growth than 

 many growers think, and is no doubt of- 

 ten caused by careless watering, while 

 the plants are yet in their infancy. 



When two plants come up in the pot, 

 the weaker should be pulled as soon as 

 distinguishable, in order to give room to 

 the stronger. One in a pot is enough. 

 The plants should not be exposed to 

 strong sunlight immediately after being 

 removed from the propagating case, but 

 should be worked into it gradually, and 

 fully exposed as soon as they, asc) able 

 to stand it. 



Potting up should not be neglected, as 

 the roots are soft and easily injured. If 

 the plants are allowed to become pot- 

 bound, so that the roots are clinging 

 freely to the sides of the pots, serious 

 check is apt to result from moving. It 

 is safest to keep them freely shifted up 

 until they have attained the desired size 

 for planting in the benches. 



W. S. Croydon. 



East Mauch Chunk, Pa. — R. B. Wil- 

 liams is installing a new Hitchings 

 boiler. ■ ■ ' 



Eau Claire, Wis. — A. F. T. Lauritzen 

 has been entertaining his brother from 

 St. Paul, who also is in the trade. 



Rochester, N. Y. — Someone threw a 

 light September 17 into the awning at 

 H. E. Wilson's store, 88 Main street, 

 and a fire resulted. 



THE READERS' CORNE R. 



More Aboot Whit« Ants. 



Referring to Mr. Totty's answer to 

 your correspondent G. C. in the issue of 

 September 13, I ask to be pardoned for 

 "butting in." The white ants com- 

 plained of by G. C. are not properly 

 ants. They are what are known in the 

 south as wood-lice. They have none of 

 the habits of ants and live entirely 

 under the ground, subsisting on rotten 

 wood and the fiber of plants. Wht^n 

 once established^ in a bed of chrysanthe- 



mums there is no care for them known 

 to me, and I fought them many years. 

 The sure preventive is not to use any 

 wood in the construction of the beds or 

 benches and to avoid fertilizer that has 

 any shavings or sawdust in it. The 

 name wood-louse is often used in refer- 

 ring to the sow-bug or shot-bug. The 

 latter seems most appropriate, as when 

 touched it rolls into a perfect ball, re- 

 sembling a shot. It does no damage to 

 chrysanthemums unless by chance some 

 open flower should touch the ground. 



D. 



•■P^^Hi^s— t2L2sfsi2s2LSK^^fii^ijJEiifi2^!S2^ 



f 



t 



THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



■k^iS^ 



^-7 iK'VT^ A'? :x'? : 



f 

 J 



ADVICE TO BUYERS. 



Harlow N. Higinbotham, on whose 

 estate at Joliet the Chicago Carnation 

 Co. is located, made a world-wide repu- 

 tation as credit-man for Marshall Field 

 & Co. In a recent series of articles in 

 the Saturday Evening Post, of Phila- 

 delphia, Mr. Higinbotham gives sound 

 advice, which applies as well to florists 

 as to any other line. He said in part: 



"A mistake frequently made by the 

 merchant who is not uncommonly broad 

 in his mental grasp of things is the 

 notion that he is acting shrewdly to split 

 his business up between two or moro 

 jobbers in order to get them to bid 

 against each other. The inevitable re- 

 sult of this practice is to make the 

 buyer's trade undesirable to any of the 

 firms with which he attempts to do busi- 

 ness. While it is possible that this kind 

 of a trick may be worked by a country 

 merchant to his temporary advantage, 

 he gives the city jobber too little credit 

 for shrewdness and intelligence when he 

 thinks that this game can be played in- 

 definitely with success. Splitting up his 

 trade among several jobbers can have 

 but one result for the country merchant; 

 all of the jobbers will soon realize that 

 he is a bird of passage and that they 

 must get what they can out of him in 

 short order. They will find his weakness 

 as a buyer and will make him pay for 

 his instability and shiftiness. 



"As a matter of fact, however, the 

 very best jobbing houses will discourage 

 the business of a buyer of this sort, and 

 will have as little to do with him as 

 possible. They will be quick to realize 

 that his business is not worth while, and 

 that he will never become a steady and 

 valuable customer. 



"It is always worth while for the 

 country merchant to make his business 

 an object to a good jobber. This not 

 only results in giving the country store- 

 keeper the support of a good line of 

 credit, but it also insures him the per- 

 manent and active interest of the jobber 

 in his welfare and progress. There are 

 a hundred ways in which the man in the 

 jobbing house can favor and assist the 

 country merchant, and he is bound to do 

 this if the storekeeper is a steady and 

 valued customer. In short, there is only 

 one rule for the country storekeeper to 

 observe in his buying, and that is to 



make his business an object to the 

 jobber. 



"The storekeeper who attempts to buy 

 his goods by submitting lists to various 

 jobbing houses and having them all bid 

 upon the same goods does not reaUzie 

 that there are tricks in the jobbing trade 

 as well as in the retail merchandizing 

 business; and that some shifty whole- 

 saler will undoubtedly send in a bid 

 which will look to be much lower than 

 the total of the bid submitted by the 

 more established and high-class jobber. 

 Naturally the low bid is the one ac- 

 cepted, and the country storekeeper feels 

 that he has done a cunning piece of 

 trading until he actually receives the 

 goods. Then he discovers that certain 

 of the articles purchased are of inferior 

 grade or quality to those demanded in 

 his specifications; he indignantly rejects 

 these goods and returns them, demand- 

 ing that the 'mistake' shall be corrected. 

 This is cheerfully done, and no doubt 

 with profuse apologies, but the country 

 buyer is left to realize, if he is shrewd 

 enough to do so, that this little ruse has 

 been the means, on the part of the shifty 

 jobber, of selling the balance of the bill 

 of goods." 



RETAIL ADVERTISING. 



This is the season at which every 

 retail florist should take up the mat- 

 ter of the advertising he will do during 

 the approaching season. Too many flo- 

 rists do their advertising in a Mt-or- 

 miss fashion. A plan should be pre- 

 pared, at least mentally, outlining ex- 

 actly what will be done during the 

 entire season. 



The best way to go about a season's 

 advertising' is first to determine the 

 amount of money which may be de- 

 voted to the purpose. This point having 

 been settled, it is then in order to divide 

 it into the parts to be devoted to the 

 several forms of advertising. It is de- 

 sirable to send out, at certain seasons, 

 neatly printed announcements to one's 

 regular customers, and to the names 

 of those one would like to add to his 

 list. 



But the best form of advertising, 

 and also that which is least expensive 

 in the long run, is newspaper advertis- 

 ing. Determine how much money you 

 have to spend in your local papers and 

 then arrange for a regular space in 



