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HOETICULTUEE 



December 12. 1914 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES 



ALBANY FLORIST CLUB. 



The regular moathly meeting of 

 this Club was held on Thursday, Dec. 

 3rd, at the Cut Flower Exchange. 

 F. A. Danker reported progress, both 

 ■on the Convention and Flower Show 

 Committees. L. H. Schaefer made an in- 

 teresting '-eport on the January banquet. 

 The entertainment committee were 

 authorized to invite the delinquent 

 members to the banquet provided that 

 they expect to return to the club and 

 Jive up to the rules. 



J. Snyder read a paper on violets, 

 their habits, care, bunching and de- 

 Jivery to florists. He said there is no 

 plant grown which is as susceptible 

 to changes of conditions as the violet. 

 The liglit, air, temperature, .moisture 

 of 8(>ii and atmospheric conditions 

 Jhave to be looked after continually 

 and changed sometimes three or four 

 times a day to meet with the changes 

 of weather conditions, and those 

 :growers who do not give these 

 matters attention with vigilance are 

 the ones who have ))Oor weak plants, 

 polluted with disease. The lime shad- 

 ing which remains on the greenhouses 

 in the summer gets black and gives a 

 deep dead shade which is weakening 

 to the growth and should be scraped 

 or brushed off and another coat ap- 

 plied which will give a soft pleasant 

 light. 



The main secret of violet growing 

 is in keeping the plants growing all 

 through from the time they are 

 plaJited until the finish: not an over- 

 growth in early stages caused by a 

 surplus of water, but a steady even 

 growth and when the plants are not 

 making that steady growth the ob- 

 servant grower will find the cause and 

 remedy it at once. Through the sum- 

 mer in particular it is generally 

 ■found due to improper shade, when 

 the lime on the glass gets black as 

 before mentioned, causing the soil to 

 become lieavy and sour. The appear- 

 ance of mold on the surface is a warn- 

 ing to the grower that his light is 

 not right and if left, the plants will 

 very soon weaken and grow only short 

 roots near the surface and in these 

 conditions they are bound to turn out 

 a failure and not produce a good 

 <crop. Many groweis have their pick- 

 ing done by their children before and 

 after school or whenever it is conven- 

 ient and oftentimes the violets are a 

 day or more old before they are 

 shipped, whereas they should bo 

 picked and bunched and have an hour 

 ■or two in a tank of water and then be 

 on their way to the florist or market. 

 Florists often complain of violets hav- 

 ing a bad odor and a smell of the 

 soil. This is caused by foul soil and 

 black rot or black root, which go to- 

 gether. 



After the above had been read the 

 ^election of officers for the coming 

 year was in order. The following 

 were elected: President. F. R. Bil- 

 son: vice president. Thomas Tracey; 

 -secretary and treasurer, Robert Dav- 

 idson: trustees. Fred Henkes, Charles 

 Sanders and ,T. .1. Haggerty. 



About 40 ni(-mbers were present. 



President Henkes announced that the 

 next meeting w^ill be held at the ex- 

 change Thursday, Jan. 7th, 1915. After 

 the installation of the officers the 

 members will proceed in a body to 

 Keeler's Hotel to participate in the 

 January banquet of the club. 



MINNESOTA HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



The forty-eighth annual meeting of 

 the Minnesota Horticultural Society, 

 was held Dec. 1 to 4. This was a 

 notable gathering. This society has 

 the most members — the greatest en- 

 ergy and enthusiasm of any society 

 in America. . It now has a member- 

 ship of over 3,000 and is aiming to 

 make it 3,500 the coming year, it has 

 among its members some of the ablest 

 men in the land. 



C. G. Patten is doubtless the world's 

 greatest pomologist. He has been hard 

 at work for fifty years developing 

 fruits suitable to the bleak North- 

 west. He has succeeded admirably. 

 We have visited his grounds and seen 

 his work. Some of his new creations 

 are wonders of vigor and hardiness. 

 Then there is Prof. Hansen, who has 

 made four trips to Siberia. Prof. Wal- 

 drr/n of North Dakota gave a fine pa- 

 per on laying out the home grounds. 



The meeting was held in the large 

 chapel of the Agricultural College, 

 which seats 1,000 persons. The dif- 

 ferent phases of orcharding, vege- 

 table and flower gardening were dis- 

 cussed. Many of the students at- 

 tended and three of them gave well 

 prepared and able addresses. The per- 

 manent home of the society will prob- 

 ably be located on the college grounds, 

 for the society wishes to keep in 

 touch with the students and secure 

 their energy and co-operation for the 

 future. 



Thursday night was the banquet, 

 where men became boys: where wit 

 and wisdom flowed freely. It was a 

 notable time. Altogether the meeting 

 was a feast of good things; everything 

 went off finely. A thousand people 

 listened to the address "The Moral In- 

 fluences of Horticulture." 



C. S. H.Mmiso.N. 



York, Nebr. 



PARK INSTITUTE OF NEW ENG- 

 LAND. 



IIOUTICILTURE lias Ijeen chosen by 

 this Associ,itloii as Its OfHclal Organ. 



Program for Second Meeting to be 

 held in Worcester, Mass., on Decem- 

 ber 16, 1914: 



"Park Organization," by Chas. E. 

 Putnam, Engineer of Parks, Boston, 

 Mass. 



"Park Administration and Legisla- 

 tion." by Jas. B. Shea, Deputy Com- 

 missioner of Parks, Boston, Mass. 



"Park Accounts," by G. A. Parker, 

 Superintendent of Parks, Hartford, 

 Conn. 



There will be other papers on Recre- 

 ation subjects. 



G. H. Hor.i.isTER. Manager. 

 Westland St., Hartford, Conn. 



PITTSBURGH FLORISTS' AND 

 GARDENERS' CLUB. 



The meeting of this club at the Fort 

 Pitt Hotel on the evening of Decem- 

 ber 1st was very enthusiastic and 

 quite well attended. Jno. S. Gillespie, 

 State Engineer, gave an informal talk 

 on Good Roads. Early in his remarks 

 he established himself in the good 

 graces of his hearers with his Scotch 

 stories which, being Scotch himself, 

 were given with the added charm of 

 the Scotch dialect, ilr. Gillespie thinks 

 the last word on Good Roads has by 

 no means been spoken The good road 

 of yesterday is the poor road of today, 

 and while the automobile has been the 

 greatest factor in creating the desire 

 for good roads, the heavy auto truck 

 is the greatest factor in their destruc- 

 tion. 



S. S. Pennock-Meehan Co. exhib- 

 ited roses Prince d'Arenberg, Prince de 

 Bulgarie and Jonkheer Mock, and car- 

 nation Mrs. C. E. Akehurst. The opin- 

 ion of the committee on these blooms 

 follows: 



Unanimous thanks to S. S. Pennock- 

 Meehan Co., for a beautiful and liberal 

 exhibition of the following flowers: 

 Roses — Prince d'Arenberg, Jonkheer 

 Mock, Prince de Bulgarie (Mrs. Taft), 

 pale Enchantress pink. A very beau- 

 tiful and desirable rose, and Carnation 

 Mrs. C. Edward Akehurst. 



President McCallum gave an exhi- 

 bition of a process he learned in Aus- 

 tralia for the lengthening of the pre- 

 servation of the flowers on a bloom- 

 ing plani. Taking a thrifty, blooming 

 plant of Primula obconica, he washed 

 the soil from its roots. Then placing 

 some wet sphagnum in a shallow dish 

 he spread out the roots of the plant 

 thereon, and covered them thickly with 

 wet moss, supporting the plant in an 

 upright position as it had been in the 

 pot. It is claimed that a plant treated 

 this way, will remain in bloom much 

 longer than it would surrounded by 

 soil in the pot. Mr. McCallum took 

 the plant away with him and will 

 bring it before the club at the next 

 meeting that all may see the success 

 of the process. This scheme, while 

 not new, is practically new to the 

 florists in this vicinity so far as I 

 know. There were some pleasing 

 poinsettias, begonias and cypripedi- 

 ums exhibited by the Bureaus of 

 Parks, Northside and Schenley. A 

 rising vote of thanks was given Mr. 

 Gillespie for his address, and the sec- 

 retary was instructed to thank the S. 

 S. Pennock-Meehan Co. for their very 

 fine exhibit. 



At the next meeting of the Club in 

 January the nomination of officers for 

 1915 will he taken up. 



H. P. JosLiN. Sec'y. 



NEWPORT HORTICULTURAL SO- 

 CIETY. 

 This society held its annual meet- 

 ing on Dec. Sth, and the following of- 

 ficers were elected for the ensuing 

 year: President, William MacKay; 

 first vice-president, John B. Urqu- 

 hart: second vice-president, James 

 Bond; treasurer, A. K. McMahon; 

 recording and financial secretary, 

 William Gray; sergeant - at - arms. 



