900 



HORTICULTURE 



llecenibei 1'::. I'.M 



HISTORY of the FLORISTS' CLUB of PHILADELPHIA 



By DAVID RUST. 



The Florists' Club of Philadelphia 

 was permanentl) organized on Ocl 



u prei lous to this 

 there had been a temporal organiza- 

 tion to prepare u< entertain members 

 ie Society of American Florists at 

 their Annual Convention to be held 

 in August, 188G. Unfortunately, we 

 have no record of this temporary or- 



i n i the first year of the 



permanent organization of the Club; 

 therefore, the details of what hap- 

 1 during these two years are only 

 to bo obtained from some of the 

 members who were active at that time, 

 mil as details obtainable from the dif- 

 ferent members do not agree in many 

 ii Is difficult, therefore, to 

 ate idea of the happen- 

 ings during tb< ars. We know- 

 that Robert Craig was ihe first presi- 

 dent, both of the temporary organiza- 



ROBEBT CfiAIG 



First President Florists' Club of Philadel- 

 phla. 



tion, and also of the permanent organi- 

 zation of the Club, and also Edwin 

 Lonsdale was the first secretary. But 

 we have no record of how long Mr. 

 Lonsdale acted as secretary. He was 

 elected secretary of the S. A. F., at 

 thr meeting here in August, L88G, 

 therefore it is probable he resii 

 the secretaryship of the Club when he 

 took up the duties of ti try of 



A. F., January 1, 1887. 

 Previous to the temporary orgi 

 zation there had been in existence a 

 Grow- ciation, the members of 



which used to hold meetings at 

 Head Hotel in West Philadelphia, to 

 fix the prices chiefly of soft-woi 

 bedding plants. Also, previo 

 temporal". 



association known 

 as the Florists' and Growers' As 

 tion. From what w can gather, this 

 association met at 13th and Market 

 streets, and had probably been in ex- 

 istence about three years. Tie Ameri- 

 Florisi in March, 1886, published 



an extract from the Philadelphia 

 i [mes i.i Januai j 171 h, stating that 

 the florists of Philadelphia held I neii 

 Third Annual Banquet the night pie- 

 ami that Robert Km presid 6 

 i his was the banquet ol this sociel j 



previously spo en 



The lirst reference t can find to the 

 Florists' Club of Philadelphia is in 

 the records of the Pennsylvania Hoi 

 ticultural Society. Under date of 

 March 16th, 1886, Is the following ex- 

 tract: 



•-An appeal was made bj a member in 



i,. ii.iii of a fund for the euterti lament of 



the Society of American I I rists, at their 



onveutlon in this citj In a ugu i nexl 



This matter was referred to the Florists' 



i Hub of this cltj i" prepare and u It i i 



i his Society a res * t ot ion on I 



\i the follow lug a ting "i i be Pennsj i 



vania Horticultural Society held April 20, 

 l — -ii. the following resolution was adopted: 



VVherea3, The Socletj of American 

 is has decided to bold its next an 

 mini convention in Philadelphia, and as 

 there will be 600 to 900 horticulturists from 



all parts i i the I nited si ites ; I lien 



be ii 



Res lived, That i he n irists' Club of 

 Philadelphia (which club being organized 

 tor the reception and entertainment of 

 these visitors), h.-is the hearty endorsement 

 of tin- Penna. Horticultural Society, which 

 approves of the object of tin- said Club, 



and respectfully asks its members t n- 



trlbute towards defraying the necessary 

 expenses of the entertainment of the dele- 

 an.i therefore, making the reception 

 worthy of the Horticulturists of Philadel- 

 phia." 



The above will plainly show that at 

 this time there was only a temporary 

 organization, for the purpose of taking 

 care of the members of the S. A. F., 

 at their second convention. The meet- 

 ings of the Club wen- now being held 

 in the Library Room, Horticultural 

 Hall. 



In the American Florist, under date 

 of November 15, 1886, Edwin Lonsdale 

 says: (speaking of the Florists' Club), 

 'It has now been made a permanent 

 organization, that is to say, it was 

 organized temporarily for the purpose 

 of aiding the Convention of the S A. 

 F., but it had such a good influence 

 on all concerned that there was noth- 

 ing left but for it to become perma- 

 nent. It is destined to be of service 

 both to the National Society and to 

 the Pennsylvania Horticultural Socie- 

 ty." 



We know that the convention was 

 held, and that it was a great sui 

 One of the chief features of this con- 

 vention was the entertainment of the 

 visitors by Mr. George W. Childs at 

 his country place, "Wootton," Bryn 

 Mawr. on Friday, August 20th, at 

 which there were in attendance i 

 hundred persons. The photograph of 

 this event we have hanging here in 

 the club room, and in token of the 

 kindness of Mr. George W. Childs. the 

 Florists' Club presented him with a 

 large bronze vase filled with foliage 

 I— a photograph of which we also 

 have here in the club room. On the 

 :uus day the deli gates to 1 he con 

 vention were taken to Atlantic 

 (numbering about seven hundred and 

 occupying ten cars). They were en- 

 tertained at dinner at the 1'nited 

 States Hotel by the Florists' Club. Our 

 records show that there were 5L'9 per- 



sons register! d as members of the S. 

 A. !•'.. at that convention. Robert 

 Craig tells us about this meeting, 

 which was the second of the S. A. !•'.. 

 that the late Peter Henderson was 

 very skeptical as to the S. A. F. Con- 

 ventions being successes, as it would 

 he Impossible to get a number of llor- 



ists away from their business for B 



whole wei li ler to attend a con- 



vi hi ion: and that in his opinion the 

 matter would be a failure. The Colon- 

 ado Hotel had In en selected as head- 

 quarters for the S. A. !•'. delegates. lt\ 

 7. P. M. mi Monday, of the con • i □ 

 tion week, the Colonade Hotel was 

 filled up, members having arrived all 

 day long from various parts of the 

 country, and those coming at night 

 had to see!-, other hotels. Mr. Hen- 

 derson then admitted that he was 

 wrong and that the success of the con- 



Edwin Lonsdale 



i list Rccicta-y Florists' Club of Philadel- 

 phia 



vention was assured. The convention 

 was a success in every respect, and 

 after entertaining the visitors in a 

 proper manner we find thai the Flor- 

 ists' Club had over $600 left on hand. 

 It was the fact of having this money 

 on hand that first started the idea of 

 forming a permanent organization. 



In making a research to find out the 

 early history of the Club many inter- 

 esting things are naturally discovered. 

 It is impossible to give many of these 

 incidents in the time usually a'lotted 

 to the reading of a paper, therefore I 

 will only mention a few, which ap- 

 parently lead up to what appeals to 

 me to be the first essay decided upon 

 bj the Club I find in Penna. Horti- 

 ciety records of November 

 1885, that a silver medal was awarded 

 to John X. May for a new Rose "The 

 Bride," and a silver medal to Craig & 

 Brothel foi Carnation "Sunrise," and 

 silver medal to Hallock & Thorpe for 

 new ('In ri "Edna Crag." a 



