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652 



The Weekly Flonsts^ Revi^ 



August 25, 1904. 



raise the emotions finer than the man 

 from Posie county, and if Mr, Breit- 

 meyer had thanked us in flowing lan- 

 guage, we should not have believed it 

 had touched his heart. His heart was in 

 his throat. He almost choked, uttered a 

 few words of gratitude and subsided and 

 we truly believe never was his heart 

 fuller than at that mofnent, except per- 

 haps at that hushed time a few years 

 back when the present Mrs. Breitmeyer 

 fell on his manly chest and lisped in ac- 

 cents low and sweet, * * Phil, I am yours. ' ' 

 Pull down the curtain, only a few of us 

 have that experience more than once. 



The election was lively and a friendly 

 contest does no harm. It brings out the 

 attendance and there is enough of the 

 old Adam left in all of us to enjoy com- 

 petition. For president and secretary it 

 was by no means a walkover. The sharp 

 and close election for secretary was a 

 shake-up and the waves caused by the 

 eruption will flow outwards and have 

 their beneficial effect. No one's face 

 was more radiant after the election than 

 broad-minded John F. Sullivan. The so- 

 ciety honored itself in the re-election of 

 Mr. Beatty and the Washington boys did 

 nobly in selecting sturdy, manly J. R. 

 Freeman. 



The sporting element was conspicuous 

 throughout, but interfered not in the 

 slightest with the legitimate business of 

 the convention and to get a good crowd 

 together is as much an essential as any 

 part of the performance. Many good 

 fellows are enthusiasts at bowling, but 

 there are two men indispensable to make 

 it good and jolly, viz., John Westcott 

 and Phil Hauswirth. The latter 's serv- 

 ice to the Bowling League was most 

 properly acknowledged and if utter ex- 

 haustion did follow his all-day exertions 

 on Wednesday, he came up as bright as 

 the evening star by Friday morning. As 

 for John, of Philadelphia, his delight is 

 to see others enjoy the game and have a 

 good time generally. 



cup are in their keeping for the year. 

 Let them pat them and kiss them and 

 fondle them, for at Washington next 

 August they will be sorrowfully com- 

 pelled to say, "Bye-bye, you beauties." 



Age does not interfere with the art of 

 bowling, as is proved by the presence of 

 a China clock just arrived from St. Louis 

 and now situated near our front door, 

 too handy, rather, for "the missus" to 

 see the time of night as she opens the 

 door for us. All will return home with 

 pleasant recollections of the bowling 

 tournament and many with something 

 more substantial than memories. 



The shooting was ably conducted by 

 Mr. Tesson. Unfortunately a Chicago 

 gentleman had so many pleasant things 

 to say to us at the hotel after the busi- 

 ness session, we could not get to the 

 shooting either in time or condition. 



Mr. Altick again demonstrated that 

 he is not only a first-class member of the 

 more serious side of our meetings but 

 can shoot like a Boer. 



Our opinion is that the attendance at 

 the convention and at the opening ses- 

 sion, as well as the other meetings, was 

 not equal to several conventions which we 

 could mention. Many eastern faces were 

 missing. Fear of oppressive heat and 

 tTie intention to ' visit the World 's Fair 

 in October or November were the prin- 

 cipal causes. 



The trade exhibit has also been larger 

 on previous occasions, yet it was large, 

 well managed and all in order at an early 

 hour. Every requisite of our business 

 was well represented. I am going to take 

 the liberty to mention but a few. There 

 were splendid assortments of palms from 

 Philadelphia, ribbons in color and tex- 

 ture that would charm a grass widow, 

 bulbs from everywhere, baskets that 

 were charming, bells that were beauties 

 and a host of other plants, requisites, 

 vases, boilers, model greenhouses, etc. 



Three ferns deserve especial mention, 

 for ferns now enter largely into our 



Building Material Exhibits at the St. Louis Convention* 



How good of Philadelphia, Buffalo, 

 St. Louis, New York, Cleveland and the 

 other cities to either send their we^ikest 

 team or no team at all and let Chicago 

 have the principal prizes. They -have 

 struggled hard for ten years and ■ have 

 landed at last. The magnificent Kasting 

 challenge trophy and the splendid Beatty 



business. Adiantum Croweanum was 

 shown by W. F. Kasting. For cut 

 fronds this must be the adiantum of the 

 future. Distinct from all of its type, 

 its length of stem, size of frond and 

 keeping -qnalities leave it without a rival. 

 The Ta^rytown fern, a sport of Piersoni, 

 is quite distinct from the former. What- 



ever its commercial value may be, we can- 

 not foretell, but for a beautiful speci- 

 men, where ferns are admired, this will 

 take a foremost seat. It can be classed 

 as a filmy fern, as beautiful as the fa- 

 mous Killarney fern. 



And lastly, but not leastly, we come 

 to that really wonderful display of 

 Nephrolepis Scottii, from John Scott, 

 of Brooklyn. Of the many forms of N. 

 exaltata this has every promise of su- 

 perseding the good old Boston form. 

 Just as graceful, but more dense in 

 growth, marvelously quick to make a fine 

 plant and yet a small plant in a 3-inch 

 pot is a specimen. We think it by far 

 the most valuable commercial fern that 

 has appeared since the advent of the 

 Boston variety. 



That visit to the Missouri Botanic Gar- 

 den and the courtesy extended to us by 

 Prof. Trelease was most enjoyable and 

 we hope all intelligent visitors to the 

 World's Fair will not miss Shaw's Gar- 

 den and see how horticulture should be 

 carried out in its ornamental direction. 



We did not take in the world 's largest 

 brewery. Don't care for such things, 

 yet saw many take the cars for that 

 mammoth irrigation plant and must 

 vouch for the fact that on their return 

 there was little alteration in color of 

 countenance or demeanor. 



The World's Fair, brother florists who 

 did not see it, is stupendous. It seems 

 impossible that any bigger or grander 

 can be conceived or carried out by man 

 and if it could be bigger, it is certainly 

 not desirable. Everyone goes there more 

 or less interested in his own particular 

 line or fancy, some to study art or 

 architecture, some to look mostly at clocks 

 or carpets, others to look at engines of 

 power or destruction. Florists go there 

 to admire ornamental gardening, and 

 that is the weakest part of this marvel- 

 ous show. The sunken gardens are beau- 

 tiful, particularly when not too closely 

 inspected. The stiff little edge of Afri- 

 can tamarix surrounding each bed is 

 new, unique and excellent in effect. It 

 outlines the designs admirably. The 

 sloping lawn and flower gardening fall- 

 ing away from the summit of the cas- 

 cades is grand, and who on earth, at 

 this day or any other, has ever seen such 

 an imposing or magnificent sight as these 

 cascades. The long rows of fine maple 

 trees on each side of the central lagoon 

 is a mistake. They largely obscure from 

 sight the splendors of the cascades. If 

 they were removed to the grass borders 

 near the gigantic buildings they would 

 give a clear view of the crowning glory 

 of the exposition and much improve the 

 buildings. 



The bare white walls of these many 

 twenty-acre buildings tire you, unre- 

 lieved as they are without a leaf of green- 

 ery of any kind. Frederic W. Taylor, 

 chief of agriculture and horticulture, has 

 filled his gigantic buildings splendidly 

 with the products of farm and orchard. 

 The ornamental division of horticulture, 

 in charge of Mr. Hadkinson, superintend- 

 ent of floriculture, had crushing ob- 

 stacles to overcome, but he has mastered 

 them and the surroundings of the Agri- 

 culture and Horticulture buildings are 

 now brilliant with cannas and other sum- 

 mer bedding plants. Stupendous as is 

 the extent of the fair and its still more 

 manrelous buildings, there is an impres- 

 sion forced on you that if it were half 

 the size it would be far more beautiful, 

 or could be made so. Go and see it. It 

 is wonderful, even if it is overgrown. 



Let us all busy ourselves to get that 



