JANUARY 31, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



77^ 



General View of the Toronto Exbibition of the Amertean Carnation Society. 



CONVENTION 



AFTERMATH 



t-W 0-,.. 



A BRILLIANT SUCChSS. 



The great American carnation conven- 

 tion to which Toronto florists have been 

 looking forward ever since the announcL>- 

 ment came from Boston that it would 

 meet in Toronto in 1907, is now a matter 

 of history and, as far as we can see, 

 was a success in every particular. 



A great part of the success of the 

 show, as far as Toronto was concerned, 

 must be attributed to Mr. Dunlop, the 

 president, who worked with untiring en- 

 ergy and who took every opportunity to 

 boost the Toronto convention since his 

 election a year ago. We might also men- 

 tion two, outside of the trade, who took 

 an active part in the working out of the 

 plan for the reception of the delegates; 

 namely, R. J. Score and H. R. Franklin. 

 These gentlemen are connected with the 

 Horticultural Association and lent their 

 valuable services in every way possible 

 to bring the convention to a successful 

 conclusion. 



We were glad to see so many ladies 

 take advantage of the trip to Toronto 

 and our ladies' committee took them in 

 hand and filled in the time to the best 

 possible advantage. The committee re- 

 grets the little oversight on the part of 

 the chairman, who, in his multitude of 

 detail to look after, omitted to provide 

 carriages to take the ladies from the 

 hotel to the theater and back. The local 

 florists who took in the banquet enjoyed 

 it very much and the good fellowship of 

 the American guests was much appre- 

 ciated. 



To be president of the American Car- 

 nation Society a man has to be thor- 

 oughly versed in the rules of debate as 

 well as the bylaws of the society. The 



society now numbers in itS mo nhor-hip 

 some able debaters and, at the closing 

 session the chairman had several times to 

 look up the ruling as the debaters 

 warmed up to their subject. This is 

 what makes the sessions of an associa- 

 tion of this kind both interesting and 

 profitable. W^e find men of long experi- 

 ence freely giving their experiences in 

 difterent tests to uphold their point of 

 argument. The younger and more reti- 

 cent members are therefore learning 

 many valuable lessons and get pointers 

 that will be of great benefit to them 

 during the coming year. 



Papers and Discussions. 



Three valuable papers were read on 

 the last day, from carnation growers in 

 Europe, showing the great increase in 

 the demand for the American carnations 

 in Europe. C. W. Ward said that he 

 had done considerable exporting to Eu- 

 rope, of carnation cuttings, and his 

 method of shipment was to leave good 

 air-space in the boxes with lots of air- 

 holes. He preferred shipping well-rooted 

 cuttings well wrapped with moss to keej) 

 down the expense of transportation, as 

 plants from soil made the freight rate 

 to Europe very high. He also found 

 that many shipments were spoiled in 

 transportation on account of the hold of 

 the vessel being very warm; consequently 

 the stuff started to rot. If the hold 

 was cool the stock traveled in dormant 

 state and usually arrived in good condi- 

 tion. 



A matter that received considerable 

 discussion was a motion that was carried 

 by the convention that new varieties 

 must be named and registered before 



entering for competition. Many of the 

 growers claimed that it should be left 

 optional to the exhibitor until after the 

 award was made, as many new varieties 

 would never be sent out if they did not 

 receive the awards, and consequently 

 names would be appearing on the register 

 that were never sent out. However, it 

 was considered tliat this might lead to 

 considerable C3nfusion. It was decided 

 to adopt the recommendation of Secre- 

 tary Herr that all varieties must be 

 registered to be eligible for competition 

 at convention exhibitions. 



The Banquet. 



The banquet, tendered by the Electoral 

 District Society, Toronto Gardeners' and 

 Florists' Association and the Horticul- 

 tural Society to the American Carnation 

 Society, was held at the Queen 's hotel, 

 ana was in every particular a huge suc- 

 cess. International good-fellowship was 

 the predominant feeling, and the 

 speeches delivered in proposing and re- 

 plying to various toasts would have been 

 a credit to any association where after- 

 dinner spoeches form a more impor- 

 tant j):irt of the profession than it does 

 in floriculture. 



The banquet room was elaborately dec- 

 orated with carnations, asparagus, ferns, 

 cyclamens and begonias. At the front 

 of the banquet room two immense flags, 

 the I'nion Jack and Old Glory, hung 

 draped from each side. Samething over 

 200 sat down and did justice to a first- 

 class menu. A few complained of there 

 being no liquor, but the committee con- 

 sidered that it was not in the interest of 

 horticulture, or of a gooil banquet, to 

 have liquor served at the tables. 



The toastmaster 's chair was occupied 

 by the retiring president, .lohn II. Dun- 

 lop, while seated at his left was F. H. 

 Lemon, of Richmond, Ind., president- 

 elect for 1907. The first toast was "The 

 King and President, " ' proposed by Mr, 

 Dunlop, and responded to by singing 

 "God Save the King" and "America," 

 assisted by the orchestra. The Blight 

 Male Quartette, of which .las. Milne, of 

 Dunlop 's, is base singer, gave us "The 

 Old Brigade" with several encores. 



