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The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Dkcembku 12, 1907. 



There is no high art about this. It was 

 simply a case of taking a small begonia, 

 covering its pan with white crepe paper, 

 setting it in the hat, tying the ribbons 

 to the top of the stake in the begonia, 

 and sending it out on orders. In one 

 store where these were offered at $3 

 each, hardly anything else was sold until 

 the supply of hats was exhausted. 



' Boxwood. 



It is a long time since any green has 

 been offered which has met with the 

 quick success of boxwood. In its cut 

 state it was regarded' as a find by the 

 retailers of keen perception who first got 

 hold of it, and it was only until another 

 season before the wholesalers nearly all 

 were offering it by the pound, or by the 

 case, and it was in general use in floral 

 designs of all sorts. 



As a pot plant boxwood has had an 

 equal success for many uses, but in no 

 form does it sell more readily, or bring 

 a better profit, than as a Christmas 

 plant. The green harmonizes splendidly 

 with the holly red which is demanded by 

 most Christmas buyers. A plant which 

 costs from 25 cents to 35 cents, the pot 

 covered with a red Porto Eican mat and 



tied with a big bow of red ribbon, easily 

 becomes worth $3. In the case of the 

 illustration a scarlet trumpet of red im- 

 mortelles tied with red cord was added 

 at a cost of 75 cents and hardly seemed 

 to be justified in the minds of the Christ- 

 mas shoppers. 



In this case the mat was red and the 

 ribbon of a darker shade, but an excel- 

 lent result is secured by planting the 

 boxwood in one of the mat-green, round 

 jars offered by the supply houses and by 

 tying a ribbon in the branches of the 

 plant, but rather low down. 



Cheap Christmas Plants. 



Without doubt the majority of retail 

 florists, especially those in the country 

 towns who grow their own supplies, find 

 cyclamens and Jerusalem cherries much 

 more salable than the expensive plants 

 handled in the leading city stores. Such 

 stock only needs a pot cover and a band 

 of ribbon with a bow. The combinations 

 which may be made are infinite, but 

 green is the safer color. These plants 

 may be made up to sell for as little as 

 $1 and return an excellent profit where 

 the delivery expense does not have to bo 

 considered. 



Boxwood in Red Porto Rican Mat, 



Single Plants. 



Among the leaders for Christmas sales 

 are azaleas, araucarias and, of course, 

 poinsettias. The best poinsettia is the 

 pan of several low plants with wide scar- 

 let bracts, All these need is a pot cover, 

 preferably dark green crepe paper tied 

 with red ribbon. Tall plants, one in a 

 pot, can only be sold to discriminating 

 customers when made up in the rather 

 high priced hampers. Azaleas, too, need 

 only a pot cover. The araucaria sells 

 best with some bows of red ribbon in the 

 branches, or perhaps some little Christ- 

 mas bells. Low, broad plants of course 

 are best. 



Delivery a^Big Item. 



One of the advantages which the coun- 

 try florist has over his city brother is in 

 the item of delivery. The country cus- 

 tomer in many cases takes his purchase 

 with him, but in th6 city nearly every- 

 thing must be delivered. One of the lead- 

 ing retailers in Chicago has said that 

 it does not pay him to make a sale at 

 Christmas or any other holiday whicli 

 does not give him a profit of at least 75 

 cents. He estimates that the extra ex- 

 pense incidental to the large number of 

 long distance deliveries which must be 

 made within a very few hours on Christ- 

 mas morning takes away all profit on 

 smaller sales. 



On another page in this issue are pic- 

 tures of some odds and ends which re- 

 turn a good profit to all florists where 

 delivery charges are not an obstacle. One 

 is simply a small Asparagus plumosus in 

 a red straw pot cover with a ribbon 

 looped through the handles. Another is 

 an enameled twig basket with a cocos 

 and some small ferns. Another is a 

 raflia basket, with three or four sprays 

 of holly. A little more pretentious affair 

 is a larger raffia basket with a cover. Al- 

 most any small plant could be sold in 

 this. The lichen-covered Dutch shoes 

 and an innumerable List of such oddities 

 may be had of all supply houses and will 

 sell in large numbers. 



CHRISTMAS GREENS. 



Lycopodium, commonly known as bou- 

 quet green or ground pine, used exten- 

 sively for wreaths and festoons, looked 

 likely to fall shorter this year than at 

 any time in the history of its use as a 

 decoration. Stringent game laws which 

 have taken effect in the northern states 

 since last year — shortening of the hunt- 

 ing season to one month instead of three 

 — threatened not only to reduce the out- 

 put this year but to do so in future sea- 

 sons. Reports from the regions in which 

 lycopodium is found told a tale of an un- 

 precedented influx of hunters all through 

 the short open season. Modern • fire- 

 arms and their far-reaching bullets, to- 

 gether with the greatly increased 

 number of sportsmen in the woods 

 coming in conflict with the pickers of 

 lycopodium, at first caused the natives 

 to see the wisdom of staying within 

 their domiciles during the hunting sea- 

 son. These conditions promised to re- 

 duce to an alarming degree the supply of 

 ground pine, for weather conditions are 

 seldom favorable for picking after the 

 influx of hunters has ebbed away. It is 

 true that the Indians are less fearful of 

 the hunters' bullets than their white 

 brother, and were it not for their love 

 of lethargy and disinclination to work 

 so long as they have any money whatever, 

 Chicago jobbers pould safely depend on 

 them for an adequate lycopodium .supply. 



