August 28, 1902. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



431 



There were many florists journeyed 

 southward, some from the far North, 

 one from distant Los Angeles, several 

 from way down East, and what was most 

 gratifying was the good attendance of 

 our brothers from widely separated 

 points in the South. If the convention 

 had not been the business and social suc- 

 cess it was, it yet would have been a 

 , .bright spot in the history*of the S. A. F., 

 ■for it brought from the truly South a 

 meeting of the men engaged in the busi- 

 ness that no other occasion could possibly 

 have brought about. Yet we missed many 

 familiar faces from the centers of horti- 

 culture, men who have been inseparable 

 'from our annual gatherings, and the 

 reasons for their being absent were in 

 too many cases only too reasonable. We 

 missed the eloquence of Eobt. Craig, the 

 rotund and contagious geniality of Ed- 

 win Lonsdale, the humorous speeches of 

 Warren Ewell, but above all we deplored 

 the absence of the man who was elected 

 last year to preside over us. Though ab- 

 sent from us, who at Asheville did not 

 have him constantly in mind? And the 

 action taken by the convention in elect- 

 ing John Burton again for our president 

 was the most satisfactory, the most 

 pleasant and altogether the most admir- 

 able that could possibly have been done. 

 I care not about precedents. It is one 

 that in our history for many years may 

 never occur again, and was the most 

 sincere and true evidence of friendship 

 and appreciation of worth that we could 

 possibly have given him. It was worth 

 a hundred resolutions of sympathy and 

 condolence for his and their bereave- 

 ment, which sympathy may lighten but 

 time alone can heal. To make amends 

 for the absence of the hitherto faithful 

 ones we still had with us the conserva- 

 tive brain and its product in the shape 

 of E. Gurney Hill, the clear-cut parlia- 

 mentary oratory of Patrick O'Mara, the 

 argumentative, dogmatic opinions of C. 

 W. Ward, the dignity and wisdom of W. 

 R. Smith, the good sense and business of 

 H. B. Beatty, the lovable, smooth Teu- 

 tonic-faced Fritz Bahr, of Chicago, and 

 our new baby member, who has entirely 

 missed his calling, Philip J. Foley. But 

 I am not going to give you a list of 

 members present. That you will find in 

 another column. 



The lay-over in Washington en route 

 was most enjoyable, and the gathering of 

 the New York, Philadelphia and other 

 Eastern delegates as hosts of the Wash- 

 ington gentlemen was a superbly man- 

 aged affair and if the thanks for it were 

 publicly given in scant measure, I ten- 

 der mine now most heartily, as I know 

 all felt like doing. The dawn of Tues- 

 day (after the attractions of the baggage 

 car of Monday night) was fresh and 

 glorious and found us within seventy 

 miles of Asheville. We were really in 

 the land of the moonshiners, the rhodo- 

 dendron and azalea and kalmia and many 

 other trees and shrubs not seen in our 

 Northern woods. The windings and 

 curves of our train, its proposed destina- 



tion in some opposite cliff or hole in the 

 mountains as we looked across some wild 

 ravine was truly appalling, but we got 

 there sound in mind and limb. Only 

 don't think that you will be .sure to get 

 there. Insure your life when you travel 

 on the Southern B. E. Wrecks come thick 

 and fast, and frequently they forget that 

 two trains can not pass each other on 

 the same rails. 



Do not be too profuse in offering to 

 pay your friend's trolley car fare from 

 the station to the hotel. It takes $1.25 

 to pay for five passengers. This advice 

 is for the benefit of Mr. Wm. Dilger, of 

 Detroit. It was too bad that more 

 rooms had not been engaged at the 

 Battery Park Hotel, a fine roomy build- 

 ing grandly crowning the summit of a 

 hill and affording a view of the spread- 

 out city and valley below. Not only 

 those who had trusted to luck, but many 

 who thought they had quarters secured 

 there, had to shoulder their grips and 

 seek another resting place. There was 

 no lack of accommodation; what the 

 hotels did not afford the private houses 

 gave in abundance. 



The Auditorium, where the meetings 



held up the reputation of the society, and 

 the prospective business could scarcely 

 have been the sole motive in going so 

 far. There were fine assortments of 

 palms and ornamental plants by Henry 

 A. Siebrecht & Sons, Henry A. Dreer, 

 Bobt. Craig & Son, P. J. Berckmans Co., 

 J. A. Peterson with his fine healthy Be- 

 gonia Lorraine and pandanus, Chas. D. 

 Ball and Lemuel Ball with splendidly- 

 grown palms, and several others. Don't 

 think I am making a pretense of giving 

 a list of exhibitors, for that is completely 

 done elsewhere. 



Then the supply men made a fine dis- 

 play. Bayersdorfer, as usual, spread 

 himself, as did M. Rice & Co., both of 

 the City of Brotherly Love and business; 

 and the more dainty article of ribbons 

 was well represented by S. S. Pennock 

 and Schloss Bros. The bulb industry 

 was well represented by Vaughan's Seed 

 Store, Clueas & Boddington Co., Stumpp 

 & Walter Co., Henry F. Michell and H. 

 Siebrecht & Son. Arthur Oowee, of Ber- 

 lin, N. Y., made a fine display of gladi- 

 olus of the Groff hj-brids. The collection 

 was in charge of Mr. Co wee's brother and 

 was the cause of the only "jar" that I 

 experienced during the meeting. I 

 thought I was doing my share for the 

 firm when I told some admirers that Mr. 

 Cowee grew twenty-nine acres of gladi- 

 oli, but the brother present indignantly 

 said it was a libel, they had sixty-five 

 acres. The correctness of this we must 

 leave to future generations. However, 

 considering the flowers were four days on 

 the train, they were fine. 



There were greenhouses and boilers 



Eating Watermelon on top of Sunset Mountain, Asheville. 



and trade exhibits were held, is a splen- 

 did building. We have seldom met in a 

 more commodious and handsome struc- 

 ture, and the trade exhibit, although 

 sometimes the cause of a little more 

 talking and hubbub than was desirable 

 during the business sessions, added great- 

 ly to the decorations and made the in- 

 terior of the hall and the i)latform most 

 attractive. Now if there was anything 

 surprising, to me at least, it was in the 

 excellence and extent of the trade exhibit. 

 It was equal to many we have had in our 

 good-sized Northern cities. It is not 

 ])resumable that the exhibitors did this 

 from any philanthropic impulse, but 

 whatever the motive, they, one and all, 

 deserve our thanks. We trust sincerely 

 that it paid them well for the effort. It 



and ventilators well represented. Lord & 

 Burnham Co., The Challenge Ventilator 

 Co., J. L. Dillon, Chadborn Mfg. Co., 

 all had working models. Jas. M. Lamb, 

 Fayetteville, N. C, had a real collection 

 of Sarracenia and Dionaea and other 

 insectivorous plants, and perhaps for the 

 first time some of our brother florists 

 made their acquaintance with Venus' fly 

 trap. 



In a class rather by itself was the 

 wonderful table of Nephrolepis Piersoni. 

 This magnificent fern could get no high- 

 er honor than the society's gold medal, 

 but it deserves the highest. It marks an 

 epoch in ferns. And now it is a pleasant 

 recollection to mention the splendid 

 specimen of nepenthes and other choice 

 and rare plants loaned by ex-President 



