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TheWeckly Florists' Review. 



June 27, 1907. 



Cut the branches as long as you can and 

 arrange loosely with but little outside 

 green. 



In making a loose, bunch of long- 

 stemmed roses where the stems are nat- 

 urally bent, just gather them up careless- 

 ly and tie together, using just a little 

 Asparagus plumosus to fill in. 



Some people like the flowers spread 

 as much as possible, so as to make a 

 large bunch with a few flowers, while 

 others, again, like them well together, 

 making a small bunch. This you will 

 find quite easy after a little experience. 



Backgrounds for Sprays. 



The background of a spray should not 

 project out from underneath more than 

 an inch or two. Fern leaves are com- 

 monly used as a background for the gen- 

 eral run of work ; in fact, by some flo- 

 rists for all work, but green or bronze 

 leucothoe sprays give a much richer ap- 

 pearance and should be used for the bet- 

 ter grade of work. In using leucothoe 

 do not pile one leaf on top of the other, 

 as they are too expensive; besides, it is 

 not necessary. When short of ferns, 

 galax leaves can be used nicely; of 

 course, they must be wired. With lilies. 

 Beauties or chrysanthemums you need 

 really no background at all. 



Shape of Sprays. 



Let me say just a few words in re- 

 gard to the shape of your spray. A 

 well-proportioned one should be about 

 twice as long as it is wide; that is, from 

 the tip to the end of the stems. If you 

 keep close to this proportion, then you 

 cannot go amiss. If you want to make 

 a garland, all well and good, but noth- 

 ing looks worse than a spray of flowers 

 about eight inches wide and a yard lon^. 

 One nearly round is not rightly shaped, 

 either; still it does not look nearly so 

 bad as the attenuated one. As you draw 

 near to the end of the piece do not run 

 to a point, but leave more of a square 

 finish. 



'Wiring Flowers. 



The wiring of flowers adds a great 

 deal to the eflfect of a flat bunch. For 



wiring the smaller flowers and allowing 

 them to project out above the rest you 

 will get a much nicer effect with but 

 little extra trouble. When working with 

 any flower having a stiff stem, by wiring 

 and bending it you can procure a much 

 more artistic effect. Narcissi and 

 hyacinths are easily wired by pushing 

 the wire inside the stem ; the latter 

 should always be wired, as they break 

 off so easily, spoiling the whole piece. 

 When making a large piece, or what is 

 better named a panel; it is advisable to 

 use a wire background. 



Suitable Green to Use. 



The proper selection of green to be 

 used with the different flowers is also 

 quite important. It is of course true 

 that no green goes as well with a flower 

 as its own, but often we must use out- 

 side green. Asparagus Sprengeri goes 

 well with carnations, sweet peas, chrys- 

 anthemums, asters, tulips, etc. Aspara- 

 gus plumosus can be used to good effect 

 with roses, valley, orchids, etc. With 

 lilies use a few sprays of Boston fern 

 leaves. 



After all, the proper green to use is 

 to a large extent a matter of taste. 



The Use of Ribbon. 



The use of ribbon is also a matter of 

 taste, or a matter that depends a great 

 deal on the whim of your customer. In 

 fact, it is not really necessary, but a 

 larger piece always looks better when 

 tied with a bow of ribbon, for a spray 

 really represents a number of flowers 

 gathered up loosely into a flat shape and 

 tied together, the ribbon representing 

 what they were tied together with. 



Hugo Schroeter. 



THE GLORIOUS FOURTH. 



Every florist should decorate for the 

 Fourth. Put a "patriotic" decoration 

 in the window (one retailer suggests a 

 toy pistol and a funeral wreath as a 

 suitable combination) and unfurl the 

 Stars and Stripes. One of the accom- 

 panying illustrations shows the store 

 front of R. W. Barrow, on the line of 



R. W. BarrMft Pony Delivery Rig. 



instance, if you are Avorking in carna- 

 tions, wire some of them so they will 

 stand well out above the others. Follow 

 the same plan when using two kinds of 

 flowers, such as sweet peas and carna- 

 tions, or peas and hyacinths, narcissus and 

 some larger flower, or even carnations 

 or roses with lilies. All of these make 

 nice combinations, and in all cases by 



march at Meriden, Conn., last Fourth. 

 The other picture is of his pony delivery 

 rig, decorated as it appeared in that 

 day's industrial parade. 



Davenport, Ia,— The Tri-City Flo- 

 rists' Association was entertained June 

 25 at a strawberry social at the green- 

 houses of Ewoldt Bros. 



SCIENCE OF BOUQUET MAKING. 



That there are scientific laws that regu- 

 late the combination of odors, as there 

 are those that must be followed in as- 

 sembling colors or musical tones, is main- 

 tained by Francis Marre in an article 

 contributed to Cosmus (Paris), says the 

 Literary Digest. Mr. Marre holds that 

 it is possible to formulate rules for the 

 proper grouping of flowers according to 

 their odors, and he believes that those 

 who consult the eye only, in making a 

 bouquet, are artistic heretics. ' ' A bou- 

 quet is a symphony of odors," he says; 

 and it has its conventional rules of com- 

 position just as a musical symphony has. 

 What these rules are he strives to point 

 out. We read: 



' ' To choose flowers with skill, to group 

 them harmoniously, to blend their colors 

 and to bring out a pleasing effect from 

 the infinite variety of their shades, is 

 an affair of art and personal taste for 

 which it is impossible to formulate a pre- 

 cise rule or any exact directions. 



* ' But to establish a scale of scent that 

 shall not contain one false note — to make 

 the general odor of a bouquet something 

 fine, smooth and delicate, is not an art, 

 but a real science, and I desire to try to 

 express its laws. 



"The precise osmometric measure- 

 ments that have been made in various 

 laboratories have established the relative 

 intensity of perfumes, and the experi- 

 ments of specialists have done the rest, 

 so that it is to-day well known in what 

 relative proportions the elementary odors 

 must be combined in order to obtain an 

 agreeable whole. By such knowledge the 

 great perfumers prove their creative skill, 

 and their cleverness is often only the 

 application of precise and definite data. 



"We may divide odors into two great 

 classes, the strong and the weak; each 

 when used by itself has very apparent 

 defects; the problem for solution is to 

 unite them in proper proportions. 



* ' In the first place a foundation odor 

 must be selected, to give the general 

 tone. This choice is free, and there is 

 nothing to determine it outside of the 

 personal preferences of the maker of the 

 bouquet, or, better, the one for whom it 

 is destined. Some prefer a violent and 

 strong base, such as acacia, heliotrope, or 

 lilac; others like a weaker and less ener- 

 getic one, such as lily of the valley, jas- 

 mine, or white rose; it is simply a ques- 

 tion of taste. 



"The foundation odor must be placed 

 in the center, and only a small number 

 of flowers must be used for it ; then these 

 should be surrounded with an odor that 

 will complete it without effacing it. 

 Around a bunch of acacia, for instance, 

 may be placed a few blossoms of honey- 

 suckle; around heliotrope, lily of the val- 

 ley; around tuberose, jacinth; around 

 geranium, roses. Then, the complement- 

 ary odor having once been fixed upon, 

 there must be added different odors, in- 

 tended to give to the basic odor what we 

 may call character — lively odors on the 

 one hand, and soft odors on the other; in 

 a bouquet of heliotrope and lily of the 

 valley, it is good to place the violence 

 of the jacinth, the warm sweetness of 

 the orange, the penetrating delicacy of 

 the mignonette or the violet, and some- 

 thing of the strength exhaled by the 

 gillyflower or the carnation. Finally, we 

 finish by placing at the edges a reminder 

 of the basic odor. 



"At first sight these rules appear 

 somewhat artificial and conventional; 

 this is true in a certain degree, but con- 



