The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-19

signs, even more is worked up INTO TOp-
ing which has come to be used in i'm
mense quantities for church, store and
house decorations. Roping is usually
made from balsam, hemlOck, and the
materials which are less desirable Tor
single pieces. The small twigs strip
ped from the branches are twined on
wire. with long strings and dipped in
scalding green dye to give them bril-
liant color and are then hung out of
doors or in low sheds to cry before be-
ing sent to market. Some idea of the
extent to which this branch of the
business has grown can be gained from
the fact that last season d single great
department store in New York placed
with one dealer an order for 10000
! yards of roping to be used in it's Christ
mas decorations.
Acres on acres are stripped every
/ year to supply the greenery so charac-
/ teristic of the American Christmas. In
/ the Jersey district alone something like
/ 100 tons of princess pine is used along
| with corresponding quantities of ball
sam, fir, MOSES and other local ma
/ terfals. All this goes 60 the making OF
| decorative designs and does not include
! Christmas trees which form a large
item by themselves. 1t is impossible to
tell exactly how many trees are used
each season in the whole country. for
in many places the supply is local, but
the figures can not be short OF 1000 900.
Very likely they should be higher than
this. Some 800 600 eVergreenS were cut
for this purpose in the Catskills and
AdirOndacks last year. and more than
500.0 600 were obtained in Maine, New
Hampshire and Vermont. A good many
are cut in Pennsylvania, while the
southern states have enough for their
own uses. It would therefore seem that
the above estimate is much too low.
Down to very recent years spruce
: and fir were the only trees used for
) Christmas. while holly and mistletoe
l held undisputed the field Of decoration
But with the great increase in the de-
: mand for Christians greens many other
: materials have been pressed into serv-
t ice. The cheaper trees are now pine
: and henlock, which are less desirable
5 than the spruce because their SpineS
are not so long and silky and the more
f apt to drop off after the tree has been
= kept for a few days. For decorations
2 a. great variety of new things have
= come to be used. The JeTseymen dis
o covered that their cape flowers with
e their bright berries produced a good
= effect, and that everlasting, bitter
: sweet and a great number of similar
= groWths could be utilized in the made
4 pieces. The beautiful juniper, which
e has always been highly esteemed in the
n south, has of late found considerable
f favor, and large quantities of it are
i now shipped north from the VirginiaS
e and Carolinas. Moses are used to a.
o considerable extent. too. The favor
g ties among these for drapery and
: decoration are the ground pine of New
o Jersey and the various club MOSES.
e Florida moss is sometimes used, and
n two years ago a great quantity Of it
l, was shipped north, but it has not found
n any great favor on account of it's SOM
Der coloring.
z WHERE THE HOLLY COMES FROM.
Holly and mistletoe still hold the
: place of chief favor, though they have
, had to admit many humber plants to
~ their company. Holly and laurel are
o. both gathered chiefly in Delaware,
f Maryland Virginia and the Carolinas.
4 1t is packed in big 6-foot cases just as
:, it is picked and is shipped from the
% nearest wharf or railway station to be
- souId out in small punches on the city
g streets. One New York dealer last
L year sold 1000 cases of holly alone.
n Holly requires more care than some of
"A the more hardy greens. 1t must be
!, stored in a cool, dark place and
" sprinkled with water every day until
q it is ready for shipment. Most. of the
* others are merely sprinkled when they
,e are cut and are piled UP in the most
~ convenient spot. When ready for ship
a ment they are doused with scalding
water, which is allowed to freeze and
n is not thawed out again until they are
ar placed on sale.
+ 1t mag be of interest to know that
n of the English" mistletOe so con-
, spicuously displayed on our city streets
IF about Christmas time not .One-tentH
le really comes from England. The
mr. reason IS that the great orchards OIL
re Worcestershire and Lincolnshire, from
rs which the English mistletoe is obtain
n ed. have nearly exhausted their supply
- 1afr. IrsraTT c-11 n
is this country comes from Normandy
a where It is so thick that the farmers
C. look upon it as a nuisance. Some
to American mistletoe, from Delawar'
to and Virginia, is sold every year, bu
ed it is generally regarded as inferior t.
ca the imported article.
D. 1t is difficult to compute how mucl
0y the great American pocketbOok i
called upon to pay for the greenery o
he Christmastide. For the trees about 5
in. per hundred is usually paid to tn
ch woodsman who cuts them In som
ar places a dollar or two must be adde
ed to this as a recompense to the Ian
he owner. They retail at from 10 cents
he So each, according to size and quality
he Out of this. difference in prices come
by the profit of the wholesale and reta
by dealers, and the cost of transportation
en- Princess pine, so much used fC
lie decorative pieces, costs $50 per ton
liz view hampshire dIlu freight dQu
rs, nearly S25 to this. One dealer use
tte over 10 tons of this last season, so tha
Ike it forms no small item by itself Holl
brings from $50 to SIPS per case, an
lat the original cost of rnistletoe is entirel
to swallowed up by the expense of in
en-, porting it. About 500 cases wei
ms brought into New York last year, an
BIZ as it sells for 25 cents a branch. tn
aid single item in the bill must HAY
are amounted to a. round sum. Altogeth,
is the American people probably sper
on NOT less than So. O0O. COO for ChriSfno,
the greenery. Most persons win be ii
red clined to believe that it is worth tn
at sum in the brightness and good che,
nd it brings into our ordinarily cOlorle
to lives.
Best on earth for the price-Gia1
IL baking powder. tWentY-fiva nr1nc,