236 



HORTICULTURE 



September 1, 190ft 



THE CONVENTION STORY CONTINUED 



Following the address of Secretary 

 Jas. L. Cowles, of the Postal Progress 

 League on Wednesday morning, the 

 following resolution was passed by a 

 unanimous vote: 



Resolved. That the Society of Anierienu 

 FIcrists and Oruamontal Hortieultui-ists. 

 assenilded in annual couv^ntiim at r)ayton, 

 endoi-jie by unanimous vote the pending 

 postal bill. 454tt, now before Congress. 



Bill 4549 reads as follows: 



"Be It enacted by the Senate and House 

 of Representatives of United States of 

 America in Conjiress assembled. 



"Tuat the third and fourth classes of 

 mail m.atter he and are hereby consolidated 

 under llie title of 'merchandise.' at third 

 class rate: (1) oiu' cent per each two 

 onni-es; S cents per pound." 



E. V. Hallock's splendid paper on 

 horticultural education in the public 

 schools was received with much appro- 

 bation, and the sum of money asked 

 for as a beginning of the society's 

 work on these lines for the coming 

 year was favorably acted upon in a 

 recommendation to the executive 

 board. Fred E. Palmer of Brookline, 

 Mass., and J. F. Cowell of Buffalo, N. 

 Y., were added to the committee and 

 same was continued. 



On Wednesday evening the report of 

 the judges on the landscape plans was 

 read by J. F. Cowell, as follows: 



The committee appointed to examine 

 and report upon the landscape de- 

 signs submitted in competition for the 

 prizes offered by the Dayton Florists' 

 Club, beg leave to report: That the 

 problem w-ith which they were con- 

 fronted was too ill-defined for any in- 

 telligent action on their part. A col- 

 lection of drawings of such diverse 

 character can hardly be considered 

 competitive, and to attempt to award 

 prizes acording to schedule would have 

 resulted in stultifying the committee. 

 We found no data to work upon and 

 had no means of knowing how well the 

 requirements of the various propo- 

 sitions had been fulfilled. Had it been 

 simply a question of rewarding the ar- 

 tistic execution of the plans or the 

 technical skill of the draftsman it 

 would have been easy, but such a plan 

 would not seem to be a proper solution 

 of the difficulties. 



Basing our awards upon such infor- 

 mation as may be obtained from the 

 plans themselves or such as may be 

 gleaned from the program, it would ap- 

 pear to us that "Elegant" (Mr. Scheibe 

 of N. C. R. Co., Dayton) and "Art" 

 (Gordon H. Taylor. l.iC, Fifth avenue. 

 New York), are entitled to first awards 

 (gold medals). That "Renaissance" 

 (Mr. Scheibe of N. C. R. Co., Dayton) 

 and "Oak" (J. E. Freudenberger of N. C. 

 R. Co.. Dayton), are entitled to second 

 awards (silver medals), and "Educa- 

 tion" (Olmsted Bros., Brookline, Mass.) 

 and "Science" (.1. E. Freudenberger of 

 N. C. R. Co., Dayton), are entitled to 

 third awards (bronze medals). 



Many of the plans presented, other 

 than those receiving awards, have 

 points of excellence and contain fea- 

 tures of merit which would undoubted- 

 ly work out under certain conditions 

 in a satisfactory manner. The collec- 



tion of photographs, shown as illustra- 

 tions of landscape work in various 

 phases, form a most interesting and in- 

 structive exhibit and make a valuable 

 addition to this department. The idea 

 of competitive exhibitions of this char- 

 acter seems to be worthy of contin- 

 uance. The scheme, however, needs 

 elaboration, and definite rules should 

 be laid down for the guidance of those 

 participating. 



Your committee would recommend 

 that the matter be referred to the 

 Executive Board of the S. A. F., with 

 the request that they formulate a plan 

 for future work. 



(Signed) J. F. COWELL, 



EDWIN LONSDALE, 

 H. D. SEELE, 



Committee. 



F. E. Palmer's paper on "The Ideal 

 Private Gardener and His Work," pre- 

 sented on Wednesday evening, appears 

 on another page of this issue as does 

 also Irwin Bertermann's paper on 

 "Recent Improvements in Retailers' 

 Methods of Handling Flowers," which 

 was read at the session on Thursday 

 morning. The companion paper on 

 this subject by W. F. Gude, appeared 

 in our issue of last week. 



At the session on Thursday morning 

 a communication from President E. 

 Albertson, of the National Association 

 of Nurserymen, was presented, telling 

 of the work and aims of that organiza- 

 tion and asking for the co-operation 

 of the S. A. F. and of its members in- 

 dividually. 



W. S. Powell, representing the 

 Bureau of Credit of the Wholesale 

 Seedsmen's Lea.gue, was given the 

 floor and addressed the Society, sug- 

 gesting the recognition by the S. A. F. 

 of this credit bureau and that the 

 members make use of its facilities as 

 a collection and mercantile agency in 

 preference to the unaflSliated commer- 

 cial agencies. Mr. Powell gave careful 

 data as to how this might be accom- 

 plished to mutual advantage. This 

 and the nurserymen's communication, 

 also the question of design for life 

 membership badge, were referred to 

 the Executive Board. 



The appeal of the Detroit Florists' 

 Club for an investigation of the preva- 

 lent stem rot in China asters was given 

 consideration and finally referred to 

 the Society's pathologist. Prof. B. M. 

 D\iggar. 



The first query taken from the Ques- 

 tion Box was the following: 



"Is a stove plant here in the United 

 States a greenhouse plant? The reason 

 for asking this question is that at a 

 recent exhibition a judge disqualified 

 one exhibit of a fine collection of varie- 

 gated foliage plants because it was ex- 

 hibited under the heading of 'Collec- 

 tion of House or Greenhouse Plants.' 

 He ar.gued that caladiums. anthuriums, 

 marantas, etc., are stove plants and 

 could not be classified as greenhouse 

 plants. This argument cost exhibitor 

 the prize. Full answer to this question 

 is most important to inquirer." 



A wide divergence of opinion was 

 shown in the discussion which fol- 

 lowed. Mr. Craig said the Judges had 

 done right. Mr. Irish explained that 

 all cool house and all stove house 

 plants are properly included under the 

 term "greenhouse plants." and G. C. 

 Watson was of similar mind. Mr. Hal- 



lock thought the schedule makers 

 should be advised to be more explicit. 

 After Mr. Stewart. Mr. Wintzer and 

 others had taken a hand the question 

 was laid on the table. 



No. 2. "Is it to the benefit of the 

 trade for originators of new cannas to 

 name and disseminate a long list of 

 varieties having no desirable merits 

 over existing varieties?" This ques- 

 tion brought up a very lively discus- 

 sion as to the desirability of some 

 sort of supervision by the S. A. F. of 

 the new cannas and other novelties 

 placed on the market from time to 

 time and some means of establishing 

 their degree of worthiness also some 

 restriction as to the number and 

 method of registration of names for 

 same in the secretary's office. Mr. 

 Vaughau made a motion instructing 

 the appointment of a standing commit- 

 tee on cannas and, after much debate, 

 same was carried. 



No. 3. "Would it not be wise to con- 

 sider holding the annual convention at 

 end of July or first week in August?" 

 It was explained that this suggestion 

 was offered in the interests of the 

 carnation growers who find the pres- 

 ent date of the S. A. F. meetings in- 

 convenient. The question was tabled. 



Thursday evening's session brought 

 out a large audience and they were 

 well repaid in the animated proceed- 

 ings that followed. .1. D. Carmodv 

 being given the ijlatform proceeded tu 

 address president Kasting, telling him 

 in his inimitable way of the affection 

 and good-will of the Society members 

 towards him and, in token of their 

 commendation of his course as pre- 

 siding officer, passed over an oak case 

 filled w'ith silver ware. Next came 

 Robert Craig who accosted Mr. Stewart 

 as retiring secretary and, congratulat- 

 ing him upon his long and intimate 

 association with the members, handed 

 him a purse of gold coins. Each 

 recipient in turn and amid much ap- 

 plause made an appreciative resjjouse. 



The officers-elect were then severally 

 introduced— president-elect Stewart by 

 W. W. Castle, vice-president elect 

 Westcott by Geo. C. Watson, secretary- 

 elect Hauswirth by Phil. Breitmeyer 

 and treasurer Beatty by .J. C. Vaughan. 

 All made fitting responses promising 

 faithful service for the coming year, 

 Mr. Stewart expressing the hope that 

 the unanimity of his election might be 

 typical of the harmony and unity 

 which should characterize all the work 

 of the Society during his term of oflSce. 



The important topic of a national 

 flower show was then taken up. 



Robert Craig was the first speaker. 

 He told of the work the committee had 

 been doing and the difficulty foreseen 

 as to securing a competent manager. 

 E. G. Hill told of the beauties of the 

 Paris exhibitions and the great st:niu- 

 lus to trade resulting from the great 

 shows as given abroad. Both Mr. Hill 

 and Mr. Vaughan advocated the hold- 

 ing of the proposed exhibition in No- 

 vember instead of in the springtime 

 as had been originally contemplated. 

 .•\fter many speakers had been heard 

 on various phases of the question the 

 following resolution, presented by Mr. 

 Craig, on behalf of the committee, was 

 adopted: 



Resolved, That if this proposed ex- 

 hibition be held, it shall be in the 



