272 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



AUGUST 17 1899. 



cially for flowering plants. While no 

 doubt a part of this demand is due to 

 the high price of cut flowers at the 

 holiday season and Easter, there is no 

 question but what the growth in that 

 direction is far beyond what could oc- 

 cur from so small a cause. 



Enormous quantities of the Boston 

 fern have been produced and sold. The 

 plant is altogether lacking in the 

 stateliness and grace which character- 

 ize the palm, and the delicate beauty 

 of form and color shown by many of 

 our greenhouse plants, yet every point 

 of its ragged fronds speaks strength 

 and vigor. Its strong growth and adapt- 

 ability to unfavorable conditions, and 

 its comparative cheapness withal, have 

 assured its retaining the lasting place 

 in popular favor which it so quickly 

 gained. 



The year's list of new plants intro- 

 duced in this country is not especially 

 large and apparently contains nothing 

 of strikingly unusual merit. In the 

 early part of the year we followed with 

 amused admiration the Boston exposi- 

 tion of how to advertise and sell a 

 new carnation. 



A decided tendency exists in outdoor 

 planting to use less of the highly col- 

 ored flowering and foliage bedding 

 plants, substituting massed effects of 

 perennials and shrubbery, especially 

 the native forms. It is quite likely 

 that the planting at the Columbian 

 Exposition, so much discussed at the 

 time, is largely responsible for this 

 movement, and as many of the leading 

 parks and cemeteries are working on 

 this line, it is well for the florist to 

 take heed. 



Many railroads are giving special 

 attention to the care and adornment 

 of their station grounds with flowers. 

 This practice is rapidly extending, and 

 not only as creating another market, 

 but more especially in placing well 

 designed and well cared for planta- 

 tions most prominently before the 

 public, is in future to have a marked 

 effect. 



The matter of sub-irrigation in the 

 greenhouse is worthy of careful inves- 

 tigation. 



The present growth in floriculture in 

 the west and far west is phenomenal. 

 The number of glass structures being 

 erected this year is unprecedented, not- 

 withstanding the seemingly prohibit- 

 ive prices of material. The tendency 

 in the east seems to be more in the 

 line of rebuilding, modernizing and 

 increasing the quantity and quality of 

 product from a given space, rather 

 than enlarging that space. 



Present conditions may render profit- 

 able these enormous ranges of cheaply 

 built, poorly equipped houses, supplied 

 with insufficient and unskilled labor, 

 but the future has sad lessons of ex- 

 perience in store for their owners. 



We are not as a class receiving from 

 the experiment stations — institutions 

 established and conducted with public 

 funds, and for the public good 1 — those 

 benefits to which we are entitled. For 

 this state of affairs no one is to blame 

 but ourselves. We have neglected to 

 make our wants known in an intelli- 



gent manner, and have not accepted 

 gracefully what little work has been 

 done in our behalf. 



In the press and at our meetings 

 frequent complaint has been made of 

 the lack of variety in flower stores — it 

 has been well characterized as "That 

 everlasting sameness." Many an old- 

 fashioned flower could be grown and 

 sold today to the profit of both grower 

 and retailer as well as the satisfaction 

 of the customer. 



Tbe increase in the number of side- 

 walk flower sellers and the vast quan- 

 tities of stock disposed of by them, has 

 been a perennial source of argument 

 between different branches of the 

 trade. This class of dealers is a boon 

 to the wholesale houses and to the 

 growers, by making a market for oth- 

 erwise unsalable stock. With the ex- 

 ception of an exceedingly small per- 

 centage, their trade is wholly with 

 those who do not patronize the flower 

 stores, and it is an open question 

 whether they do not create flower 

 lovers and flower buyers enough to 

 amply repay the legitimate retailer for 

 such few customers as they attract 

 from him. 



The list of new plant names regis- 

 tered will be of little value, unless it 

 is full and complete. The present fe? 

 would seem much too high. The ques- 

 tion of carnation registry, also that of 

 the chrysanthemum, rose and dahlia 

 requires attention. I would suggest 

 that this society consult with all the 

 auxiliary societies having in charge 

 special flowers, with a view: First, to 

 establish a uniform registry fee to be 

 charged by each; second, for this so- 

 ciety to recognize and register free all 

 names properly registered before the 

 auxiliary societies, they in turn to ac- 

 cord the same courtesy to names in 

 their special lines registered with our 

 secretary. 



In conclusion, let me say a word for 

 that much abused body, the Executive 

 Committee. The men composing this 

 committee are, almost without excep- 

 tion, in charge of large established in- 

 terests. Their time is money, and the 

 giving up of a week to the business of 

 this society is a distinct financial loss 

 to each and every one of them, and 

 each one of them is annually put to an 

 additional actual expense generally 

 greater than that necessary to secure 

 life membership in the Society of 

 American Florists. For earnest, intel- 

 ligent and conscientious hard work I 

 commend the Executive Committee to 

 you. 



Report of Secretary Stewart. 



Mr. President and Members: In re- 

 porting a decrease of membership for 

 1898 of about 17 per cent, from the 

 previous year, I desire to say that this 

 condition, under the peculiar circum- 

 stances of last year, does not indicate 

 any weakness in our organization, but 

 should rather be regarded as an evi- 

 dence of vitality because the loss was 

 not greater. The results of the present 

 year will, I believe, show that this re- 

 duction in our membership was only 



temporary, while the record of what 

 we accomplished in 1S98, the broaden- 

 ing of our lines and the systematizing 

 of our work, afford good evidence that 

 the society has now reached that stage 

 Where the size of the attendance at its 

 conventions is no longer the only test 

 of its strength. 



I have to report the full paid up 

 membership for 1898 as 434, inclusive 

 of nineteen life members. The new 

 names added during this year num- 

 bered fifty-six, of which one each were 

 from Virginia, New Jersey, Michigan, 

 Georgia and Washington; two each 

 from South Dakota and Wisconsin; 

 three each from New York, District of 

 Columbia and Kansas; six each from 

 Illinois and Minnesota; eight each 

 from Missouri and Iowa, and ten from 

 Nebraska. 



The loss of 144 members who had 

 been in good standing in 1897 was due 

 solely to the indifference resultant 

 from the holding of our annual meet- 

 ing in a locality so remote from those 

 centers whence our strongest support 

 in membership has been heretofore 

 derived, and our- return to these more 

 thickly populated communities will, in 

 time, without doubt bring many of 

 them back into line, while our new 

 activities, such as co-operative pur- 

 chase and plant registration, are al- 

 ready beginning to secure us new ac- 

 cretions that are likely to be influen- 

 tial and permanent, regardless of 

 where our annual meetings may con- 

 vene. There is also an increased 

 prominence in the trade exhibition 

 feature of our conventions and we 

 shall make no mistake if we give our 

 best thought to the further develop- 

 ment of this department which should 

 eventually become so important that 

 no enterprising florist will think of 

 missing it, and also to the reasonable 

 encouragement of the recreative fea- 

 tures which are so dear to the heart of 

 many of our best members. 



The printed transactions of the soci- 

 efy for 189S contains all the speeches 

 and essays, the valuable discussions, 

 and other business of the sessions at 

 Omaha, in full, reports of the superin- 

 tendent of the trade exhibition, the 

 judges and various important commit- 

 tees, the medal awards, a list of plant 

 introductions for the year, the story of 

 how generously our Omaha brethren 

 entertained us, the membership list by 

 states and alphabetically, together 

 with the transactions of the auxiliary 

 societies. It records the inauguration 

 of the new departments of plant regis- 

 tration, co-operative purchase, legisla- 

 tion, arbitration and claims adjust- 

 ment, all of which have been in oper- 

 ation during the year and will be re- 

 ported on at this session by the proper 

 committees. 



The list of new plants registered at 

 the secretary's office up to date is as 

 follows: 



July 12, 1898, The Conard & Jones 

 Co., rose Miss Clara Barton, and can- 

 nas Admiral Schley and Gen. Shatter. 



Oct. 29, Robert Sandiford, pelargo- 

 niums. Sandiford's Surprise, Sandi- 

 ford's Wonder and Sandiford's Best. 



