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OCTOBK* 22, iai4. 



The Florists' Review 



11 



Style Show WiDdow of Wilson's Seed Store, G>lumbus, O., Which Won a Gold Medal and Much Business. 



shop is becoming stronger, and it is our 

 place to make it a benefit, not an 



injury, to our business. 



Phil. 



BUSINESS EMBABBASSMENTS. 



Winthrop, Mass. — Miss Eunice B. 

 Belcher, who conducted a flower store 

 here for the last four years, has filed a 

 petition in bankruptcy. Liabilities are 

 sclieduled at $3,452, and assets at $328. 



WILSON'S STYLE SHOW WINDOW. 



A window display that brought busi- 

 ness as well as a gold medal to the firm 

 which staged it is shown in the illustra- 

 tion on this page. This was made by 

 Wilson's Seed Store, at Columbus, 0., 

 for the local style show October 6 to 8. 



One window, at the right, was devoted 

 to roses; one dozen choice blooms of a 

 number of the newer varieties, furnished 

 by Bassett & Washburn, of Chicago, 

 were shown in Japanese wicker vases 

 and baskets, each variety being tagged. 

 In the other window were displayed a 

 shower bouquet of Kaiserin roses, valley 

 and Adiantum Farleyense, a brides- 

 niaid's hat of Cecile Brunner roses with 

 a centerpiece of Wards, and baskets of 

 snapdragon, against a background of 

 mantel boxes, in which were crotons and 

 pompons. Brown velvet plush on the 

 floor of the windows added to the effect. 

 Both windows were festooned with plu- 

 mosus strings. 



. tJompeting in a class of florists and 

 Jewelers, Wilson's Seed Store was 

 awarded the gold medal for the most 

 artistic window. This concern, together 

 ^ith all the other merchants of Colum- 

 ous, is strong in praise of the style show 

 ^"^^ an advertising opportunity. The 

 f ommittee in charge had worked up local 

 "'terest and for three days and nights 

 i^le streets were thronged with inter- 

 e^^ed sight-seers. 



How much in favor of this sort of 

 ii'ing Wilson 's Seed Store now is may be 

 ff^n from the firm's own statement: 



"e consider the money invested for 



our windows exceedingly well spent and 

 believe florists in any town that has a 

 style show would find it would pay to 

 compete. We have landed several good 

 jobs as direct results of our window 

 display. ' ' 



PBINOESS OF WALES VIOLETS. 



Are there more than one kind of Prin- 

 cess of Wales violets? I have grown 

 them from five different sources, and 

 though I did not have five varieties, I 

 think I had three. I obtained from 

 C. H. Frey, Lincoln, Neb., a variety of 

 Princess of Wales which seemed the 

 same in leaf, flower and habit as some I 

 had obtained locally. I obtained from 

 Wm. Sim, Cliftondale, Mass., a Princess 

 of Wales which corresponded to some 

 others obtained locally in flower and 

 leaf, and from David Bisset, Garrett 

 Park, Md., I received another hundred 

 Princess of Wales which resembled 

 Sim's and the locally obtained ones in 

 flower, but which were not so large and 

 loose-leaved. All of these were beauti- 

 ful violets of pale mauve color, intensely 

 fragrant, with long stems, sometimes 

 twelve inches, but of quite scanty 

 bloom, averaging not over five violets to 

 a plant, and that in February, when 

 violets are at their lowest price. The 

 Frey violets and my own are a deep, 

 dark, beautiful blue. They began bloom- 



ing this year September 22 and average 

 about fifty violets to a plant. They 

 continue in bloom until about May 1. 

 They have fine stems and good flowers, 

 though not so large as the others, being 

 perhaps two-thirds of the size. The Bis- 

 set is two-thirds of an inch to one and . 

 one-fourth inches in diameter; the Frey 

 is not quite an inch. The dark ones are 

 not so fragrant as the Marie Louise or 

 the large, pale blue of Sim and Bisset, 

 but thej' have a pleasant and noticeable 

 odor. S. 



I think it is not at all unlikely that 

 you may have had more than one va- 

 riety of violet sent to you under the 

 name of Princess of Wales, but it is 

 well to remember that last year violets 

 over a large section of the country acted 

 peculiarly, due, in the main, to a long 

 period of warm, wet and sunless 

 weather, and lack of frost before the 

 plants were housed. Plants bloomed 

 erratically, a large proportion giving 

 about one-third of a crop until spring, 

 when, of course, all bloomed freely. As 

 a consequence, the majority of the 

 growers of single violets had the re- 

 verse of a good financial season. Early 

 housing of single violets, before the 

 plants have had the leaf growth checked 

 by one or two moderate freezings, al- 

 ways results in a heavy leaf growth at 

 the expense of flowers, which come 

 paler in color and smaller in size.. Vio- 

 lets produced on plants housed before 

 frost and after freezing would pass for 

 distinct varieties, owing to the distinct 

 color of the flowers and the ranker leaf 

 growth on the earlier planted ones. I 

 know for a positive fact that one of 

 the firms from whom you bought plants 

 is the largest single violet grower in 

 America, having 75,000 plants each sea- 

 son, and has nothing but Princess of 

 Wales on the place. To produce good 

 single violets you must grow them in a 

 large, light, airy house, with a winter 

 minimum as near 40 degrees as possible. 

 Any higher figure will induce leaf 

 growth at the expense of flowers. 



