August 17, 1912 



HORTICULTURE 



213^ 



CHICAGO— THE CONVENTION CITY 



A Gazetteer of the World published 

 in Philadelphia in the year 1839 says: 

 "Chicago; a town with a military post 

 called Fort Dearborn, at the southern 

 extremity of Lake Michigan in the 

 State of Illinois, A river of the same 

 name here flows into the lake." That's 

 all. The same authority gives the 

 population of the State of Illinois as 

 157,575, "of whom 746 are slaves." The 

 lapse of 73 years has made an incon- 

 ceivable transformation as everybody 

 knows. Those who attend the Con- 

 vention ne.xt week will see for them- 

 selves — those who do not will have no 

 trouble in finding the facts in the his- 

 tory of the growth of the great metrop- 



Craig of Philadelphia was president. 

 E. G. Hill of Richmond, Ind., was elect- 

 ed president and W, J. Stewart of Bos- 

 ton was chosen secretary to succeed 

 Edwin Lonsdale of Philadelphia, who 

 had declined a re-election. Previous 

 to the convention a local Florists' Club 

 had been organized and the members 

 of this club were the active factors in 

 the preparations for and entertain- 

 ment of the visitors. Looking over 

 the list of those who were omnipres- 

 ent in all Chicago floral affairs in those 

 days it is appalling to realize how few 

 are alive today. Among the notable 

 visitors on that occasion was the late 

 Henry Bennett of Shepperton, Eng- 



hospitality. The show, as we all know, 

 which had been regarded somewhat 

 in the nature of an experiment, was a 

 horticultural and financial success. 



Chicago Parks. 



Chicago early appreciated the value 

 of public parks and laid out large 

 tracts which were developed with great 

 liberality. The lake front offered 

 splendid opportunities for public recre- 

 ation purposes and the city was fortu- 

 nate in securing able men for the 

 work of construction and development 

 so that Chicago parks were for some 

 years probably the most noted in this 

 country, but that distinction is, we be- 



Louis WlTTBOLU, 

 Chairman of Cliicagro Florsts' Club Deco- 

 rating Committee. 



oils of the west, if they so desire, so 

 there is no need to rehearse them 

 here. 



A Big Producing Centre. 



Chicago was early in the game as a 

 good flower consuming community but 

 in due time the tables were turned and 

 she took a leading position among the 

 flower producing centres of the coun- 

 try. For a period the florists of Chi- 

 cago were eager buyers of the product 

 of eastern growers and contributed 

 their full share towards extending the 

 glass area and inflating the bank ac- 

 counts of the affluent rose growers of 

 other sections a quarter century or 

 more ago; now as a distributing flower 

 centre Chicago has no equal, her ship- 

 ping trade extending to the Gulf of 

 Mexico on the south, the Rockies on 

 the west and to a considerable dis- 

 tance north and east. 



The First Chicago Convention. 



Twenty-five years ago the Society of 

 American Florists held an enthusiastic 

 convention — the third — in Chicago. 

 The sessions opened on Tuesday, Au- 

 gust 16, 1887, at the 1st Regiment 

 Armory. There were nearly 500 peo- 

 ple present at the opening exercises, 

 and there was a very creditable exhi- 

 bition for a society so young. Robert 



Philip J. Foley, 



President. Cliicago Florists' Cluli. 



land, the pioneer in the raising of hy- 

 brid tea roses. 



New York joined with Philadelphia 

 and Baltimore in a special train to 

 Chicago, a stop being made at Luray 

 Cave for sight-seeing, while Boston 

 "flocked by itself." going via the Hoos- 

 ac Tunnel route, picking up additions 

 at Utica. Syracuse and Buffalo, and 

 stopping off for a half-day at Niagara 

 Falls. 



Chicago has furnished four presi- 

 dents for the S. A. F. — J. T. Anthony, 

 1894; W. N. Rudd, 1899; J. C. Vaughan, 

 1905; George Asmus, 1911; all of 

 whom are alive today with the excep- 

 tion of J. T. Anthony. Among the 

 other Chicago members who have 

 served on tlie executive board are J. D. 

 Raynolds, Emil Buettner, P. J. Haus- 

 wirth and August Poehlmann. 



Chicago Hospitality. 



Chicago again acted as host to the 

 S. A. F. on the occasion of the visit 

 of the society to Milwaukee in the 

 year 1903, when the members were en- 

 tertained lavishly on a steamer trip 

 from Milwaukee and in Chicago on 

 arrival there. Again in 1908, when 

 the first National Flower Show was 

 held in Chicago, the florists of the 

 country were treated with open-handed 



J. F. KrowELL, 

 president, Cliieago Flower Growers' Asso- 

 ciation. 



lieve, generally conceded now to Bos- 

 ton. 



Some Leading Establishments. 

 We have referred to the large com- 

 mercial floral and allied establishments 

 that have found in Chicago a large 

 and lucrative field of activity. A few 

 of the most notable and enterprising, 

 which all visitors to the convention 

 should take opportunity to inspect are 

 the following; 



Poehlmann Bros. Co. 

 Poehlmann Bros. Co., at Morton 

 Grove, probably welcome more visitors 

 each vear than any other house in the 

 west, "for not only is the extreme size 

 of the plant an attraction, but the 

 place stands for the latest ideas in 

 building, equipping and growing. Just 

 now a labor-saving aiTangement is be- 

 ing completed for carrying the cars of 

 coal directly into the coal sheds at an 

 elevation of some forty feet and drop- 

 ping the coal into the bins without, 

 handling. 



The latest enterprise is in the realm^ 

 of pot plants and about 60,000 square 

 feet of glass will be devoted to aza- 

 leas, poinsettias, cyclamen, primroses- 

 and other blooming plants, as well as 

 ferns, palms, etc. The carnation range 

 contains 300,000 plants and_ as the 



