JUNE 7, 1900. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



49 



unite with a will to uplift the whole 

 outfit. 



Even this is up-hill work. Deep- 

 seated prejudices cannot be attacked 

 without stirring up opposition and the 

 process of correcting abuses involves 

 trouble for somebody's toes always. In 

 the American Florist of ten years ago 

 last September we read the following: 

 "From its inception the Society of Am- 

 erican Florists has been a chosen mark 

 of the critics. At first they would 

 hardly allow it a twelvemonth in 

 which to die and be buried. When that 

 period had passed, a rousing meeting 

 closing the year and a new prediction 

 must be hazarded, they saw swift de- 

 cay in the rule of cliques and in other 

 dimly outlined evils. The fifth annual 

 meeting just closed has proven no ex- 

 cepfon in its disappointment of this 

 class. They said the end bad been 

 reached and all the changes run?, the 

 florists had learned all the society 

 could teach. What a further disap- 

 pointment will it be then to know that 

 the universal opinion is that in all 

 that makes the gathering of real bene- 

 fit to the florist the last is still the 

 best." Well, the S. A. F. is still a very 

 lively corpse and apparently growing 

 more tenacious and invincible every 

 year. 



And how has the Philadelphia Club 

 been progressing during all this time? 

 Sorry to remind you of it. and wouldn't 

 do it except for the sake of compari- 

 son, but according to the records of 

 the bowling tournament at Buffalo in 

 1889, Philadelphia had the honor of 

 having made the lowest score in the 

 series — 571. Glance at the score books 

 today and tell us whether organiza- 

 tion is helpful or not! Invincible with 

 the balls, the gun or the shuffleboard — 

 more trophies in the showcase than 

 are possessed by the whole push of 

 florists' organizations put together — 

 the Philadelphia Florists' Club is a 

 peach and a shining example of what 

 organization and fraternal standing 

 shoulder to shoulder together can ac- 

 complish. In Boston our social oppor- 

 tunities in societies and clubs seem to 

 have developed a fondness for good 

 living rather than for athletic diver- 

 sions, and the only active florists' or- 

 ganization has a banquet at every 

 meeting. Thus we are assured of hav- 

 ing every member in that sublime con- 

 dition consequent upon a well filled 

 interior when he is at the highest de- 

 gree of geniality. I trust you will not 

 accuse me of unseemly boasting, but I 

 am inclined to think that Boston 

 stands as pre-eminent in gastronomy 

 as does Philadelphia in athletics. Her 

 trophies won in many a hard fought 

 tournament are not to be seen in any 

 showcase, but are evidenced in the 

 ample and constantly increasing waist 

 circumference of her representatives! 

 Yes, Boston is matchless, too, in her 

 own favorite game and she is about to 

 build a horticultural hall big enough 

 to hold all her solid men without 

 crowding and still have room left for 

 pur friends from everywhere, whom 



we hope to be able to welcome on and 

 after May 1, 1901, in one of the grand- 

 est edifices ever dedicated to horticul- 

 ture. 



The individual benefits in number- 

 less ways through the wholesome eon- 

 tact with his fellows which organiza- 

 tion encourages. How many eloquent 

 orators, how many astute parliamenta- 

 i-;ans, how many exquisite singers 

 have come to light under the quicken- 

 ing influence of this great developer- 

 entertaining us unselfishly and bright- 

 ening our existence by their admirable 

 social traits that otherwise might 

 have remained dormant for all time. 

 The evolution of the "Brave Old Duke 

 of York" is alone a triumph sufficient 

 to justify the formation of the Phil- 

 adelphia Florists' Club, if it never ac- 

 complished another thing. Its gifted 

 yet unpretentious exponent has given 

 more genuine pleasure in its tuneful 

 strains, so artlessly rendered, than has 

 been derived from any other social 

 feature of our national gatherings. 

 Philadelphia is well supplied witn such 

 congenial spirits. Your grandest tro- 

 phies are not exhibited in that show- 

 case that adorns your clubroom, but 

 are safely stored in the breasts of a 

 thousand fellow florists who have tast- 

 ed your boundless hcspitality, well lu- 

 bricated with the good cheer which 

 John Westcott dispenses so liberally. 

 I recall, by the way, that Mr. West- 

 cott. ten years ago, gave it as his opin- 

 ion that a retailer should make not 

 less than 100 per cent, profit on all 

 flower sales. Wonder whether his 

 views have changed any with the lapse 

 of a half score of years? 



Notwithstanding all the good accom- 

 plished, there is still plenty to do, 

 many things proposed but not yet a 

 reality. A reliable chart of the ha-il 

 belt is wanted; all the scoundrels are 

 not yet blacklisted; the imaginative 

 newspaper horticulturist still revels in 

 wonderland and the crape chaser's own 

 door bell is still minus the crape. We 

 are yet without the blue dahlia, al- 

 though in New York you can now buy 

 the wonderful Tuba rugosa which 

 "blooms in three weeks, thirty-six dis- 

 tinct colors on one plant." for a few 

 pennies. The national flower still 

 blushes unseen, the mealy bug contin- 

 ues regular at his meals, and the eel 

 worm still has a wiggle on. The "floral 

 artist" has not quite ceased to con- 

 struct steamboats of carnations, nor 

 the landscape artist to build Jacob's 

 Ladders of alternanthera and the 

 "mossback" is growing mossier and 

 mossier and more difficult to stampede 

 as the years roll on. 



O'rganization is a concentrated 

 power. It gives courage to the faint- 

 hearted; under its beneficent rule in- 

 tellects are awakened to activity, the 

 strong help to sustain the weak and 

 the weak help to encourage the strong; 

 selfishness is eliminated as we learn 

 the humane principle that what con- 

 cerns one concerns all and our eyes are 

 opened to the utter barrenness of a life 

 where trading and hustling, browbeat- 



ing and slave driving, untempered with 

 neighborly forbearance, unselfish deeds 

 and kindly consideration for the feel- 

 ings and welfare of our fellow man, is 

 the one controlling idea. 



Help your society; it will help you. 

 The societies are as yet only feeling 

 their way and cutting out their work 

 in the rough. How tremendous would 

 be their power it every florist in the 

 land was enrolled and would undertake 

 to do for the common good as his 

 share even one-quarter as much as he 

 has benefited from the work of others! 

 In the coming ten years we may expect 

 to see a greater proportionate advance- 

 ment than for the past decade In ev- 

 erything that goes to make our pro- 

 fession honorable and honored. Just 

 how great the stride depends upon in- 

 dividual effort. If our organizations 

 would attain to their highest useful- 

 ness, every member should be enlisted 

 as a worker and this can only be done 

 by making our scope so comprehen- 

 sive that each individual, whatever 

 his circumstances, will see in it some- 

 thing to fit his case. 



There are many broad questions and 

 far-reaching issues that .'an be dealt 

 with much more effectively by the na- 

 tional society than by the local organ- 

 izations. It is one of the duties that 

 the local club owes to the cause gen- 

 erally and to its members individually, 

 to foster the interests of the national 

 society within its own ranks. This ad- 

 vice, however, is superfiuous in Phila- 

 delphia. The fullest measure of loyal- 

 ty and earnest support has here been 

 ever given to the S. A. F. from its in- 

 ception up to the pres.ent moment, and 

 were Pennsylvania's part in the an- 

 nals of the national organization blot- 

 ted out, it would be an irreparable dis- 

 aster. To urge you to show up in 

 goodly numbers at the coming conven- 

 tion in New York is also unnecessary, 

 I know. It goes without saying that if 

 any other city in the country is ambi- 

 tious for the honor of sending the big- 

 gest and merriest delegation to that 

 great event, they will have to do some 

 tall hustling. But you'll make no 

 mistake in coming. 



New York is fully aroused and will 

 acquit herself nobly. The enthusiastic 

 support being given to those entrusted 

 with the work of preparation is re- 

 markable. It comes from all sides — 

 rose growers, carnation growers and 

 plantsmen; bulb dealers and supply 

 men, wholesalers and retailers; seeds- 

 men, nurserymen, builders and boiler 

 men — all seem actuated by the same 

 generous rivalry and emulation as to 

 who shall do the most. And the result- 

 ant gain to New York fioriculture it Is 

 impossible to estimate. No doubt 

 there will be some croakers; they are 

 "with us alway." Some men croak 

 incessantly and the only apparent rea- 

 son is that there's a pleasure in being 

 a croaker which none but croakers 

 know. In spite of them, in spite of 

 their unfriendliness, and our own In- 

 evitable mistakes, we have every rea- 

 son to believe that co-operative and 



