August 28, 1913. 



The Florists' Review 



9 



THE CONVENTION AFTERMATH 



A SMALL MEETING, BUT HIGHLY ENJOYABLE 



LTHOUGH the attendance 

 at the Minneapolis conven- 

 tion was the smallest the S. 

 A. F. has had in a good 

 many years, there never has 

 been a convention that was 

 more thoroughly e»joyed by those for- 

 tunate enough to attend. There was as 

 much convention and exhibition as the 

 average person cared for and there were 

 two cities of many attractions and un- 

 bounded hospitality to provide every 

 form of amusement that was in demand. 

 The ladies were entertained practically 

 every moment of the time and the hos- 

 pitalities problem was solved for all 

 future convention cities. Paraphrasing 

 the old saying, "Look out for the pen- 

 nies and the dollars will look out for 

 themselves," we can say with equal 

 confidence, "Look out for the ladies 

 and the men will look out for them- 

 selves" convention week and have a 

 thoroughly good time. 



The dispatch with which the business 

 of the society was handled was one of 

 the commendable features, as it gave 

 time for other interests. 



Those Artificial Flowers. 



The special order of business for the 

 session of Friday morning, the closing 

 day, was the consideration of the fol- 

 lowing recommendation of the board of 

 directors: 



Resolved, That It Is the sense of the board of 

 directors that some action be taken by the 

 society whereby exhibits of artificial flowers at 

 onr trade exhibitions and flower shows be ex- 

 cluded. 



When the subject came up at the 

 Lenten meeting of the board the vote 

 on it was a tie and the president cast 

 the deciding vote in favor of present- 

 ing it to the society for consideration. 

 A sharp battle had been expected when 

 it came up on the floor of the conven- 

 tion and a large audience was present, 

 but, much to everybody's surprise, it 

 was laid on the table by an overwhelm- 



ing vote. The retailers, led by W. F. 

 Gude, opposed any action to eliminate 

 artificial flowers from the trade's dis- 

 play at the convention and expressed 

 the opinion that the managers of na- 

 tional and other shows possessed suflS- 

 cieilt authority and discretion to pre- 

 vent any exhibits of artificial flowers 

 receiving undue prominence. 



Affiliation. 



Adolph Farenwald's plan that he 

 calls affiliation is to receive a trial. He 

 outlined it in a paper read at the morn- 

 ing session August 21 and printed in 

 full in this issue of The Review. 

 It was referred to the board of direc- 

 tors without much discussion and Mr. 

 Farenwald appeared before the board 

 that afternoon to argue that his plan 

 be given a trial. He talked to such 

 good purpose that the board voted to 

 present the following to the society at 

 the morning session August 22: 



It la recommended that the fee for any mem- 

 bers of any regularly organized florists' club 

 which wishes to Join the Society of American 

 Florists In a body be reduced to $3 for the first 

 year and to $2 for each succeeding year for 

 each member, the dues to be paid to the Society 

 of American Florists by the treasurer of each 

 afl3Ilating club and not by the members Indi- 

 vidually, and that the constitution and by-laws 

 of the Society of American Florists be amended 

 to conform to this recommendation if adopted. 



On the floor of the convention the 

 society promptly adopted the recommen- 

 dation. It will, of course, require a 

 year's time to make the necessary 

 amendments to the constitution and by- 

 laws. 



Mothers' Day. 



Mothers' day got into the official 

 records of the S. A. F. when W. F. 

 Gude called attention to the action of 

 the great organization of Moose, with 

 its country-wide membership, in asking 

 each of its members to recognize 

 Mothers' day by wearing a flower on 

 the second Sunday in May. Mr. Gude 

 asked if it would not be well for the 



society to take some action in the mat- 

 ter. After considerable discussion it 

 was the consensus of opinion that, 

 while the trade certainly welcomes such 

 acts as that of the organization in ques- 

 tion, it would be impolitic to recognize 

 them in any way and thereby attract 

 attention to the fact that florists as a 

 body have another interest in the day 

 than the sentimental appeal that is felt 

 by all mankind. 



J. J. Hess, of Omaha, brought up 

 the question of uniform commissions 

 in the cases of orders transferred from 

 one florist to another to be filled, but 

 inasmuch as the society always has 

 avoided everything that in any way 

 touched on the fixing of prices, the 

 matter was promptly tabled. 



Making the Garden Glad. 



A number of the members having 

 asked why no recognition was given 

 the outdoor exhibits in the reports of 

 the judges, a committee consisting of 

 J. R. Fotheringham, E. B. George and 

 Walter Mott was appointed to do what 

 they could under the society's rule that 

 to receive an award the exhibit must 

 be a novelty and be specially entered 

 by the exhibitor. There were few 

 novelties in the outdoor display and 

 none had been entered for award. The 

 committee, therefore, could go no fur- 

 ther than to list the exhibits, getting 

 each exhibitor's name and stock into 

 the record. They did, however, go so 

 far as to say of the exhibit of the 

 Conard & Jones Co., West Grove, Pa., 

 that the bed of Meteor was the best bed 

 of cannas on the grounds, mentioning 

 also that this, with Panama, giant 

 salmon, Blanche Wintzer, white, Olym- 

 pia, crimson, and Beacon, scarlet, con- 

 stitutes a splendid set of novelties. Of 

 the bed of Lythrum roseum edged 

 with Vinca minor aurea. exhibited by 

 Wm. Tricker, Arlington, N. .J., the com- 

 mittee reported that, while past its 



The Canna Display of Conard & Jones Co., West Grove, Pa., at the Minneapolis Convention. 



