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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



NOVEUBEB 16, 1805. 



A Portion of the Carnations and Chrysanthemum Plants at the St. Louis Show. 



the Pennsylvania society. The Brave 

 Old Duke went up and down the hill, the 

 punch was on tap as usual and the 

 never-failing assistance of Secretary 

 Rust smoothed the path whenever things 

 were not just right. C. H. T. 



President Duckham's Address. 



A year has passed since you greatly 

 honored me by an election to the office 

 of president. I am grateful for the 

 honor, and have much enjoyed my year 

 of service. It is a thousand pities that 

 I must begin this brief address with an 

 apology. A combination of circum- 

 stances, over which I seemed to have 

 no reasonable control, made it necessary 

 for me to depart for Europe for a short 

 visit, before our society met in annual 

 session. I had looked forward with 

 great pleasure to this meeting, hoping 

 to enjoy a pleasant fellowship with col- 

 leagues who have done their fair share 

 in furthering the interests of this so- 

 ciety, and of the superb flower which it 

 represents to the world. I am denied 

 the pleasure and must ask you to excuse 

 my absence and accept from me a writ- 

 ten, rather than a spoken address. You 

 will, I am sure, not ascribe my absence 

 to any lack of devotion to our cause, and 

 will accept my apology in the spirit in 

 which it is offered. As your president 

 makes no pretension to being an orator, 

 perhaps the ideas which he wishes to ex- 

 press may be as well written, and pre- 

 sented to you by the kind offices of a 

 reader. 



Let me first of all discharge the pleas- 

 ant duty of expressing thanks, not mine 

 only, but yours also, to the ancient and 

 honorable society which has joined forces 



with us in this exhibition. We have had 

 superb assistance in former years in 

 other cities, but surely nowhere could we 

 hope for a finer hospitality than this 

 gracious historic city has to offer, or 

 for a more efficient co-operation than the 

 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has 

 proffered. Its praise is among all lovers 

 of flowers, and its history is writ large in 

 the story of American horticulture. I am 

 sure that we shall not fail, in this place 

 at least, to remember that not far away 

 the never-to-be-forgotten John Bartram 

 founded the first horticultural garden 

 that America ever knew. That was in 

 1728, and in that early day he began 

 hybridization, for the first time upon 

 American soil. Some of his trees are still 

 growing in the little park which most 

 appropriately bears his name, and we 

 shall do well to have his memory in re- 

 membrance. 'Little did he dream of the 

 achievements of modern hybridizers, and 

 nothing at all did he know of the 

 "Queen of the Autumn." "We have in- 

 deed made tremendous strides since then, 

 but it was he who laid the foundations 

 on which successive generations have 

 i builded. "Well indeed would it be if we 

 could lay some foundations ourselves, and 

 build a better structure than we have 

 yet rearedi 



It seems to me that we need first of all 

 to emulate the example of the men who 

 have made the Pennsylvania Horticul- 

 tural Society a power in this great city, 

 and proceed to make the Chrysanthemum 

 Society of America a far greater in- 

 fluence than ever before. My distin- 

 guished predecessor, Mr, Herrington, has 

 made suggestions some of which have 

 already been accepted and have borne 



fruit. This is well. But our work has 

 only begun. The society has only 180 

 members. Therein lies our real weak- 

 ness. "With this vast country as its ter- 

 ritory the society ought easily to treble 

 its membership in the course of another 

 year. As a necessary preliminary to a 

 campaign for a larger membership let me 

 recommend that the society order the 

 list of members and their addresses to 

 be printed. "When this is before us every 

 member will see at a glance the many 

 unfilled gaps in his own immediate vicin- 

 ity, and may solicit his personal friends 

 to join. Believe me, my friends, no 

 other method is so sure, so easy and so 

 prompt. No advertising, no exhibitions, 

 no parade of claims is ever so effective 

 in the upbuilding of such a society as 

 personal solicitation. 



But while the society is not so large as 

 it should be, nor so influential, yet Ave 

 may justly pride ourselves upon its 

 achievements. If it had done nothing 

 more than to influence by precept and 

 example the growing and showing of 

 chrysanthemums in the smaller localities 

 it would have been well worth its cost 

 in time and care. "When this society be- 

 came genuinely active in 1902 the local 

 shows lacked almost every element of 

 competition, even in those places where 

 other flowers had been successfully ex- 

 hibited. I may perhaps be permitted to 

 say that in those days one or two men 

 might be able to produce exhibition 

 blooms where now a dozen such growers 

 are to be found. The growth of the 

 local shows has been phenomenally rapid. 

 1 need only remind you of the impressive 

 displays at Orange, and Oceanic, at 

 Tarrytown, at Madison and at several 



Classes for 100 Blooms of Carnations at the Chicaso Show, November 7 to 11. 



