30 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Dbcbmbbb 16, 1800. 



The Flower Market in the Cen er of the City of Mexico. 



in less time than we have stated by giv- 

 ing them higher temperatures. We like 

 to start in good season and allow them 

 to stand in a cool house for a few days 

 as the flowers expand. C. W. 



CITY OF MEXICO MARKET. 



Flowers Not Sold in Stores. 



To those accustomed to the way in 

 which cut flowers are used and sold in the 

 United States, the flower market in the 

 City of Mexico is full of novelty and 

 interest. In the metropolis of the Mex- 

 ican republic there are no flower stores — 

 they are plant stores only — the flowers 

 being all sold at the market house in a 

 public square. One unfamiliar with the 

 fact, considering Mexico as a hot coun- 

 try, would suppose that it would be 

 necessary to take great pains to store 

 the cut flowers in a cool place to pre- 

 vent their withering quickly, but instead 

 the market place has merely a glass roof 

 and no means whatever are employed to 

 protect the stock; it stands in the open, 

 exposed to sun and wind. 



In the City of Mexico the florist is not 

 a decorator, nor does he sell loose cut 

 flowers; practically the whole of the 

 business is with designs, that are carried 

 in stock, ready made up, displayed for 

 the choice of the transient customer and 

 ready to be carried away as soon as the 

 inevitable bargaining is concluded. In 

 northern cities designs are made up only 

 to order, but in this Mexico City mar- 

 ket dozens of them line the pavement; 



and not cheap designs, either, but pieces 

 that would be worth good money in any 

 town above the Rio Grande. 



Florists' Visit Interesting:. 



Miss Matilda Meinhardt, of St. Louis, 

 had just returned from a trip to Mexico 

 with a party when she was chosen as 

 president of the Ladies' Society of 

 American Florists at the Cincinnati con- 

 vention. To Mexico with Miss Mein- 

 hardt went Miss Margaret Vesey, of 

 Fort Wayne, daughter of Judge and 

 Mrs. W. J. Vesey, and herself one of the 

 vice-presidents of the Ladies' S. A. F. 

 As with other florists who visit the Diaz 

 capital. Miss Meinhardt and Miss Vesey 

 found the flower market one of the cen- 

 ters of greatest interest. Miss Vesey is 

 an expert amateur photographer and took 

 a number of pictures of this unique place, 

 several of which are reproduced in this 

 issue of the Review. 



"The flower market in Mexico City," 

 writes Miss Vesey, "is in the center of 

 the business district, easy of access and 

 passed by large numbers of people, native 

 and tourist. The market building is a 

 large, circular one, having a canopy-like 

 glass roof and no awning. The few trees 

 do little to lessen the intensity of the 

 sun's rays. The flowers brought to the 

 market all are grown in the gardens on 

 the outskirts of the city. The various 

 sellers are close to one another and to 

 the uninitiated it is impossible to dis- 

 tinguish between them ; one cannot tell 

 where one man's stock in trade ends and 



another's begins. The methods of doing 

 business are full of interest to one accus- 

 tomed to the trade as it is conducted with 

 such great similarity in all the cities of 

 the United States. 



How the Piecf s Are Made. 



' ' Practically no loose cut flowers are 

 sold by the dealers in the flower market 

 in the City of Mexico; some, of course, 

 and a few in bunches, but most of them 

 in designs. Some of these designs are 

 brought to the market already made up, 

 but the greater part are made in the 

 market itself while the flower venders 

 are waiting for customers; the making 

 up of designs is going on practically all 

 of the time. 



"No wire frames are used by the 

 Mexicans. The frames they use are made 

 from twigs, tied together with grass or 

 strings. To those accustomed to the use 

 of the neat, rigid wire frame, these twig 

 affairs seem crude and bungling, but the 

 workmen are extremely dexterous in fash- 

 ioning the frames and in making up the 

 designs on them. The frames "are filled 

 with anything that happens to be handy, 

 old flowers, leaves, and so on. When 

 the filling is in place everything is cov- 

 ered nicely with green leaves, sometimes 

 one thing, sometimes another. The flow- 

 ers then are put in, setting them closely 

 and evenly, using as many as possible — 

 none of the effort to make stock go as 

 far as it will, the way northern florists 

 have to do when white carnations cost 4 

 cents and are hard to find at that. 



Scenes in the Flower Market in the City of Mexico. 



