190 



HORTICULTURE 



February 17, 1906 



IMPRESSIONS OF THE BOSTON 



MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 



CARNATION SOCIETY. 



(Paper by Albert M. Herr Before the Flor- 

 ist-' i 'lull of Philadelphia, February 



6th, 1906.) 

 When the meeting of the American 

 Carnation Society is mentioned the 

 first thought and the first question is 

 "how was the exhibition?" In view 

 of this fact the exhibition will receive 

 our first consideration. 



The entries for this exhibition 

 eclipsed all previous efforts in the ex- 

 hibition line and had not Dame Na- 

 ture freaked off into a week of May 

 weather, just preceding the meeting, 

 there would have -been half again as 

 many carnations staged in Boston as 

 ever were previously staged at one 

 time or place in the world. 



Accustomed as this society is to a 

 blizzard as part of its programme for 

 the week, it seemed doubly unusual 

 to see exhibitors throw flowers aside 

 because they had heated in transit, 

 and to hear others say • "we did not 

 care to risk our flowers for travelling 

 in such soft weather," yet such were 

 the facts in the case and fully 20,000 

 flowers were not staged that would 

 have been under more favorable con- 

 ditions. 



In spite of all these drawbacks the 

 show in a small measure eclipsed in 

 quantity all previous shows, but the 

 continued warm weather of January 

 brought the quality of the blooms be- 

 low their normal average for this sea- 

 son of the year, and with the excep- 

 tion of the improvement in the newer 

 varieties over tlhe older sorts, the 

 standard of the flowers shown was 

 not as high as in some former shows. 

 Had not the hall been almost ideal 

 for the keeping of carnations this 

 would have been more noticeable, but 

 even with these soft flowers the ex- 

 hibition was better the second day 

 than any exhibition this society has 

 ever held and the sleepy, sick-looking 

 vases usually in evidence the second 

 day were conspicuous by their ab- 

 sence. 



In the contest for certificate of 

 merit, only two scored up to the point 

 of award; these were F. R. Pierson 

 Company's Winsor and John Reimels' 

 Winsome, both of them a beautiful 

 pink color, a color we stand very 

 much in need of, as we are running 

 low on profitable varieties in this 

 shade. It is to be hoped they show 

 up as well on the benches of the men 

 who buy them as they did on the ex- 

 hibition tables. Those varieties that 

 did not score high enough for a cer- 

 tificate are not of necessity inferior 

 sorts, as here again the weather was 

 to blsm( and many of those entered 

 were too soft to be done full justice 

 by the judges, who had to judge from 

 what they had before them. 



In the Lawson Medal class the gold 

 medal. went to C. W. Ward with the 

 variety EJlsa Struss, another one of. 

 the pink shades we are looking for. 

 The color of this variety scored high 

 by daylight and would have scored 

 higher under the electric light, as it 

 certainly did light up handsomely. 

 The silver medal went to Pierson's 

 Winsor. another feathei cap. 



The bronze medal to C. W. Ward's 

 Robert Craig; this one will s.inn need 

 another cap to hold all of its feathers. 

 To mention all of the new named 

 and numbered sorts, that wen- up for 

 exhibition only, would sin ! mean 



confusion, but several of them were 

 so striking as to demand recognition 

 in a paper of this sort, the first of 

 these being Rob Roy, exhibited by 

 the Dailledouze Bros.; it is a phe- 

 nomenally large white, that is des- 

 tined to make a sensation if ever it 

 is put on the market. Another one 

 in this class was a bright yellow so 

 distinct as to be the first variety to 

 catch your eye in looking over the 

 hall; its fine color and fine stem will 

 no doubt make it some day a stand- 

 ard yellow. 



Still another was Peter Fisher's 

 Evangeline, in color a rather dull 

 salmon, but fine in form, substance 

 and stem. A Boston retailer whis- 

 pered in confidence that the color was 

 just what the people want; under 

 electric light it is a handsome thing, 

 but in daylight I would not be one of 

 the people. His Beacon looks like a 

 winner in the scarlet class, and if any 

 or all of the three scarlets now being 

 introduced fall into the same grave 

 as Fiancee we will have this one for 

 future trial. Patten & Company's 

 Mikado is a a fancy flower for a fancy 

 trade and one well worth a trial. 



S. J. Goddard's Helen Goddard 

 jumped into favor at once with the 

 most of us as a successor to William 

 Scott and Joost. There were a host of 

 other good ones on exhibition, but all 

 of this has been chronicled in the 

 trade papers, and it would simply 

 make you tired to hear them all over 

 again. 



In the standard sorts among the 

 whites Lady Bountiful led all of the 

 others and it well merits this lead. 

 Enchantress was almost one-third of 

 the show; in fact, for the sake of the 

 general effect of the exhibition mere 

 were too many of the lighter colors. 

 Lawson was not so much in evidence 

 as in former years and the best one 

 hundred blooms in this class was 

 awarded to Peter Fisher with the 

 variety Nelson Fisher. 



In the Scott shade of pink class 

 there was practically nothing doing, 

 and Fiancee, the queen of our last 

 year's exhibition, was conspicuous by 

 its absence, and we will have to look 

 to the present season's introductions 

 to fill the gap in this class. The same 

 is true of scarlets, there being nothing 

 striking to show excepting this sea- 

 son's introductions and apparently 

 they are all good. In crimsons, Ward 

 and Dailledouze can grow the Presi- 

 dent and Crimson Glow and make 

 money from them in the New York 

 market; other cities draw the line at 

 Harry Fenn and do not want too many 

 of them. Yellow variegated has found 

 no successor to Buttercup and Butter- 

 cup is too old to travel to the exhibi- 

 tion if it is not defunct entirely. 

 Eldorado was the only variety in this 

 class'. In white variegated M. A. Pat- 

 ten and Variegated Lawson had the 

 field to themselves. Lawson cranks 

 claim there is nothing like the Law- 

 son and they are not far wrong, no 

 matter whether it is a white, varie- 

 gated, light pink, dark pink or any 

 other color. In this latter class Pros- 

 perity and Mikado had the field to 

 thems. 



The arrangements for staging the 

 flowers quickly and without confusion 

 were well made and the coffee and 

 sandwich feature in the hall as a pre- 

 liminary to Boston hospitality was 

 certainly appreciated by these hard 



workers, who had until 1 p. m. to stage 

 their flowers. The rearrangement for 

 effect after they had all been staged 

 in class made things very confusing 

 for the judges and delayed the work 

 fully half an hour. Six judges worked 

 on this exhibition for almost three 

 hours and they did not waste any 

 time. 



As to the business meetings they are 

 worth more consideration than most 

 of the members give them. There 

 were several innovations made that 

 will no doubt be record markers for 

 Boston. The principal one of these is 

 the fact that in the future certificates 

 of merit will be given only after a 

 variety has scored up to the proper 

 figure on the exhibition table and 

 again scored by a committee of three 

 under a scale of points yet to be 

 adopted and adapted to the scoring of 

 the variety in the greenhouses of the 

 originator. It was also proposed that 

 the growers of new varieties for in- 

 troduction should keep a record of the 

 number of blooms cut per square foot 

 of the variety and the price it brings 

 in their market and publish these 

 records at intervals during the sea- 

 son. By this double method of check- 

 ing up a new variety this society 

 hopes to avoid the introduction of fail- 

 ures, as it deeply deplores the loss of 

 time, money and space through the 

 failure of so many of the newer in- 

 troductions. 



The papers read were all valuable 

 in their respective lines, but the dis- 

 ■ ussion on them was so meager that 

 it came pretty near being nothing at 

 all. The attendance at the opening 

 meeting in the evening filled the large 

 hall we had for a meeting room, the 

 next day it dropped off about 90 per 

 cent., the show holding about the half 

 of these and the other half were sight- 

 seeing either in the city or among the 

 surrounding growers. This loss of at- 

 tendance could be partially overcome 

 if the growers were to arrange a pro- 

 gram of visiting for the first day, re- 

 turning the party about 4.30 p. m., the 

 hall always being closed from 1.30 to 

 about 4.30 for judging. Another pro- 

 gram could be arranged for Friday, 

 this visiting of the growers being a 

 legitimate part of the session wnich 

 should be arranged so as not to con- 

 flict with the business sessions. 



One very vivid impression of this 

 Boston meeting will be the nearness 

 with which we came to losing the 

 special railroad rate of a fare and one- 

 third. Our attendance by rail at these 

 meetings is so close to the hundred 

 mark required that every one who at- 

 tends should buy a ticket on the cer- 

 tificate plan; it is very little trouble 

 and means the saving of a lot of money 

 to some of us. Philadelphia and New 

 York were the chief sinners at this 

 meeting. 



Another impression to the visitor 

 was the lack of a registration book 

 and a place for the proper receipt of 

 mail and telegrams; this was no doubt 

 simply an oversight of the local club 

 and the President, through whom such 

 affairs are arranged. 



The banquet was a royal finish to a 

 very profitable and enjoyable meeting, 

 and the few disappointments always 

 an incident of such meetings are soon 

 forgotten in the memory of the host 

 of pleasant ones, and we are now all 

 looking forward to the next meeting 

 in Toronto for 1907. 



