14 



ThcWcckly Florists^ Review^ 



Mat 9, 1912. 



sufficient excuse for his ribbon bow, but 

 not for the innumerable ends. 



The smaller cluster of violets calls 

 for practically no criticism. The flow- 

 ers are massed into what is commonly 

 called an oval form. This in the small 

 size is sufficient to attract, but should 

 be without a tie unless the flowers are 

 given proper direction and the stems 

 are apparent, or the bunch reverses its 

 direction to give cause for the tie. The 

 tie should be of ribbon and not of cord, 

 in my estimation. 



Fred C. W. Brown. 



Criticism Is Cold. 



It seems a cold-blooded thing to criti- 

 cise a design from a photograph, as no 

 doubt the dewy freshness of the flow- 

 ers would appeal to you and put a quite 



Form Lacks Orace. 



In making up violets into the form 

 of a small spray there is little chance 

 for the designer to show his skill. 

 About all one can do is to wire the vio- 

 lets into small bunches of five or six 

 flowers and then make these small 

 bunches into a spray. In the spray 

 illustrated herewith, were it not for 

 the cord, a person could not tell which 

 was the end of the spray, as apparently 

 no stem shows. Violets being usually 

 short-stemmed, some other green must 

 be used to produce the effect desired. 

 Small green galax leaves resemble the 

 violet leaf and stem most closely, but 

 these are not always available. On a 

 small spray of violets a number of 

 loops of violet cord are pretty, but on 



Flowers at a Recent Funeral at Knozville, Tenn. 



different aspect to the rather stiff ar- 

 rangement of the bunch of carnations 

 shown. To eliminate the stiff cycas 

 leaves and make the carnations a little 

 more irregular on the sides would great- 

 ly improve the design as to form. With 

 more pretty ferns as a background and 

 a bunch of maidenhair fern just above 

 the bow, it would do nicely. 



Carnations are not easy to arrange 

 in a flat bunch and a really graceful 

 bunch is almost an impossibility, as 

 the stems are so bare and the heads al- 

 most too heavy for the stems. This 

 makes them much harder to deal with 

 than the always graceful rose, which 

 seems to respond to the least effort and 

 looks well in any position. 



I do not like the cycas leaves for any 

 floral arrangement. The palm family is 

 merely decorative as a pot plant in 

 rooms, halls, churches or landscapes and 

 does not enhance the beauty of flowers. 

 Hence it seems wrong to cut and use 

 them for that purpose when there are 

 so many exquisite ferns that seem to 

 be made expressly to mingle their grace 

 and freshness with the fragrance and 

 purity of the blooms, whether it is the 

 queen of flowers, the rose, the popular 

 carnation, the dainty sweet pea, or the 

 most of other equally lovely speci- 

 mens of the flower family. I love them 

 all and it is a delisrht to gather, to ar- 

 range, to weave them in bunches, gar- 

 lands, etc., to go forth on their errands 

 of love and sympathy. 



Sue M. Cabaniss. 



as large a spray as the one shown a 

 violet ribbon in about a No. 9 width, 

 or a 2-inch gauze, would be more effec- 

 tive. 



The larger picture is that of two 

 cycas leaves crossed and a spray of 

 carnations tied thereon. In making up 

 a spray of flowers to be fastened to 

 cycas leaves, a far more artistic effect 

 will be produced by not using fern 

 leaves under the flowers. The cycas 

 leaves in themselves are enough to sup- 

 port the flowers. The carnations in this 



piece also are bunched up too closely 

 in the end of the spray. It would have 

 been far more pleasing to the eye if in 

 making the spray the first flowers tied 

 had been left to extend out more, even 

 if from four inches to six inches of the 

 stem were to show. 



The next time the designer of the 

 piece shown is called on to make up a 

 similar one, let him wire some of his 

 carnations and let them project out 

 gracefully from between the others, so 

 that, instead of having an even line 

 around the outside of the spray, the 

 flowers will have a more careless but 

 still graceful and airy appearance. On 

 a piece of this description a bow of 

 ribbon is decidedly proper, as it holds 

 the flowers to the cycas leaves, or 

 should at least produce this effect. The 

 bow shown in the picture is nicely tied. 



Hugo Schroeter. 



Tailor-Made Sprays. 



This tailor-made casket spray is a fa- 

 miliar sight in the average flower shop, 

 and in many a one boasting of high 

 class equipment and patronage. It is 

 so neat, so trim, so well groomed, so 

 eminently proper as to suppress every 

 naughty bit of truancy and sweet will- 

 fulness of every carnation and fern leaf 

 upon two as proper cycas leaves as ever 

 revoluted. 



Why is it that so many in the store 

 craft seem to think that artistic work 

 is so intangible, so impractical, that 

 only in some far-off dream day in the 

 next world, when there is no rush on, 

 they will throw off the shackles of con- 

 ventionality, unbridle their artistic in- 

 stincts and decorate the heaven of 

 heavens? Do it here, friends. Break 

 loose today. 



To our friend who has so generously 

 offered his work for criticism, we would 

 suggest, first, that he has cut the carna- 

 tion stems too short. If the foliage is 

 good you will need to do little if any 

 clipping. The stems are needed to bal- 

 ance the bulk and length of the flower 

 part of the spray. The top-heaviness 

 of this spray is increased by the addi- 

 tion of the cycas leaves. A scattered 

 bunch of carnations at the base of the 

 cycas leaves would be better. Or the 

 cycas leaves might be ribbed with long, 

 stemmed carnations wired, from the 

 base to the tips. The cycas leaves 

 could be crossed and tied low. In this 

 way a few flowers would be thrown be- 

 low the tie and their stems and the 

 cycas stems would appear. 



As the piece now stands the tie con- 



Motor Delivery of the E. Wienhoeber Co., Chicaco. 



