810 



HORTICULTURE. 



August 28, 1909 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS AND 

 ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURISTS 



Convention Report Completed 



THURSDAY EVENING. 

 Our report of the proceedings as pub- 

 lished last week carried us up to 

 Thursday noon. Thursday afternoon 

 was devoted to the bowling and shoot- 

 ing tournaments, accounts of which 

 will be found in another column. The 

 evening session of the Society opened 

 with the official announceraent of the 

 result of the balloting. H. A. Bun- 

 yard made a motion that the election 

 of his competitor for the secretaryship, 

 Mr. Dorner, be made unanimous and 

 this was done. 



President-elect Pierson being called 

 upon was given an ovation. He said 

 that he had always been optimistic 

 about the future of the S. A. F. We 

 had now come to a milestone and each 

 should feel his own responsibility. 

 It is our duty to justify the giving of 

 a charter to us by Congress. He asked 

 for the help of all in making the meet- 

 ing at Rochester a great event and 

 expressed the hope that many now 

 liresent might be here again when the 

 Society shall celebrate its golden jubi- 

 lee at Cincinnati. 



Secretary-elect Dorner expressed his 

 thanks for the honor conferred and 

 promised to do credit to the name he 

 bears, hoping to keep up to the stand- 

 ard of the office in the past and to 

 contribute in every way possible to 

 further the interests of the organiza- 

 tion. 



Bx-President E. G. Hill was then 

 called upon to act as secretary for the 

 anniversary exercises planned for the 

 evening. He called the roll of the past 

 presidents as follows: John Thorpe — 

 Gone. Mr. Hill spoke of him as a cen- 

 tral figure in the birth of the Society 

 and paid a kindly tribute to his genius 

 and heart. Robert Craig.— A letter 

 from Mr. Craig expressing regret at 

 inability to be present was read. Hope- 

 ful reference was made to the coming 

 National Flower Show at Boston. E. 

 G. Hill.— Mr. Hill made an entertain- 

 ing speech, told stories and hoped that 

 the lives of his hearers might be a 

 blessing to humanity. J. N. May. — A 

 letter expressing kindly wishes was 

 read from Mr. May. J. M. Jordan. — 

 Gone. J. D. Carmody spoke of Mr. 

 Jordan as a grand president of a grand 

 Society, whose great ambition was to 

 make everybody happy. M. H. Norton. 

 — W. J. Stewart read a letter from Mr. 

 Norton, prefacing it with some re- 

 marks as to that gentleman's high 

 standing in the esteem and love of the 

 Massachusetts members. James Dean. 

 — Mr. Hill spoke erf Mr. Dean, of his 

 loyalty and faithful adherence to all 

 the things for which this Society 

 stands. W. R. Smith.— Present J. T. 

 Anthony. — Gone. J. C. Vaughan spoke 

 of Mr. Anthony as a man who had 



been greatly beloved of all his florist 

 friends in Chicago. Edwin Lonsdale.— 

 Jos. Heacock responded briefly for Mr. 

 Lonsdale. William fcicott. — Gone. J. 

 F. Cow ell spoke of his late fellow- 

 townsman as a man better known, 

 probably, to the rank and file of the 

 florists than any other man. He was 

 a man of pronounced personality and 

 great magnetism and as a writer had 

 few equals. Adam Graham— Present. 

 W. F. Gude.— Present. W. N. Rudd.— 

 Present. Edmund M. Wood.— Gone. 

 W. J. Stewart responded for his friend, 

 telling of the love in which he had 

 been held, his great insight into the 

 future of the rose-growing industry and 

 the loyal work he had done for the 

 Society. Patrick O'Mara.— A letter 

 was presented from Mr. O'Mara, who 

 had been obliged to leave earlier in 

 the day. He referred eloquently to the 

 wonderful advancement in our busi- 

 ness, due primarily to the S. A. F. 

 John Burton. — Present. Philip Breit- 

 meyer.— Present. W. F. Kasting.— 

 Present. W. J. Ste\\ art.— Present. F. 

 H. Traendly.— Pi'esent. 



A song by Miss Edith Sterling and 

 piano solo by Miss Alma Sterling were 

 interspersed. E. G. Hill read his paper 

 tpublished last week) on the first 

 meeting at Cincinnati and J. C. 

 Vaughan spoke forcibly of the work 

 and accomplishments of the S. A. F. 

 during its 2.5 years' existence and how 

 rduch it had failed to achieve which 

 had been in its power. W. R. Smith 

 spoke beautifully of the friendships he 

 had made thiough 'his association with 

 the Society and how dear are the meni- 

 o)ies connected with the annual meet- 

 ings. B. P. Critchell, who was a lead- 

 ing figure in the first convention, spoke 

 briefly in response to a vociferous re- 

 ception and declared that if the So- 

 ciety had done nothing except what 

 was evidenced in the great exhibitioji 

 now in progress it had done enough to 

 justify its 25 years' life. The singing 

 of "Auld Lang Syne" closed this mem- 

 orable meeting and practically finished 

 ihe convention, although a day of 

 pleasure was still in prospect. 



conducted affair to a close. The com- 

 mittee on final resolutions, W. J. Stew- 

 art and Judge W. J. Vesey handed in 

 an appreciative report on behalf of the 

 Society, which will in due time, no 

 doubt, be made public. 



FRIDAY. 



Friday was Cincinnati Florists' Day. 

 Promptly at 11 a. m. the members with 

 their families and friends to the num- 

 ber of ten or twelve hundred on board 

 the big river steamer Island Queen 

 started on a delightful trip up the Ohio 

 river to the amusement resort known 

 as Coney Island. The committee, in 

 the person of J. A. Peterson, was in- 

 defatigable in the effort to make every- 

 body happy. A genuine Kentucky bar- 

 becue — something entirely new to most 

 of the visitors — was enjoyed and in the 

 evening a grand display of fireworks, 

 speciallj designed, brought this well- 



THE EXHIBITION. 



As stated in our issue of last week 

 the trade exhibition was of unprece- 

 dented magnitude and diversity. The 

 great size of the exhibition hall per- 

 mitted the use of abundant space for 

 aisles and moving about, and there 

 was a preparedness at the beginning 

 and a comfortableness throughout 

 which marked Superintendent Murphy 

 as the man of all men to fill this diffi- 

 cult position. When needed he was al- 

 ways easily found and everything 

 moved as smoothly as if it had been 

 a periodical experience with him. The 

 placing of the florists' supply depart- 

 ment on the upper floor had its ad- 

 vantages and its disadvantages. Some 

 exhibitors complained that it isolated 

 them and that business was lost there- 

 by. Others said it pleased them bet- 

 ter than to be down among the bustle 

 and push and afforded them better op- 

 portunity to talk business quietly and 

 effectively with their customers. As 

 a rule, the exhibitors in all depart- 

 ments admitted doing a good present 

 or prospective business and practically 

 all exhibits were sold long before the 

 close of the convention. The plant de- 

 partment was a triumph. Such dis- 

 plays as those of Julius Roehrs Co., 

 F. R. Pierson Co., Bobbink & Atkins, 

 H. A. Dreer, Robert Craig Co. and J. 

 A. Peterson are individually a prime 

 attraction and together would make a 

 notable horticultural exhibition in 

 themselves. The bulb displays such as 

 Michell's, Boddington's and Piereon's, 

 were in quality and arrangement the 

 best we have ever seen at one of these 

 exhibitions. The table of American 

 grown bulbs was especially a centre of 

 attraction. The average retail florist 

 has no conception of the wealth of 

 beautiful material that is spread out 

 for inspection in the florists' supply 

 department on these occasions. Edu- 

 cation in modern floral art, suggesUve- 

 ness of inestimable value and a new 

 and greatly enlarged appreciation of 

 the Importance of his business are a 

 part of the benefits coming to the 

 retail dealer who is enterprising 

 enough to present himself at the S. A. 

 F. convention, and he who goes once 

 is pretty sure to go again and again. 

 To enumerate the almost endless list 

 of new ideas sticking out all over such 

 big displays as those of Bayersdorfer, 

 Pennock-Meehan Company, Reed & 

 Keller, M. Rice & Co., and other well- 



