Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-24
CHRISTMAS FLOWERS
TH0USANDs OF BLOSSOMS WILL
BE DELIVERED.
Red the Favorite Color-American and
Liberty Roses and
Immortel1eA

From the New York Times.
II Christmas eve comes In mild and warm
and Christmas morning follows its gentle
prophecy. the florists viii be the happiest
men In New York That will mean that
the thousands Of boxes OF Christmas flow
ers which must be delivered on Christmas
forenoon can go out with only the ordinary
packing. But should there be freezing
weather. every flower must be packed In
cotton. which doubles the labor and the
time necessary. Even with the mild Christ
mas. which is the florists delight. the force
In the big retail flower stores works all
night the night before Christmas. From
midnight until o'clock in the morning all
hands are busy packing the boxes which in
few hours are to convey Christmas re-
membranes. At o'clock the delivery
wagons start, and before noon all the
fragile blooms have reached the feminine
hands for which they were purchased.
Probably 10000 such boxes are delivered
One dealer in a fashionable residence dis
trict has sent out between 800 and 400 every
Christmas morning for many years.
/ The mixed box ranges from 50 to $50
In price. It Is a very modest little box
for the first price-just half dozen roses,
dozen carnations, bit OF christmas
green" In the $50 box there will be prob
ably half dozen American beauties, half
q dozen long-stemmed liberty roses of the
rich. velvety, deep crimson variety; some
violets, some valley some mgnonette to
sweeten the whole box; perhaps some sweet
peas and hyacinths, q bit of heliotrope and
always some holly and a red satin ribbon to
tie the whole.
These expensive boxes are simply pretty
trifles. sent to the rich, by those who are
not sufficiently indebted or on sufficiently
intimate terms to send more costly or sub
stantial gifts. The very evanescence OF the
flowers makes them superlatively luxurious.
ltvrl pyln Co. kI,1A ccl l., lo~r
makes the attention more delicate than four
or five times that amount put into some
more durable trifle.
Red the Christmas Color.
Red Is pre-eminently the Christmas color,
and red carnations and red roses are the
favorite purchases. The red immorteIles,
also go in great punches for Christmas
decorations in houses Of both high and low
degree. These immortelles are real flowers.
though some people have notion they are
made of paper. Their natural color is yell
France. where great fields of them may
be seen dried and dyed for the market. 1t
is great industry there. Europeans use
them largely to the exclusion OF fresh
flowers for all occasions. They are dyed in
all colors for the European markets. and
thousands upon thousands Of boxes Of the
red ones are imported to New York every
year for the Christmas trade They cannot
to climatic differences. A few have been
produced in Texas, but the florists say they
are not right
The coal famine has proved very disas-
trouS to greenhouse people. Repeatedly
during the past week mournful messages
have come over the telephone in response
to orders from the dealers detailing the
loss Of one. two. three. four or even more
in Westchester. Christmas flowers will be
proportionately scarce. but the price at the
retail stores will be very little. IL any.
higher than usual. The price is always ex-
actly doubled in early December. and re-
tail dealers say they cannot go much above
that or customers will be frightened away.
American beauty roses are $50 dozen
Sweet peas are 50 cents for a dozen sprays.
Only the old-fashioned pink and white ones
are sold at this time of the year, the vari-
GUS solid colors, for which the demand is
less, being reserved for more popular prices
later in the season.
Good Year for Violets.
Sweet peas have been forced for the
Christmas market only for many years
past They must be started blooming be-
fore the cold weather begins. Then they
will bloom all winter. Daffodils do not get
in until February. but almost all the rest
Of the spring flowers, hyacinths, narcts-
suses. bavardia, and 80 on, are on the
Christmas counters Easter lilies, too,
though rather cold and white for Christmas,
are sold for IS a dozen. Violets, which
were poor last year, are particularly fine
this winter deeply. darkiy. beautifully blue,
and from "a to IS a hundred for the best OF
light grades Some mignonette now comes
in enormous sprays. which command So
Dozen There are carnations which are
sold at IS a dozen, although the popular
bright red Christmas carnation is $50.
Holly began to come In last week from
the hills of Maryland and the south. The
wild holly supplies the market and there
has never seemed to be any perceptible
dminution of the supply. Great quantities
of it are purchased by all sorts of dealers,
who decorate their stores with it and send