VARIOUS NATIONAL SOCIETIES. 121 



•give one and a half inches of drainage, using the same material as for the cut- 

 ting pans. When the pots get tolerably full of roots give liquid manure once 

 a week. A very good liquid is made byusiug one ounce of sulphate of ammonia 

 to three gallons of water. I prefer this to liquid made from manure as it is 

 cleaner to handle and does not clog the pores of the soil in the pots, and 

 answers the same purpose. 



The second day of the convention was given up to an excursion provided for 

 by the Philadelphia Florist Club to Atlantic City. There all were royally 

 entertained. 



Third Day. 



The election of officers was the first work of the morning. 



" The Making Up of Floral Designs in the Most Effective Manner and Sug- 

 gestions for Developing the Best Taste," as expounded by Mr. A. Le Moult, was 

 one of the most effective features of the meeting. He illustrated his lecture 

 practically by turning a mass of flowers into the meshes of an old waste-paper 

 basket and making it as beautiful as an Easter offering. He and his assistants 

 then rapidly constructed an immense original floral design representing the 

 "Wheel of Fortune," surmounted by a cornucopia and with large floral wings 

 protruding from the axis of the wheel. The design was exceedingly beautiful 

 and was completed in one hour and twenty minutes. It was subsequently pre- 

 sented to Mr. Childs. 



At two o'clock in the afternoon the entire body of visiting florists, together 

 with some 200 invited guests, assembled at the Pennsylvania depot, where two 

 trains were waiting, and pulled out to the famed country residence of G. W. 

 Childs, at Wooton, in the lovely valley above Bryn Mawr. Here, beneath the 

 shades of the spreading trees, a bountiful repast was enjoyed. At its conclusion 

 Councilman Meehan, on behalf of Mr. Childs, who stood by his side, welcomed 

 the guests in a very pleasant speech, to which Mr. James Hendricks, of Albany, 

 N. Y., responded in behalf of the florists. 



The closing sessions were devoted to papers by experts upon hot water and 

 steam heating; and how to build a flue. 



The third annual meeting of the society will be held at Chicago, beginning 

 the third Wednesday in August, 1887. 



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