FEBRUARY 23, 1S99. 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



30 1 



Day's Work'" was a subject that 

 should have been assigned to a com- 

 mission man and not to a grower. 

 He said it was well known that the 

 grower didn't do any work, and that 

 all the real work was done by the 

 commission man. 



Vice-President-elect Kasting was 

 called upon to speak tor the commis- 



Then let us give three cheers for 



The club they represent. 

 Fill up your glasses and drink 



To your hearts' content ^ 

 For we'll not leave this hall 



Till we get good and tight- 

 Let's have a hot time in this 



Old hall tonight. 



To the visitors here tonight 



I have a word to say: 

 I hope you'll all enjoy yourselves 



W. F. Kasting, Vice-President-EIcct American Carnation Society. 



sion man, but confined his remarks to 

 the hearty welcome that would await 

 the members at Buffalo next year. 



Mr. J. N. May told what might be 

 looked forward to "In 1900." He be- 

 lieved that the marked advance of 

 the last decade would be equalled or 

 exceeded in the next and hoped all 

 would prepare to help carry on the 

 great work. 



The program was interspersed 

 with songs and recitations, the warm- 

 est of the songs being the following 

 original one by John Walker, ar- 

 ranged to the air of "A Hot Time in 

 the Old Town:" 



There's our president. Mr. Harris, 



The bard ot old Kingsess. 

 And the brave old Duke of York, 



Who as a scribe is a success. 

 And our treasurer. William Colfiesh, 



Who has his eye upon the tin. 

 And draws a line upon the boys 



When they try to blow it in. 



While with us you may stay. 

 And may you be filled with new ideas 



Upon returning home, 

 That you will each produce a seedling 



To beat anything that's known. 



Ward, they say, has a gem in 36 — 



For size, I ani told, it beats Lawson by 



an inch ; 

 And when he gets that 5.000 balls 



He'll buy us all a drink. 

 And we'll have a hot time in 



Some old town that night. 



iNow, there is Peter Fisher, from a little 

 town in Mass., 



And there is Thomas Lawson who, with 

 30,000 cash. 



Surprised all carnation lovers by hang- 

 ing up 30.000 more in gold, _ 



Which he will give to the man whose 

 seedling will knock Lawson cold. 



Now, boys, get to work and do your level 



best ; 

 We have seen Hanna Hohart sent by 



Sievers from the west. 

 And there will be a jolly round-up in 



February next. 

 And there'll be a. hot time in Pink town 



that night. 



Edwin Lonsdale sang his famous 

 song, "The Brave Old Duke of York," 

 in his bravest style, and the whole 

 company joined in "Auld Lang Syne," 

 led by the soloists and accompanied 

 by the piano. 



It was a suitable closing of a most 

 entertaining evening. 



CARNATIONS FROM THE RETAIL 

 STANDPOINT. 



By Robert Kift. 



[Read before the Philadelphia Meeting of the 

 American Carnation Society.] 



As a representative of one branch ot 

 the carnation industry, I cannot but 

 feel complimented at being asked to 

 present my views on this important 

 section of practical horticulture. 



Some twenty odd years ago, when I 

 graduated from a greenhouse to a city 

 store and chose this branch of the pro- 

 fession, there were but few strictly 

 retail merchants and not a solitary 

 commission dealer in the whole of this 

 broad land. In most cases the city 

 store had been established as an outlet 

 for the product of the country green- 

 houses of the society. Carnations then 

 formed but a small percentage of the 

 florist's stock. President DeGraw, La 

 Purite and a few Astoria are the only 

 varieties I recollect. Long^temmed 

 flowers were not demanded in these 

 early days, and it was considered a 

 great waste to cut a bud v.nth. an open- 

 ed flower. We used to pack the stocks 

 away in damp moss on trays. If at this 

 time anyone had prophesied that car- 

 nations would some day bring two 

 dollars per dozen at wholesale, he would 

 have been thought a trifle flighty. 

 The famous carnation belt ot Chester 

 County was commencing to send in 

 flowers about this time, just a few, by 

 the farmei-s who sold them in the mar- 

 ket along with their butter and eggs. 

 There was not much thought of new 

 varieties then, but I remember a few 

 years after this, when a dark red car- 

 nation came to us from Boston— I 

 think it was called Deflance— ajid then 

 the Grace Wilder which was the cham- 

 pion "pink" for so long a time until 

 the Great Scott of Buffalo wa;S ungal- 

 lant enough to displace her. 



In these early days flowers came 

 from the growers in all sorts of re- 

 ceptacles. The boxes had always done 

 duty before. There were glass, tobac- 

 co, pepper, soap, gum-boot boxes; any 

 old thing, so it would hold together was 

 thought goodenough. Theflowerswere 

 put in helter-skelter, short and long 

 mixed up. Such a thing as bunching 

 them in varieties was not thought of, 

 and itwasonly after considerable agita- 

 tion that anything like system in 

 packing and shipping was brought 

 about. This mention of long-stemmed 

 flowers brings us up to twelve or fifteen 

 years ago, when, with more competi- 

 tion and flower buying, there sprang 

 up a demand for flowers with other 

 than artificial stems, and while, to get 

 such stems, buds had to be sacrificed. 



