March 17, 190G 



HORTICULTURE 



327 



Speakers made general use of the 

 blackboard in explaining their piping 

 systems and boilers, and it seemed 

 more like a plumbers' or steamfltters' 

 meeting than a florists' club. 



During the evening the president 

 called on Harry von Koolbergen, a 

 traveling salesman from the land of 

 azaleas, who in a brief talk described 

 some methods in use by his country- 

 men. 



Watering systems will be the topic 

 at a future meeting and demonstra- 

 tions will be made at a local green- 

 house. 



B. Schroeter and his son have been 

 asked to address the next meeting on 

 the handling of holiday plants. 



GARDENERS' CLUB OF BALTI- 

 MORE. 



The annual meeting and election of 

 officers of this club was held on 

 Monday p. m., March 12, at the Hotel 

 Lexington. The following officers were 

 elected: President, W. G. Lehr; vice 

 president, Chas. L. Seybold; secretary, 

 J. J. Perry; financial secretary, G. 

 Talbot; treasurer, F. G. Burger; 

 librarian, C. M. Wagner. A banquet 

 was held in the dining room of the 

 hotel and was participated In by one 

 hundred guests. E. A. Seidewitz acted 

 as toastmaster. Responses were made 

 by John Burton, D. T. Connor, 'G. O 

 Brown, Robert Craig and others. 

 J. E. Haines displayed a number of his 

 seedling carnations. 



CLUB AND SOCIETY NOTES. 



The April meeting will be Rose 

 Night at the New York Florists' Club. 



The Kentucky Society of Florists 

 held its regular meeting on March 7 

 at J. E. Marret's, with a good at- 

 tendance. 



The Hartford Florists' Club is con- 

 templating the merging of that body 

 with the Connecticut Horticultural 

 Society. A conference committee has 

 been appointed with that object in 

 view and consolidation is looked on 

 favorably by both organizations. 



The executive committee of the So- 

 ciety of American Florists and Orna- 

 mental Horticulturists has certainly 

 shown its high appreciation of the 

 Gem City, and their national conven- 

 tion in Dayton will surely be made a 

 notable occasion. — Dayton Journal. 



The Flatbush Florists' Bowling Club 

 had a prize contest last Thursday. 

 Pres. John Scott of New York Florists' 

 Club won the first prize, a tobacco 

 jar; and J. Austin Shaw, the second, 

 a silver inkstand. The latter was put 

 up again and was won by Henry Daille- 

 douze. There were eleven competi- 

 tors. 



At a meeting of the florists at Day- 

 ton, Ohio, on Monday, March 12, the 

 Dayton Florists' Club was organized 

 and officers elected as follows: Presi- 

 dent, J. B. Heiss; vice-president, 

 Charles Lutzenberger; secretary, 

 Horace M. Frank; treasurer, H. H. 

 Ritter. Horace M. Frank was recom- 

 mended by acclamation for the posi- 

 tion of superintendent of S. A. F. trade 

 exhibition. 



MECHANICAL WATERING FOR 

 GREENHOUSES. 



(Read before the Detroit and Washington 

 Florists' Clubs by Louis Wittbold.) 



It is only a short time ago that all 

 watering in greenhouses was done 

 with the watering can and those of us 

 whose fathers and grandfathers were 

 gardeners before us, can well remem- 

 ber how these gentlemen condemned 

 the hose when it was first used for 

 greenhouse watering. They argued 

 that the hose would drown everything 

 in sight and that it would be impos- 

 sible to give individual care to the 

 plants except by watering individually 

 with the can. The world has made 

 progress and the old fellows have 

 gradually given in to the younger gen- 

 eration until our fathers had the 

 privilege to do some of the watering 

 with the hose and some with the can; 

 they had to help out, as it were, with 

 the old stand by (the can) to make 

 good for the mistakes of the hose. 



The world has made still further 

 progress and we the present generation 

 have as a rule discarded the can en- 

 tirely and have outgrown or overcome 

 the habits of our fathers and grand- 

 fathers and are using the hose en- 

 tirely for all watering in the green- 

 house. Looking back at our prede- 

 cessors we smile and pat each other 

 on the back and feel our superiority 

 to such a degree that we generally find 

 it necessary to go out and buy a size 

 larger hat. 



Let's not be too hard on the old 

 fellows but let's give them due credit 

 for the advancement they accepted and 

 allowed us to accept. We are little 

 if any quicker then they to accept new 

 ideas and our present advancement has 

 only come about through the general 

 evolution of things. 



The world is progressing; the day of 

 the hose for greenhouse watering will 

 ccme to a close, just the same as the 

 can is fast saying good-bye to all 

 modern places — in fact many of them 

 cculd probably not boast the possession 

 of one, especially not one such as 

 grandfather had that carried about a 

 gallon of water, with a spout three 

 feet long and which was just the thing 

 for the boys to use as a brass band to 

 march around the greenhouse with. 



Mechanical watering is the next step 

 in the chain of progress, which will 

 revolutionize the present mode of 

 watering and which will probably un- 

 dergo the same evolution of adoption 

 and rejection until its superiority is as 

 firmly established as that of the hose 

 over the can. How long would it take 

 to water and syringe a large modern 

 place with a can and a hand syringe 

 and could the job be done as well as 

 with a hose? We answer this question 

 with a smile but could we get hold of 

 some of the old fellows who have long 

 since passed away we could get up a 

 pretty good argument and it would 

 take years of time before they would 

 accept our idea. We do not know ex- 

 actly how long it would take to water 

 and syringe a given number of square 

 feet with a can, but there is no neces- 

 sity to try to find out, as the time con- 

 sumed is so long that we could not 

 afford to adopt so expensive a method 

 to do our work. How long does it take 

 to water a given number of square 

 feet with a hose? This is the age of 

 hose and I will let every one answer 

 the question for himself, as we are all 



familiar with its use and results. How 

 long would it take to water a given 

 number of square feet with a watering 

 system is a question that can be 

 answered by another question. How 

 much water is your system or pump 

 able to supply? A system of this kind 

 will take all the water instantly that 

 a pumping system will supply. 



The world is making progress and, 

 as only better things than what we 

 have had before help in the grand 

 march of progressive advancement, 

 mechanical watering will surely use 

 up several links in this chain after its 

 benefits are fully realized by brother 

 florists. 



BUSINESS CHANGES. 



C. B. Service has opened a retail 

 store at 3 Shenango St., Sharon, Pa. 



Fisher & Rocklin have opened a re- 

 tail store in the Boudeman block, 

 Kalamazoo, Mich. 



R. G. Wilson of Brooklyn will do a 

 wholesale and retail business at 48 W. 

 30th street, New York. 



The business of the Chatham Rose 

 Co., Chatham, N. J., has been pur- 

 chased by H. A. Neuner. 



J. H. Brown has disposed of his busi- 

 ness at Sebring, 0., to J. H. Hall, and 

 has bought a larger plant at Salem, O. 



Herendeen Manufacturing Company's 

 New York office has been removed 

 from 39 Cortlandt street to 296 Pearl 

 street. 



E. W. Comley has joined his brother 

 George A. in business in Washington, 

 D. C, and the firm will hereafter be 

 Comley Bros. 



W. McRae Thompson has resigned 

 as manager of the Acker Flower Shop, 

 of Philadelphia. John Kraus from 

 New York succeeds to the position. 



E. E. Fairbanks of Athol, Mass., has 

 sold his house and greenhouses to 

 Clifford H. Smith. The houses are 

 well stocked with cucumbers, which 

 are valued at $3000. 



H. R. Mitchell, senior member of the 

 firm of The H. R. Mitchell & Son Co., 

 of Waterville, Me., has disposed of his 

 interest in the business to George Fred 

 Terry. The firm hereafter will be Mit- 

 chell & Co. It is said that additional 

 greenhouses and a retail store on Main 

 street are among the improvements 

 contemplated. 



PLANT NOTES. 



The advance sale of geraniums in- 

 dicate a very heavy demand for the 

 coming season. 



Plant dealers report the sales of be- 

 gonias in all classes and species this 

 season as far ahead of any recent 

 year. 



There is a divergence of opinion 

 among rose forcers as to whether Kil- 

 larney gives best results as own root 

 or grafted plants. 



Frau Lilla Rautenstrauch, one of the 

 newer roses, said to be a cross 

 between Goldquelle and Caroline 

 Testout, is being looked upon with 

 much favor in England as a forcing 

 rose. The flowers are flesh white 

 flushed with apricot yellow. 



