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Maucii 30, 1011. 



The Weekly l^rists^ Review* 



25 





THE NATIONAL x 



FLOWER SHOW 



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A WONDERFUL EXHIBITION. 



Greatest Yet Held in America. 



After two and one-half years of 

 preparation, the National Flower Show, 

 the second held in America and the first 

 attempt at a comprehensive spring ex- 

 hibition, is this week scoring a success 

 even beyond the dreams of those most 

 sanguine in their expectations. No 

 flower show ever held on this side of 

 the Atlantic, spring or autumn, has ap- 

 proached this exhibition either for size, 

 for quality, for variety, in arrangement 

 or in general interest for the public or 

 the trade — no flower show yet held has 

 attracted so many trade visitors, or 

 from' such great distances. The trade 

 visitors include eleven from England, 

 dne from Portland, Ore., two from Den- 

 ver, four from Council Bluffs, la., 

 twenty from Chicago, and rapidly in- 

 creasing numbers from points less dis- 

 tant. As showing how good news 

 spreads, many arrivals in the opening 

 days were so favorably impressed that 

 they telegraphed to friends at home: 

 " It 's a great show ; better drop every- 

 thing and come." 



A spring show has many advantages 

 over an autumn exhibition. At this sea- 

 son a wonderful variety of material is 

 available; nothing so overshadows all 

 else as does the chrysanthemum in No- 

 vember. A wealth of blooming plants 

 makes possible a much more pleasing 

 spectacle. The one disadvantage, though 

 it does not apply to the public, is that 

 the trade is in the midst of its busy 

 season. Many of those who favored the 

 spring date and who are regular in their 

 attendance wherever the trade foregath- 

 ers, when the time came found them- 

 selves ill able to aflford the time for a 

 long trip and a show covering eight 

 days, but those who made the sacrifice 

 found themselves well repaid, while 

 those who stayed away can not soon 

 regain what they have lost — a liberal 

 education in the progress and develop- 

 ment of floriculture. 



Magnitude of the Exhibition. 



Mechanics building, where the show 

 opened March 25 to continue to April 

 1, is the largest building in Boston. 

 With its several halls it has a floor 

 space measured, not in square feet, but 

 in acres. To fill this vast edifice was 

 at first considered difficult, but, with 

 the entire lower floor occupied by a 

 business getting exhibition by the al- 

 lied trades, the main floor has proved 

 actually too small for the proper dis- 

 play of the stock. As an instance, W. 

 A. Manda, who sent from South Orange, 

 N. J., to Chicago two carloads of plants 

 for the first National Flower Show, is 

 at Boston with five carloads of stock! 

 It seems an incredible quantity, but he 

 shipped one car by freight, and the 

 plants he would not intrust to this 

 method of transportation the express 

 company was unable to load without 



using four cars. From Cromwell, Conn.. 

 A. N. Pierson had over a carload, and 

 M. H. Walsh and Thomas Roland also 

 had more plants than could be loaded in 

 a single car. While some of the groups 

 are wonderfully effective, there are few 

 that would not be better for more space. 

 Boston v/as selected for this show be- 

 cause it is the one city in all America 

 that has the stock, in quantity and in 

 ])prfection, for a grand spring show. 





held in Boston. In cut flowers those 

 within reasonable shipping distance did 

 their part and captured a fair propor- 

 tion of the prizes. 



The Retailers' Exhibits. 



While the genistas, the acacias, the 

 bougainvilleas, the azaleas, the cycla- 

 mens, the orchids, the Dutch garden, 

 the Italian garden and many other fea- 

 tures were notable in the highest de- 



Very tmily yours, 



Chairman, National Flower Show Committee. 



Still one hears the criticism that it is 

 a Boston show! That, save for two or 

 three notable exceptions, all the stock 

 exhibited is local! Of course it is. 

 Neither the west nor. for that matter, 

 any other city in the east ever has 

 produced such blooming plants. It was 

 to see these things that the show was 



gree, a word ghould be said for the Bos- 

 ton retail florists, several of whom put 

 up displays that for beauty and interest 

 were not excelled by any other parts of 

 the show. Penn, who never misses an 

 opportunity to call attention to his wed- 

 ding work, built a booth to represent 

 the approach to the altar and, with th* 



