The Weekly Florists' Review. 



SEI'TKMIIKU 10, I'JOt). 



would hare been / to have suggested a 

 four-leaved clover,\an old shoe nlled for 

 good luck, or the omce waste basket load- 

 ed full of long-stemmed flowers, or an 

 open ledger with a clear page and an 

 inscription added! Better still, why not 

 have sent a handsome vase, not forgetting 

 to talk up the always reliable basket of 

 flowers or plants, or the two combined? 

 The excuse is often given by a sales- 

 man for allowing his trade to run in ruts 

 and making the same old things in the 

 same old way year after year, that cus- 

 tomers do not appreciate anything better. 

 Of course they do not . appreciate better 

 things when they never see them or 

 "hear tell" of them. A tailor or milliner 

 never hesitates to tell a prospective buyer 

 what he ought to have and insist upon 

 it, too. Illustrators, picture makers and 

 all crafts keep ahead of the pultlic and 

 put up their products with the authority 

 of leaders. But some florists assume that 

 they are too modest to urge the use of 

 the new and best things, until the mod- 

 esty assumes a' tinge of what is called, in 

 plain English, laziness. 



Baskets of Flowers or Plants. 



But to return to the basket. The gay- 

 est and freest will be none too much for 

 these occasions. By gaiety is not meant 

 giddiness or disregard for color and 

 taste, but let good coloring run riot and 

 employ loose and playful combinations 

 of foliage, flowers and ribbon. Tin lined 

 baskets are fine for flowers, as well as 

 plants. Fill with spagnum and stem as 

 needed. When complete and placed, fill 

 with water and the flowers will keep in 

 excellent condition. 



Tastefully arranged plant baskets are 

 very acceptable for openings. Plant in 

 the basket pan ^nd fill vacancies with soil 

 or sphagnum. Then water well. Both 

 blooming and foliage plants can be used 

 together. Be finicky about choosing colors. 

 When circumstances permit, cyclamens, 

 with white or heliotrope pink mums and 

 Boston ferns, are happily combined, while 

 another desirable selection might be com- 

 posed of TChite primroses with Asparagus 

 plumosus and Enchantress carnations. 

 Another : . Pink or lavender primroses in 

 the body of the basket and a cluster.pf 

 white carnations sprayed over the han- 



dle. Wrap the handle first with soft 

 ribbon in green or lavender, with a ro- 

 sette at one side. If pansy plants are 

 obtainable, fill the basket with the pur- 

 ples and yellows and decorate the handle 

 with yellow mums. Cover the soil with 

 sheet moss or lycopodium. 



One way to work off a surplus of 

 jardinieres or^vases is to sell the vase or 

 jardiniere and contents for store open- 

 ings or for hospital patients. 



Don't chiffon everything. Ribbon a 

 goodly proportion and leave some pieces 

 unadorned as regards any kind of fabrics. 



Sometimes, for openings, fill a birch 

 bark box, like a window box, with tall 

 foliage plants for the center, and bright 

 blooming plants interspersed •with de- 

 pending vines. Use flowers with some 

 and add autumn leaves, cones or such 

 local products. Coleus plaijts are often 

 of good size at this time of the year, and 

 a few surplus stock plants can be worked 

 in appropriately. Select the brilliant 

 reds and shade with variegated reds and 

 greens, and finally into the clear greens. 

 Finish with a cluster of delicate pink 

 flowers, like Enchantress carnations or 

 Bridesmaid roses. Gertrude Blair. 



ALWAYS STATE HOW TO SHEP. 



There is nothing more annoying to a 

 shipper of perishable stock, especially of 

 so bulky a nature as plants, than to re- 

 ceive an order like this, ' ' Ship at once, ' ' 

 or "Ship without delay," "Ship me," 

 or "Rush the following order," without 

 instructions as to which way to ship, by 

 freight or express. 



An additiop of one more word, 

 "Freight" or "Express," would re- 

 lieve the shipper of all doubt and re- 

 move the necessity of a lot of corre- 

 spondence, in which usually the pur- 

 chaser mentions a dozen times how the 

 stock should have been shipped, if the 

 shipment went wrong. 



Sometimes, when a purchaser sends In 

 an order which may run of considerable 

 weight, it looks as if the shipping in- 

 structions were purposely omitted, to 

 throw the entire responsibility of judg- 

 ment upon the shipper, and if he routes 

 it by. freight and the shipment does not 

 reacl^ its destination quickly enough^^en 



there is an awful howl about its being 

 shipped by freight. On the other hand, 

 if the stock is expressed and the charges 

 are beyond expectations, as they usutdly 

 are, back comes the same kick about 

 sending such heavy shipments by ex- 

 press. In nine cases out of ten, the pur- 

 chaser will try to fall bagk on the shipper 

 and blame him for lack of judgment or 

 loss sustained, when the purchaser is en- 

 tirely at fault. • 



These matters usually start unpleasant 

 relatiotis between buyer and seller, which 

 could be avoided by a proper understand- 

 ing when an order is sent in. Always 

 state how you want your order shipped. 



C. C. POLLWOBTH Co. 



WILSON SAILS FOR AMERICA. 



E. H. Wilson, famous collector of new 

 Chinese and Thibetan plants, sails from 

 Liverpool today to spend a considerable 

 time at Harvard University and Arnold 

 Arboretum, with Prof. C. S. Sargent, ar- 

 ranging, identifying and naming the . 

 large number of specimens collected by 

 Mr. Wilson on the more than two years' 

 trip to western China from which he re- 

 turned to England- in May. 



Mr. WilgOn was in Kew from 1897 to 

 1899. In February of the latter year 

 he was engaged by James Veitch & Sons, 

 of Chelsea, to visit southern and central 

 China for the purpose of collecting new 

 and rare plants. For the greater part of 

 three years Mr., Wilson labored in this 

 enormous district, and in the earlier part 

 of that period he obtained considerable 

 help from Dr. Augustine Henry, himself 

 a keen botanist and collector. The chief 

 results of this mission were the finding 

 of Jasminum primulinum, Davidia in- 

 volucrata. Hex Pernyi, Astilbe Davidi 

 and A. grandis, Buddleia variabilis 

 Veitchii, and B. variabilis magnifica, 

 Coiydalis thalictrifolia, Lonicera Maacki, 

 Senecio clivorum, Populus lasiocarpa, 

 Viburnum rhytidophyllum, and numerous 

 vitis and rubi. So successful was Mr. 

 Wilson that he undertook a second jour- 

 ney for the Messrs. Veitch, during 1903 

 and 1904, to western China and the 

 Thibetan border, returning in March, 

 1905. During this trip he found Me- 

 conopsis integrifolia, M. punicea. Prim 



Glass Receptacles with Water Lilies and Valley on a Luncheon Table. 



•Wa.<ai>ta^aii> 



