Septbmbeb 15, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



807 



Janders, who for the past 150 years have 

 borne the brunt of Great Britain's bat- 

 tles, when a great, fine man with a little 

 ^ray lady struck up a talk. She thought 

 it poor after the World's Fair and the 

 people looked so poor and common after 

 her city (Denver). An explanation that 

 this was an annual permanent fair did 

 some good, yet I don't suppose it was 

 lasting. 'Tis true, as Dibden wrote: 



lo the west, to the west, to the land of the 



free, 

 Where the mighty Missouri runs down to the 



sea. 

 Where a man is a man if he's willing to toll. 

 And the humblest may gather the fruits of the 

 soil. 



But they do get an awful swelled head 

 out west. If they can keep it up, all 

 right. But how about the granary of 

 the world, Manitoba. You don't hear 

 such a great shout and yet there is no- 

 where on this continent such marvelous 

 growth in wealth and . general develop- 

 ment as in the prairie provinces of the 

 Dominion of Canada. 



If you want to see mother and father 

 pigs (they call them by the biblical name 

 of swine in Canada) sixteen feet long 

 and weighing 1,000 pounds, cross Lake 

 Ontario. If you want to see Leister 

 sheep as big as the ordinary cow, go to 

 Toronto, and if you want to see horses, 

 why, they beat us hollow. There is one 

 thing most admirable about the fair. 

 You can't get a thing on the grounds 

 ■except orange lemonade, except you know 

 the treasurer or happen to meet Andy 

 Adams, who said he was justified because 

 Mrs. A. was subject to sinking spells, 

 like poor Sarah Gamp. 



It's supposed that my notes will be 

 horticultural. Well, the exhibit of plants, 

 particularly foliage and ornamental, 

 was extremely good. It would be hard 

 to beat in any city five times its size. 

 The cut flower and design exhibit, over 

 which we had to think, was. no larger 

 than other years, although as you a] J 

 know there is John Dunlop and the Dale 

 Estate and Walter Muston, who ?an 't be 

 beat as growers of roses. The designs 

 for conception and execution were right 

 up-to-date. The only flower that surpass- 

 ed previous exhibits was the asters. A 

 vase of daybreak pink, of the branching 

 type with flowers five inches across and 

 stems at least four feet long was like 

 a vase of Maud Dean mums. 



We are greatly indebted to the cor- 

 tesy of George Vair, the veteran and 

 easily the dean of all the horticulturists 

 of Toronto. He showed us places we had 

 Jieyer seen before and put up with our 

 idiosyncrasies. And then there is good 

 John Chambers, the park superintendent 

 •of Toronto. If you are lucky enough 

 to know John and are tired of orange 

 lemonade, you can walk up to his porch 

 and ask what the thermometer registers. 

 I had little opportunity to see more than 

 the Exhibition park. Queens park and 

 the Horticultural gardens and they all 

 looked in fine order. Like most of our 

 cities, the appropriation for parks and 

 public grounds is cut down to the lowest 

 living mark. Yet Mr. Chambers, I am 

 glad to say, as do most of our park su- 

 perintendents, makes the meagre appro- 

 priation go as far as possible. When 

 politics enter our park management it's 

 a calamity for the community. 



Mr. Chambers saved my wife's life. A 

 Highlander struck up "The Campbells 

 are Coming" on the bag pipes. She 

 swooned, but a bunch of "Grissley Fron- 

 tenac" from the hand of J. C. restored 

 '.her to life and liberty. 



I spent two hours with John Dunlop at 

 his model place, but there is so much to 

 say about that, that if you will allow me 

 it will be continued in our next. First 

 race is called at 2:30. W. S. 



PITTSBURG CLUB MEETING. 



The meeting of the Pittsburg and Al- 

 legheny Florists' and Gardeners' Club, 

 September 6, was addressed by Mr. Zim- 

 merman, of Dixmont, who attended the 

 S. A. F. convention at St. Louis and also 

 visited the parks and gardens there and 

 the World's Fair and noted things hor- 

 ticultural, for he had agreed on coming 

 back to tell us all about them. 



At the convention Scott's fern pleased 

 him greatly and he declared that the 

 plants of the other exhibitors were as fine 

 a lot of marketable size stock as he ever 

 saw together. They all were clean and 

 healthy. 



The great variety of plants at Shaw's 

 garden tickled his fancy and he wandered 

 through the arboretum and enjoyed the 

 collection of trees, because they were la- 

 beled. At Tower Grove park he was 

 charmed with the showing of victorias 

 and tropical water lilies in heated out- 

 door ponds and hardy lilies in cold wa- 

 ters. But he was disappointed in the 

 World 's Fair gardens. Those of the cas- 

 cades and the sunken g^ardens were all 

 right, but he found fault vd.th the coarse- 

 ness and unkemptness of many of the 

 others and it was quite amusing to see 

 him show us how the man in the clock- 

 house helped the machinery up the hill. 



He was a little severe on some of the 

 displays. His own cannas at home looked 

 better than those at St. Louis and he 

 didn't see a bit of carpet bedding worth 

 looking at. But he was charmed with 

 Ageratum Stella Gurney; it was used ex- 

 tensively and everywhere it was a sheet 

 of bloom, whereas at home with himself 

 it was all growth and foliage and very 

 little bloom. Coleuses were brighter than 

 with us, because they were unpinched. 

 Altemantheras were very dead in color 

 and the vivid brilliantissima didn't seem 

 to be used at all. Plant lettering was 

 very poor. The African tamariz used as 

 a border plant, as we used to plant box- 

 wood, was a new wrinkle to him. But 

 when he talked about cleaning up the 

 place he sort of raised his arms and 

 clenched his fists and as he is a big man 

 he didn't look pleasant. 



It was also gladiolus and China aster 

 night. The Pittsburg Cut Flower Co. 

 showed some magnificent red, white and 

 purple asters. I believe they were grown 

 in northwestern New York. Although 

 sometimes we can grow good asters about 

 Pittsburg, Munro county, New York, can 

 beat us all to pieces. 



Of gladiolus we had a magnificent 

 showing. John Lewis Childs, of Floral 

 Pnrk. N. Y., sent about 750 spikes in 

 bunches of twenty-five of each kind and 

 printed labels with all of them. And he 

 had a real cute device for sticking the 

 labels on. It consisted of a sharp pin, 

 with a round head like a split ring; into 

 this ring you fix the label, then stick the 

 pin anywhere you please. Get a bunch of 

 cards and a box of pins and a pencil; 

 it's all you need. His flowers were su- 

 perb and included a great range of color, 

 from deep maroon, through scarlet, pink, 

 white and yellow. 



Frank Banning, of Kinsman, 0., sent 

 a dozen sheaves of gigantic beauties 

 three to four feet long and withoot a 

 blemish on bloom or leaf. His Bab«n H. 



Warder was the finest pink gladiolus in 

 the room and his "1900" one of the 

 most brilliant reds. Augusta, May and 

 our old love, Eugene Scribe, in his col- 

 lection were especially fine. And to keep 

 us in a good humor he sent a basketful 

 of selected golden sweet apples, picked 

 from trees in his gladiolus field. They 

 were dealt out to the members two at a 

 time. 



Arthur Cowee, of Berlin, N. Y., sent 

 a great variety of very fine blossoms in 

 a very great range of color, including 

 several of the bluish hues that seem so 

 popular just now. What a vast array of 

 these flowers he must have, considering 

 the continuous show he maintains in St. 

 Louis. He gives some good points about 

 cut flowers: "Immediately upon arrival 

 cut oflF the ends of the stems and place 

 in water. Every day change the water 

 and cut off the ends of the stems, re- 

 moving the withered blooms at the same 

 time, pulling them off with "a downward 

 motion." 



At the end of the meeting each mem- 

 ber was given half a dozen select spikes 

 to take home with him; the detective 

 agency next door got a bunch because we 

 used its telephone, the janitor got a 

 bunch to keep him in a good humor, for 

 we do make an awful mess of the place 

 sometimes, and all of the balance, nearly 

 a wagon load, was sent to the Mercy 

 hospital. 



But that was not all. Next morning 

 the president had a telephone call from 

 the Cut Flower Co.: "Send a wagon to 

 our store for a consignment of glad- 

 iolus flowers from M. Crawford, Cuya- 

 hoga Falls, O." He sent in for them. 

 They were an assortment of splendid 

 spikes and gorgeous blossoms. Too bad 

 they were too late for our club meeting. 



We had lots of nice things to say about 

 the firms who so generously contributed to 

 make our club meeting such a pro- 

 nounced success. And then our own Cut 

 Flower Co. is so good and accommodat- 

 ing. I don't know what we'd do with- 

 out them. But we are going to put Mr. 

 Langhans up for president of our club 

 next year. Pekx. 



DOBBS FERRY, N. Y. 



The regular meeting of the Dobbe 

 Ferry Horticultural Society was held 

 Saturday evening, September 10, Presi- 

 dent Dunbar in the chair. There was a 

 very fine display of zinneas staged by 

 Messrs. Dunbar, Kastberg^ Wilson, Brad- 

 ley, Keeling and Darcy. Mr. Dunbar was 

 awarded the highest number of points. 

 His blooms were exceptionally large. Mr. 

 Wilson also had a very fine display. 

 Stephen Bradley and Mr. Knifle were 

 the judges. The subject for the next 

 meeting will be dahlias. J. B. 



Port Huron, Mich.— ^Every florist is 

 entitled to a hobby and Wm. As- 

 raan's is pigeons. At the Toronto fair 

 he took a medal and fifteen other 

 prizes. 



Newport News, Va. — Frank Imbacb 

 is propagating Lauras tinus which is not 

 commonly seen in this neighborhood. He 

 thinks it will be naeful on the lawns and 

 in the cemeterj. 



Danville, III.— H. D. Caldwell, gard- 

 ener at the Soldiers' Home, has had very 

 fine success with his bedding this year. 

 He bas five greenhouses. Much work will 

 be done on the grounds next spring. 



