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28 



The Florists' Review 



NOVEHBBB 14, 1912, 



elation of those' who have been suffi- 

 ciently interested to follow thus far, 

 but the ideas which are to be brought 

 out in subsequent installments will be 

 all the better understood by the read- 

 er's retracing his steps and going again 

 over the progress thus far made. At 

 the conclusion again compare the 

 wreath on page 29 with the one on this 

 page, and the two with the typical 

 mixed wreath on page 27, We rely on 

 the illustrations to make clear many 

 points only hinted at in the text, 



Fred C. W. Brown. 



FUBE AIB NEEDED. 



Can you give us any information as 

 to the possible effects on cut flowers 

 and plants in general from odors aris- 

 ing from embalming fluids! We are 

 next door to an undertaking establish- 

 ment, the wall between being of double 

 matched boards, papered. We can not 

 keep cut flowers or blooming plants 

 more than over night, or one day, when 

 the same stock will keep at our green- 

 houses or the residence as long as can 

 be expected. We use electricity for 

 lights, having cut out the gas lights, 

 as we thought they might be the cause, 

 but it has made no difference, L, 



Plants and cut flowers require pure 

 air, just as humans- do. The fact that 

 your stock keeps well at other places 

 would indicate that there is something 

 wrong at the store. Doubtless it is 

 the business next door that is causing 

 the trouble. Anything that would im- 

 pregnate the air to the point where the 

 odor would be apparent would be in- 

 jurious. One florist, after long experi- 

 ment, recently proved to his own satis- 

 faction that the laundry next door was 

 the cause of the stock in his store keep- 

 ing poorly; the odor of soapsuds was 

 present. If the odor of embalming fluid 

 is apparent in your store, it will not 

 be likely to add to your patronage by 

 the better class of flower buyers, no 

 matter what else it may do. 



FLOWERS Am) FTTNERALS. 



Every now "and then some florist 

 thinks that the trade is to be sent to the 

 bow-wows by a sporadic agitation 

 against the use of flowers at funerals. 

 But no real harm is done. How the 

 great mass of the people look upon flow- 

 ers at funerals is well illustrated by the 

 following incident: A Kansas City 

 editor found some theretofore unheard 

 of minister quoted in the paper as fol- 

 lows: 



My desire is to banish all flowers from funerals. 

 What is the use of blossoms on a coffin? Chris- 

 tianity ought to educate this custom out of the 

 Ideas and ideals of Americans. Take the roses 

 and put them, not on a coffin, but in the lapel of 

 the coat of the laboring man on his way to work. 

 Send the lilies into the workshop, into the sweat- 

 shop, there to brighten lives. 



The editor wrote in answer in his 

 paper: "It will probably be a very long 

 time before the world adopts the sug- 

 gestion of the New York minister who 

 seeks to bar all flowers from funerals 

 and distribute them instead among the 

 living. Flowers are more than mere 

 floral offerings. They are symbols of 

 the most beautiful of all the human 

 emotions — that which pays its last trib- 

 ute of affection in the offering of blos- 

 soms and fragrance. The suggestion 

 that instead of heaping the floral gifts 

 upon the bier, where the mortal remains 

 of the departed lie for a few hours in 

 unrealizing state, they should be divided 



A LcM Conveotioiul Wreath of Mixed Flowcn. 



among the living, to whom they will 

 bring happiness, is worthy in purpose, 

 but the same result could be accom- 

 plished without robbing the solemn 

 funeral ceremony of one of its most im- 

 pressive features. 



"Probably the most sorrowful spec- 

 tacle that could be conceived would be 

 a funeral without a single flower. There 

 are many such, but they are among 

 life's sad tragedies. The flower stands 

 for remembrance and affection; it is a 

 pledge of fidelity and love, or at least of 

 respect and esteem. The absence of all 

 such tokens means today that one has 

 died with none to mourn his loss and 

 with none to promise to remember. There 

 is, it may be admitted, much of the arti- 

 ficial and unmeant on many occasions, 

 when lavish floral offerings do not 

 necessarily measure the degree of sor- 

 row felt by those who pay the tributes. 

 There is also at times a deplorable waste 

 of money in ostentatious display. But 

 these are exceptional features of a cus- 

 tom that goes back to the earliest be- 

 ginnings, back to the time when flowers 

 and blossoms were typical and sym- 

 bolical of the future life, A portion of 

 the tribute paid to the departed might 

 well be spared for the laudable purpose 

 suggested by the New York minister. 

 The living need the flowers with which 

 the dead may well dispense, but the 

 funeral offering is not for the dead 

 alone. The custom is too sweet and 

 sacred to be abolished, yet it might well 

 be varied by a sharing of the tribute 

 with the unfortunate living, to whom 

 the division will bring cheer. ' ' 



The florists of the present generation 

 need not worry over the prospective loss 

 of funeral work. Quite the contrary: 

 The use of flowers at funerals is on the 

 increase, and the increase will continue. 



THE OSEDIT ASSO<HATION. 



It has been reported in The Review 

 that the Chicago wholesale florists 

 have organized a new credit associa- 

 tion. The following statement is by 

 Mr. Webb, the manager: 



"Feeling the need of cooperation 

 along lines that will provide for con- 

 centrated action on all matters pertain- 

 ing to the general welfare of the trade, 

 to protect it against unjust and unlaw- 

 ful exactions, to correct abuses, to ami- 

 cably adjust differences in the trade, 

 and for the additional purpose of en- 

 abling its members to extend credit 

 only to those who are shown worthy 

 of it, the wholesale cut flower dealers 

 of Chicago have formed an association 

 which will be known «s the National 

 Wholesale Florists' Association. The 

 association will have among its mem- 

 bers not only the dealers of Chicago 

 but those of other cities, and has or- 

 ganized along lines broad enough to 

 include all those engaged in selling 

 seeds, bulbs, plants and florists' sup- 

 plies. 



"This step should have been taken 

 long ago by these people. We are told 

 that there is no industry that does not 

 have its social and credit organizations 

 within the trade, and this move should 



