MAY ]i, 1S99. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



597 



hardy nature. What bedding plants 

 that have been on sale have, however, 

 sold fairly well. 



The News. 



The Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety inaugurated their usual success- 

 ful summer exhibitions with a grand 

 display of seasonable plants and flow- 

 ers on Saturday, May 6. Prizes were 

 awarded for vegetables and for native 

 wild flower.?. Mrs. D. P. Richards had 

 her customary collection of wild flow- 

 ers and secured first prize, second be- 

 ing awarded to Miss Alice Grinnell; 

 third to the Misses Doran. Among 

 other exhibits John Barr, with Mrs. B. 

 P. Cheney, had some excellent speci- 

 mens of calceolarias in 9-inch pots; 

 Dr. C. G. Weld had a collection of 

 azaleas, and some exceedingly well 

 grown plants of hybrid amaryllis, to- 

 gether with some specimens of Boro- 

 nia elatior. Chas. H. Souther had a 

 nice collection of pelargoniums in 8 

 and 9-inch pots. J. S. Bailey had a 

 flne specimen of Cattleya Mendellii 

 and showed specimens of the new 

 palms Areea Isbenianni and Licuala 

 Jeanenceyii. W. N. Craig and Dr. 

 Weld exhibited quite a variety of nar- 

 cissi. The Harvard Botanic Gardens, 

 Mrs. E. M. Gill and James Comley 

 made their usual exhibits of season- 

 able flowers. 



At the store lately vacated by Gal- 

 vin & Co., the firm of E. G. Sterne & 

 Co. are advertising themselves as a 

 new retail flower concern. A placard 

 in the window reads "The Boston 

 Tavern Florists." 



The New England Florist Company 

 have made an assignment to Frank M. 

 Forbush, as trustee, for the benefit of 

 its creditors. P. 



NEW YORK. 



[Club Meeting. 



The regular monthly meeting of the 

 New York Florists' Club was held on 

 Monday evening, May 8. In the ab- 

 sence of the president and vice-presi- 

 deut Mr. Samuel Henshaw, head-gar- 

 dener of the New York Botanical Gar- 

 dens, presided. Although the attend- 

 ance was small it nevertheless was en- 

 thusiastic and fully competent to cope 

 "With any floricultural or horticultural 

 subject. There is one point we can 

 feel sure of in New York, if any one 

 •comes along looking for news or points 

 he can get them here. 



Tonight's meeting was interesting 

 from many points, and Mr. E. M. 

 Woods' paper on the cut flower busi- 

 ness made matters most exciting. The 

 discussion of the paper brought out 

 the concentrated feeling of the mem- 

 bers present against anything pertain- 

 ing to trusts or combinations in the 

 flower business. New York cannot 

 stand for anything like that. Mr. C. 

 W. Ward said the man who paid care- 

 ful attention to the growing and ship- 

 ping of flowers had all he could at- 

 tend to, that good flowers would Al- 

 ways find a market, and that the cut 



flower business as in the manufactur- 

 ing business must of necessity be ruled 

 by the laws of supply and demand; he 

 was sure the future looked very bright 

 for the cut flower trade, but it was 

 wise not to be too sanguine. 



Ex-Alderman Morris spoke eloquent- 

 ly against the idea of combinations in 

 the florists' trade and opposed any 

 fixity of prices as inconsistent with 

 the tone of the flower market of to- 

 day. 



Mr. Herrington thought the trouble 

 lay in the small and incompetent 

 growers demanding the same prices 

 for inferior stock as the large grow- 

 ers for extra grade stock, and was of 

 the opinion that no understanding re- 

 garding prices could be arrived at un- 

 til inferior growers were weeded out 

 of the business. 



Several commission men ■ present 

 were asked to give their opinions and 

 experience, but the requests were dip- 

 lomatically declined, they insinuating 

 they came there to get points, not to 

 give them. Mr. Stewart gave a most 

 interesting description of how business 

 was conducted when he was in the 

 whole'sale business. 



Mr. Wood, in reply, said that he did 

 not wish to appear as in favor of 

 trusts, still he thought the time would 

 soon come, if it had not already ar- 

 rived, when quality would rule over 

 quantity, and he thought the day 

 would come when it would be advisa- 

 ble to formulate some plan to regulate 

 the prices of stock. Mr. Wood was 

 voted a hearty vote of thanks for his 

 interesting discussion. 



The regular order of business was 

 then attended to. Mr. C. W. Ward, 

 chairman of the committee of awards, 

 stated that in accordance with the 

 rules of the club he had visited Mr. 

 Marquisee's place at Syracuse for the 

 purpose of seeing the new carnation, 

 ■'The Marquis," and he found it worthy 

 of all that was claimed for it; he gave 

 it 94 points and recommended the 

 club's certificate. Mr. Ward's report 

 was adopted. 



Mr. Stewart reported for the essay 

 and entertainment committee, and 

 stated that he had made arrangements 

 with Prof. Elson, of Boston, to de- 

 liver a lecture before the club on May 

 22, subject "Songs of the Sea." This 

 will be a special meeting and will be 

 devoted to the ladies. Members are 

 requested to bring their wives and 

 lady friends to this meeting; they will 

 never regret it. 



Mr. John Birnie exhibited several 

 plants of his new pelargonium "Alfred 

 Henderson." a sport from Gen. Taylor. 

 Mr. Birnie has grown it for four years; 

 it is distinct from any existing variety; 

 the flowers are a lovely shade of rosy 

 lavender and are borne on good 

 trusses. It was awarded honorable 

 mention. And let us further add, it 

 would be well for a club like that in 

 New York to have competent men to 

 judge new flowers that come before 

 them from time to time; it is all very 

 well for cynical outsiders to pretend 



to expertness on certain occasions, 

 their judgment, no matter how 

 weighty, does not tend to encourage 

 either the producing or exhibiting of 

 novelties or improvements. If New 

 York florists wish to encourage im- 

 provements in floriculture let them 

 show it. A new pelargonium may not 

 be as important in a commercial sense 

 as a carnation or a rose, but it is to 

 floriculture at large; even were it a 

 modest mountain daisy, and if it were 

 new it deserves recognition from even 

 such an august body; don't crush the 

 ambitions of the lowly, remember what 

 we all sprang from. 



Mr. Young, on behalf of the Board 

 of Trustees, reported that they had 

 unanimously decided to invite the S. 

 A. F. to hold their convention in New 

 York City in 1900. A committee con- 

 sisting of the president of the club, 

 Wm. Plumb, P. O'Mara, J. Morris, J. 

 G. Esler, J. N. May, W. A. Manda, A. 

 Wallace, H. A. Siebrecht, C. H. Allen, 

 E. Dailledouze, A. L. Don, J. H. Tay- 

 lor, C. W. Ward, Jas. Dean and Messrs. 

 Armitage and Bruggerhoff, were ap- 

 pointed to attend to the invitation. 



All we can say is that if the con- 

 vention is -held in New York next 

 year, it will be the greatest ever held, 

 a magniflcent exhibition can be as- ' 

 sured and then we have the great Bo- 

 tanical Gardens to show you. 



Word was informally received from 

 the Philadelphia Florists' Club to the 

 efllect that it was that club's desire to 

 have the Ne-w York boys go to Detroit 

 by way of Philadelphia. Action was, 

 however, delayed until the matter is 

 officially put before the club. 



VariouF Items. 



A. J. Edmonds, Bristol, R. I., is vis- 

 iting our city. 



All the principal retail florists are 

 busy today, on funeral work for the 

 late Mrs. Wm. C. Whitney. More 

 flowers will be used on this sad occa- 

 sion than were ever used for a funeral 

 before. A full description of the de- 

 signs will be given in your next retail 

 notes. IVEEA. 



NEW YORK vs. FLATBUSH. 



There was lots of fun at the match 

 between the New York and Flatbush 

 Florists' bowlers, which was fought 

 on the alleys of the Central Opera 

 House, 67th street. New York City, on 

 the night of May 6th. Flatbush lost 

 both the regular team games, but won 

 the all-comers' game. 



Rather poor scores were made by 

 both teams in the match games, each 

 side being evidently too determined to 

 win, and we all know when you want 

 to make high scores on the alley it in- 

 variably happens that you make the 

 lowest. Whether it was the "nervous- 

 ness" or the awful lunged "coachers," 

 or both, that were responsible for the 

 scores no one seems to be able to set- 

 tle, but with Burns' "White Slippers" 

 and "Lang's Glasses" on the New 

 York side, and Schmutz's "Red Tie" 



