210 



horticulture: 



February 13, 1909 



NEWS OF THE CLUBS AND SOCIETIES 



PITTSBURG FLORISTS' AND GAR- 

 DENERS' CLUB. 



The iiieeling of ilie ulub uu the 2iid 

 inst. was well attended by members 

 who were desirous of hearing the news 

 from the Carnation Convention at In- 

 dianai)Olis, and of seeing our own dis- 

 play, as it was Carnation Night with 

 MS. After electing five new members 

 and hearing the auditing comniiitee 

 report that the bonks of the club had 

 ^een found correct, the election of offi- 

 cers for 190!) came in order, and the 

 secretary was instruoted to Cast the 

 unanimous ballot -ai-the.rinb for the 

 following officers: 



• F. Burki, president; P. S. Randolph, 

 vice-president; H. L. Blind, treasurer; 

 H. P. Joslin, secretary; C. S. Crall, as- 

 sistant secretary; E. C. Reineman, 

 Jno. L. Wyland and Jno. Bader, exec- 

 utive committee 



As these officers serve until the next 

 ele<<tion in February, 1910, they will 

 be the officers of the club not only pri- 

 or to, but during, the time the Caraa- 

 tion Convention is held with us in Jan- 

 uary, 1910, and the election was the:e- 

 foro of unusual importance. There 

 was discussion of a suitable place for 

 holding the convention, and of the 

 committees that should be appointed, 

 but the President announced he would 

 not appoint the heads of the commit- 

 tees before the March meeting. 



Never have I known our delegates to 

 any convention to be so unanimous in 

 favorable comment as they were in 

 regard to the carnation convention in 

 Indianapolis last month. One dele- 

 gate said that he had not a criticism 

 to make on the arrangements, and the 

 general opinion seemed to be that we 

 would have to "go some" to equal, and 

 that to excel would require careful 

 thought and hard work. 



There was much praise for the hall 

 in which the blooms were shown at 

 Indianapolis, ver>- few blooms going to 

 sleep during the continuance of the 

 exhibition. As far as novelties were 

 concerned, while the average was high, 

 there were very few to attract atten- 

 tion by decided pre-eminence. The 

 most striking were thought to be Ber- 

 termann Bros.' J. Whitcomb Riley, 

 Baur & Smith's Shasta, Porner's red 

 seedling and A. C. Brown's Superba. 



It was Carnation Night with us. The 

 only entr>- from the private gardeners 

 in their competition display was N. C. 

 Madsen of Sewickley with a bunch of 

 25. He also displajed three rarely 

 shown Primulas in pots, floiibunda, 

 verticillata and Kewensis. The Fin- 

 le\ville Floral Co, showed Afterglow, 

 I.ady Bountiful and Winona. S. J. 

 Patch of De Haven showed Winsor, 

 Rose Pink Enchantress, Enchantress 

 and White Perfection. Pittsburg 

 Rose and Carnation Co. showed Bea- 

 con, I'res. Seelye, Winona, White Per- 

 fection, Afterglow, White Lawson and 

 others. Frank Crook, gardener for J. 

 H. Park, Pittsburg, showed a number 

 of pots ot freesia. 



The Judges, P. S. Randolph. J. W. 

 .Tones and C. S. Crall, awarded cul- 

 tural certificates to N. C. Madsen, 

 Frank Crook, Pittsburg Rose and Car- 

 nation Co , Finleyville Floral Co. and 

 commendation to S. J. Hatch. Mr. 

 Hatch spoke of the bad-keeping quali- 



ties of Rose Pink Enchantress, and 

 will not grow it another year on thai 

 account. 



The club, on moton of Mr. Falconer, 

 awarded a gratuity to N. C. Madsen of 

 $5 00 for his primulas, as showing 

 much cultural skill, varieties seldom 

 gi-own and of a high order of merit. 



Subject for next meeting, "Bulbous 

 Plants antl Blooms." 



H. P. .lOSLIN, Secreta y. 



CHICAGO FLORISTS' CLUB. 



At the regular meeting of the Chica- 

 go Florists' Club, Feb. 4, the newly- 

 elected officers were installed. The 

 following. committees w-ere appointed: 

 For revising by-laws, Albert T. Hay, 

 chairman, L. Coatsworth, H. B. How- 

 ard; transportation, P. J. Foley, chair- 

 man, August Poehlmann, A. T. Pyfer: 

 hnance, H. N. Bruns, Jos. Klimmer. 

 Walter Scott; sports and pastimes, 

 David Erickson; good of the club. El- 

 ward Endeis, PYank Pasternick, A. 

 Longren. Thirteen new names were 

 proposed for membership. 



An iruportant feature of the evemu-{ 

 was the discussion ot the bill appro- 

 priating $3-500 for The Experiment Sta- 

 tion at TJrbana, 111. This was regarded 

 as a most worthy object and methods 

 for fostering it were discussed. Amou,g 

 other things it was decided to place a 

 bouquet of carnations on the desks of 

 the speakers at the meeting of the 

 Legislatuie, which happens to be at 

 the same time that the Illinois State 

 Florists' Association meets at Spring- 

 field. It is expected that quite a num- 

 I'er of Chicago liorists will attend, 

 among them Geo. Asnius, the new CUib 

 President. 



To show their appreciation of his 

 faithful work the Club presented Re- 

 tiring President Leonard Kill with a 

 handsome watch charm in the form of 

 a Maltese cross set with a diamond. 



The important topic tor discussion 

 at the next regular meeting will be the 

 advisability of holding a flower show 

 next fall. 



ALBANY FLORISTS' CLUB. 



.At the meeting on Thui-sday even- 

 ing, Feb. 4, Charles Sanders, gardener 

 for H. G Eyres, had on exhibition a 

 sample bloom of a new seedling gera- 

 nium. The flower is a handsome red, 

 and the members agreed that it was 

 the largest geranium they had ever 

 seen and some were so enthusiastic as 

 to declare that there is none like it 

 known. The flower had been on the 

 plant for six v-eeks when it was cut 

 yesterday to be shown before the club. 

 Mr. Sanders has selected the name 

 "Goliath" tentatively for the new 

 variety. 



The members discussed the subject 

 of best methods of fumigating green- 

 houses, .lames H. Snydei of Rhine- 

 beck gave the experience of the violet 

 growers in that section of the state 

 with potassium cyanide gas. The 

 growers of Rhinebeck nave used the 

 gas for some time and have become 

 experts in its use. 



The entertainment committee re- 

 ported that arrangements are under 

 way for a banquet which will be held 

 within the next two or three weeks. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTUR- 

 AL SOCIETY. 

 Professor B. M. Duggar of Ithaca, N. 

 Y.. ga'-e the John Lewis Russell lec- 

 ture before this society on Saturday 

 morning, Jan. 30, 1909, his topic being 

 "The Effects of Conditions of Growth 

 in Certain Horticultural Plants upon 

 Susceptibility to Fungous Diseases." 

 There was a large attendance of mem- 

 bers. Professor Duggar said that great 

 advances have been made in our 

 knowledge of fungi. He outlined the 

 relation between the weather and 

 parasitic diseases of plants, and said 

 that ten days of continued damp and 

 rainy weather has often destroyed 

 crops of fruit and vegetables, although 

 some other crops thi'ive on such 

 weather. Fungous diseases in miny 

 cases depend on the wounds caused by 

 previous fungous attacks. In studying 

 the action of fungi upon growing 

 plants we are met with a remarkable 

 diversity. Certain fungi appear to be 

 able to attack the healthiest parts of 

 growing plants, such as rusts, white 

 mildew, etc. These, however, do not 

 kill the tissues of the growing plant, 

 but themselves die as the tissues of the 

 plant die. Contrasted with these are 

 such fungi as leaf spots, fruit decay, 

 etc., which do kill the tissues. It has 

 been asserted by many that the vigor 

 of the plant is a protection against in- 

 fection from plant disease. Yet in 

 some cases it is found that the vigor- 

 ous plant is particularly susceptible to 

 forms of parasitic fungi. 



The black rot of cabbage is a para- 

 sitic fungus, but in order to spread 

 there must be water connection be- 

 tween the outside and inside of the 

 plant. This is established by the drops 

 often seen on the edges of the leaf. 

 Water is most important in its relation 

 to the growth of parasitic fungi. To 

 combat fungi care must be exercised 

 in watering plants. The factor of light 

 is also most important. Expeiitnce 

 has shown that plants subject to pow- 

 dery mildew are beneflled by giving 

 half shade. Alkali or acid in the soil 

 also are conditions affecting fungi, as 

 well as the growth of plants. The cab- 

 bage, for instance, thrives best rn an 

 alkaline soil. It is not easy to correct 

 these conditions, but they mast be con- 

 sidered. ^\^leI■e plants are living on 

 one another there is parasitism, but 

 any ti-eatment ot parasitism must take 

 into account conditions of soil, water, 

 temperature and light. 



On Saturday, February G, Prof. Wrn. 

 Stuart of the Vermont Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station read a paper on the 

 etherization of plants for forcing pur- 

 poses. The lecturer gave in detail the 

 results of many interesting experi- 

 ments with lilacs, peonies, astilbes, 

 bulbs, ihubarb and other plants. He 

 concluded as follows: 



Briefly summed up, the facts present- 

 ed in this paper may be stated as fol- 

 lows: Anaesthetics when propei'ly 

 used impart a decided growth impulse 

 to plants. Their effect upon the plant 

 is to arrest growth, extract moisture 

 fr'om the cell protoplasm, and throitgh 

 these physiological derangements im- 

 parting a severe shock to the whole 



