761 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
CHRISTMAS WREATHS FOR THE CEMETERY LOT 
A recent issue of the Florist’s Review 
of Chicago urges the florists to provide 
Christmas wreaths for the decoration 
of cemetery lots, and tells them how to 
promote this class of trade. 
In commenting on the commercial 
possibilities of the sale of Christmas 
cemetery wreaths the Reviezv says : 
“Christmas is a season at which the 
average florist completely ignores the 
cemetery trade. Possibh' it will be ar- 
gued that people are too busy buying 
gifts for the living to remember the 
dead at Christmas, or that it is not the 
time for reminding customers of the 
memorial uses of flowers, but the fact 
remains that many people do wish to 
signify, at Christmas, their remem- 
brance of those who sleep in the si- 
lent cities. Of course, it is more or 
less true that the better class stores are 
the ones that get the calls for memorial 
wreaths at the holidays, but all florists 
can do a profitable and easy Christmas 
business in this line if they give it a 
little attention. It will be found that 
customers, far from finding the sug- 
gestion unwelcome, if not put forward 
too boldly, will welcome and adopt it. 
It will be noted in the course of time 
that those who are away from home, 
or whose loved ones lie at a distance, 
will find it appropriate at Christmas to 
send a wreath of green, and here is 
where the telegraph delivery facilities 
will come into play. Every florist 
should cultivate the exchange-of-orders 
business — establish connections as wide- 
ly as possible and never let an oppor- 
tunity pass to acquaint the public with 
the fact that such facilities exist.” 
Two illustrations are given of 
wreaths made last Christmas at a first- 
class store that found it good business 
to show at Christmas a line of sam- 
ples of cemetery wreaths. One of 
these is shown here by courtesy of the 
Review. 
In many cases customers asked what 
could be done in the way of sending 
flowers to the cemetery in cold weather, 
and these wreaths lay at the clerk’s 
hand to provide the answer. Others, 
seeing the wreaths, asked their purpose, 
and, being told that they were to go 
to the cemeteries on Christmas morn- 
ing, commented on the appropriateness 
of the custom and left one or more 
orders. 
One of these wreaths was made of 
the now omnipresent boxwood sprays. 
Boxwood has become one of the Christ- 
mas indispensables. Useful at other 
times, it comes in handiest at the holi- 
days and is worked up in great quanti- 
ties. People are tired of the same 
thing year after year, so that there al- 
ways is a warm welcome for anything 
new in the way of a Christmas wreath, 
whatever its purpose, and since the 
grocery stores have come to handle the 
cheap holly wreaths at prices almost as 
small as the quantity of holly used in 
the making, patrons of flower stores 
have been ready to buy something else. 
That partly accounts for the way box- 
wood wreaths have sprung into favor. 
The boxwood wreath for the window is 
made on a rattan ring, just as the holly 
wreath is, but these cemetery wreaths 
are made as any funeral design would 
be, on wire frames that have been 
mossed. Two or three things are there- 
by accomplished. An elegance is at- 
tained that is not possible with a thin- 
ner wreath ; a lasting quality is impart- 
ed : and weight is given that serves to 
keep the wreath where it is put. 
The other wreath was of the pre- 
pared magnolia leaves that now are car- 
ried in stock by practically every retail 
florist — they have become one of the 
staples of the trade and have done not 
a little toward making galax a less es- 
sential article than it was a few years 
ago. These magnolia leaves are about 
the handiest thing that is to be found in 
the average store. They keep indefi- 
nitely and, no matter how scarce stock 
may be, with these on hand the retailer 
always has the means of making up a 
first-class design. 
California red berries were used for 
the touch of color that is needed on 
these wreaths, but holly with its ber- 
ries would have done as well, or the 
ilex that goes under the name of 
Christmas red berries. 
Any florist who cares to do so can 
devise a dozen different combinations 
of seasonable green and red that will 
do equally well and which will serve to 
lend variety to his work, should he 
have considerable going to the same 
cemetery. 
Crosses of various sizes are used for 
the same purpose. The widow of a 
certain millionaire sends an order to 
her florist every year to put a cross of 
boxwood and red berries, an elaborate 
affair that is six feet long, on the grave 
of the dead money-maker on Christmas 
morning, and flower stores that enjoy 
a considerable Catholic trade have 
found it pays to show a variety of fiat 
cemetery crosses as a part of the holi- 
day display. 
CHRISTMAS CEMETERY WREATH OP BOXWOOD. 
