818 



HORTICULTURE 



December 14, 1912 



INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW 



Address by Chas. H. Totty, Before the National Association of Gardeners, November 19. 



Members of the National Association 

 of Gardeners: 

 The question I wish to present to 

 your notice is — What part will the 

 superintendents and gardeners of this 

 country play in the international show 

 scheduled for next April in the New 

 Grand Central Palace, New York? I 

 think I am safe in saying that the 

 finest plants in the world have been 

 imported and sold in the neighborhood 

 of New York in the last twenty years. 

 These plants in the natural order of 

 things, since they cost considerable 

 money, have been bought by your em- 

 ployers and at the present time many 

 of them are reclining in the green- 

 houses, within easy shipping distance 

 of New York. 



Are you going to leave them there or 

 bring them out next spring and let 

 the rest of the country see stock they 

 have never previously had any knowl- 

 edge of? We are now working on the 

 final schedule which devotes consider- 

 able special classes, especially for the 

 private growers in both plants and 

 flowers, and which, in the aggregate, 

 amounts to some $.5,000 for the gar- 

 deners alone. This is the first time 

 in the history of the Society of Ameri- 

 can Florists and Ornamental Horti- 

 culturists, to my knowledge, that 

 special classes have been made; the 

 first time that private growers have 

 been recognized as a large factor in 

 the development of horticulture, and 

 the fact that the Society of American 

 Florists which is primarily a trade 

 organization, is willing to do this, is 

 a tribute to the growing force and 

 power of the private gardener in the 

 horticultural world. 



As members of different local horti- 

 cultural societies, your response to 

 my appeal to join with the parent 

 body, has been very generous. Prac- 

 tically every society within a reason- 

 able distance of New York, will be 

 represented by a silver cup or cash 

 premium. 



We also have working with us, the 

 American Rose Society, American Car- 

 nation Society, the Gladioli and the 

 Sweet Pea societies, and for once hor- 

 ticulture presents to the world a solid 

 front, standing together, and it will 

 show to the world an exhibition that 

 will demand recognition as being the 

 fnest achievement in the annals of 

 horticultural and floricultural history 

 in America. 



My friends, it is fitting that this 

 should be so. As the editor of the New 



York World remarks in a recent edi- 

 torial: 



"When 130,000 people throng to see a 

 flower show in New York, the popular 

 vogue of flowers must be regarded as 

 pretty conclusively established. This is 

 about as many people as constitute the 

 capacity audiences at the theatres on holi- 

 days, and the tact bears witness to the 

 place flower exhll)itions now hold as lixed 

 events in the fall calendar, equally with 

 football, the opera and the horse sliow." 



Note the final paragraph: 



"But behind the vogue in this country 

 and most suggestive of all the circum- 

 stances having to do with its popular ap- 

 peal is the confirmation the attendance at 

 flower shows gives of the true aesthetic 

 sense in a city where as many people go 

 to see flowers, as to a world's baseball 

 series." 



I remember, and so do you, when 



about all the space a flower show 



would get in the metropolitan dailies 



was two or three lines in an obscure 



corner. Flower shows and the flower 



industry were regarded with toleration 



For Full Information, Schedules, Space 

 for Trade Exhibition, etc.. Write to John 

 Young, Secretary and iUanager for Trade 

 Exhibition, 54 West 28th Street, New York 

 City. 



simply as a hobby of the rich. Today 

 the people are awakened to a sense of 

 the value of a flower show in cultiva- 

 ting the aesthetic taste of a city and 

 we can get almost any space we wish 

 in the leading newspapers of the coun- 

 try. An indication of this is shown 

 in the New York Herald of Nov. 18th, 

 which gave over half a column to the 

 National Flower Show which we are at 

 present discussing. 



The popularity of any undertaking, 

 be it sport, business, or an individ- 

 ual, can always be determined by the 

 amount of space that the newspapers 

 can be induced to give the same. A 

 newspaper man has his ear to the 

 ground all the time watching the trend 

 of popular thought, moulding it oft- 

 times when wrongly directed and giv- 

 ing it unlimited space, when as a news 

 item it is of interest to the large body 

 of our people. I am firmly of the opin- 

 ion that this flower show in New Yorit 

 is going to set a record for attend- 

 ance at a flower show in America. 



Many of your employers are con- 



nected with the "upper crust" of New 

 York society and they will be present. 

 If the employer sees his name in con- 

 junction with the "First Prize" at the 

 "greatest flower show America ever 

 had," he will think just that much 

 more of his gardener. Those of you 

 who are so loyal to your local shows, 

 know just how true this is. 



The average American is content 

 with nothing but the best and if the 

 spirit of emulation between the em- 

 ployer and the gardener, is encouraged, 

 there is little doubt but that horticul- 

 ture will rise even more rapidly in the 

 immediate future. 



There is nothing about the cultiva- 

 tion of plants and flowers that will 

 degrade a man. On the contrary, it is 

 the most elevating pastime that a mil- 

 lionaire can spend his time and money 

 in following. 



Those of you who saw the Inter- 

 national Show in London this year, or 

 who followed it closely, could not fail 

 to be struck by the thousands of men, 

 who gave liberally of their time and 

 money to make that show the splendid 

 success it was. 



Conceding that this interest is not 

 so widespread in our own people, 

 still it is bound to come and I want to 

 see the gardeners occupy their proper 

 position at the head of the procession 

 and there is no better place to leap 

 with one bound into this premier po- 

 sition than next spring at the National 

 Flower Show in New York. New York 

 has not had a really representative 

 show for years. The exhibitions have 

 always been badly handicapped by the 

 many local societies that are holding 

 their own exhibitions at about the 

 same time. Loyalty to his local socie- 

 ty and a desire that his employer, (who 

 is very often still stopping at his 

 country house) will see his products, 

 make the gardener look after his local 

 show first. In this case we have a 

 grand spring show when there will be 

 no other flower shows to take away 

 - the interest or the exhibits and I look 

 to see the gardeners make this show 

 one wortliy of the highest praise. 



Since the preliminary schedule was 

 printed we have received many hand- 

 some donations of silver cups, gold, 

 silver and bronze medals, etc., and 

 from the purely material standpoint of 

 getting something in exchange for 

 one's labor the show will be some- 

 thing worth while. 



As an educational feature the socie- 

 ty is planning to give two lectures a 



