J670 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



Aniii, is, r.tu7. 



'"•r lit liuMiii^ tIh' iicccssMrv iiniisluif> 

 iiir llii' ) lilts- hy-kt'i'piirjr •the hrttom of 

 l!i< ininT lin IxfX sliyjlitly (■dvcrcil uiili 

 A\:ilri. ^|.raks iiiucb ill tlicir l';i\iir. 'I'ln' 

 |iciv>;, -siiiii of Midi lijiskcts or lioxrs is 

 ■||'' '" '• •'I'l 1li'' i'\\nt'r to tilt' jmrch.-isp 

 "I' lil.'iiiL; iii;iIiTi:il. r\rii iiKlojicinlcnt of 



!l<ilii|,l\ sf;i^,iiis. It is fill- our wi.lr- 



••i\^-iIm- )it;iili is Ii, walcli o|)|ioi'tmiilii's 

 .'iii'l 111 iiiaui' llii- ln'st out of Avlial, in 

 )M\ M{iiiiiiiii. apiirars to ho a possiliility 

 111 I'lilar^i' ilir iiiaiiii'i. 



ii'K IIAUI) li'oTIIK. 



BEDDING STOCK. 



Early Geraniums. 



Ill liiililiii;i sditV tlio Mll-iiiiportant 

 ,l;i raiiiiiiii lakos tiic first idacc. For 

 thoso iiiii'Mcli'il to lie ill liloiim parlv 

 it is aiixisalilc to liave I'all struck imiI- 

 tiiiys rootc'il ill small |pots. Stop llicni 

 rally in .laimaiy ami allow tlicm to 

 liroak licfori' yi\iiiy a shift into o'^-incli 

 or 4-iii('li jiots. I'.c careful to ascertain 

 lioforo ]>ottin},r that the halls are ])roi)- 

 (M-]y moist; othcrwiso ihc soil is almost 

 sure to fall away ami thus the jilant will 

 receive a l.aU check. Finally ]iot firmly 

 in not o\fr licli soil, so as to jiroduce 

 shoit jointeil. stocky jilants. Kee]> all 

 varieties sejiarate and spaced out; never 

 allow overcrowding. Se<* that )>roper 

 stopping is attended to. Do not merely 

 lean o\er the l.ench and cut the toji oil" 

 one liere and there. Init i,fo over them 

 one ))y one and stop \\here necessary. 

 ]iy this method you are enalded to clean 

 (df discolored lea\c's. also to yixc more 

 space and to turn them aiiuind so as to 

 jirodiice more evenly shajied plants. 

 This method also prevents them from 

 rootiny into the lieiudi. an evil whiidi 

 causes lank, iony jointed j^rowtli wliiidi 

 does not liower freely. The ohservant 

 yrower will tak<> note of those varieties 

 Avhich sell well and will he careful to re- 

 lain siillicieiil stock jdaiits of those kinds 

 so that ho may prepare tor aiiotlier year. 



Marguerites. 



The iiiaryiiei ite is another plant 

 which, it' ;^ro\\li well, deseixes to he )'a f 

 iiioio pii|iular than it .at present is. 

 There is ;il(iiiidaiit osideiicc that s|)rin;f 

 stuff i- cioudod out until after Faster, 

 when It is tmi l.-ite to make .amends. 

 W'liat is iiinii' distressing tli;iii to see a 

 lioiise lull ui' lAoidrawii plants which 

 mi^ht ]ia\e hem s|ieciniens hut for 

 neglect ill this detail of liixiiio room.' ' 

 ^rtiryiieiiti's ;it all times rei|uire pleiitx i 

 of \va1er: it' ••lllowed to yet dl\' three 

 or four tilllis e\eiy |daiit will J^et the 



niaoyot. Til cure, use kerosene :ind so.aji, 

 an ey;^ cup t'lill of kerosene to the 

 gallon ot' \\ater, .and syrinye e\ery sec- 

 (md day until cund. Mejintime jiick olV 

 iiiag^jot infected )e;i\es ;iiid huin tlieiii. 

 >'ou may run your house at anylliinji' 

 ahove fiee/iny point until a month he- 

 foro sellinu- time, and hy stoppin;^- tliiee 

 times as low ;is Jiossihle ymi will ha\e 

 nice sha]iely jdants. In the daytime ! 

 ;;ive ]ileiity of air. hut ne\ir a draft j 

 iitih'Ss y.iu ha\e an amhition lor yieeiitly. I 



Lobelias. 



The lohelia ^^ell deserves .1 little care 

 hestowed upon it. and to Ihose who .are 

 too impatient to k(»ep stock plants and 

 laise it from cuttiii<is an I'Xcelleiit way 

 is to sow your seed early. l^m|>eror 

 William is "still a favorite'. Prick oK 

 two or three in ;i Inde into a shallow 

 flat, filled one-third with well rotted 

 liorsc mamire. I'ress soil moderatelv 



tirm, ]>art icniarly round the edges. \\v 

 getling ycMir plants early you are ahle 

 to cut down \\itli a jiair of scissors two 

 or three times, whiidi proi-ess gives you 

 a short plant covered with hloom. Jiy 

 potting two or three from small ])ots 

 into a ."i-iiich it is (|iiite easy to (piickly 

 liave a showy jdant, covered with hloom. 



Fuchsias. 



The lovely fuchsia, with its gract>ful, 

 pendulous liahit. certainly deserves a 

 place of honor in any list of easily 

 grown plants. The history of its intro- 

 duction into Knglanil is surely worth 

 repetiting. A gentleman w;is passing a 

 thoroughfare in W'appiiig, a slii[)ping 

 center situated in tlie east end of Lon- 

 <lf)ii, wlien he noticed a ])laiit in tlie win- 

 dow of a liumhie house. Jle went with 

 .all speed to the nursery of Mv. Lee, at 

 ilaniiiH>rsniitli. The writer was an in- 

 fant in arms when this jilace existed, 

 thirty years ago, ))ut he knows the spot 

 <|uite ^V(dl; tlu! ijomhiii Olympia now 

 stands iijioii the grounds. Mr. Lee im- 

 mediately ])roceeded to Wapping and 

 pundiased the plant for all tii(> money 

 he had in Ids pocket^ — thirteen guineas 

 -from the motiier of a sailor lad who 

 had hronght it lioine from ahroad. To 

 return to my theme, a common error is 

 to feed fmdisias too miudi. If you do so 

 they will not flower freely, hut make too 

 much wood. Feed only with occasional 

 weak doses wlien root hound. They 

 don't re(|uire stopi>iiig in every case. 

 Jv'ose of Castile hreaks iiaturallv and is 



of a splendid hahii. A popular frc 

 flowering variety is Mrs. Marshall 

 S|iring cuttings taken early make goo.. 

 ])laiits hy the iiiiddh' of April in 4 inch 

 pots. 



Petunias. 



The jietniiia i> deservedly ]iopiiIar 

 hotli the single and donhle variety. Wiii 

 douhles it is far hotter to save your stool 

 ))lants; hy so iloing you run no risk i' 

 getting mongnds, which have to h 

 dumped. Jn singles how many growei 

 have heen had hy huyiiig worthless set.'i 

 wlii<di ])rodiices small flowers.' ,Tlie he- 

 seed costs anything from $40 to .$oO a' 

 ounce, hut a sixteenth of an ounce is ; 

 good many seeds. Jhtwever. hy select 

 iiig the hest plants every year, for sof 

 this expense is overcome. Ix^sideis imjiro' 

 iiig the strtiiii. The jKiints to he watche. 

 in saving jdaiils for seed are: Selec' 

 the most fn-e hreaking dw;uf hahi' 

 ])laiits with the largest flowers ;iiid hcs- 

 markings; jiot into oiiudi ; keeji coveren 

 from rain and wind, hut fully exjiose. 

 to light and ;iii. Do not neglect tic 

 watering and don't wet the hloom. A 

 caiiud 's-hair hnish dahhed light ly fron 

 hloom to liloom every morning is sui' 

 to jxilliiiate them. Those flowers jiolli 

 iiated will have wilted in twenty-four 

 hours, and hy .Inly ihe ](ods will lie rip' 

 enough to pick. 



Stocks, asters, salvias. ]iyrethrum ari 

 all (>asily grown jdants .and requir. 

 plenty of air at all times; they fully re 

 ]>ay a little tiiin' and attention hestowc 

 upon them. Laxgi.ev Ti'DOR. 



i»n.<<JWw<<Jw^<<^<»^<<^w>.<^^^^'^Jw.^^'^^'^^n.'^^<^^'^j^x 



■ ^♦^'♦^'♦^ 



THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



RETAILERS' DEVELOPMENT. 



It is interesting to note fli(> size to 

 vvhiidi some of the retail husiness (>stah- 

 lishments have grown. For instance, at 

 the l.asl meeting of the ('liicago J-'lorists' 

 • lull Louis W'itthold. secretary of the 

 (ieoige W'itthold < 'o.. said that they now 

 have on their retail hooks (i.OdO clmrge 

 accounts. They are, of cimrse. running 

 twi) stores, hut (i. 0(111 (di.arge customers 

 represents ;i very considerahle amount of 

 husiness. 



Mr. Witlhold stated that the month of 

 Mandi. l!>o7. was ihe largest in the his 

 lory (d' their husiness and that he credits 

 the steady increase lo continuoiis ad\('r- 

 tising. 'i'liey have ;i list of over S.OOU 

 n.anies, piaclic;dly all residi'iits of the 

 north siile of ('hicago. To eaidi one of 

 these they in.ail some pie<'e of advertising 

 once each month. lie said that when 

 they have for a lime sought to reduce 

 expenses hy omitting the advertising the 

 effect w.as ;it once a|ipareiit in the vol- 

 ume of husiness. .\s a result the (ieorge 

 W'itthold ( ■(). is prtdiahly the largest ad- 

 vertiser of any retail florists in the west. 

 » 'onsiderahle newspa|)er sj)ace is used. 

 hut the < 'hicago dailies (diarge the liigh- 

 est rates in the ciuinlry and the greater 

 jiarl (d' the circulation is outside the 

 r.adiiis from which ihi' ^Vitthold stores 

 draw the hulk (d' their p.atronage. 



Mr. W'itthold was asked as to the 



nielhod of regulating credit with S'"' 

 many (di.arge accounts. He said that 

 while ill a wholes:! le way lliey find it 

 necess.ary to guard credits idosely. in th'- 

 retail stores, where individual ]iurcliase- 

 are small, lliey find little care is needed. 

 I'raidically any one on their mailing 

 list is welcome to credit to a reasonahh 

 amount. Any customer who orders over 

 the telephone, and is a teleidioiie suh 

 scriher. is consideicd good for an ordi 

 nary purchase. .Mr. W'itthold said tha* 

 pursuing thi> liheral judicy they neve* 

 had in any year lost ;is much as .fot'" 



in Ulleollecta hie accounts. 



DAILY ORDERS. 



The retail flmists along ^lichigan a\e 

 line in ('liic.igo have a iiumher of ordei- 

 to he filled I'veiy day, or every (din' 

 day, as the case may he. There is i; 

 the neighhorhood a consider.ahle so-callei; 

 artistic colony. The shojis located tlieti 

 apjie.al to the hetter class of huyers. 'i'le 

 oilice hiiildings are filled with jieople wli 

 cater to the excliisivo class. It has he 

 come more or less the fashion in flies, 

 places to keep a vase of flowers in tie 

 window, on the counter, or soinewlieri 

 ahoiit the place. It adds a touch whici; 

 nothing else can give. 



J 11 every town the tlorist can get nior- 

 or less of this husiness. He can make 

 a htirgiiiii with the hest store to main- 



