148 



HORTICULTURE 



January 29, 1910 



AMERICAN CARNATION SOCIETY. 



A Rousing Convention and Magnificent Exhibition — Boston Selected 



for Next Meeting, March^ 1911^ in Connection with 



National Flower Show^ is Probable Date. 



Officers Elected 



PRESIDENT— FRED. BURKI, PITTSBURGH, PA. 

 VICE-PRESIDENT— E. ALLAN PEIRCE, WALTHAM, MASS. 

 SECRETARY— A. F. J. BAUR, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 

 TREASURER— F. E. DORNER, LAFAYETTE, IND. 



The nineteen annual meeting of the 

 American Carnation Society was a 

 great success from point of view of 

 attendance as well as the extent and 

 quality of the exhibits. Both are the 

 best in the history of the society. The 

 local club which was thoroughly well 

 organized, contributed much to make 

 this convention such a winner. The 

 concensus of opinion is that for quality 

 and quantity of bloom nothing has 

 ever approached it in this country or, 

 for that matter, in the world. The 

 visitors were met witli real Pittsburgh 

 weather, dark and murky, but luckily 

 very mild, so that all exhibits arrived 

 in good condition, none being frozen, 

 and all on time. The judges — John 

 Birnie, M. A. Patten, Eugene Daille- 

 douze and B. A. Stroud — completed 

 their work in record time. The sen- 

 sation of the convention is the deep 

 scarlet carnation Hoosier "Lad ex- 

 hibited by P. Dorner & Sons Co. An 

 unfortunate circumstance has been the 

 sudden illness of Wr. J. Reimels of 

 Vv'oodhaven. L. 1.. who. we regret to 

 state, had to be taken to the hospital. 

 A gi'eat many of the wives of the mem- 

 bers attended the convention. On 

 Wednesday night the ladies were en- 

 tertained at the theatre by the local 

 club, and the male portion were given 

 a smoker. Total attendance about two 

 hundred. New York was very strong 

 with twenty-nine memb'ers. 



OPENING SESSION. 



The opening session of the conven- 

 tion took place on Wednesday even- 

 ing. President Fred. Burki of the 

 Pittsburg Florists' and Gardeners' 

 Club, in a few chosen words intro- 

 duced Prof. John A. Brashear. Bra- 

 shear is an astrologist and stated he 

 was glad to be among friends and ex- 

 pressed thanks for the opportunity of 

 addressing the society. The Professor 

 introduced practical and poetical phil- 

 osophy into his address and spoke of 

 the color in flowers, also referred to an 

 interesting conversation with Mr. John 

 Thorpe on this subject. Many people, 

 he said, are color blind and to some 

 people all things appear gray. Mr. 

 Brashear drew comparisons of the 

 colors of flowers and the stars, and 

 the effect of light upon them. In clos- 

 ing he extended to the society a very 

 hearty welcome. 



Robert Craig replied in his usual 



eloquent vein, and stated that the Pro- 

 fessor's words were an inspiration and 

 gave a brief insight into things sub- 

 lime by comparing the heavenly 

 lK)di'es to the flowers and carnations 

 exhibited here. He said that the 

 gentleman had done the society a 

 great honor by coming down from the 

 heavens and addressing them, also 

 that Pittsburgh had made a grand 

 record for its great industries, floral 

 activities and philanthropy. He allu- 

 ded to the famous Phipps conservatory 

 and the great showing they made at 

 all tim'es. In conclusion he presented 

 to Prof. Brashear an Immense bouquet 

 of carnations to be given to his wife, 

 whom he stated had been an invalid 

 for many years, but had never been 

 without flowers presented to her by 

 her friends, and these flowers had 

 come from all oyer the United States 

 and Canada. Mr. Craig emphasized 

 the fact that it had not been the first 

 time that he had enjoyed the hospi- 

 tality of the Smoky City. 



President A. M. Herr then read his 

 address. 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



Ladies, Gentlemen, and Members of 

 the American Carnation Society: Your 

 President extends greeting and a wel- 

 come to our sessions, we hope to have 

 them interesting enough to have yon 

 at each one of them. 



This society was organized in Phila- 

 delphia, and the first regular meeting 

 held in New York, but it always 

 seemed to me that it took the second 

 annual meeting in this city to get us 

 thoroughly acquainted with each other, 

 and Pittsburgh will always be a bright 

 spot in the memory of those of us who 

 were fortunate enough to have at- 

 tended that meeting. Those of us who 

 are here today will no doubt long re- 

 member the 19th annual meeting and 

 our Pittsburgh welcome. 



Getting acquainted is one of the 

 chief benefits to be derived from these 

 gatherings. I know of several in- 

 stances where men have attended our 

 meetings for the first time and gone 

 home having met but two or three 

 members. In one instance on the train 

 going home a new member told me 

 that the only person who spoke to him 

 during the whole convention was the 

 secretary. In cases of this kind the in- 



dividual himself is largely to blamfe, 

 but we should, during the few days 

 we are together, be a more universal 

 brotherhood, and have at least a "how- 

 dy" for each and every visitor. I would 

 suggest a permanent committee of in- 

 troduction and information to whom 

 strangers can apply for assistance in 

 getting acquainted. 



Can we make our meeting more in- 

 teresting and profitable to ourselves 

 and our flower than they now are? 

 We have told and retold the story of 

 production, the proper houses, etc.; 

 there are of course new difficulties and 

 advanced methods to discuss along 

 these lines each year, but it seems to 

 your president that we could and 

 should devote at least one session to 

 the improvement of our business 

 methods; that they have Improved no 

 one can deny, but the improvement to- 

 day over that of our meeting here sev- 

 enteen years ago is very little more 

 than what has been forced upon us by 

 the general upward trend of all busi- 

 ness. Other industries do not wait to 

 have improvement forced upon them, 

 they are continually searching for it, 

 grasping and utilizing it. 



We should know how much money 

 each square foot of ground surface in 

 our houses should bring us to meet our 

 expenses, labor, heating, ' operation, 

 wear and tear on the place. 



We should have a small but con- 

 spicious tag attached to each bunch of 

 flowers we send into the market and 

 let this tag follow them into the re- 

 tail shop, so that in the course of 

 time buyers would learn to ask for 

 it and demand it as a guarantee of 

 quality. This tag could be marked 

 with the letters A. C. S. or some other 

 special mark and the whole be copy- 

 righted and for use only by paid up 

 members of this society, and all in- 

 fringments prosecuted. In addition to 

 the special mark could be added the 

 grower's name and the date the flowers 

 were cut, this to be left to the dis- 

 cretion of each user. Poorly grown 

 flowers and over-aged flowers by this 

 method would soon be left in the race. 

 To succeed and properly advance our 

 business our flowers should give pleas- 

 ure and satisfaction to the user and 

 this suggestion is offered as a means 

 to that end. 



Can we improve our methods of sell- 



