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6 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



January 26, 1911. 



way, advertising pays — it pays at any 

 time, but it pays best of all at such 

 times as St. Valentine 's day. It is a 

 day of possibilities long neglected by 

 the florists. We have so great an advan 

 tage over the candy man, or the dealer 

 in the tissue paper contraptions, that 

 all you have to do is to suggest a cor- 

 sage bouquet in a nice hamper and the 

 young man, or the old one, says, 'Why 

 didn't I think of that before?' St. 

 Valentine's day business is growing 

 rapidly; the more it is advertised the 

 more it will grow." 



"Advertising for St. Valentine's day 

 in 1910 brought an excellent business," 

 said Homer L. Wiegand, of A. Wiegand 

 & Sons. "Flowers fit exactly with the 

 sentiment of the day and all you have 

 to do is to give the people the idea to 

 have them recognize the fact. In time 

 it will come to be one of the big flower 

 days. It is the day of the small flower, 

 however, for nearly all purchasers last 

 year wanted corsages, of violets or 

 sweet peas, with valley, orchids or 

 gardenias." 



"We have used a great deal of space 

 in the Washington papers," said W. F. 

 Gude, ' * and have increased our adver- 

 tising expenditure steadily almost from 

 the day we first tried it — because it 

 paid. It pays best for special days, of 

 course, because at a holiday a large 

 part of the population is looking for 

 something to buy; only the right sug- 



Don't Be Hasty. 



Advertising is one of the things that 

 should be gone about deliberately. It 

 must be well planned or there will be 

 waste. Use only the best paper and 

 probably you can afford space enough 

 for a strong display, and, besides, your 

 order will be worth enough so the news- 

 paper can afford to go to some pains 

 to see that you get a first-class show- 

 ing. Why not call in now the solicitor 

 for your best local paper and put St. 

 Valentine's up to him? Then back up 

 the advertising he plans for you. 



AS TRUE AS PREACHING. 



Grimm & Gorly, the St. Louis florists, 



have recently been using as their motto 



the following rash-sounding but strictly 



truthful and conservative quatrain: 



We give the earth with every plant — 



With every plant the earth; 

 \\'i' furnish flowers for the dead, 

 As well as for a birth. 



THE PRIMROSES. 



Primula Obconica. 



Each year we hear of a number of 

 cases of poisoning from handling Prim- 

 ula obconica. Some retailers will not 

 handle it for this reason, but its cul- 

 ture does not seem to decrease. It is 

 one of the most generally useful and 

 satisfactory of plants for window 



St. Valentine's 

 Day 



Divinely Beautiful- 

 These Sweet Peas 



Nothing is quite so appealing 

 to the eye that loves color, grace, 

 and beauty as a mass of Sweet Peas. 



They have a freshness and simplicity that 

 fairly cries out in its glory and breathes of out 

 doors and freedom. 



It has been a delight to us to collect the 

 finest specimens possible, and by using every 

 means to advance growth and create new shades, 

 we display a riot of harmoni-^ing color in stripes, 

 mottled or plain flowers, larger in size than ever 

 dreamed of and mounted on long, strong stems. 



A mass of these beauties cannot help but call 

 for delighted expressions from the recipient. 



Gude Bros. Co., Florists 



12I4FSt.N. W. Pli. 11.4278 



Otide'^ Jlowcru Ui>t loiiKf -tt 1i«caufc tticy 

 ■ re frcsheat. 



TOJTX 



Neat and Tasteful Display. 



gestion is needed to turn that ready- 

 made demand into a fine run of extra 

 business. ' There are few days with the 

 sentiment of which flowers fit so well 

 as with the sentiment of St. Valen- 

 tine 's day. Our business showed a big 

 increase last year. Many people called 

 specially for the sweet peas featured 

 in our advertising." 



boxes and few plants are so persistent 

 in flowering in the house. Now, while 

 last season 's plants are just at their 

 best, is the proper time to sow seeds 

 to produce blooming plants for next 

 Christmas sales. Purchase the grandi- 

 flora type. Never mind if you do not 

 get so many seeds; the flowers are a 

 vast improvement over the old type 



and are now procurable in half a dozen 

 distinct shades of color. Sow in pans 

 or shallow flats in a warm, moist house, 

 covering the seeds lightly. Lay sheets 

 of glass over them and over this a 

 sheet of paper, which should remain 

 until the seedlings start to germinate. 

 Never allow the soil to become any- 

 thing like dry, and if your seed was 

 good few should fail to grow. Of 

 course, this primula may be sown as 

 late as April, but that is not the time 

 to sow for early flowering. 



If you chance to have a quantity of 

 small plants in 3-inch or 4-inch pots, 

 which are not moving as rapidly as 

 you wish, make them up into 6-inch or 

 8-inch pans, a single color to each, and 

 they will sell much better. 



Primula Sinensis. 



This ever popular primula should 

 also be sown as early as possible. If 

 secured in nice flower for Christmas, it 

 always moves well. Do not i)urchase 

 cheap seed or mixtures. They always 

 give a large percentage of plants carry- 

 ing small flowers, often of undesirable 

 colors. At Christmas the brilliant 

 Crimson King always moves quickly. 

 A few other good sorts are: Covent 

 (jrarden Eed, Eosy Morn, Eeading Fink 

 and alba magnifica. The white stellata 

 varieties are also decorative. They are 

 taller and more wiry than the old type 

 and free flowering. Sow the seeds in 

 a mixture of leaf -mold and sand, in 

 shallow pans in a warm house. Move 

 to cooler quarters when the seedlings 

 have made their second leaf. A shelf 

 well up to the light, but protected from 

 bright sunshine, will keep them stocky. 



Primula Kewensis. 



When well flowered, Primula Kewen- 

 sis is easily the most beautiful of all 

 the tender primulas. It is naturally a 

 vigorous grower, and, even if sown as 

 late as the end of March, strong plants 

 may be had before winter. P. Kewen- 

 sis appeared originally as a chance 

 seedling in a batch of P. floribunda, 

 but la believed to be a hybrid between 

 that variety and P. verticillata, com 

 bining, as it does, the free flowering 

 habit of P. floribunda with the larger 

 and deeper yellow flowers of P. verti- 

 cillata. It is a persistent bloomer and 

 will flower as long as P. obconica. It 

 supplies just the color most needed in 

 primulas for winter decoration. It has 

 in addition a delightful odor, similar 

 to that of the English cowslip, P. veris. 

 This primula germinates sooner and 

 grows faster than any of the other in- 

 door varieties. Plants in 8-inch pots 

 are easily grown if seed is sown early, 

 but as a rule 6-inch will be found a 

 more salable size. The treatment dif 

 fers little from that advised for P. 

 obconica, only P. Kewensis takes kind 

 ly to a rather stronger compost and 

 requires more water and feeding when 

 the pots are filled with roots. When in 

 flower, if the fading flowers are picked 

 off twice or thrice a week the appear- 

 ance of the plants will be improved. 

 For a table centerpiece a few plants 

 turned out of pots will make the most 

 charming and spring-like arrangements 

 possible. 



Hardy Primulas. 



The common English primrose, P. 

 vulgaris, meets with a considerable 

 sale, both in the form of plants and 

 cut flowers, in the large markets each 

 season. In order to get a good batch 

 of plants, which will flower a year 



