Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-12
PARIS FLOWER MART BewIIdering Scenes When the Tons of BIoSe pms Arrive. AN IMPORTANT INDUSTRY In Winter There Are Mere Buyers Than in Summer When the Blooms Are Many
 Times Cheaper.

prohibited by the game laws and hears betore the coming Of sprlngtime Doubt less this is the reason why they care so much more for the flowers of the winter than for the same blossoms in the sum mer.
 A stranger need not be astonished therefore, who visits Paris at Christmas time to see the streets literally abloom with flowers of all seasons. How inde- scribably pretty it all is! Without the ice and snow which covers house top and tree branch you would almost believe 1t was June, the month of roses. Flowers speak their beautiful language to poet peasant and to king. They are so bound in with our lives, for they are brought to us at birth, christening, marriage ana death. No feast is complete without them and poor is the room which does not boast one little plant on its window ledge.
 The great center of the flower trade in Paris is at Halles, in that great market covering the two blocks which connect la rue Bergere with la rue Rambuteau. Here 1t is that during the night immense hampers of flowers begin to arrive from Florence, followed later by wagon loads from the florists who have their gardens just out of the city.
 What a contrast there is between the flowers which seem to hold a little of the warm sunshine in their petals and the snow which Is falling upon them; be-
  chants and the delicaey of the violets and the roses; between the poetry which seems to float from the lilies and the jon- quilles and the sordid money which must be given in exchange for them! The flower market opens at o'clock In win ter and in summer.
 It is not the flower merchants them- selves who come to the market to pur- chase the flowers, but the commission men who buy from the two eoncession- o., thr tprl thn txAf commission men sell in their turn to the merchants established in the great shops.
 The street peddlers buy the most abun- dant flowers at very low price to make Into bouquets and sell to the passing crowd All of these sales are very re- munerative, but the highest price of all comes from the connoisseur who is searching for perfect specimens Of some rare flower, or from florist who must fill an order for the rarest blossoms for his millionaire patron The flower saiet, are enormous on the fete days of Saint Marie Saint Louis and for the funerals of distinguished men and women
 For a great many years the French have used great quantities of flowers Tor their wreaths and crosses for the dead. Formerly these wreaths were made of dried flowers and artificlals made of wax and glass. Today nothing but natural flowers in the i,reatest profusion and the most rare and costly are used. Orchids are the favored flowers, and at each pub lie funeral there Is almost a rivalry be- tween the different districts and socie- ties as to which shall send the most beautiful and most costly wreath. For the obsequies of Carnot. Ferry, Pasteur and Alexander Dumas millions of francs were spent for flowers In single day, for it is astonishing what these wreaths cost. One sent lately by the czar of Rus sia cost 20, 900 francs.
 At this holiday time flowers are arriv- ing in great quantities and in beautiful condition, and yet it is impossible. to fill all of the orders. It has been calcu-' lated that during the carnival at Nice not less than 100000 francs worth of flowers are consumed in forty-eight hours.
 There are 300 florists on the outskirts of Paris Each day they dispose of not less than 800 immense baskets of flowers, and adding these to the great contribu- ton from Provence, would make 2OOO packing baskets of flowers sold daily in the flower market. From the markets the flowers are sold to merchants of all sorts from those established In the flower market, and those in booths along the great boulevards, to those more modest still, who are known under the name or merchants of the four seasons. These last are certainly the most interestlpG How picturesque they look as they trudge through ice and snow, with their baskets filled to overflowing with roses and vio- lets and mimOSa.
 There exists 0 system of manipulation for improving the flowers and making their appearance still more beautiful when in a bouquet Wires are used for lengthening the stems and dampened moss wound tightly around them pre- serves their bloom for long time. but let me whisper these further aids to beau" ty Often the flowers are made good to look at by having the stems dipped in water, in which a little ammonia has been dissolved. The quality which dis appears first is the perfume, and this has bad habit of literally flying away; but it is remedied by giving the blos- soms a sprinkling of artificial perfume, mixed with little glycerine. It Is need less to say that this perfume will stand by a bouquet until the end.
 The funny part of it, to an American. is that the florists do not conceal these artificial aids, but frequently do their sprinklng under the very eyes of the purchaser.
 France consumes a vast quantity of the flowers she grows; but there are enough left over to send a goodly quan- tity to Germany, then to England and in Q decreasing order of importance to Austria. Switzerland, Belgium. Russia and Sweden.
 The revenue from the flower trade in France Is enormous, the annual trade representing value of 15000000 francs, The florists gain at least 100 per cent upon the blossoms after they have been made up into bouquets It Is easy to see that the flowers represent a total value of a0oooooo francs.