430 



HOETICULTURE 



March 22, 1913 



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The First Club. 



Credit for having had the first floral 

 club in the Twin Cities belongs to St. 

 Paul. About 25 years ago the County 

 Florists' and Gardeners' Association 

 held a flower show and made money. 

 For some strange reason, which even 

 the members of the organization can- 

 not explain, the association dissolved. 

 Its dissolution could not have been 

 due to lack of funds because at the 

 time it disbanded it had a balance of 

 about $S00. 



Some years after the dissolution of 

 the St. Paul club the Association of 

 Minnesota Florists was organized 

 with E. Nagel (now deceased) as pres- 

 ident. This association had members 

 in both cities and for a number of 

 years progressed successfully and ac- 

 complished a great deal for the benefit 

 of florists in general. Finally, however, 

 due to lack of interest, it followed the 

 St. Paul club Into dissolution. 



The State Florists' Association. 



Upon the completion of the first 

 greenhouse built by the Park Board of 

 Minneapolis in 1907, Theodore Wirth, 

 superintendent of parks, tendered an 

 invitation to the florists of the Twin 

 Cities to inspect the new plant and to 

 get acquainted. From this informal 

 meeting there developed in December 

 of the same year the Twin City Flor- 

 ists' Club, which is now a vigorous, 

 healthy organization, growing in num- 

 bers and influence every year. The 

 oflicers elected at the initial meeting 

 were Theodore Wirth, president; O. J. 

 Olson, St. Paul, vice-president; S. D. 

 Dysinger, St. Paul, secretary, and R. 

 A. Latham, Minneapolis, treasurer. 



The monthly meetings of this club, 

 held alternately in the two cities, 

 were well attended. Exhibits and pa- 

 pers kept the interest high. An an- 

 nual winter dance and a summer pic- 

 nic always drew large crowds and 

 were helpful in promoting closer 

 friendship between the florists and 

 their employees. 



To place the association on a busi- 

 ness basis and to give it prestige, ar- 

 ticles of incorporation under the Min- 

 nesota state laws were adopted in 

 June, 190S, and the organization given 

 the name Minnesota State Florists' 

 Association. Mr. Wirth remained as 

 president until 1911, when he resigned. 

 Hugh Will was elected to succeed him. 

 Mr. Dysinger has been secretary from 

 the beginning with the exception of 

 about one year. 



Among other achievements, the as- 

 sociation has been insti-umental in ob- 

 taining an increase of $500 in pre- 

 miums at the Minnesota State Fair, 

 which is the largest state fair in the 

 country. Last year the premiums for 

 floricultural exhibits amounted to 

 $1853. 



IVlinneapolis' First Flower Show. 

 In 1910 Minneapolis held its first 

 fiower show under the auspices of the 



Minnesota State Florists' Association. 

 The judges pronounced it the best ex- 

 hibition of its kind they had ever at- 

 tended, both in regard to exhibits and 

 artistic layout. Same showed many 

 pretty landscape effects and won the 

 highest praise. Particular credit for 

 the success achieved, from a profes- 

 sional standpoint, was accorded Mr. 

 Wirth. The show was not a financial 

 success, but it accomplished an im- 

 portant result in the interest it en- 

 gendered and in the influence it gave 

 for floriculture in the Twin Cities. A 

 second flower show was held in No- 

 vember, 1912, in St. Paul. While it 

 made a better showing in a financial 

 way, lack of space made it impossible 

 to give it the setting that was de- 

 siied. 



The present officers of the Minnesota 

 State Florists' Association are Hugh 

 Will, Minneapolis, president; O. J. Ol- 

 son, St. Paul, vice-president; S. D. 

 Dysinger, St. Paul, secretary; E. p. 

 Holm. St. Paul, treasurer. Theodore 

 Wirth, C. N. Ruedlinger, Minneapolis, 

 and L. L. .May, St. Paul, and LeRoy 

 Cady, St. Anthony Park, form the ex- 

 ecutive committee. There are 53 mem- 

 bers. 



Minneapolis Florists' Club and its 

 Work. 

 In October, 1911, several Minne- 

 apolis florists formed the Minneapolis 

 Florists' Club. W. Desmond was 

 elected president and has held that of- 

 fice since. The club is in a prosperous 

 condition. While floriculture receives 

 its first attention, evidence of its 

 strength is found in the fact that it 

 has a good baseball team as well as a 

 bowling team. The club has a pub- 

 licity committee which is vigorously 

 conducting a propaganda to advance 

 the business of the florist and has suc- 

 ceeded in commanding the interest and 

 the support of the public as no other 

 movement has. Articles of infoima- 

 tion with regard to flowers and plants 

 are written and published in the daily 

 newspapers. These articles have been 

 stripped of technical verbiage and 

 have proved interesting to young and 

 old alike. One of the committee's first 

 acts was the preparation of a general 

 florist advertisement for Mothers' Day, 

 in May, 1912. On St. Valentine's Day 

 the committee collected about $130 

 which it expended for advertising, with 

 the result that sales of flowers were 

 increased tremendously. The present 

 membership of the club is 52. The of- 

 ficers are: W. D. Desmond, presir'ent; 

 R. A. Latham, vice-president; C. F. 

 Rice, secretary; A. E. Rice, treasurer. 

 W. H. Bofferding, C. N. Ruedlinger 

 and Chas. Hauk, executive committee. 

 The Minneapolis Club and the St. Paul 

 Association are co-operating actively 

 in every effort which has for its ob- 

 ject the improvement of conditions re- 

 garding the business they are interest- 

 ed in. Every member of both organi- 

 zations has experienced substantial re- 



sults from their propaganda sufficient 



to justify every step they have taken. 



The Convention Association. 



For the purpose of conducting the 

 arrangements for the coming conven- 

 tion of the S. A. F. and O. H. a special 

 Convention Association has been 

 formed, embracing all the members of 

 both associations. The conventions 

 and publicity committee of the Civic 

 and Commerce Association has pro- 

 nounced this organization of florists 

 to be the most complete and most ef- 

 ficient local convention body ever or- 

 ganized in Minneapolis. The details 

 of the convention arrangements have 

 been divided among 14 committees. 

 All the sub-organizations have entered 

 into their various tasks with a spirit 

 and enthusiasm that promises good 

 results and a most successful conven- 

 tion. The chairman of the different 

 committees form the executive com- 

 mittee. 



Following are the names of the 

 chairmen of the various sub-divisions 

 of the general committee: 



Executive Committee — Theodore 

 Wirth, chairman; C. F. Rice, secre- 

 tary. 



Finance — J. S. Mitchell, chairman. 



Entertainment — Hugh Will. 



Reception — W. H. Bofferding. 



Information — Gust Malmquist. 



Souvenir Album — J. A. Ridgway. 



Press — J. F. Rice. 



Sports — C. N. Ruedlinger. 



Transportation — J. G. Taylor. 



Hotel and Depot — W. S. Desmond. 



Badges and Tickets — H. Rosacker. 



Decoration — R. A. Latham. 



Ladies' Reception — Mrs. Theo. Wirth. 



St. Paul Reception — O. J. Olson. 



University— Prof. L. R. Cady. 



AMONG BUFFALO GROWERS. 



A visit to Charles Christensen's 

 houses found a full crop of carnations, 

 some mignonette and lilies which are 

 in Easter form and altogether it was a 

 beautiful sight. At Weixlman's the 

 houses are filled with azaleas, primu- 

 las, cyclamen, ramblers and hybrids. 



J. B. Wiese, since the accident hap- 

 pened to one of his horses, has taken 

 a fancy to autos. An "Overland" de- 

 livery wagon is the favored proposi- 

 tion. The houses of S. A. Anderson 

 were visited and a more beautiful 

 sight could not be had. One choice 

 lot of lilies and the azaleas could not 

 be better in quality, also ramblers, 

 genistas and bulbous stock superb. 

 The retail store consumes most of the 

 stock produced. Charles Schoenhut 

 has a fine lot of Easter stock includ- 

 ing azaleas, hybrid roses, ramblers, tu- 

 lips, daffodils and lily of the valley. 

 Sangster made an excellent showing 

 for St. Patrick's Day. The first Kaiser- 

 in and Pi'esident Carnot roses were 

 seen this week and came in from 

 Charles Guenther at Hamburg. They 

 are the usual Guenther quality and a 

 good crop is on for Easter. The finest 

 lilies for church work are to be had 

 at Neubeck's Williamsville houses. 

 Formosum lilies, 5 to 8 feet high, with 

 S to 12 blooms and the grower is Louis 

 Hock. 



Olympia, Wash. — H. E. Rees, for- 

 merly employed by Van Slyke & Sea- 

 mons. Tacoma, has leased the green- 

 houses of Mrs. J. M. Billings, who is 

 retiring from the business. 



