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The Horists' Review 



Sbptimbbb 5, 1912. 



Dinner Table Centerpieces Make Stead/ Customers. 



CENTEBPIECES. 



The social season is again with us 

 and one of the it^ms of Steady business 

 will be furDi||k4i}g centerpieces for din- 

 ner tables. This is a lijie of work 

 which can be made extremely profitable, 

 for once a customer uses flowers for the 

 table, that table never again seems 

 complete without them. It will pay 

 any retail florist to encourage his cus- 

 tomers to use his centerpieces, even at 

 some slight expense for getting them 

 started; get one hostess in a social set 

 to start the fashion and you soon will 

 have all the members of that coterie 

 following suit. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 a centerpiece of Mrs. Jardine roses ar- 

 ranged by John Mangel, Chicago, for a 

 dinner given to General Grant in the 

 French room of the Blackstone hotel. 

 This was an oval table with twenty- 

 five covers. Three similar centerpieces 

 were used, the one at the center of the 

 table somewhat larger than .the two 

 companion bunches toward the ends. 



NO CAUSE FOB ALASM. 



Every little while someone sends 

 The Review a funeral notice that says 

 "Please omit flowers," or a news- 

 paper clipping containing an argument 

 for economy in funerals, including the 

 elimination of flowers. The subscriber 

 always thinks the florists are about to 

 be put out of business. Nothing to 

 it at all. The increase in the wealth 

 of the nation is making flower buyers 

 much faster than any sporadic in- 

 fluence can unmake them. 



There is one little point in this 

 matter of funeral flowers that is in- 

 teresting and illuminating. Note the 

 customer whose family circle is broken 

 for the first time; observe, after that, 

 how much more frequently that cus- 

 tomer sends flowers to funerals. It 

 isn't the desire to repay; it's the. ex- 

 pression of the way the flowers touched 

 his own heart in his sorrow. 



Worcester, Mass. — ^Francis A. Kinni- 

 cutt, of 50 Elm street, recently ob- 

 tained a permit for several improve- 

 ments, including the erection of a 

 greenhouse and a garden shelter and 

 the enlargement of his residence. 



A NEW PEST. 



I should like to know whether any 

 other florists are bothered with the rose 

 leaf roller? At least that is what I 

 think it* is, although this caterpillar 

 folds itself up in the foliage of any 

 plant it may be on, having been noticed 

 on carnations, mums, begonias, gerani- 

 ums and pelargoniums; in fact, I have 

 not found any plant that is immune. 



Although I have spent* a lifetime at 

 this business, I have never seen any- 

 thing like it before. I find that the 

 eggs are laid by a small brown butter- 

 fly, and seem to hatch about every six 

 weeks. They started in March in the 



greenhouses and, being something new 

 they gdt a good start before I or my 

 foreman discovered what a pest i^ 

 really was. 



The caterpillar when fully gi')wn 

 turns into a small cocoon, which re- 

 mains curled up under the leaf and in 

 a short time develops into one of the 

 little brown butterflies, which in turn 

 must lay hundreds of eggs, from the 

 way the pest spreads. In a week or so 

 a small caterpillar, almost too small to 

 be seen with the naked eye, develops, 

 spun in a small web under the leaf. 

 As the caterpillar develops, he curls into 

 a small cone and begins feeding on the 

 young foliage, stripping the plants. 



I have tried Slug Shot and Paris 

 green. While the latter will kill the 

 pest, unless every leaf is kept covered 

 with the poison, so that every cater- 

 pillar is killed, you cannot get rid of 

 them, as one that escapes will develop 

 into the butterfly and before long you 

 have them all over the house again. 

 We have tried hand-picking in one 

 house every day for a month, but they 

 keep coming, and I must say that of all 

 the insects ever seen in a greenhouse 

 this is the worst. 



I noticed, a few days ago, an article 

 in one of our local papers from a cor- 

 respondent in an adjoining county, stat- 

 ing that a new insect had been dis- 

 covered there, which, according to his 

 description, is the above described 

 caterpillar, and which he says is de- 

 stroying the foliage on trees, shrubs, 

 vegetable and flowering plants. I should 

 like to hear through The Beview from 

 any one in the trade who has had expe- 

 rience with similar insects and also to 

 advise those who may discover any of 

 the above described insects to destroy 

 them before they get any foothold. 



Missouri. Chas. H. Gelven. 



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^ SEASONABLE ^ 



^ ^ SUGGESTIONS* 



' "- ■ " — 



Amaryllis. 



The amaryllis plants still will have 

 dark green foliage and it is unwise to 

 attempt to rest them now. I have seen 

 men who were supposed to be good grow- 

 ers throw their plants under the benches 

 after flowering, allowing them to re- 

 main there until they wanted to start 

 them the following season, the prey of 

 sowbugs and other vermin. And then 

 they wondered why the plants flowered 

 so sparsely and feebly! As a matter of 

 fact, amaryllises succeed best when they 

 still have green foliage adhering to 

 them when shaken out and started up. 

 They are too often half ruined by over- 

 resting. They still will require a good 

 water supply and stand the fullest sun- 

 shine from now on. It should also be 

 remembered that unflowered seedlings 

 should never be rested at all until 

 after they have bloomed. As be- 

 tween planting out amaryllis seedlings 

 in the open and growing on in pots, I 

 find I get larger bulbs and heavier 

 foliage outdoors, but the plants sustain 

 so much check when lifted that the pot- 

 grown stock beats thejn out. Where, 



however, climatic conditions are suffi- 

 ciently mild to permit the bulbs stay- 

 ing in the open over winter, that meth- 

 od of culture is the simplest and best. 



Hydrangeas. 



The pot-grown hydrangea plants are 

 those which we must depend upon for 

 Easter, 1913, coming, as it does, so 

 much earlier than usual. Their growth 

 will now be practically completed, but 

 in order to assist in ripening the wood 

 the water supply should be gradually 

 reduced, not to the extent of causing the 

 foliage to wilt, but a good deal less 

 water can now be given and the leaves 

 still kept plump. Hydrangeas are not 

 such great favorites at Easter as are 

 azaleas, rambler roses, genistas and 

 spiraeas, but a fair number can be sold 

 and, as forcing must start early to have 

 them in bloom for March 23, plants 

 must be prepared for it now. 



While there is no immediate rush 

 about potting up the field stock, so long 

 as damaging frosts keep away, plants 

 dug and potted now will get better 

 established than those left until the 

 foliage is falling. They should be lifted 



