July 17, 1915 



HORTICULTURE 



69 



can only accomplish limited results. 

 The Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety, one of the oldest societies in our 

 country, having been founded in 1829, 

 has greatly encouraged and developed 

 floriculture and horticulture in New 

 England, and its example has been fol- 

 lowed by many organizations all over 

 the country, and yet many of its lead- 

 ing members are members of our na- 

 tional organization, and are continual- 

 ly testifying to the benefits derived 

 from the national society. Our society 

 with its national charter, its member- 

 ship coming from nearly every state 

 and territory of this great United 

 States, knowing the advantages and 

 realizing the deficiencies of their res- 

 pective state organizations, makes a 

 mighty gathering, whose interests and 

 influence reflect the impressions of 

 our profession all over the country. 

 The objects of the Society of Ameri- 

 can Florists and Ornamental Horticul- 

 turists are "to advance the love of 

 floriculture and horticulture in Amer- 

 ica; to promote and encourage the 

 development of their industries: to 

 classify their products; to hold meet- 

 ings and exhibitions; and to co-oper- 

 ate with National and State govern- 

 ments and horticultural bodies in dis- 

 seminating horticultural knowledge. 

 Membership. All persons interested 

 in horticulture, professionally or ama- 

 teur, and manufacturers of and deal- 

 ers in horticultural supplies are eli- 

 gible to membership individually, and 

 on payment of $5, other things lieing 

 satisfactory, may be admitted to mem- 

 bership. The annual dues thereafter 

 are .$3 a year, and any annual member 

 in good standing may become a life 

 member on the payment of $25 and be 

 exempt from all future assessments." 

 This society has handled questions 

 of tariff, transportation, shipments, 

 nation-wide publicity for our business, 

 national flower shows, and other i;ues- 

 tions, to the advantage of all, during 

 recent years especially, and will con- 

 tinue to do so more effectively in the 

 future. The society feels, however, 

 that every florist and horticulturist 

 should obtain membership, and we 

 therefore solicit the aid, assistance 

 and co-operation of this Texas State 

 Florists' Association and of other or- 

 ganizations. In order to encourage 

 membership in our national ori;aniza- 

 tion. and at the same time to insure 

 representation on our national lioard 

 of directors, it is now one of our by- 

 laws that whenever one hundred mem- 

 bers of any society have become mem- 

 bers of our organization its president 

 shall have a seat in our board of di- 

 rectors—thus, we feel, assuring co-op- 

 eration. 



The dangers to co-operation come 

 from within, and not from witliout, 

 and the cooperation movement is no 

 weaker nor stronger than the intelli- 

 gent determination of those who en- 

 gage in it, therefore let us have in the 

 national organization yotir assi^^tance 

 in bringing it about. As John Stewart 

 Mills has said, "AH advantages that a 

 man may possess arise from the power 

 of acting in combination with his fel- 

 lows, and of accomplishing liy the 

 united effort of members what > ould 

 not be accomplished by the indi\idual 

 effort of individuals." 



I believe that you will carry home 

 from this convention a practical con- 

 ception of the difficulties which beset 

 our business, and the reward that 



awaits their solution, and I feel that 

 we in the National Society can help 

 in this solution. I extend to every 

 member of the Texas State Florists' 

 Association a most sincere invitation 

 to enroll as a member of the Society 

 of American Florists and Ornamental 

 Horticulturists. We look to the great 

 state of Texas to send us some of its 

 giant intellect to help in this society, 

 and I feel that we will not be disap- 

 pointed. On behalf of the national or- 

 ganization I want to extend to you 

 their greeting and wishes for a most 

 happy and prosperous year. 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PARK 

 SUPERINTENDENTS. 



The American Association of Park 

 Superintendents extend an invitation 

 to members of the allied Horticultural 

 Societies to join their special-car 

 parties for the Pacific Coast Tour. 



Reservations may be made through 

 the committee or Thos, Cook & Son, 

 245 Broadway, New York City, who 

 will also supply all information con- 

 cerning details. 



The train will follow an itinerary 

 covering the most interesting routes 

 of travel during the early autumn 

 season. Leaving New York on Satur- 

 day, August 7th and eastern cities, 

 and going westward via Chicago. 

 Minneapolis, Glacier National Park, 

 the Puget Sound Region, and the 

 famous "Shasta" route, San Francisco 

 will be reached at 6.50 P. M. on Mon- 

 day, August 16th. 



After attending the respective con- 

 ventions and visiting the Panama- 

 Pacific Exposition, the party will 

 leave on Tuesday, August 24th, for 

 the return trip, making stops at Los 

 Angeles, Pasadena, San Diego, Salt 

 Lake City, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, 

 Denver, Kansas City and St. Louis, 

 arriving at Eastern Cities Monday, 

 September 6th. 



CINCINNATI FLORISTS' SOCIETY. 



This society's annual meeting at 

 Jlax Rudolph's place last Monday af- 

 ternoon was well attended. Max Ru- 

 dolph was elected president, C. E. 

 Critchell, vice-president; Alex Osten- 

 darp, secretary; J. Chas. Murphy, 

 treasurer, and R. Witterstaetter. di- 

 rector. A relief committee consisting 

 of Frank Deller. J. Chas. Murphy and 

 Ray Murphy was appointed to solicit 

 subscriptions to a relief fund to use in 

 helping florists whose places were 

 damaged by last Wednesday's storm 

 and who need help on that account. 

 The society subscribed a hundred dol- 

 lars to this fund. After the meeting 

 the members sat down to a luncheon 

 as the guests of .Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph. 



Mr. Rudolph's greenhouse establish- 

 ment was in good condition and the 

 uniform excellence of the stock in the 

 various houses showed the reason 

 why he always cuts blooms of the 

 highest grade. 



The annual outing of the society 

 will be held on Wednesday, July 21st, 

 at Coney Island. The outing commit- 

 tee consisting of Max Rudolph. C. E. 

 Critchell. Henry Scharz and Wm. Sun- 

 derman has arranged for the usual 

 list of athletic contests and promise 

 all who attend a royal good time. 



AMERICAN SWEET PEA SOCIETY. 



President Morse's Address — The 

 Sweet Pea in California. 



When I was elected President of 

 the American Sweet Pea Society a 

 year ago, I hoped that the members 

 and friends throughout the Eastern 

 States could be present with us for 

 the regular annual convention. How- 

 ever, since Mr. Bunyard found It im- 

 possible to be present himself, and as 

 it seems impossible to get a quorum of 

 members present, we decided to have 

 a separate meeting in conjunction 

 with out exhibit. 



On June 11th, this exhibit was held 

 in the Palace of Horticulture at the 

 Exposition and was a grand success. 

 There were some thirty entries, repre- 

 senting amateurs, professional garden- 

 ers and seed growers. There were 

 some twelve hundred vases displayed; 

 in fact, nearly every new variety of 

 Spencer was represented. The Expo- 

 sition oSicials recognized the day by 

 sending their special commissioner, 

 who presented me as President, with 

 a bronze tablet In memory of the 

 event and designated June 11th on 

 all of their programs as "Sweet Pea 

 Day " Thev also furnished Cassasa s 

 band, one of the best in the city and 

 composed of 40 pieces, and we had a 

 beautiful concert in connection with 

 the exhibition. 



AVe had expected to have the flowers 

 exhibited only one day, but so great 

 was the demand for more time, that 

 we allowed the exhibition to stand 

 three days, Friday, Saturday and Sun- 

 day and kept the room open until lU 

 o'clock at night, although the building 

 is usually closed at 6 o'clock. It was 

 impossible to estimate the number of 

 visitors, but there were literally 

 thousands upon thousands present and 

 all seemed amazed at an exhibit of 

 such beautiful and magniflcent flow- 

 ers. We allowed nothing to be dis- 

 played but sweet peas. 



\lthough California grows fully 9& 

 per cent of all the sweet pea seeds 

 used in the world, flower shows and 

 exhibitions are seldom given. Sweet 

 peas first began to be grown for seed 

 in about 1886, when there were only 

 about seven varieties. The acreage 

 has steadily increased until for the 

 past five years there has been no less 

 than 2000 acres planted for sweet pea 

 seed alone and all in what is known 

 as the coast valley, from San Fran- 

 cisco south to Los Angeles. It is safe 

 to sav that no less than one million 

 pounds a year is the average yield of 

 the California seed farms and these 

 farms are represented by some ten or 

 twelve large seed growers. A great 

 manv new varieties have been origin- 

 ated' in California but as the growers 

 are largely wholesale dealers only, the 

 novelties are introduced by seed deal- 

 ers in other parts of the country. 

 While probably only halt of the acre- 

 a<-e is devoted to Spencer varieties, 

 the other half is made up largely ol 

 Grandi flora named varieties and mix- 

 tures. These latter are still popular 

 for large planters. 



Sweet Pea seed in California is 

 usuallv planted in December and 

 Januarv and the fields are in full 

 bloom in June. Harvest begins about 

 August 1st. A great deal of develop- 

 ment work is still being done and the 

 large seed farms operate very large 



