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March 31, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



A Neglected Feature. 



One of the features of the florists' 

 telephone trade that has not been appre- 

 ciated by the telephone companies is the 

 long distance business. In the big cities 

 where wholesale florists have shipping 

 trade, a large part of the business comes 

 by telegraph and the telegraph companies 

 make special effort to see that prompt 

 delivery is made on all messages to whole- 

 sale florists. In many instances they 

 use the 'phone to do it. It is quite the 

 regular thing for the telegraph company 

 to deliver the message by 'phone if no 

 boy is handy, and after business hours 

 they deliver the messages by 'phone to 

 the residence of some one connected with 

 the wholesale florist 's establishment. 



Gradually the out-of-town florists are 

 finding that the long distance 'phone is 

 an exceedingly handy way of ordering 

 from the city wholesaler. It is quite a 

 little quicker than the telegraph and it 

 has the added advantage that the buyer 

 knows right then just what the wholesaler 

 is going to be able to do on the order; 

 if the exact article wanted cannot be sup- 

 plied in time, the out-of-town florist has 

 the opportunity of making his own se- 

 lection of the substitute. 



' * We find a large part of our ship- 

 ping orders now come by 'phone," said 

 a large Philadelphia wholesaler. "The 

 buyers, especially those who order only 

 occasionally and for special articles, or 

 when the market is short, like to know at 

 once just what we are going to be able to 

 do on the order. The long distance tele- 

 phone trade had grown to be quite an im- 

 portant matter with us just before the 

 telephone companies did away with the 

 special night rate that used to go into 

 effect at 6 'clock. We h^e many trains 

 leaving in the evening and customers 

 found it fine business to wait until 6 

 o 'clock, 'phone us their orders and re- 

 ceive the stock in the morning. We 

 thought it would cut a big hole in this 

 business when the companies abolished 

 the night rate, and its effect was appar- 

 ent at first, but customers soon got back 

 into the habit of using the 'phone just 

 the same, and now we are doing more 

 than ever by long distance 'phone." 



WREATH ON EASEL. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 what excellent results one can obtain 

 with a minimum quantity of material, 

 and that such as ordinarily is at hand in 

 an establishment where a general line of 

 stock is grown for the retail trade. This 

 is a large wreath on an easel and was 

 made a few weeks ago by William F. 

 Snyder, Hopkinsville, Ky. A few Bride 

 roses were used for a cluster at the low- 

 er left side, with Enchantress carnations 

 for the main part of the wreath, but 

 these were not set closely together nor 

 too close to the green. The balance of 

 the space was loosely filled with prim- 

 roses. Of course a considerable quantity 

 of green was required, ferns for cover- 

 ing the moss and Asparagus plumosus 

 with the flowers to give a well filled ef- 

 fect. With the cluster of roses, cut 

 fronds of Boston and Whitman! ferns 

 were used to form a generous-looking 

 cluster. With the backing afforded by 

 three '•yeas leaves, something that no re- 

 tail place ever is without, it made a 

 handsome piece. 



Wreath on EaseL 



UNDEVELOPED HYAC3NTH BUDS. 



I am sending, under separate cover, a 

 few buds of the Baron Van Tliuyll hya- 



cinth. Please tell me what can be the 

 trouble with them. As soon as they get 

 about this size and show color they fall 

 over among the leaves or on to the bench 

 or pots. I have lost so far about fifty 

 per cent of this one variety, in pans 

 and 4-inch pots both, but have had no 

 such trouble with Gertrude, La Pey- 

 rouse, etc., from the same Holland firm, 

 nor with any from another Holland firm. 

 Such varieties as Gertrude, Grand 

 Maitre, Mme. Vanderhoop and L 'Inno- 

 cence are all fine and in good condition. 

 It is only this one variety that has given 

 me this trouble, in second size as well 

 as miniatures from this one firm. All 

 were wintered in the same frames and 

 housed at the same time. They were 

 stood under benches a few days in 45 

 degrees, and after a week or ten days 

 were placed on the benches at 50 to 55 

 degrees at night, with a higher tempera- 

 ture on bright days. Can it be that the 

 bulbs of this one variety were diseased? 

 Or what do you think is the cause of the 

 trouble? The bulbs are well rooted and 

 show no sign of decaying at the bottom. 



G. B. 



The trouble is probably due either to 

 disease or some inherent weakness of the 

 bulbs. Baron Van Thuyll is an old and 

 reliable hyacinth. Occasionally we have 

 had one or two bulbs act in this way, 



but never any considerable number of 

 this or any other variety. The fact 

 that the bulbs rooted well, that the flow- 

 ers received were in no way discolored 

 and that others in the same batch flow- 

 ered satisfactorily, is somewhat puzzling. 

 Can any other bulb growers, who have 

 had similar experiences, cast any light 

 on this subject? C. W. 



PiTTSFiELD, Mass. — Arthur N. Cooley 

 is enlarging his greenhouses on Crofut 

 street. He is building orchid, rose and 

 palm houses, besides an addition to his 

 boiler room. 



Wilmington, 0. — The report that 

 George H. Moores had taken charge of 

 the business of H. E. Mitting was not 

 entirely correct. Though Mr. Mitting 

 has sold the lease of the Wilmington 

 Floral Co. to Mr. Moores, the latter will 

 not take possession till June 15 or July 1. 



Grand Rapids, Mich. — W. L. Cukerski 

 invited the public to inspect his fine 

 new conservatory and greenhouses, at 

 the corner of Valley avenue and West 

 Fulton street, March 20. Since retiring 

 from his position in connection with the 

 city parks, Mr. Cukerski has been en- 

 gaged as a landscape architect and his 

 ideas have been adopted by several cities. 

 He also operates a nursery on Walker 

 road. 



