22 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 412. 



approval of the intelligent public. The artists and special 

 lovers of art in any community are simply that part of the 

 people who have thought the most about art matters, 

 and what is the view of the artists to-day on a question of 

 municipal decoration would be the view of every man of 

 ordinary cultivation in the city if the same question was 

 properly presented to him, and it will be the popular view 

 in a year. 



Bridge over the Kent at Levens Hall. 



THE bridge illustrated on page 25 is a good example of 

 the form of construction most often seen in the north 

 of England and in Scotland. Built of the common service- 

 able stone of the neighborhood, these bridges look as if 

 they had laughed at the elements for generations, and 

 would continue their defiance for many a year to come. 

 On the high road between Milnthorpe and Kendal this 

 one crosses the Kent in the park of Levens Hall, where 

 lovers of the curious may still see the topiary marvels 

 created by the gardener to James II. In the home grounds 

 the gently flowing river is bordered by tall grasses, the 

 large leaves of the Coltsfoot and great tufts of purple 

 Loosestrife, while in the deer park trees dip to the water as 

 it saunters past. From the lawn in front of the house the 

 little island, on which the pier rests, makes a pretty fore- 

 ground to the bridge, which rises, gray and solid, above 

 the waving tangle of flower and sedge. 



Bridges of this sort would be just as appropriate here as 

 in the old country, and would, of course, be more durable 

 than the wooden constructions which are every year 

 washed away by the dozen in the spring freshets. The 

 initial cost, to be sure, would be greater, but in the long 

 run the stone would prove more economical, since trifling 

 repairs are needed, and these at comparatively long 

 intervals. Here and there, in out-of-the-way parts of this 

 country, stone bridges are still to be seen, but the struc- 

 tures which are now being built are almost without excep- 

 tion of wood or iron. If village improvement societies 

 would turn their attention in this direction much could be 

 done to restore streams, now defaced, to their original 

 beauty. The simple lines and quiet color of this Ivy- 

 draped bridge in Westmoreland are what make it satisfying 

 to the eye and an added charm to the stream ; it is made 

 from the stone of the country, and the native plants grow- 

 about it as- familiarly as though it were a bowlder playfully 



deposited there by Nature in the ice age. 

 New York. Beatrix Junes. 



The Retail Prices of Cut Flowers. 



IN one of the two articles on the New York Cut Flower 

 Company which appeared in Garden and Forest dur- 

 ing last November, it was stated that the retail price for 

 cut flowers in this city seems unnecessarily high to Ameri- 

 cans who have lived abroad, where they learn to con- 

 sider choice flowers a necessity rather than a luxury, and 

 examples were given showing the relative prices of roses 

 and violets, which here are nearly twice as high as in 

 southern Europe. By some persons this is attributed to 

 the large profits of the commission houses, while others 

 hold that the retail dealers receive the lion's share of the 

 great advance in price over that received by the grower. 



The retail florists of this city number about two hundred, 

 not including a large class of street venders known as the 

 Greeks, and representative dealers give many reasons, which 

 seem convincing, for the prevailing scale of prices. In the 

 first place, it is necessary to keep so large a stock of many 

 different kinds of flowers that the capital required is con- 

 siderable. Not a few firms, founded twenty or more years 

 ago, have a history of moderate, steady growth from very 

 small beginnings, sometimes less than one hundred dollars 

 having constituted the original capital. But the same con- 

 ditions which have affected the jewelry, dry goods, house- 

 furnishing and other lines of trade have revolutionized the 

 florist's business, and now a very modest establishment 



needs at least $5,000 to begin with, while double that 

 amount is necessary to open a tasteful and attractive store 

 in a good location, and a first-class business in a fashiona- 

 ble locality cannot be successfully started without a much 

 larger investment. Furnishings and decorations in a 

 store are expensive necessities, which may easily take 

 §2,000 or more, besides the heavy outlay for horses 

 and delivery wagons. A van, too, is a necessity, since 

 these immense enclosed vehicles are heated and ven- 

 tilated to insure the safety of tender and valuable stock, 

 such as large decorative plants. Fancy baskets, silver 

 bowls and artistic jardinieres of many forms and all colors 

 and shades are required in a first-class establishment, and 

 one such house has in regular use 200 pedestals needed in 

 the grouping of plants in decorations. While $50.00 is a 

 minimum daily investment for cut flowers, the largest 

 stores handle 5,000 to 20,000 individual flowers, for which 

 they pay from two cents to $1.50 apiece. 



Taking the year through, it is, perhaps, not too much to 

 say that twenty-five per cent, of the stock bought is not 

 sold, and is a total loss, and it is easily possible on many 

 days to have half the stock represented in flowers aggra- 

 vatingly removed from freshness. Roses, bright-colored 

 and deliciously fragrant, which would furnish delight- 

 ful home decoration for several days, are stored in the ice- 

 box at the close of a day only to be just too widely blown 

 for the next day's trade. At their best, roses and Bermuda 

 lilies are the longest keepers, and may be successfully 

 carried three days, while heliotrope withers and blackens 

 in a day, and the welcome fragrance of violets becomes a 

 death-like and offensive odor after from twelve to twenty- 

 four hours, though their color is still clear and bright. The 

 resentment against paying what seems exorbitant prices 

 is, perhaps, directed more generally against violets than 

 any other particular flower, their quiet unobtrusiveness 

 making the price all the more startling. But these modest 

 little flowers now cost the retail buyer $2 00 a hundred, 

 and it is a good business day that sees his stock of them 

 exhausted, and anything short of this means actual loss. 

 For example, four small bunches left over represent $8.00 

 of lost capital. The critical selection of the customer 

 leaves a dozen to twenty roses and carnations out of every 

 hundred to be sold in a lower grade for less money, and a 

 few lilies out of every twenty-five are sure to be bruised 

 and. of course, made worthless whenever they are han- 

 dled. All this signifies that one hundred per cent, advance 

 in price means a much smaller profit than these figures 

 imply. Indeed, the perishable nature of flowers makes 

 them more uncertain than almost any article of commerce. 

 Even the most delicate fruits and hot-house vegetables can 

 be held over in cold storage and their appearance be pre- 

 served until they are to be eaten — that is, they do not need 

 to be kept for a long time after they are sold, simpiy for 

 appearance sake — while the duration of the beauty of 

 flowers is their essential value. 



One of the most important conditions for success is 

 the judicious selection of stock as to variety and quan- 

 tity. Twenty years ago Safrano, Bon Silene and the 

 old white Lamarque roses constituted almost the entire 

 variety of this class of flowers, whereas now of pink varie- 

 ties alone the dealer is obliged to have at least half a dozen 

 Tea roses and nearly as many Hybrids. Although cus- 

 tomers do not know the names of the different roses, yet 

 they know the distinctions of shade and form between 

 Mrs. Pierpont Morgan, Belle Siebrecht, Madame Cusin 

 and Bridesmaid, and insist on being precisely satisfied. If 

 the desired variety is not on sale, telephone and telegraph 

 are at once brought into requisition, with the result that 

 these special flowers cost the dealer more than he receives 

 for them. Cases like this are aggravated by the short 

 notice now given to dealers. Formerly several days were 

 allowed for the filling of a moderate-sized order, but now 

 a florist must be equipped to complete the decorations for 

 a sumptuous entertainment in a few hours. In the matter of 

 color modern taste has come to be very exacting, since great 



