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HOKTICTJLTUBE 



November 11, 1916 



THE PHILADELPHIA FLOWER SHOW 



The Annual Fall Exhibition of the 

 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society 

 took place this week lasting four days. 

 -Both In quantity and quality of exhib- 

 its it was better than last year's show 

 and reflected credit on the exhibitors 

 and the management. The main attrac- 

 tion of course was the chrysanthemum 

 and rarely have we seen finer flowers, 

 especially in the cut bloom section. 

 The pot plants were good also— many 

 of them remarkably fine— although we 

 cannot say that on the whole they 

 were quite up to what has often been 

 seen here. In the hardy chrysanthe- 

 mum classes, there was an especially 

 fine showing. These are yearly in- 

 creasing In popularity and the annual 

 exhibitions are largely responsible in 

 educating the public taste to their 

 great value. 



Next in importance to the chrysan 

 themum came the orchids. There were 

 three splendid displays of these, the 

 most spectacular being the Widener 

 decoration on the stairway landing — 

 staged for effect — aud it certainly 

 was effective. The mirrors, and the 

 fountain in the center of the picture, 

 gave it the finishing touch that made 

 the visitors go into ecstacies of ad- 

 miration. Nothing finer than this has 

 ever been done here and we all bow 

 to William Kleinheinz for this master- 

 piece. Prom a different standpoint. 

 Louis Burk deserve equal credit. He 

 put up an educative collection of or- 

 chids consisting of over eighty va- 

 rieties — the rarest and choicest the 

 world affords, beautifully staged and 

 •correctly and legibly named so that 

 every passerby could instantly "read, 

 learn and inwardly digest." A very 

 good showing of orchids was also 

 made in the Wanaraaker display of 

 foliage and flowering plants. Mr. 

 Dodds in this connection was partic- 

 ularly proud of one fine specimen of 

 Laelia — the Basil Enid ■' Mantinii — 

 one of Stuart Low's new seedlings. 



In foliage plants and ferns Wm. 

 Robertson and Thomas Long carried 

 off the premier honors. John Hob- 

 son's big eiglit-foot crotons occupied 

 the center of the upper hall and well 

 deserved this prominent position. The 

 croton is Hobson's Hobby and we have 

 still to see the man who can beat him 

 at it. 



In the commercial exhibits there 

 were some fine displays, especially 

 the stage front of Dreer's ferns. 

 palms and foliage plants, and Michell's 

 rotunda display of hardy chrys- 

 anthemums and other seasonable fea- 

 tures. Thomas Meehan &- Sons put up 

 a nice exhibit along the same lines 

 as did also the Strafford Flower 

 Farms and John Kuhn. The Robert 

 Craig Co., made a fine showing of 

 their croton culture in commercial 

 sizes. Adolf Muller exhibited an in- 



teresting collection of trained box- 

 roosters, chickens, peacocks and so 

 forth. We did not see any of them 

 named John L. Sullivan. Lily l^angtry 

 or Jim Corbett so there is no sugges- 

 tion intended here as a stimulus to 

 the boxing game; but just a hint to 

 the possibilities in the Italian style of 

 landscape adornment. But probably 

 the most Interesting of all the com- 

 mercial exhibits was the Burpee dis- 

 play of their new strain of large-flow- 

 ering gladioli, grown from seed sown 

 but five months ago. They showed 

 not only great size of flower but splen- 

 did form and subatance and a wide 

 range of most magnificent colors. 

 George Kerr. Burpee's superintendent 

 who has had everything to do with 

 this wonderful development was kept 

 busy telling the story of the origin, 

 the crossing and the selecting which 

 lias finally attained this wonderful re- 

 sult. Just think of it; gladioli equal 

 to the finest we know — from seed the 

 same season as sown. We used to 

 think of them as a three-year proposi- 

 tion — now with this strain we get as 

 good results in five months or less. 



And, speaking of novelties, we must 

 not forget to mention the new strain 

 of winter-flowering begonias, shown 

 by William Kleinheinz. The flowers 

 are three times the size of Lorraine — 

 graceful and open in habit and with 

 quite a range in color, one being a 

 beautiful brilliant crimson. There is 

 also a double form in red which is 

 very fine. 



The center of the lower hall was 

 occupied by an aquarium exhibit. An- 

 other of the same kind w'as shown in 

 the rotunda. Not being gifted with 

 the usual reportorial brilliancy we 

 confess being unable to tell a fish 

 story — so we will simply pass this 

 part of the show over by saying that 

 it seemed to please the multitude. But 

 how such exhibits can be conducive 

 to the advancement of horticulture, 

 for which the Pennsylvania Horticul- 

 tural Society w-as founded we leave 

 for wiser heads than ours to expound. 

 There was also a ginger ale exhibit. 

 (That pleased the Ginger Jar) so 

 you see we are getting along. By and 

 by we may have trained bears and 

 talking pigs and Annette Kellerman in 

 her diving acts. (Isn't she the Water 

 Lily?) Hosea Waterer made a very 

 nice display of high class bulbs and 

 sundries. The Lord and Burnham Co. 

 were in it. The King Construction Co. 

 were there. The Davey Tree Doctors 

 showed up. So taking it all in all it 

 was a pretty good show. 



One of the greatest features of the 

 show was the surprise party the out- 

 side exhibitors gave the local boys on 

 Wednesday morning. Some wonderful 

 exhibits came along. Chrysanthe- 

 mums, roses and carnations — for the 

 second day's prizes. One of the bright 

 particular stars was William Duckham 

 with flowers of such perfection in va- 

 rieties like Turner. Nerissa. Rigby. 

 Hopetown, Converse. Pulling, etc. that- 

 the local experts almost hnd a fit 



when they saw what they were up 

 against. Charles H. Totty also showed 

 up strong. Among the most notable 

 in the latter's exhibit was a collection 

 of new anemone-flowered seedlings 

 raised by Paul Schaefer. These were 

 very fine indeed and so remarkable in 

 size, from and color that they are 

 bound to be heard from in future. 

 Wallace R. Pierson was on hand with 

 an exhibit of the new yellow rose 

 Mme. Martinetto, a 1916 Pernet- 

 Ducher, which seems full of promise, 

 and a new dark red carnation. The 

 Cottage Gardens Co. made a beautiful 

 t>xhlbit of their new pink carnation 

 Cottage Maid. Among the out-of-town 

 visitors to the show we had the pleas- 

 ure of greeting W. A. Manda of South 

 Orange, N. J., Earle Mann of Rich- 

 mond. Va.. E. Allan Pierce, of Walt- 

 ham. Mass.. L. J. Renter, of Westerly, 

 R. I.. W. R. Pierson. of Cromwell, Conn.. 

 Paul Dailledouze of Flatbush, N. Y.. 

 Charles H. Totty and Wm. Duckham 

 of Madison. N. J. and many others of 

 high renown. 



Postcript: Charles L. Seybold. supt. 

 of Parks Wilkesbarre, sent down a 

 most interesting collection of hardy 

 cyclamens, including a number of new 

 and fine ones never seen here before. 

 We hardly expected an up-state-burg 

 to make the metropolis sit up and 

 take notice like that. Also Elmer 

 Smith came down from Michigan and 

 showed us some new things in his 

 mild but effective way, and that 

 makes us say "quit, or else you'll be 

 saying the postscript is gettin.c; lady- 

 like—the most interesting part of the 

 Ittter." We could make this story 

 shorter if we had the time to go over 

 it again. Excuse the length. 



George C. W.\tson. 



THE BOSTON SHOW. 



In addition to the main list of prizes 

 awarded at the Autumn exhibition of 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety, which we published last week, 

 the following awards were made on 

 the last days of the exhibition: 



Chr.vsanthemums.— Vase of ten blooms ou 

 long stems, pink : 1st, Mrs Lester Leiand ; 

 2(1. R. E. Traiser. Ten blooms, red : Ist. 

 Mrs. Lester Leiand. Ten blooms, white: 

 l.st. James NIcoI ; 2d. R. E. Trnisci'. Ten 

 blooms, yellow: 1st, Mrs. Lester Leiand: 

 2rt. R. E. Traispr. Mi,st artistic vase of 

 fhi'vsanthemnnis. with aiiv foliatre: 1st, 

 W. W. Edgar, with Roliert Hallidav: 2d. 

 \V. W. Edgar, witi} riiieftnin. Carnation.s — 

 Six vases, tift.v blooms each: 1st. StT-oiit's; 

 2il. A. A. Poinhroke. One Ininilreil blooms, 

 mixed varieties: 1st, .T. W. Miiiott : I'd. A. 

 .\. Pembrolie. Twent.v-rtve blooms (for 

 lirivate gardeners only): 1st. W. H. Well- 

 ington: 2d, Mrs. Alice Slas. 



Oratnitii'S ; -Kamevama & Serada. group 

 ".f flowering and foliage plants: Mrs. C. G. 

 Wold, display of winter-flowering begonias; 

 0. H. Totty. collection of chr.vsantlicnuims :" 

 Kliie Hill Ntirscries. seedling evergreeiis. 



Silver medal : -Mrs. f. G. Weld, display 

 of winter-flowering begonias. 



First class certificate of merit: — A. W. 

 rreston. Cattleva Fabia alba. 



Honorable Mention :— Mrs. C. G. Weld, 

 ItciToiiia .\iiricot; Charles E. Hollirow. seed- 

 ling r»se. riiristy Miller X Riduiiond : C. 

 11. Totty. elirysanthenium. W. II. Waite; 

 A. A. Pen)bri)ke. carnation, sport of Tieiiora : 

 .S! rout's seedling carnation. No. t>: Blue 

 Ilill .N'urseries. seeilling evergreens. 



