November 16, 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



633 



THE E XHIBITION SEASON 



The Boston Show 



Table Decorated with Frdit. 



Major Bonnaffun. 



A Popular Institution. 

 The spacious halls of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society thronged 

 with the flower lovers of the city and 

 professional horticulturists from far 

 and near for three days gave ample 

 evidence of the place which the time- 

 honored chrysanthemum show in Bos- 

 ton holds in the estimation of the peo- 

 ple. Music, afternoon and evening, by 

 a fine ladies' orchestra, gave the neces- 

 sary touch of animation to the occa- 

 sion, and the gorgeous masses of color 

 and verdure which filled the brilliantly 

 lighted halls compelled the admiration 

 of professional and amateur alike. 



Different from Its Predecessors. 



For about a quarter of a century it 

 has always been safe to say, "If you 

 want to see trained specimen plants in 

 perfection go to the Boston Show," but 

 he who came to Boston on this occa- 

 sion was doomed to disappointment, 

 for not one specimen such as have 

 excited the wonder of the beholder in 

 past years was to be seen and I he 

 glory thereof has departed. These 

 marvels of the growers' art were never 

 adequately appreciated, tor the toil and 

 skill lavished upon them, not to men- 

 tion the cost of transportation, have 

 been a labor of love, invigorated with 

 the zest of cultural rivalry, for which 

 the premiums have been dispropor- 

 tionately small. Their absence was 

 bemoaned by the visiting gardeners as 

 was also the comparatively small rep- 

 resentation of the enormous specimen 

 cut blooms and plants grown to single 

 stem and flower which have occupied 



so prominent a place in recent shows 

 and disparaging criticism was fre- 

 quently heard, but the public, who take 

 no interest in scales of points or deep 

 cultural problems, had no complaint 

 to make, and in their enthusiasm over 

 other features unhesitatingly pro- 

 nounced the exhibition "the best ever." 



Some New Features. 



There is a very evident tendency to 

 broaden the scope of this exhibition 

 and make it a comprehensive autumn 

 show rather than a purely chrysanthe- 

 mum affair. A striking innovation 

 was the prizes offered for decorated 

 tables of fruits with autumn foliage, 

 berries, etc., which brought out some 

 gorgeous arrangements of luscious na- 

 tive and foreign production which, al- 

 though far too formal and architec- 

 tural in conception, proved a most sen- 

 sational attraction and will, no doubt, 

 be improved upon in an artistic way 

 next year. The first prize in this class 

 was won by Edward MacMulkin. 

 Tables arranged with chrysanthemum 

 blooms, for decorative effect, were an- 

 other new departure. Several entries 

 were made but the one by Sidney Hoff- 

 man, which won first prize, was the 

 only one displaying any special origi- 

 nality. It presented a beautiful study 

 in arrangement of single white variety 

 Garza. In the companion class ad- 

 mitting foliage or other material as 

 accessories the two florists, Hoffman 

 and MacMulkin competed, the former 

 winning first with a combination of 

 chrysanthemums, cork bark and au- 

 tumn foliage. Another innovation was 



the Farquhar silver cup and other 

 prizes for special collections of vegeta- 

 bles, the winner of the cup being Edw. 

 Jenkins, gardener to Giraud Foster, 

 with a most remarkable display for 

 this season of the year, including peas. 

 Peep O'Day corn, string beans, aspara- 

 gus, etc. 



The Chrysanthemum Plants. 

 The plants were shown in the main 

 hall. Thej' did not constitute a very 

 prominent feature and comprised noth- 

 ing of striking value outside of the 

 group of twenty-five low-grown com- 

 mercial specimens from Wm. H. Elliott 

 which were very fine, the groups of 

 single-flowered varieties from Mrs. 

 Frederick Ayer, gardener George Page, 

 and one or two other exhibitors, and 

 the plants grown to six stems with 

 one bloom to each stem from Mrs. 

 Lester Leland, gardener E. H. Wet- 

 terlow. 



The Chrysanthemum Blooms. 



As intimated above the groups of 

 specimen blooms, while uniformly good, 

 contained nothing sensational. There 

 were, however, two enormous vases of 

 one hundred blooms each of Major 

 Bonnaffon and William Duckham, from 

 Wm. W. Edgar, flowers of unexcelled' 

 perfection, towering far above the 

 heads of the visitors and arranged with 

 faultless taste. 



A worthy companion to these was 

 James Nicol's vase of Mrs. Jerome 

 Jones which won the Gane Memorial 

 prize. 



First prize winners in the vase 

 classes of separate colors were as fol- 



