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1972 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



Mat 16, 1907. 



store, on the highways and byways 

 throughout the land. Our improved 

 products, the evolution of the button 

 sized carnation, the measly rose and 

 chrysanthemum into perfect specimens 

 of their kind, our improved facilities for 

 marketing our products, our business 

 methods, etc., are all due to organized 

 effort — to the Society of American 

 Florists. 



"What good?" I need but cite the 

 recent victory scored by our society be- 

 fore the Interstate Commerce Commis- 

 sion — a victory that will compel the 

 United States Express Co. to submit to 

 reasonable rates and, incidentally, will 

 save dollars to the man who ' ' can 't see 

 any good in our society. ' ' 



Verily, * * in union there is strength, ' ' 

 We all know by experience what it 

 means to give a local flower show; we 

 know how these flower shows, whether 

 financial successes or financial failures, 

 have induced the growers to vie with 

 •each other in their efforts to show their 

 "best products; how these, in turn, have 

 induced the dealers to handle the best 

 at prices remunerative to both the grow- 

 lers and themselves; how, furthermore, 

 the flower buying public has learned to 



this tremendous advance along progres- 

 sive lines within but a comparatively 

 short space of time? The answer is 

 easily given. The local flower show, 

 often held under adverse and discourag- 

 ing conditions, has brought about this 

 result; it has educated the public; it 

 has brought the grower and the dealer 

 together; it has induced the private 

 gardener and the amateur to advance to 

 the front and to improve upon past 

 achievements. 



Thanks to these shows, we have 

 ceased to dwell within our own shells, to 

 grope in the dark, as it were, each for 

 himself. We have learned by actual ex- 

 perience the lesson of combination, or 

 ' ' community of interests, " if I may 

 borrow the expression that has origi- 

 nated somewhere on Wall street. 



Local and National Shows Compared. 



What has been accomplished, I repeat, 

 by the progressive florist in a small way, 

 in his own town; what the public-spir- 

 ited individuals have brought about in 

 their own communities; what the flor- 

 ists' clubs have achieved by means of 

 giving occasional flower shows, the pro- 

 moters of the national flower show aim 



Primula in Brass Receptacle. 



discriminate, to draw the line between a 

 high grade flower and the semblance of 

 one, not marketable at any price. The 

 demand at all times, as we all know, is 

 for high grade stock. To the man or 

 woman, to whom all flowers looked alike 

 but a few years ago, nothing Jjut the 

 best appeals today. Whence this* change, 



to accomplish for every florist, nursery- 

 man, gardener and amateur, of every 

 city, town and village, in every state in 

 the Union. 



It is the aim and object of the na- 

 tional flower show to be held at Chi- 

 cago, not only to bring forth the best 

 there is in cultivation, both here and 



abroad, for the inspection of "society 

 folks," but also to inaugurate a cam- 

 paign of education for the benefit of 

 our people as a whole; to demonstrate, 

 if such a thing be possible, through the 

 public press and by means of circular 

 letters, pamphlets, etc., to the great 

 mass of horny-handed Americans the 

 beauties and wholesome influences of 

 shrubs, flower beds, lawns and trees; in 

 a word, to promote horticulture in all 

 its branches among all the people. 



The Future of Horticulture. 



How often do we hear the remarks, 

 that * * horticulture in this country is 

 still in its infancy," that the possibili- 

 ties for its development are practically 

 unlimited, that much as we have ad- 

 vanced during the past decade or two, 

 the, future development of horticulture 

 bids fair to surpass our most sanguine 

 expectations! If this be true, as it un- 

 questionably is, is it not high time that 

 we make some effort to hasten the ap- 

 proach of its development? Is it not 

 within our own power to devise some 

 means and ways in order to bring about 

 the results desired more speedily and 

 within our own time? Why wait until 

 Mrs, Jones' infant daughter, playing 

 upon a rubbish heap in that back yard, 

 may some day, when she grows into 

 womanhood and has a home of her own, 

 prefer a canna bed to a bed of tin cans? 

 Why not show to Mrs, Jones herself 

 the striking contrast between the two — 

 the beauty of the one and the unsightly, 

 ugly features of the other? Is it not 

 within the range of possibility that Mrs. 

 Jones may turn the scales in favor of 

 the flower bed? Aside from the fact 

 that the national flower show is sure to 

 bring dollars and cents into the pockets 

 of the very men who have neither the 

 time nor the patience for "such inno- 

 vations," aside from the fact that a 

 show of this kind is sure to benefit our 

 people at large — for no industry, be it 

 the cultivation of sugar beets or shrub- 

 bery, was ever known to prove other- 

 wise but beneficial to a community — 

 aside from these obvious facts, we must 

 not overlook the educational, esthetic 

 and moral features of such a flower 

 show, a benefit that can neither be over- 

 estimated, nor can it be estimated by 

 the usual standard of dollars and cents. 



After all, the future of horticulture, 

 like the future strength and stability of 

 our beloved republic, depends, not so 

 much upon the favored few, able to 

 gratify their whims and desires, as upon 

 the great mass of the American people. 



The future of horticulture hinges not 

 upon what is being or will be done at 

 Jsiewport, along the Hudson or at Lenox, 

 but upon the general improvement in the 

 conditions, environments and educational 

 standards of our people throughout the 

 great American continent. 



Just as soon as the miner in the Penn- 

 sylvania coal regions, or the laborer in 

 the overcrowded tenements in our cities, 

 or the farmer in the Dakotaa will deem 

 it a necessity to relieve the squalor and 

 the painful monotony of their daily sur- 

 roundings by the introduction of a pot- 

 ted plant, a flower or a shrub into their 

 homes — just as soon as this comes to 

 pass, as come it will, the future of 

 horticulture will be laid on a solid and 

 most enduring foundation. 



The Need of Concerted Action. 



And right here I can scarcely refrain 

 from saying a few words — although I 

 am repeating myself — on the need of 



