Makcii 24. 10114. 



The Weekly Florists* Review* 



913 



in his buttonliole uow and then, and sometimes 

 inspects the ijreeuhouse. But it is differeut up 

 at Dobbs Ferry. Mr. Rockefeller has the best 

 sort of violets groWD. He charges anything he 

 wants for them. They are Standard, for the 

 debutante, the matinee girl, or the young man 

 who likes them on his frock. They are just like 

 oil. Only they bloom instead of burn. Every 

 member of the famous Sunday school class is 

 presented with a blue bouquet of the finest 

 variety each Sunday. Therefore that day the 

 price of violets down town is higher. They cost 

 25 cents more a hundred, so the greenhouse men 

 say. 



The train that runs down from Dobbs Ferry 

 about 9 o'clock in the morning is called the 

 Rockefeller violet special. It is met each day 

 by crowds of local florists, who are anxious to 

 make the first bid and get the choicest bunches. 

 The station at that time, as every one knows, 

 is redolent with the fresh purple perfume. Mr. 

 Rockefeller now and then comes down in the 

 car himself and presides' at the auction. He 

 knows each bunch of flowers, its price — and the 

 Standard Oil rules of procedure hold throughout. 

 Those which are picked by Mr. Rockefeller him- 

 self are said to be the most expensive. 



The day that Mr. Rockefeller's cow jumped 

 over the fence and landed in the flower bed. 

 as well as the time the ladies from Dobbs Ferry 

 SeminaiT inspected the greenhouse, the price 

 of violets in New York City was doubled. 



It is said that the merger decision will not 

 affect this horticultural combination. 



The Rockefeller gardener, when interviewed 

 at Dobbs Ferry today, said: •'Yes, we have a 

 corner on the violet market. Our violets are the 

 best known, most popular, and largest specie! 

 in the world. Sprinkling them liberally with 

 oil each morning induces a rapidity of growth 

 and a poignancy of odor that can be obtained 

 in no other way. I am sory to hear that all 

 other violet gi-owers are going out of business, 

 but. OS Mr. Rockefeller has so oft^n told \is. 

 'Business is business, in love or war.' " 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS. 



Meeting of the Executive Committee. 



The regular annual meeting of the 

 executive committee of the Society of 

 American Florists was held at the South- 

 ern Hotel, St. Louis, March 5-7. After 

 the usual routine of oflScers ' reports, sun- 

 dry communications, etc., the arrange- 

 ments for the coming convention were 

 taken up. Music Hall, eastern nave and 

 the spacious vestibule of the Exposition 

 building on Olive street, were found to 

 be admirably adapted for the purposes 

 of the convention and trade exhibition 

 and their selection therefor by the St. 

 Louis Florists ' Club was duly approved 

 by the committee. 



The secretary was instructed to ar- 

 range for the presentation of papers by 

 competent gentlemen upon the following 

 subjects: "Progress of Bulb-raising in 

 America," "Home and Municipal Im- 

 provement from a Horticultural Stand- 

 point," "The Ideal Employee," "De- 

 velopment of an American Type of 

 Eoses, " "Indoor Blooming Plants." 



The president's reception will be held, 

 as heretofore, on the evening of the first 

 day of the convention, but. the usual 

 evening meetings on the second and third 

 days will be omitted so that members 

 may be free to visit the World's Fair, 

 a session on the morning of the fourth 

 day beinjg substituted therefor. One 

 session will be devoted to addresses by 

 eminent horticulturists from abroad. The 

 bowling tournament will take place on 

 the afternoon of the second day, the 

 shooting and ladies ' bowling on the aft- 

 ernoon of the third day and the visitors 

 wiU be the guests of the St. Louis Flor- 

 ists' Club on the afteronon of the fourth 

 day. 



New rules were adopted regulating the 

 judging in the trade exhibit, whereby 

 the main report on the exhibits shall be 

 made by the superintendent of the ex- 

 hibition, and the judges, three in num- 

 ber, shall be required to examine and 

 make awards on novelties and improved 

 devices only, due entry of such special 

 exhibits being made in advance with the 

 superintendent. On recommendation of 



President Beneke of the local club, C. A. 

 Kuehn was appointed sviperintendent of 

 the exhibition, with power to select an 

 assistant, .lirangements were also made 

 for the appointment of a sergeant-at- 

 arms and assistant, a night watchman in 

 tlie exhibition hall and the establishment 

 of a bureau of information, and an 

 agreement was entered into with the rep- 

 resentatives of the St. Ijouis Florists ' 

 Club establishing the salary of the su- 

 perintendent and providing for the dis- 

 jiosal of the proceeds of the exhibition 

 after the payment of all expenses, for 

 the benefit of the St. Louis Florists' 

 Club on a basis similar to that made 

 with the local club at Milwaukee last 

 year. 



The legislative committee was re-ap- 

 pointed with J. K. M. L. Farquhar, of 

 Boston, as chairman for 1904, and 

 Messrs. H. M. Altick, Elmer D. Smith 

 and the secretary were constituted a 

 special committee to work in conjunction 

 with them in promoting an agitation fa- 

 voring the passage by congress of the 

 bill presented by the Postal Progress 

 League. 



Messrs. P. -7. Hauswirth, Carl Beyer 

 and E. F. Tesson were appointed the 

 committee on sporting events for the 

 convention of 1904, and were instructed 

 to rule that all persons (ladies excepted) 

 participating in any games must be mem- 

 bers of the S. A." F. in good standing, 

 and also of their respective local Flor- 

 ists' Club, where one exists. 



The amendment to the constitution 

 providing for reciprocal relations with 

 other societies, referred by the Milwau- 

 kee convention to the executive commit- 

 tee, was taken up and considered at 

 length, and finally adopted in an amend- 

 ed form for regular presentation to the 

 convention next August. 



It was voted to offer for the coming 

 year silver and bronze medals for award 

 through various horticultural bodies, as 

 in previous years. The accounts of the 

 secretary and treasurer showed a very 

 substantial increase in both general and 

 permanent fund. 



The committee on final resolutions, 

 Messrs. Altick, Wirth and Stewart, pre- 

 sented the following resolutions which 

 were adopted by a unanimous vote: 



V\'e, the members of the executive committee 

 of the Societ.v of American Florists, in meeting 

 assembled, herebv express onr thanks to the St. 

 L«uis Florists' Club, to F. W. Taylor. Chief of 

 Agriculture and Horticulture of the louisiana 

 Purchase Exposition; to J. H. Hadkinson. Super- 

 intendent of the Department of Floriculture; to 

 T W. Brown. Chief of Landscape. British Ex- 

 hibit; to r! J. Mohr. .Superintendent of L-and- 

 scape. British Exhibit, and to the management 

 of the Southern Hotel, tor the hospitality and 

 many courtesies shown us during our stay in 

 St. iouis. and to the daily press for notices of 

 our proceedings, and we would especially ex- 

 press our appreciation for the incessant and 

 considerate attention shown to this committee 

 bv J. J Beneke, president, and Otto G. Koenlg. 

 treasurer, of the St. Louis Florists' Club. 



Wm. J. Stewart, Sec'y. 



GALAX. 



The splendid Christmas Annual of 

 Country Life in America contained 

 au article on "Christmas Greens and 

 Flowers," by Thomas McAdam, and 

 illustrated with some of the finest 

 pictures ever shown in that hand- 

 somely printed publication. Holly, 

 ground pine, wild smilax, mountain 

 laurel and mistletoe are among the 

 things described in a popular way. Of 

 galax it is said that "it is a hardy 

 little perennial that grows in the south- 

 em Appalachians and nowhere else in 

 the world. The leaves come in two col- 

 ors, green and bronze; the texture is firm 



and waxy. Galax has now displaced ivy 

 as the standard material for florists' de- 

 signs, for it is prettier, costs less and is 

 more easily kept and handled and has 

 long wiry stems. The leaves are also 

 avaHablein a greater range of size and 

 have the advantage of another color be- 

 sides green. ' ' 



The introduction of galax to the trade 

 is credited to Harlan P. Kelsey. The 

 commercial use of galax dates back to 

 only 1890, yet today the leaf is known 

 and used the world over and last year 

 no less than seventy million galax leaves, 

 were sliipped from the mountains ol 

 North and South Carolina. Mr. Kelsey 

 states that he had for years been ftmU- 

 iar with galax, but it was not until thir- 

 teen years ago that it occurred to him 

 that there would be a large demand for 

 these leaves if they were known to the 

 trade. 



"A campaign of advertising was be- 

 gtm, " says Mr. Kelsey, "and samples 

 were sent freely all over the Unitea 

 States. At first" the florists took to them 

 slowly, but eventually galax made its way 

 on its merits and instead of thousands 

 being sent away, the number reached 

 into the millions, until, the coming sea- 

 son, a hundred million is a safe estimate 

 of the number that will be picked and 

 sent out from this section, with many 

 foreign countries, particularly Germany, 

 using their share. 



' ' The industry is of untold benefit to 

 the native mountaineer, as it requires the 

 time of thousands of pickers during the 

 idle winter months to supply the demand. 

 Every member of the family, from the 

 father to the little boy or girl who 

 learned to walk last year, is able to earn 

 good wages, so light and easy is the work. 

 On bright days during the late fall and 

 winter the woods ring with the voicea of 

 the pickers, going 'galackiug, ' as the 

 saying is. It is no unusual sight to see 

 a "camping party starting out over the 

 reads to some distant galax ground, in 

 any kind of a vehicle from a large moun- 

 tain 'schooner' to a small sled drawn by 

 a shaggy ox, or sometimes an ox hitche*} 

 with a mule, 'Pap' leading the proces- 

 sion, one of the boys driving, and 'Maw' 

 walking behind carrying the baoy or 

 peering out of the 'sheet,' as the cover 

 is called; the rest of the large family 

 (often from ten to fifteen) riding or 

 stringing out for a considerable distance 

 before and behind. 



' ' The leaves are tisually picked in the 

 daytime in baskets, to prevent the 

 crimped edges being crushed, and at 

 night around the eampfire .or fireplace, 

 the family joins in sorting the leaves 

 into colors and sizes and tying into 

 bunches of tw enty-five leaves each, all 

 poor leaves being rejected, for if even 

 a few poor leaves creep in, the entire 

 lot is liable to be culled and thrown 

 aside by the local buyer. 



"The leaves have now reached our 

 packing-house, where they are packed 

 in light eases, usually of 10,000 leaves 

 each, in assorted lots, of the colors and 

 sizes, in separate boxes, in layers three 

 bunches or seventy-five leaves deep, 

 sphagnum moss between the layers and 

 oiled paper all around the inside of the 

 box. Of course there is much poorly 

 graded galax handled by eountrj' stores, 

 the leaves being thrown carelessly into 

 rough boxes, without proper packing 

 material, but these command a low price 

 in the market and are more often a 

 total loss. 



"The bulk of the galax leaves go to 



