1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
869 
THANKSGIVING AMONG THE 
FLORISTS . 
There are several special occasions in 
the business year of the florist, and be¬ 
ginning in the order of the calendar these 
important occasions are as follows: New 
Year’s Day, upon which date many thou¬ 
sands of floral tokens of regard are deliv¬ 
ered to maid and matron, and not only 
to these representatives of the feminine 
contingent, but also to the heads of cor¬ 
porations and various other officials, both 
State and National. Next in order comes 
St. Valentine’s Day, and the giving of 
flowers and flowering plants on this ten¬ 
der occasion has most wonderfully in¬ 
creased of late years; in fact, to such a 
degree has this custom already attained 
in some of our large cities that it seems 
almost like an echo of Christmas time to 
many of the florists. Then comes that 
greatest of flower festivals, Eastertide, a 
period that is the most satisfying, and 
withal the most trying of the whole year 
to the florist, for great quantities of per¬ 
ishable flowers and flowering plants must 
be so timed and prepared as to be at the 
height of their perfection for that one 
week. All this preparation must be made 
regardless of the weather, and timed dif¬ 
ferently each' year, on account of Easter 
being a movable feast, and as such only 
recurring upon a similar date at long in¬ 
tervals. 
After this comes the Summer routine 
work of the florist, and the Summer vaca¬ 
tions of his customers, and it is some¬ 
times darkly hinted that the unpaid flor¬ 
ist’s bill from the preceding Winter and 
Spring has prodded the necessary lucre 
for the said vacation. But, of course, this 
is only hearsay-, and there are doubtless 
but few people mean enough to take ad¬ 
vantage of an innocent florist. And after 
what are called “the melancholy days” 
have come, and at the end of “brown No¬ 
vember,” the swift passage of time brings 
us to our National Thanksgiving season, 
and we are reminded that this period is 
one of great importance to housewives, to 
turkeys and to florists, and regarding the 
latter we shall^ have somewhat more to 
say, though pausing at this point to men¬ 
tion the one other great flower season that 
is included in our list for the year, namely. 
Christmas. This festival utilizes great 
quantities of flowers and plants, and 
means much anxiety for the florist, owing 
to the difficulties of safe delivery during 
midwinter weather, and in addition to thjfs 
there may be, and frequently is, a scarcity 
of some kinds of stock with a correspond¬ 
ing stiffening of the wholesale prices. 
This variation in prices for cut flowers 
is a frequent source of trouble among 
dealers and customers, for many of the 
latter do not realize the fact that flowers 
are a commodity, dealt in by cut-flower 
commission houses to the amount of mil¬ 
lions of dollars every year, and that these 
commission dealers keep a close watch 
upon the supply and demand, with the nat¬ 
ural result that prices are subject to 
change from time to time in accordance 
with trade conditions. But 1 hanksgiving 
marks the opening of the social season in 
some of our large cities, and these multi¬ 
tudinous social events would be incomplete 
without flowers and the artistic work of 
the floral decorator. Of course there have 
been lots of weddings, debutante teas and 
other events prior to Thanksgiving, but a 
large proportion of the balls and dinners 
come in after that joyous date, and at all 
such times the florist is a factor of im¬ 
portance. The quantities of flowers that 
are now used in various ways at Thanks¬ 
giving time, and the perfection to which 
they are grown is quite a revelation to 
those unfamiliar with the facts, and as sta¬ 
tistics are dry reading, and sometimes 
confusing in the bargain, it has been 
thought best to illustrate one of the flower 
crops that figures very largely in the 
Thanksgiving business of the florists. 
The picture in question, Fig. 380, shows a 
greenhouse filled with Chrysanthemums 
and indicates what result may be had 
from the flower termed the “Queen of 
COMMERCIAL CHRYSANTHEMUMS FOR THANKSGIVING. Fig. 380. 
FIRST SNOWSTORM IN NEW YORK, OCTOBER lO, 1906. Fig. 381. 
X 
THE DOUBLE GERMAN CATCHFLY. Fig. 382. See Ruralisms, Page 874, 
Autumn” when in the hands of expert 
cultivators. It was prepared from a pho¬ 
tograph of a house in the establishment 
of Dailledouze Bros., Flatbush, New York, 
a firm that has produced for many years 
past some of the finest Chrysanthemums 
and carnations that have been sold in that 
most critical market, the city of New 
York. These immense flowers, some of 
which were fully nine inches in diameter, 
with their tall and straight stems clothed 
with heavy foliage, were the result of 
painstaking care and high cultivation, and 
well deserve the popularity accorded them 
about Thanksgiving time. Chrysanthe¬ 
mums are the favorites of the flower buy¬ 
er at that period of the year, and when ar¬ 
ranged in a loose bunch of a dozen or so 
in a tall glass vase, or as is sometimes 
done by the most exclusive of decorators, 
these flowers are placed in a tall silver 
vase of exauisite design, the effect is 
fetching in the extreme, and one does not 
wonder that Chrysanthemums are still 
popular. 
Then there are many of the young 
ladies who are very partial to wearing 
from one to three large Chrysanthemums 
as a corsage bouquet when they go out 
ta cheer the knights of the gridiron at the 
various football balls on the afternoon 
of Thanksgiving Day, and this fancy 
utilizes great quantities of these flowers. 
The plants producing these tremendous 
flowers are grown from Spring-rooted 
cuttings, the cuttings being obtained from 
old plants of the year before, and rooted 
in sand beds in the greenhouse, after 
which they are planted out in prepared 
beds of rich soil, carefully watered, and 
the growths tied up from time to time in 
order to provide a straight stem. In due 
time the flower buds begin to show them¬ 
selves, and then one particular bud is se¬ 
lected by the grower, and all the others 
pinched off, thus throwing the full 
strength of the plant into that one bud, 
and this coupled with careful feeding with . 
sundry fertilizers and the prompt exter¬ 
mination of all noxious insects, results in 
the production of these abnormally large 
flowers. 
Then the intimate knowledge of the 
expert cultivator comes into play again 
when he has to decide when each bloom 
has reached its fullest development, and 
is quite ready for cutting, these extra fine 
flowers being cut with stems four to five 
feet long, and requiring most careful pack¬ 
ing in wooden or heavy cardboard boxes 
to ensure their safe carriage to the pur¬ 
chaser. These luxurious blooms of some 
varieties of Chrysanthemums naturally 
command luxurious prices, some of them 
bringing from $6 to $7 per dozen at re¬ 
tail, but there are also hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of good flowers sold for $2.50 to $3 
per dozen, and during the height of the 
season many are sold for much less than 
that. The colors most in demand among 
the buyers of Chrysanthemums are pink, 
yellow and white, but the varieties are 
legion, and new ones arc being sent out 
by the dozen each year, for clever plant 
breeders are busily working on this line 
in this country, in various parts of Eu¬ 
rope and in Australia. 
But while Chrysanthemums do take a 
very large part on Flora’s stage at the 
Thanksgiving time, yet they do not com¬ 
pose the entire company, for indoor roses 
are now reaching their proper form, car¬ 
nations are daily improving, and good vio¬ 
lets may be had in abundance, and each of 
these flowers has its multitude of fol¬ 
lowers. Whether it be the fair patroness 
of Harvard, who may wear a bunch of 
Liberty roses or crimson carnations to 
the Thanksgiving game, the daughters of 
Ithaca with their mingled bunch of red 
and white carnations, the demure damsels 
of Philadelphia with an immense bouquet 
of violets, or the general company of fair 
ones with their Chrysanthemums on the 
road to the game, all of these, and also 
the decoration, of thousands of family din¬ 
ner tables, help to make a joyous Thanks¬ 
giving for the florists, and incidentally to 
build up that infant industry in the United 
States, an industry in which at least fifty 
millions of dollars are now invested. 
W. H. TAPLIN. 
