September 11', 1914 



HOKTICULTURE 



3«i) 



THE BOSTON CONVENTION FROM 



A PHILADELPHIAN'S POINT OF 



VIEW. 



Extracts for an address by Fred 

 Hahman before the Florists' Club of 

 Philadelphia, Sept. 1, 1914. 



In reviewing events that are past, 

 the Florists' Club of Philadelphia can 

 feel well repaid for having eU'tted to 

 go to the Boston Convention via the 

 Metropolitan Line steamer. The trip 

 was one long to be held in pleasant 

 memory by the participants, for its 

 expedition, comfort and enjoyment. I 

 do not intend to go into detail of this 

 never to be forgotten journey, but, 

 during the social on the boat our fel- 

 low member Mr. Grakelow, in a well 

 chosen and well timed speech voiced 

 the appreciation of the Philadelphia 

 boys and girls, for the open-handed 

 friendship extended to them by the 

 New York Florists' Club. 



The opening session of the conven- 

 tion was held at the Convention Garden 

 and the exercises were most inter- 

 esting. Especially noteworthy was the 

 address of welcome by Mayor Curley 

 of Boston. The florists and gardeners 

 of Boston can feel proud to have a 

 mayor of their city who is so thor- 

 oughly in accord with their chosen 

 profession. He dwelt upon the lasting 

 benefit and enobling influence for the 

 good of all the citizens as exemplified 

 in the beautiful sourroundings about 

 him made possible by the efforts of 

 the S. A. F. He told of the patriot- 

 ism of Boston's citizens in endowing 

 the Art Gallery which flanked the 

 Garden on one side and other benefac- 

 tions grouped about the grounds in 

 the way of museums and other pub- 

 lic institutions for the elevation and 

 advancement in knowledge of Boston. 

 After several other speeches and a 

 reply from President Wirth, we (Mr. 

 Logan and myself) took a stroll 

 around the Garden to view the ex- 

 hibits. The majority of the plantings 

 were very fine and the exhibitors de- 

 serve no end of praise for their work. 

 One of the most attractive displays 

 which appeared to interest the general 

 visitor was the exhibit of aquatics by 

 the Dreer firm. The croton beds did 

 not show up well in coloring, possibly 



DASYLIRION GLAUCOPHYLLUM. 



on account of the cool and rainy sea- 

 son, but the recently planted croton 

 beds of the Craig Co., were resplendent 

 in colors and made a most striking 

 hit. The one poor feature about the 

 garden was in the lawn effects; how- 

 ever, one of the Boston craft who had 

 joined us told us that the garden had 

 been planted on what was a swamp 

 last spring and to make the grass grow 

 in the brief time since finishing the 

 filling had resulted in partial failure. 

 I was greatly impressed with the 

 possibilities of this Convention Gar- 

 den. It was the first I had seen and 

 believe it can be made a drawing card 

 and trade advertisement in the con- 

 vention city. Instead of having the 

 various exhibitors plant beds to show 

 their wares ad libitum it ought to be 

 planted with a view of producing an 

 harmonious effect. The florists and 

 gardeners of the city should bring to 

 bear the best skill aiid art at their 

 command, with a liberal expenditure 

 of cash, to bring about results. A 

 garden of that kind would make a 

 profound impression on the citizens 

 and would boom the trade and make 

 the convention itself a popular event 

 in the city chosen for its sessions. 



Affiliation. 



At the last meeting of our club, a 

 committee was appointed to co-operate 

 with the National Gardeners' Associa- 

 tion of which committee I was made 

 chairman. As 1 was the only member 

 of this committee present in Boston 

 I thought it incumbent to attend the 

 joint meeting of this association on 

 Wednesday afternoon. The attend- 

 ance was large. The papers read were 

 very well written and the one by A. E. 

 Thatcher on the subject of What the 

 S. A. F. has done for the Private 

 Gardener, was well received and the 

 discussion which followed clearly 

 showed that the foremost minds 

 among the gardeners fully appreciate 

 the value of the S. A. F. to them. 

 Much of the discussion centered 

 around the proper way to train young 

 men for the gardening profession and 

 also the relations existing between 

 the gardener and his employer, and 

 the value of genuinely good men. 

 President Wirth who had addressed 

 the meeting, dwelt upon the good 

 remuneration accorded to men able to 

 properly fill the requirements of tak- 

 ing care of the estates of the wealthy 

 and pointed out that such opportunit- 

 ies were fast increasing in our western 

 country. The association voted to hold 

 its December meeting in Philadelphia. 

 I would be-speak for them a generous 

 welcome by our club. Let us extend 

 to them the hand of good fellowship 

 and also for the sake of our fellow 

 members who are private gardeners, 

 let us show their National Association 

 in what high esteem we hold the pri- 

 vate gardeners of our club. 



One other matter I wish to allude to, 

 is the pleasure I feel that San Fran- 

 cisco captured the convention for 191.5. 

 They certainly were entitled to it, and 

 I feel joyful in that they came out 

 ahead, even if the margin was narrow. 

 "All's well that ends well." 



Flower spike 10 ft. high. On 

 grounds of Capt. J. R. DeLamar. Glen 

 Cove, X. Y. Supt. Robert Marshall. 



In our notes on the Lenox and Stock- 

 bridge estates in last week's issue we 

 inadvertently omitted to mention that 

 William Donaldson is the gardener in 

 charge of the beautiful place of Mrs. 

 Oscar lasigi. Here was the best rose 

 garden we saw in the Berkshire re- 

 gion. 



WHAT SHOULD THE SOCIETY OF 



AMERICAN FLORISTS DO FOR 



THE PRIVATE GARDENER? 



A Paper bv Arthur K. Thatcher Head i'.e- 

 fore the S. A. F., at Boston. 



When we consider the comparative- 

 ly short time the S. A. F. has been in 

 existence, it is remarkable what an 

 immense growth it has made, and 

 what a power for good it has become. 



Its growth has been almost unprece- 

 dented among American societies, and 

 today, from a commercial i)oint of 

 view, it is undoubtedly the largest 

 trade organization of its kind in the 

 world. I have never regarded this as 

 altogether surprising, when one con- 

 siders the calibre of the men who 

 have, since its inception, been instru- 

 mental in guiding its policies, and 

 every horticulturist, whether employed 

 in a business or private capacity, owes 

 a debt of gratitude, directly or indi- 

 rectly, to those who have worked un- 

 ceasingly for the betterment of the 

 profession in general. 



It is true one only liears oT the good 

 which accrues to the various branches 

 of the trade, owing, perhaps to the fact 

 that the news and reports of the So- 

 ciety are largely confined to the trade 

 papers, and what good is obtained for 

 the profession at large is seldom heard 

 of. Is this as it should be? 



Since I became a member of the S. 

 A. F. some years ago I have had the 

 good fortune to be associated with 

 many of the men who are. or have 

 been, most prominent in the Society, 

 and have had an opportunity of becom- 

 ing acquainted with much of their 

 work. 



On the other hand it is possible to 

 hear much adverse criticism, which is, 

 of course, very natural, and I do not 

 know of any Society which is free 

 from this. So far as I have been able 

 to learn the principal criticism is that 

 the Society is of little use to the pri- 

 vate gardener, and does little or noth- 

 ing for him. Is this criticism fair? 



While it is. a very true saying that 

 "The evil men do lives after them." it 

 is also equally true that much of the 

 good done by members of this Society 

 is never heard of; but if it were. I ven- 



TRAINED PEAR TREE. 



In form of a table loaded with 

 fruit. On estate of Capt. J. R. De 

 Lamar. Glen Cove. N. Y. Supt. Robert 

 Marshall. 



