32 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



December 14, 1911. 



wreath is on a wire ring, but a good 

 one is on rattan; also, it has a piece 

 of good ribbon on it. Fine wreaths 

 can not be made up much in advance 

 unless you have a special place to store 

 them in. You can't lay a big, full 

 wreath down or its weight will crush 

 it. Hang them up in the cool, moist 

 cellar. If you can do that you can 

 make in advance all you need and have 

 them ready when wanted for sale or 

 delivery. 



Evergreen Wreathing. 



Evergreen wreathing once was the 

 item of second importance in Christ- 

 mas greens, or perhaps even first, but it 

 isn't so any more. Some florists still 

 handle it in quantity, but it is scarcely 

 sold at all in the high class city stores. 

 Its principal use is in exterior decora- 

 tions. It browns up quickly in a warm 

 room. Even while in crates, unpacked, 

 some cloth or covering should be thrown 

 over it to keep the exposed outsides 

 from losing the fresh green color. To 

 dip the bunches in water for a minute 

 or two will make the sprays pliable and 

 easier to work, but if overwet it will 

 all the quicker turn brown or black 

 after being made up. 



The wreathing that is made up by 

 tens of thousands of yards and sold to 

 the florists for them to retail is apt to 

 be thin, because competition and the 

 rising price of the raw material, bou- 

 quet green, has brought the price down 

 too low for the manufacturers to turn 

 out a really good article; you can't 

 get something for nothing at Christ- 

 mas any more than at any other time. 



Consequently many florists prefer to 

 make their own wreathing and then 

 store it away in a frame or cool shed, 

 but always covered, so that the light 

 and air will be excluded as much as 

 possible. If you use only a moderate 

 quantity of light wreathing you prob- 

 ably can not make it as cheaply as 

 you can buy it; it only pays to go into 

 making it if you want a specially heavy 

 article or if you want the usual grade 

 in considerable quantity. The big deal- 

 ers in wreathing keep the cost of labor 

 lower than the average florist caij get 

 it. They pay only about 65 cents per 

 '100 yards for making the wreathing 

 sold at about 3 cents per yard. Hire 

 inexperienced women, none too strong 

 at that, and they will not make living 

 wages at that rate, nor will they turn 

 out HO good an article of wreathing. 

 Besides, you have the bother to figure 

 on. 



Miscellaneous Greens. 



For indoor decorations wild smilax 

 is the space coverer; nothing to beat 

 it, but keep it cool while you hold it. 

 For fine wreaths, balls and bells, box- 

 wood sprays have come into great popu- 

 larity. For good decorations in or on 

 large buildings, laurel wreathing is a 

 fine article. It is a pretty green, clean, 

 does not drop and has not the cheap 

 look of the evergreen wreathing. Use 

 it where you can. It is perhaps double 

 the cost of the evergreen wreathing, 

 but it looks it and is worth it. You 

 can buy by the yard, made up, cheaper 

 than you can buy the sprays and make 

 it up j'ourself. You can get it in any 



A Type of Christinas Wincfow— Bright and Full. 



grade your trade calls for. No amount 

 of frost hurts it. A coldframe, with 

 the light excluded, is a good place for 

 it, but don 't make too great a thick- 

 ness of it, for it flattens out and then 

 is anything but ornamental. That is 

 the only trouble with the wreathing 

 you buy; it needs to be ruffled up and 

 shaken out. 



There are any number of other Christ- 

 mas greens, some of them quite impor- 

 tant in certain localities, but those 

 mentioned are the ones in general use 

 practi^jally everywhere. 



Mistletoe. 



Of course you must have mistletoe, 

 but you should not count your profit 

 on it before you have the cash in the 

 register. Mistletoe profits are much 

 like those counted on unhatched chick- 

 ens. A few people will say there are 

 no "privileges" allowed with the na- 

 tive species and will have nothing but 

 the imported article, but the great ma- 

 jority do not know the difference. It 

 is not of record that the mistletoe, 

 which has such charming associations, 

 lends extra bliss to the exercise under 

 the bough when well berried, but cer- 

 tain it is that it often reaches the flo- 

 rist quite berryless. The berries are 

 in the bottom of the case. If you buy 

 ten dollars' worth of mistletoe, you 

 will, perhaps, get your money back, but 

 you won 't do that if you leave it in the 

 case and let every clerk maul it over 

 when wanting to select a 50-cent spray. 

 Unpack and sort it and put a price on 

 each group, so that each salesman can 

 readily pick up what his customer 

 wants. Handling will ruin it. 



Christmas Trees. 



Don 't keep the Christmas trees in- 

 doors, or they will drop their needles. 



The downtown stores in the cities no 

 longer handle Christmas trees, but the 

 florists in the outlying districts some- 

 times meet the grocer and the tree ped- 

 dler on their own ground and hold their 

 own. Some who still push the Christ- 

 mas tree business keep a list of those 

 who have bought in other years and gO' 

 after the orders several days ahead of 

 the appearance of the trees at the cor- 

 ner grocery. They call up on the tele- 

 phone, or send a salesman, or mail a 

 reply postal card; at least they put the 

 tree question to every customer wha 

 comes to the store. In those ways it 

 is possible to round up a good bunch 

 of orders ahead of delivery time. Of 

 course, if you get up any Christmas 

 greens literature, it should be mailed 

 to all the well-to-do people in your 

 neighborhood. The florist ought to- 

 make an effort to have a little better 

 grade of greens than can be bought 

 of the provision stores or street sales- 

 men with whom he comes in competi- 

 tion, and the same way with trees. A 

 lot of people know a good, shapely tree- 

 when they see it. You can sell a lot 

 of these if you have the stock and fa- 

 cilities. 



Table trees still are new in many- 

 localities. These are little fellows, not 

 over two feet high, and are sold with 

 some sort of base to hold them upright. 

 A piece of tree four to six inches in 

 diameter, sawed into disks an inch or 

 two thick, makes a good support. If 

 the trees, as you buy them, are not 

 already fitted out, bore a hole in the 

 center of the disk, sharpen the end of 

 the little Christmas tree, drive it into 

 the hole, and there you are, all ready 



