■iv S~ 



August 18, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



579 



' ^V "t ^h 



TWENTIETH MEETING OF THE SOCIETY OF 

 AMERICAN FLORISTS. 



Next Meeting to be held at Washington, D. C. 



OFFICERS FOR 1905 : 



(President. J. C. VAUGHAN. Chicago, ill. 



Vice-President. J. R. FREEA\AN. Washlnjion. D. C. 



Secretary. W. J. STEWART. Boston. Mass. 



Treasurer. H. B. BEATTY. Oil City. Pa. 



Til another year the S. A. F. will 

 reach its majority. The twentieth an- 

 nual convention has been held at St. 

 Louis this week and has redounded 

 grt-,atly to the credit of the society and 

 the host, the St. Louis Florists' Club. 

 The World's Fair was an attraction to 

 many and served to bring a number suf- 

 ficient to make up for the absence of 

 large eastern delegations and the indi- 

 viduals who were kept away by the ap- 

 parently not wholly unwarranted fear 

 of hot weather. The attendance was 

 excellent and the number of members 

 who were accompanied by their wives 

 was noticeable. The fear that the expo- 

 sition would detract from the attend- 

 ance at the sessions proved largely with- 

 out basis, but the exhibitors felt the 

 influence when it came to taking orders. 

 The program was arranged for morning 

 sessions only, after the first day, and 

 the afternoons and evenings were left 

 open for visiting the Fair. It proved 

 an admirable arrangement and the good 

 work of the local club caused everything 

 to pass off with the utmost smoothness 

 and earned the verdict that it was one 

 of the most successful conventions the 

 Society has ever held. 



At the opening session Tuesday after- 

 noon there were seated on the stage, be- 

 sides the officers, the following ex-pres- 

 idents: E. G. Hill, John Burton, Wm. 

 Scott, W, F. Gude, Adam Graham, Edwin 

 Lonsdale, W. N. Rudd, W. R. Smith and 

 Robert Craig, besides the members of 

 the board of directors and several state 

 vice-presidents. The stage was hand- 

 somely decorated, as was the entrance to 

 the building, which is the old exhibition 

 building. The hall had very bad acous- 

 tics. 



J. J. Beneke, president of the St. 

 Louis Florists' Club, called for order 

 and introduced Cyrus P. Waldbridge, 

 president of the Business Men's League, 

 to deliver the address of welcome. Mr. 

 Waldbridge, then mayor of the city, wel- 

 comed the S. A. F. when it first met in 

 St. Ix)uis, eleven years ago, and referred 

 pleasantly to that event. He said that 

 when he received this invitation he did 

 not know but what the florists had been 

 so absorbed in their occupation that they 



had failed to take note of the political 

 changes which had taken place. He 

 said he would not expect them to be di- 

 verted from flowers by politics and dem- 

 onstrated that the florists are God's lieu- 

 tenants because they make even greater 

 the glories of the Creator. He did not, 

 as is usual, offer the keys to the city, 

 doubtless because the mayor had taken 

 them with him on his vacation. 



The response was by Robert Craig, of 

 Philadelphia, who referred to the hospi- 

 tality of St. Louis during the conven- 

 tion of 1893, after which most of the 

 members went to see the Chicago World's 

 Fair, that great work of western en- 

 thusiasm, power and ability^ not dream- 

 ing that the next gathering at St. Louis 

 would see such glories as those of the 

 present exposition. He quoted Bacon, 

 that "men build finely before they gar- 

 den finely, ' ' and regretted that at this 

 Fair horticulture has not been devel- 

 oped as it might have been. He thanked 

 Mr. Waldbridge for his hearty welcome 

 and said he hoped to see the day when 

 the S. A. F. shall again visit this good 

 old town. 



Mr. Beneke then introduced President 

 Breitmeyer and presented him with a 

 gavel on behalf of the St. Louis Flor- 

 ists' Club. Mr. Breitmeyer received an 

 ovation which attested his unbounded 

 popularity with the society and made 

 it impossible to proceed for several min- 

 utes, after which he spoke a few words 

 of welcome for the many ladies present 

 and asked indulgence while he read his 

 address, which was as follows: 



President's Address. 



Following the precedence established 

 by the first president of this society and 

 repeated by every one of my predeces- 

 sors, I herewith present my address. 

 First allow me to congratulate you upon 

 the wisdom of having selected this beau- 

 tiful city as a meeting place of this, the 

 twentieth convention of the society. This 

 great city which is aptly termed the 

 commercial gateway of the great south. 

 Eleven years ago it was our privilege 

 and pleasure to meet here under the pres- 

 idency of our esteemed and dearly be- 

 loved William R. Smith, through whose 



untiring energy and enthusiastic vigilance 

 for over eight years, a national charter 

 was obtained, and under which our society 

 now operates with the dignity and pres- 

 tige that most fittingly belongrs to a so- 

 ciety with the broad, lofty, progressive 

 and elevating purposes for which the So- 

 ciety of American Florists and Ornamen- 

 tal Horticulturists was organized. 



It is a happy coincident, too, that we 

 are convened here at a time when the 

 Louisiana Purchase Exposition is open, 

 with its many massive buildings, com- 

 pletely filled with the brilliant examples 

 of the latest developments in art and the 

 various industries of the civilized world. 

 We can happily congratulate ourselves, 

 too, that it is manifest to the thousands 

 of visitors to the great exposition that 

 the progressive and enterprising spirit 

 that has made the show the success it 

 is, has extended to nearly every branch 

 of floriculture and horticulture, and that 

 as we pass through these extensive 

 grounds and the Horticulture building 

 we can see evidences upon all sides show- 

 ing examples of the florists' art and the 

 results of the patient and vigilant work 

 of the horticulturist and landscape gar- 

 dener. 



I was here in March last and observed 

 with alarm the really great difficulties 

 which lay in the way of those in charge 

 of this feature of World's Fair work, 

 and I behold today the most marvelorus 

 transformation from its rude, primitive 

 condition to the beautiful park and 

 pleasing slopes and approaches that now 

 greet us. 



To many of our members present and 

 who will see for the first time the Mis- 

 souri Botanic Gardens located here, them 

 is a rich treat in store, and when the 

 great extent of these magnificent 

 grounds is open to them they will be 

 forcibly impressed with the congratula- 

 tions that are due to this city for being 

 in possession of such a great educational 

 institution. Its founder, the late Henry 

 Shaw, has left an imperishable monu- 

 ment to the great love for flowers and 

 their elevating influence that dwelled in 

 him. Ijet us hope that the world may 

 have many more of such men and that 

 every great city in our land will some 

 time be the beneficiary of men of such 

 noble character and aesthetic sentiments. 



Our Society. 



With each recurring year it seems 

 necessary to relate some of the achieve- 

 ments of the society for the benefit of 

 prospective members, who, notwithstand- 

 ing the wide publicity given our work 

 through the trade press, still sometimes 

 ask the childish question: "What good 

 will it do me to belong to the society!" 

 Under the circumstances one is at first 

 inclined to be provoked by the question 

 but, following the obedience to our well- 

 known duty (for it is a duty that every 

 member, as well as every oflSber, owes 

 the society), we answer that for the 

 past twenty years, covering the life of 

 the society, the brightest minds and 

 most capable men in every branch of 

 our business have been reflecting the 

 net results of their experiences, deep 

 thoughts and investigations through the 

 pages of the official reports of this so- 

 ciety's doings. The methods of green- 

 house building, cultural methods of the 

 most successful growers, the most effi- 

 cient manner of greenhouse heating, the 

 manner of disposing of stock at whole- 

 sale, the most improved methods of the 

 retailer, and subjects covering every 



