April 12, 1913 



HORTICULTURE 



553 



INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW 



A Pronounced Success — A Triumph of Horticultural Art — 

 New York Public Enthusiastic — Throngs of Trade 

 Visitors from all Sections — Extensive Trade 

 Displays — Prizes of Great Value Dis- 

 tributed—Meetings of Affiliated 

 Societies 



This is a big week in New York for 

 the flower-loving public and both par- 

 ties in the affair appear to have made 

 good. The florists and gardeners have 

 nobly fulfilled their obligation to put 

 up a creditable exhibition and the ex- 

 position company have done their part 

 in getting the public to see it. Natur- 

 ally, the first question one hears is as 

 to the comparative merits of the pres- 

 ent show and the one held in Boston 

 two years ago. The Grand Central 

 Palace does not lend itself architec- 

 turally to broad effects and impressive 

 vistas as does the Mechanics Building, 

 where the Boston show was staged. 

 The numerous heavy columns and the 

 peculiar limitations of a mezzanine 

 floor interfere as sadly with any at- 

 tempt to mentally grasp the exhibition 

 as a whole as they do any attempt to 

 photograph it in its entirety. 



So there are differences of opinion 

 as to whether the Boston show has 

 yet been outranked. We believe, how- 

 ever, that the present show stands 

 first. We miss the great Dutch gar- 

 den of Farquhar, the lovely rose gar- 

 den of Roland and the grand specimen 

 Ramblers of Walsh, but Roland's group 

 of acacias and other hard-wooded green- 

 house plants as shown at the Grand 

 Central Palace has certainly never 

 been equalled in this country — if, in- 

 deed, in any country under like condi- 

 tions and there were also collections 

 of ericaceous material of great beauty. 



And the Roses — well, Stuart Low, a 

 veteran in flower show matters abroad, 

 gazing on these assembled products of 

 the American rose forcers' art, ex- 

 claimed, "I have never seen roses un- 

 til now." And it was the unanimous 

 verdict of all who saw this superb 

 array last Monday that nothing to 



equal it had ever been seen in this 

 country. Words cannot adequately 

 convey an idea of their splendor. 



Certain it is, also, that the carna- 

 tions as shown on Tuesday, although 

 less in number perhaps than on some 

 former occasions, made a new high 

 record for quality. The best displays 

 of over five years ago would make but 

 a sorry spectacle if placed in compari- 

 son. So the American Rose Society 

 and the American Carnation Society 

 have won proud laurels and the S. A. 

 P. is a sharer in the honor thus Joint- 

 ly achieved. We do not doubt that we 

 shall be able to record a like superior- 

 ity in the displays by members of the 

 Sweet Pea Society, for the majority 



of the new winter-flowering Spencers 

 were practically unknown two years 

 ago. 



The attendance of members of the 

 florist and gardener fraternity was 

 very large. Throughout a considerable 

 section of the Eastern part of the 

 country it was indeed an obscure com- 

 munity that was not represented in 

 the gathering. The West did better 

 than expected considering the recent 

 meteorological disturbances. The "in- 

 ternational" character of the affair 

 was upheld mainly by a very credit- 

 able representation of Canadians, the 

 only special visitors from across the 

 Atlantic being Messrs. Wm. Wells, 

 Stuart Low and H. DeGraaff. 



General View in Plant Section 



