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1670 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



Apuil 18, 1907 



ner of holding tlie necessary moisture 

 for the pot8H»y-^ping--the bottom- of • 

 the inner tin box slightly covered with 

 water, speaks mueti ip their favor. The 

 possession of such ^^sskets or boxes ia 

 ai)t to lead the owner to the purchase 

 of filling material, even independent of 

 holiday seasons. It is for our wide- 

 awake retailers to watch 'opportunities 

 and to make the best out of what, in 

 my opinion, appears to be a possibility 

 to enlarge the market. ' 



ElCHARD EOTHE. 



BEDDING STOCK. 



". Early Geraaiums. 



In bedding stuff the all-important 

 geranium takes the first place. For 

 those intended to be in bloom early 

 it is advisable to have fall struck cut- 

 tings rooted in small pots. Stop them 

 early in tTanuary and allow them to 

 break before giving a shift into 3 V^ -inch 

 or 4-ineh pots. Be careful to ascertain 

 before potting that the balls are prop- 

 erly moist; otherwise the soil is almost 

 sure to fall away and thus the plant will 

 receive a bad check. Finally pot firmly 

 in not over rich soil, so as to produce 

 short-jointed, stocky plants. Keep all 

 varieties separate and spaced out; never 

 allow overcrowding. See that proper 

 stopping is attended to. Do not merely 

 lean over the bench and cut the top off 

 one here and there, but go over them 

 one by one and stop where necessary. 

 By this method you are enabled to clean 

 off discolored leaves, also to give more 

 space and to turn them around so as to 

 produce more evenly shaped plants. 

 This method also prevents them from 

 rooting into the bench, an evil which 

 causes rank, long-jointed growth which 

 does not flower freely. The observant 

 grower will take note of those varieties 

 which sell well and will be careful to re- 

 tain sufficient stock plants of those kinds 

 so that he may prepare for another year. 



Marguerites. 



The marguerite is another plant 

 which, if grown well, deserves to be far 

 more popular than it at present is. 

 There is abundant evidence that spring 

 stuff is crowded out until after Easter, 

 when it is too late to make amends. 

 What is more distressing than to see a 

 house full of overdrawn plants which 

 might have been specimens but for 

 neglect in this detail of giving room? 

 Marguerites at all times require plenty 

 of water; if allowed to get dry three 

 or four times every plant will get the 

 maggot. To cure, use kerosene and soap, 

 an egg cup full of kerosene to the 

 gallon of water, and syringe every sec- 

 ond day until cured. Meantime pick off 

 maggot-infected leaves and burn them. 

 You may run your house at anything 

 above freezing point until a month be- 

 fore selling time, and by stopping three 

 times as low as possible you will have 

 nice shapely plants. In the daytime 

 give plenty of air, but never a draft 

 unless you have an ambition for greenfly. 



Lobelias. 



The lobelia well deserves a little care 

 bestowed upon it, and to those who are 

 too impatient to keep stock plants and 

 raise it from cuttings an excellent way 

 is to sow your seed early. Emperor 

 William is still a favorite. Prick off 

 two or tJiree in a hole into a shallow 

 flat, filled one-third with well rotted 

 horse manure. Press soil moderately 



firm, particularly round the edges. By 

 ^gettrng your plants early- you are able 

 to cut down with a pair of Scissors two 

 or three times, which process gives you 

 a short plant covered with bloom. By 

 porting two or three from small pots 

 intO' a. 5-inch it is, quite easy to quickly 

 have Ji showy plant, covered with bloom. 



Fuchsias. ^ 



The lovely fuchsia, with its graceful, 

 pendulous habit, . certainly deserves a 

 place of honor in any list of easily 

 grown plants. The history of its intro- 

 duction into England is surely worth 

 repeating. A gentleman was passing a 

 thoroughfare in Wapping, a shipping 

 center situated in the east end of Lon- 

 don, when he noticed a plant in the win- 

 dow of a humble house. He went with 

 all speed to the nursery of Mr. Lee, at 

 Hammersmith. The writer was an in- 

 fant in arms when this place existed, 

 thirty years ago, but he knows the spot 

 quite well ; the London Olympia now 

 stands upon the grounds. Mr. Lee im- 

 mediately proceeded to Wapping and 

 purchased the plant for all the money 

 he had in his pocket — thirteen guineas 

 — from the mother of a sailor lad who 

 had brought it home from abroad. To 

 return to my theme, a common error is 

 to feed fuchsias too much. If you do so 

 they will not flower freely, but make too 

 much wo6d. Peed only with occasional 

 weak doses when root bound. They 

 don't require stopping in every case. 

 Eose of Castile breaks naturally and is 



of a splendid habit. A popular free 

 floweriijg- «-yai4ei^y js Mrs. Marshall. 

 Spring cut'tings"' taken- early make good 

 plants by the middle of April in 4-inch 

 pots. 



Petunias. 



The petunia is deservedly i popular, 

 both the single and double variety. With 

 doubles it is far better to save your stock 

 plants; by so doing you run no risk in 

 getting mongrels, which havfe to be 

 dumped. In singles how many growers 

 have been had by buying wortl^less seed 

 which produces small flowers? jThe best 

 seed costs anything from $40 to $50 an 

 ounce, but a sixteenth of an oiance is a 

 good many seeds. However, by select- 

 ing the best plants every year' for seed 

 this expense is overcome, besides improv- 

 ing the strain. The points to b^ watched 

 in saving plants for seed are': Select 

 the most free breaking dwsjrf habit 

 plants with the largest flowers 'and best 

 .markings; pot into 5-inch; keep covered 

 from rain and wind, but fully exposed 

 to light and air. Do not neglect the 

 watering and don't wet the bloom. A 

 camel 's-hair brush dabbed lightly from 

 bloom to bloom every morning is sure 

 to pollinate them. Those flowers polli- 

 nated will have wilted in twenty-four 

 hours, and by July the pods will be ripe 

 enough to pick. 



Stocks, asters, salvias, pyrethrum are 

 all easily grown plants and require 

 plenty of air at all times; they fully re- 

 pay a little time and attention bestowed 

 upon them. Laxgley Tudor. 



I THE RETAIL 



s ''^^^^ FLORIST 



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^*^^^^ 



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method of regulating credit with so 

 many charge accounts. He said that 

 while in a wholesale way they find it 

 necessary to guard credits closely, in the 

 retail stores, where individual purchases 

 are small, they find little care is needed. 

 Practically any one on their mailing 

 list is welcome to credit to a reasonable 

 amount. Any customer who orders over 

 the telephone, and is a telephone sub- 

 scriber, is considered good for an ordi- 

 nary purchase. Mr. Wittbold said that 

 pursuing this liberal policy they never 

 had in any year lost as much as $500 

 in uncollectable accounts. 



RETAILERS' DEVELOPMENT. 



It is interesting to note the size to 

 which some of the retail business estab- 

 lishments have grown. For instance, at 

 the last meeting of the Chicago Florists' 

 Club Louis Wittbold, secretary of the 

 George Wittbold Co., said that they now 

 have on their retail books 6,000 charge 

 accounts. They are, of course, running 

 two stores, but 6,000 charge customers 

 represents a very considerable amount of 

 business, 



Mr, Wittbold stated that the month of 

 March, 1907, was the largest in the his- 

 tory of their business and that he credits 

 the steady increase to continuous adver- 

 tising. They have a list of over 8,000 

 names, practically all residents of the 

 north side of Chicago. To each one of 

 these they mail some piece of advertising 

 once each month. He said that when 

 they have for a time sought to reduce 

 expenses by omitting the advertising the 

 effect was at once apparent in the vol- 

 ume of business. As a result the George 

 Wittbold Co. is probably the largest ad- 

 vertiser of any retail florists in the west. 

 Considerable newspaper space is used, 

 but the Chicago dailies charge the high- 

 est rates in the country and the greater 

 part of the circulation is outside the 

 radius from which the Wittbold stores 

 draw the bulk of their patronage. 



Mr. Wittbold was asked as to the 



DAILY ORDERS. 



The retail florists along Michigan ave- 

 nue in Chicago have a number of orders 

 to be filled every day, or every other 

 day, as the case may be. There is in 

 the neighborhood a considerable so-called 

 artistic colony. The shops located there 

 appeal to the better class of buyers. The 

 office buildings are filled with people who 

 cater to the exclusive class. It has be- 

 come more or less the fashion in these 

 places to keep a vase of flowers in the 

 window, on the counter, or somewhere 

 about the place. It adds a touch which 

 nothing else can give. 



In every town the florist can get more 

 or less of this business. He can make 

 a bargain with the best store to main- 



