May 18, 1UH«?5, 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



25 



Window and Porch Boxes are Increasing in Popularity Year by Year. 



fompetitioii wliidi tli(> llorist must en- 

 counter and Ihe way in which he nian- 

 agcs, systeni-itizos iin<l pushes the -work. 

 In botii of these i(S]iects tlie coTneterv 

 work tlironjiliiint th(> country is on a 

 sonicAvliat uncertain basis. 'I'he ])rices 

 are not well estaltlisheil. ami in some 

 localities, therefore, one florist has a 

 virtual monopoly of the business ajul 

 there is nolhin<T to pre\-ent its beiny 

 reasonably lucrati\('. lu other commu- 

 nities the competition is ruthlessly keen 

 and the prices are reiluceil till the nun- 

 gin of profit is so narrow :is to b(> in 

 visible to iho nakt^d e\{'. \\'heii one or 

 two florists slash the prices reckb^ssly, 

 the others may be conipelleil to follow 

 the l»a(l (^x un]ilc' or iclire from the 

 strucrgle. 



Tt seems to Ic liccouiin;; a more and 

 more common juacl ice. when the \ases 

 are to lie filh^<l. to !tino\c them, oi' at 

 least the detaidiable to]is or bowls, to 

 the greenhouses for tliat ]iur|iose. 

 Ut^ William s^cotl s;iid: ■ ' AVe 

 to load up Avagons ;ind drixc to 

 cem(>terv with jilant- and soil. Inii 

 a Jiiuch better plan i- to brin 

 top or ])i)\\\ ol' tlic \:is(\ 

 return it." 



:\rany flc.i i>(s. ha\ing a large, well 

 systematized tiade of this sort, reserve 

 a' <'onspicnous part (d' their greenhous.' 

 gr(mnds, nr^ar the store or the front en- 

 trance, as a iilace iJi which to collect, 

 fill and arrange the vases. There the 

 vases, when filled, receive the florist's 

 expert attention until the date arrives 

 for their delivery. The majority of 

 them, p(>rhaps, are delivered a few days 

 befoic ^Femoi-ial day. 



The illustration shows a corner of 

 the greenhouse grounds of Wm. Oakes 

 & Sou. "Westfiebl, Afnss., willi some rows 



H lioini 

 fill it 



The 



used 

 the 



Mud 

 the 



and 



of cemetery vases, well filled and neatly 

 arranged, awaiting the time for de- 

 livery. No data accompanied the photo 

 graph, but it speaks -well for itself and 

 serves well to illustrate the subject. 



FOR PORCH AND PIAZZA. 



.\inong the encouraging signs of the 

 times, from the florist's point of view, is 

 the increasing use, from year to year, 

 of window and porch boxes, especially 

 in the residence districts of the cities 

 ami larger towns. There is no good 

 icason why the filling of these boxes 

 should not be a profitable branch »<f 

 the business, :f well managed, and if the 

 light ])reiiarations are made Viefore the 

 opening of tlie season It is well, also, 

 to be^in the seas(ui early. }iy encourag 

 iiig the customers to ha\e the jilnnting 

 (lone as soon ■"•- the weatlier is favorable, 

 rather than ]'t.stpone the work unneces- 

 sarily. As a means of furnishing this 

 encourageineiiT , ami at the same time in 

 creasing the demand as well as hasten 

 ing it, perluips tlu' florist can employ 

 no better nu"'i!u)il than to display' one or 

 two tastefullv )ilauted loxes in j'ront 

 of his own store. lie can thus sup|d\ 

 a strong inc"nti\e ;in<l a \aluable object 

 li^sson. 



( )f co\ir-;e 

 rist attends 

 beforehand 



any lairly enterprising llo 

 to the matter f>f providing 

 a good su|i|dy of suitable 

 t is hardly necessary to ro- 

 ot the fact that, since the 

 ' Towdeil into uari'ow space 

 ro(d run is restricted, the 

 ;e ]>ro]iort ionatidy rich. The 



soil, aiul i 



miml him 



]ilants are 



and their 



soil must 



compost generally recmumended for the 



purpose is about as follows: Two-thirds 



fibrous loam, one-third dry cow manure 



iiassed throirih a coarse screen, and a 



o inch potful of fine Imjih^ to each bushel 

 of soil. 



There seems to be geiu'ral agreement 

 in the opinion that the box planting- 

 should be done at the greenhouses, 

 rather than at the,j;nstoniers ' homes. 

 One of The Review 's correspondents 

 says emithatically: "All boxes are best 

 filled at the greenhouses. One experi- 

 ence in carting soil and plants to a 

 distance, ;ind being short of this or that, 

 will convince anyone of this." 



The photograj)!! here r(>pioduce(l 

 shows a jileasiue- s.ainplc of this sort o\' 

 porch and ]daz/.a decoration — a sample 

 of the work done by \V. A. & J. 8. Bit 

 ler, of the Highland Park CJreenhouscs. 

 Kokomo. In-l. The residence that is thus 

 beautified belongs to A. V. Conradt. su- 

 perintendent of the dreat Western Pot- 

 tery Works, of Kokomo. The boxes 

 were fillecl wiih jdain gr<MMi \ inca, varie 

 gate<l \inca, Spi-engeii. J.atania Bor- 

 bonica. g(M'auiums. nuirguerites, coleus, 

 ami Ageratum Little Blue Star. They 

 were fill(>d Trlay ^t], 19iri, and were 

 ]diol o^ra]died August 2(1, 1010. 



HANGING BASKETS. 



While hanging b;i<kets .are not used 

 to anything like the extent of either 

 window or ]dazz;i boxes, there seems to 

 be an increasing numbei' of these called 

 for each year. Wire baskets, of course, 

 are the b(>st. "Wooden oiu^s are clumsy 

 and usually square, which is not a suit- 

 able slia|ie. It m;iy be that orders for 

 these bask(^ts of ]dants ;ir(> not re 

 ceived until the time they .are wanted 

 jtost-haste, but if it is known in advance; 

 what will have to be filled it is a gr^at 

 advantage to do the work now and giv(^ 

 the jdants a chance to get established 



