32 



HORTICULTURE 



July 14, 1906 



horticulture: 



AN ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL 



DEVOTED TO THE 



FLORIST, PLANTSMAN, LANDSCAPE 



GARDENER AND KINDRED 



INTERESTS 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 



II HAMILTON PLACE, BOSTON, MASS. 



Telephone, Oxford 292 



HfM. J. STEWART, Editor and Manager. 



A new use 

 for surplus roses 



A better distribution 

 of flowers needed 



We read of a new demand fox- rose 

 2)etals which has come to light in 

 Coveut Garden Market, London, 

 namely for use at weddings in 

 place of the customary confetti with which wedding 

 guests are wont to shower bridal parties. Here is a 

 timely suggestion for our overloaded wholesalers. Get 

 the fashion started by some enterprising retailer and. 

 once introduced, the street fakir — that great boss <,f the 

 surplus — will be shorn of his power. Growers, in times 

 of glut can send their roses to market in feather-weight 

 dissected shape and thus turn a corner on the greedy 

 express companies. If there sliould be no sale there is 

 at least the satisfactign of knowing that there has been 

 no expenditure for express on big l)oxes of heavy , 

 material simply that the Greek street dealer may .secure 

 the goods for about the amount of the express charges. 



It is a fact worthy of note — 

 also one that merits serious 

 consideration — that at the pres- 

 ent time when the floral marts 

 in the large centres are overloaded with roses, carna- 

 tions, and other greenhouse-grown flowers for which no 

 sale can be found, there exists a most awkward scarcity 

 of the material needed for ordinary calls for floral work 

 in many of the smaller communities where no wdiolesale 

 markets are within convenient reach. A comprehensive 

 study of the situation by the wholesale dealers in the 

 large markets might result in the adoption of some sys- 

 tem of distribution which would relieve the congestion 

 at one end and the shortage at the other and thus help 

 toward more regular values and better aggregate 

 returns at such periods for the growers when the sales 

 sheets are added up. 'J'here is certainly room for 

 improvement. 



In our issue of June 30 we called 

 The floral artist attention to the regrotablc fact that 

 in the exhibition eommcndable floral arrangements 

 are rarely seen at any jniblic exhi- 

 bition. Although the people who visit the shows are 

 strongly drawn to this class of exhibits yet it has always 

 been a very difficult matter to induce floral artists of any 

 repute in the larger cities to enter in any open competi- 

 tive exhibition, ihev pri>fo!'riug to stav out rather than 



take the chance of losing to an obscure competitor. The 

 first notably successful attempt at bringing these gentle- 

 men out and getting them to take an enthusiastic 

 interest in an exhibition was that so effectively carried 

 through at Chicago last fall. The ke.y-note of the suc- 

 cess achieved on that occasion was undoubtedly the elim- 

 ination of all competition for prizes. Once convinced 

 that they would not be called upon to sulimit their work 

 for the decision of any judges and that the flower-buy- 

 ing public were to be in attendance in large numljers, 

 enterprising retailers were quick to see the bu-^iness 

 advantage and that they could not afford to .stay away. 

 The outcome was a most remarkable display of the mod- 

 ern florists' art. which was easily the most popular 

 feature of the show. Managers of prospective exhibi- 

 tions can find a suggestive lesson in this example for it 

 seems to have solved satisfactorily the problem of show- 

 ing the retail florists wherein their business interests 

 may be advanced by active participation in these affairs. 

 The managers of the Chicago enterprise will doubtless 

 lie glad to furnish details of the scheme as worked out 

 by them to anyone asking for such. 



As the date for the convention 



Importance of at Dayton draws near, that im- 



the Dayton meeting portant annually-recurring event 



comes more and more promi- 

 nently to the front as a topic of general and wide-spread 

 interest. Officers and committees of the great national 

 society are taking advantage of the brief lull in business 

 activity to make preparation for the performance of 

 their several official duties, election campaigners, old 

 and young, are bringing out their favorite candidates, 

 bowling enthusiasts are making themselves heard, and 

 the people of the convention city — accustomed to the 

 routine of entertaining large bodies of visitors — are 

 going about their self-imposed task with a thorough- 

 ness that is full of alluring promise for their coming 

 guests. It is predicted that this will be a well-attended 

 convention. Let us hope so ; but no convention is as 

 well-attended as it should be and consequently the pro- 

 fession at large misses much of the broad benefits that 

 accrue from such meetings when all do their share. 

 There are many hundreds of horticultural craftsmen, 

 located w-ithin convenient distance who have never yet 

 attended a national convention who, if induced to come 

 once, would thereafter continue as devoted su]>porters of 

 the organization and its work. It is to be hoped that 

 the efforts being put forth to secure an unprecedented 

 attendance from the various convenient centres may be 

 successful, especially in the bringing forward of new 

 accessions to the membership list. The bigger the 

 increase the greater the general and individual benefit. 

 Many questions of vital importance are pressing which 

 a united front would help to settle with advantage to 

 all. Let every one who can make it his business to be 

 in attendance so that the policies of the society may be 

 so moulded as to confer the greatest good on the largest 

 number. 



