September 11, 1902. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



507 



Part of the Trade Exhibit at the Hamilton Convention of the Canadian Horticultural Association. 



REFLECTIONS ON THE HAMILTON, 

 ONT., CONVENTION. 



Florists are really verj' nice people all 

 the world over. In the horticultural 

 world there should be no dividing lines 

 of nationality, creed or social standing. 



It was the turning point in the his- 

 tory of the Canadian Association — A 

 case of go ahead or "bust." Tlianks to 

 the good work of the Hamilton men, who 

 worked like beavers, and the good work 

 of Secretary pro tern Wm. Gammage 

 and others, the attendance was beyond 

 expectation and the trade exhibit an im- 

 mense success. Another step upward 

 on the ladder was won. 



It was a business meeting and lots of 

 business was done in an earnest, busi- 

 ness-like way. There were social enter- 

 tainments and plenty of social enjoy- 

 ment, but they took second place. This 

 is as it should be. We can have a pic- 

 nic any time and anywhere. 



It is greatly to the credit of the 

 members that they were not to be tempt- 

 ed to stray from the path laid down by 

 the founders of the Association by the 

 vision of Goverment pap held up before 

 them by Provincial government officials. 

 The Association has larger and broader 

 objects in view, and aims to embrace the 

 whole Dominion, not a province only. It 

 is the Canadian Horticultural Associa- 

 tion and will stick to that. 



Perhaps it is as well that nothing was 

 done to settle the trade paper question. 

 The demands for a paper will soon be so 

 strong that individual enterprise will 

 settle it before long. The trade in Can- 

 ada cannot afford to advertise in all 

 three American trade papers. If they 

 only advertise in one it does not reach 

 all their customers, most of whom only 

 take one. The only remedy is a Cana- 

 dian trade paper. If the trade will sup- 

 port the paper, the paper will be of in- 

 calculable benefit to the trade. This has 

 been proved in the U. S. within the last 

 15 or 20 years, and as soon as this fact 



is impressed on the minds of the trade 

 in Canada, we shall see a trade paper 

 here. 



Everyone should read the paper, "The 

 Hardy Perennial Border," read bj' Mr. 

 Alexander of Hamilton. As was remarked 

 at the meeting, "Mr. Alexander is not 

 only a gardener, he is a poet, and his 

 paper is a poem." 



All the officers were elected by accla- 

 mation, which speaks well for the good 

 feeling of the members from the east, 

 west, north and south towards each 

 other. 



Toronto was a good selection for the 

 place of meeting next year. There wiii 

 be cheap fares and lots to see and learn 

 there. The Association will gain 

 strength, and in a few years he in a 

 position to attack some of the smaller 

 growing towns. 



It was a real treat to see so many of 

 the eastern brethren at Hamilton. The 

 west will no doubt reciprocate — say in 

 1904. E. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



Supports. 



Your carnations will be needing some 

 kind of support now right soon, and in 

 fact some of the early bloomers, such as 

 Dorothy, Flora Hill, Queen Louise, etc., 

 are full of buds and you should not wait 

 until they are sprawling all over the 

 benches before you put on the supports. 

 It will take them but a few days to grow 

 a lot of crooked and worthless stems and 

 the blooms are ruined by being splashed 

 with dirty water in watering the beds. 

 Such varieties as Lawson, White Cloud, 

 etc., should be supported as soon as pos- 

 sible, to keep them growing upright. Be 

 sure that you weed them thoroughly be- 

 fore you put on the supports, and it will 

 pay you to do what mulching you can, 

 too, because it takes much more time af- 

 terward. 



What kind of supports you use you 



must decide for yourself. There are al- 

 most as many kinds of supports in use 

 as there are growers and each claims 

 superiority in some respect for his own, 

 which is quite natural, just as much so 

 as each hybridist thinks his seedling to 

 be the best in its class. I have described 

 our method several times before and no 

 doubt most of you are familiar with it, 

 but there are always those to whom it 

 is new and so I will describe it briefly. 

 We stretch one wire between each row 

 of plants and one on each outside edge 

 of the bench lengthwise of the bench 

 about five inches above the soil. Nail 

 light supports across about every twenty 

 feet to keep them up off the ground and 

 draw the wires as tight as possible to 

 keep them from sagging. The cross sup- 

 ports should be of wood, as the wires 

 which are first used would stretch and 

 let the whole thing down in the center 

 of the bench. Then we cut a lot of 

 strings long enough to reach across the 

 bench and one man begins tying a string 

 to the edge wire and wrapping it once 

 around each wire as he takes it across 

 the bench. At half way another man 

 takes it up and finishes it up by tying 

 it to the other edge wire, and so on until 

 the other end of the bench is reached. 

 We put two strings between each row of 

 plants so as to leave an opening about 

 three inches vnde to allow fresh air to 

 reach the base of the plants. 



This method is gaining in favor right 

 along and we believe it will be used al- 

 most altogether when it becomes known 

 to all the growers. The important point 

 is to keep the plants off the ground and 

 to keep the flower stems growing up 

 straight and the more space you can al- 

 low each shoot for itself the better will 

 the flowers be and the less likely you are 

 to have stem-rot or rust in your carna- 

 tion benches. Be sure that j'ou use gal- 

 \anized wire, it costs no more than the 

 other and the difference in the durability 

 is remarkable. The plain wire soon he- 

 gins to rust aod get rough, and when in 



