The herald., 1895-12-01
TAKING FLOWERS TO THE HOSPITAL

more money perhaps than the tenement
child ever had at one time in its life.
That is where the great quantities of
flowers go. There are more than hum
bred hospitals. big and little in the city,
and their ever-cbanging population is
close to 10000. Some of them, notably
Bellevue, have..nore than $40 patients
while others have less than n score. To
each one of the 10, 200 bunch of flowers
is an em blem of CHEEKY brightness and
hope. 1t is true the money which they
cost might be more literally spent in the
ause of charity, but it is not money
burned up on the altar OF vanity and dis
play, as many suppose.
When it was announced that the floral
decorations in st. Thomas church for
the Vanderbilt Marlborough wedding
cost In the neigh borhod of 500, 001
there arose tumultuous chorus of dis
approval from many quarters; and when
the wagons OF the florist drove up to the
church Immediately after the bride and
groom had left, and while the large mum.
Der of guests were passing out, the crowds
on the sidewalk said;
He's going to take them all back to
his shop and sell them over again. The
mean thing might have let us had them.
But the crowd did not know that many
days before the florist had received a
long list from Mrs. Vanderbilt, with com =
plete directions as TO the Wav the flowers
Bhould be disposed OF. This list included
the name of every hospital and chart
table institution in the city, and opposite
each name was description OF the guam
tity and kind of flowers to be diGtrib uted.
The quantities were regulated with
mathematical nicely to the proportions of
H. ~
500, DOC, they gave that much pleasure
where pleasure is most needed.
Fewp5ople not IN the confidence of the
trade realize the vast length and bread tn
of the floral industry OF New York. The
fact that the finest shops in the most ex-
pensive part of Broadway ara those of
the florist seems to attract no attention.
Until quite recently the florists were
hidden away in the by-streets and the
out-of-the- places, but now they en-
blazon the fact OF their existence with
hundreds OF electric lights onyx and
marble walls and ceiling. plate glass and
other expensive evidences of extreme
prosperity.
Some idea of the commercial import
ance OF the industry can be gained from
these facts:
Thirty niliion roses and Il, 600 900 car
nations are sold annually in the city.
The trade in cut flowers covers many
more varieties, ana some OF them in
enormous quantities. but roses and car
nations are alwayssthe most popular
A conservative estimate of the green
house space employed in growing cut
flowers tor this market. stating il in
gardeners fashion, is 3 900, 600 squareEfeet
of glass. Probably there is considerably
more, Tor that estimate does not take
into account the many little semi private
green houses, the products of which are.
as rule, supplied directly 10 the retail
florists, and are not OF sufficient import
ance to interest the commission mer-
chants or large growers.
But figuring only on the amount speci-
fed, the original construction OF those
graen houses covered by 5000 600 square
feet OF glass, cost IN the :eighborhood of
$1,000, 600; they contain 400 N lies of iron
pipe for heating them, and 80, 900 tons OF
coal are consumed annually in keeping
them at the required temperature. Allow
ing them an average width of fifteen feet,
they would stretch in continuous line
OF 31.S7 miles and If massed toethel
would Iover a space OF 65.S7 acres. Ayri.
culturisrs accustomed to figure upon the
returns by the acre from crops OF wheai