January 29, 1910 



HORTICULTURE 



149 



ing carnations? Mr. Fox gave a talk 

 in Philadelphia from the retailer's 

 point of view on prices for special days 

 of demand. We all know of instances 

 when the retail market price of car- 

 nations was from $1.00 to $1.50 per 

 dozen and the wholesale price was $1.00 

 to $1.25 per hundred, less the 15 per 

 cent, commission to the middleman. 

 This proportion between the grower 

 and retailer is not a good business 

 proportion, and if it were not for the 

 advanced prices of special days the 

 grower would be in a bad way. Ad- 

 justments will have to come some day, 

 and it should come through this so- 

 ciety. 



Is there overproduction of carna- 

 tion blooms? I was told by a Pitts- 

 burgh man that if roses had been 

 plenty for Christmas, carnations would 

 have gone begging. All hail to the 

 rose! But carnations have their devo' 

 tees as well, and if given to them in 

 proper shape and form I believe the 

 day of overproduction is far in the 

 future, providing the retailer, the 

 grower and the middleman can get to- 

 gether and work towards a mutual end. 

 Let us put on our thinking caps and 

 see what we can do towards this. At 

 our meeting in this city before, we had 

 a paper by Thomas Cartledge who 

 stood at the head of the Philadelphia 

 retail trade. He reviewed the various 

 carnations then grown by name giving 

 his retail experience with each as per 

 this example, "Grace Wilder has been 

 our leading pink, only because we 

 could get it in quantity. Aurora has 

 sold equally as well when we could get 

 it, although it sometimes shows a 

 slaty, ashy purple tint when a little 

 old." We want to grow "best sellers" 

 — a review of this sort each season 

 would help us find them out. 



Our exhibitions will admit of some 

 improvement as exhibitions to the 

 public, but as an educator to the 

 gi-ower. the lines on which we are 

 working are as nearly right as we can 

 hope to get them; as a guide to the 

 buying of new sorts, each individual 

 will have to work that out for himself 

 with the new flowers for comparison 

 with older sorts in front of him. 



There is one point I would like to 

 see worked out, and that is, to have 

 a report, from those who buy novelties 

 the first year, sent to the secretary 

 on Dec. 1st of the following winter, 

 giving their honest opinion of the 

 variety from the buyer's point of view. 

 Let the secretary publish these reports 

 in phamplet form and send them to 

 applying members only. The buying 

 of novelties is an experiment from a 

 profit point of view, no matter how 

 much we may try to eliminate it, but 

 a phamplet of this sort would be a 

 great help to buyers of new sorts in 

 their second year. If necessary this 

 pamphlet could also be copyrighted. 

 You will note that I am trying to make 

 membership in this society a neces- 

 sity to all live carnation growers. 



We need also a permanent commit- 

 tee of finance to devise ways and 

 means for the procuring of the funds 

 necessary to the welfare of this so- 

 ciety. 



In closing I want to compliment 

 this society upon its choice of a sec- 

 retary, a better one would be hard to 

 find, his work has been especially ar- 

 duous for this first year, but it cer- 

 tainly has been faithfully performed. 

 Our secretary should have at least 



'•Yes, sir; just back from Pittsburgh. Why don't you get out with the hovs to 

 these conventions? Do you lots of good, old mau; Just what you need. 



$250.00 per year and the work would 

 be cheaply done at that. 



Let us all work toward getting 

 this society to the position it should 

 hold and the prosperity of our society 

 will bring prosperity to all its 

 members. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



Secretary A. F. J. Baur then pre- 

 sented his annual report, showing that 

 up to April 1st, the society had 394 

 members; added 55 in 1909, and had 

 tour deaths. He stated that Section 

 "C" which provides for the exhibits of 

 previous season's novelties should be 

 a permanent one. He thanked the 

 local men for the great interest th'ey 

 had shown. 



Treasurer F. E. Dorner then made 

 his financial report as follows: 



TREASURER'S REPORT. 



Expenditures. 



Paid by orders on treasurer. . . $826. 48 

 Balance cash on hand, Jan. 24, 

 1910 283.68 



$1,110.16 

 Receipts. 

 Balance cash on hand, Jan. 25, 



1909 $227.58 



Cash, from secretary 759.30 



Cash interest from Permanent 



Fund 123.28 



$1,110.16 



Permanent Fund. 



Reported Jan. 25th, 1909 $2,375.31 



One Life Membership 50.00 



$2,425.31 



All the reports wer'e well received. 



Letters were read from the Mil- 

 waukee Florists' Club, Mayor, and 

 Citizens' Business League of Milwau- 

 kee, inviting the society for next year. 

 F. R. Pierson remarked that as the 

 Society of American Florists would 

 hold their exhibition next year in Bos- 

 ton, he would suggest that the carna- 

 tionists hold their annual convention 

 in Boston at that time, as the Ros'e 



Society would also take part, and he 

 thought it would be an excellent idea 

 for all branches of the trade to con- 

 centrate th'eir efforts and that this was 

 the psychological moment tor the 

 greatest success for an exhibition of 

 this kind. 



W. W. Coles and W. N. Rudd, also 

 spoke of the benefits that would ac- 

 crue to the whole trade from such a 

 course. It was also stated that over 

 $500 in prizes would be offered for 

 carnations at this Boston exhibition, 

 and the premiums offered by the car- 

 nation society, would swell the total 

 to a vers' large amount. Mr. Rudd 

 urged the society to go to Boston. J. 

 A. Valentine said that we are apt to 

 confine our work, and that this was a 

 great opportunity as he had had the 

 privilege of s'eeing the schedule, that 

 many plants he did not know would 

 be staged, and from an educational 

 point of view all would derive great 

 benefits. He observed that most of th'e 

 shows are in the fall, and that a spring 

 exhibition would give greater oppor- 

 tunities for a wider knowledge of th'e 

 trade. Robert Craig also spoke along 

 these lines and was in hearty accord. 

 Nic Zwiefel spoke against this propo- 

 sition and for Milwaukee. W. W. 

 Coles stated that it was contrary to 

 the constitution to hold the carnation 

 convention later than January. 



NOMINATION OF OFFICERS. 



Oflicers were nominated as follows: 

 President, F. Burki; vlce-presid'ent, 

 Nic. Zweifel, Milwaukee; S. J. God- 

 dard, Framlngham, Mass.; secretary, 

 A. F. J. Baur; treasurer, F. E. Dorner. 



On motion the number of judges was 

 inreased to six, and the following were 

 nominated: W. W. Coles, W. J. Vesey, 

 J H. Hill, E. A. Stroud, F. H. 

 Traendly, Eugene Dailledouz'e, W. N. 

 Rudd. ■ 



^y. T. Bell's paper on "The Carna- 

 tion: Its Uses, Varieties and Culture," 

 was listened to with much interest. 



THURSDAY MORNING SESSION. 



Thursday's forenoon session was de- 

 voted to committee reports, discus- 



