40 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Mauch 30, 1911. >. 



recommendatiou of our^^ former presi- 

 dent, Albert. Herr — tl^t each member 

 greet and^"v\jQlcome anyone wearing the 

 button^ an*d|^ also constitute himself a 

 com^njiitteQ^jpt one to secure new mem- 

 bers to. this society. 



^ 



PRESIDENT ELLIOfTT'S ADDRESS. 



[Dellverod beforo the American Rose Society, 

 In convention at Boston, March 25 to April 1, 

 1011. J 



The floral qijeen has called her subjects 

 to convene in Boston once more. This is 

 our twelfth /annual convention and the 

 third that has, Seen held in this city. I 

 am glad., to welcome the American Rose 

 Society, and all Ipvers of the. rose, to Bos- 

 ton at this time. This mfeeting is under 

 diflferent conditions from any under which 

 we have ever met before. We hope this 

 will prove satisfactory to all who are at- 

 tending and joining in the great work 

 that Me are here carrying on. It is a 

 great thing to get together in this way 

 and show the people what floriculture 

 really means at the present time. 



This is certainly a great exhibition. 

 We have admired its beauties and tiie en- 

 terprise of the producers of the various 

 lines exhibited here. Tlie .carnation, the 

 orchid and the violet are contending for 

 an advanced position, but nc(,raatter how 

 strenuously the devotees of these various 

 flowers may push forward their carna- 

 tions,''orchids or Dutch bulbs, we can feel 

 assured that the rose will always lead, ai 



commercial floric\j^Jture, was born here, but 

 for what we have done in «all lines of hor- 

 ticulture, and X think we can safely say 

 that Boston still leads in the line of orna- 

 mental horticulture. 



The progress of ,our society has not al- 

 ways been satisfactory in regard to mem- 

 bership and finance. Our membership 

 seems small when we read of the great 

 Amateur Rose Society of England. It is 

 a question as to how any society which is 

 partly amateur and partly commercial can 

 succeed along both lines. As far as I 

 know, those societies making the great 

 success across the water are purely ama- 

 teur. We have always endeavored to de- 

 velop the amateur side of our society, as 

 well as the commercial. I hope that our 

 amateur rose meeting here may be the be- 

 ginning of an advancement of that 

 branch of our society. I have found that/ 

 the commercial rose grower always take^ 

 more interest in the amateur side of oi 

 society as he becomes more familiar with 

 its general work and the aim and object 

 of our society. 



Future Exhibitions. 



From a commercial standpoint our ex- 

 hibitions in the past have been highly 

 successful. The attendance and the gen- 

 oral financial results have not always been 

 so satisfactory. Our present exhibition is 

 the first that we have ever had / under 

 these conditions, in connection with the 

 other societies. In the future I' should 



^.iT^ 



W. Allee Burpee. 



(President of the Tfatlonal Sweet Pea Society, f rr>m a photograph made w lien vlBltlng: the late 



Utfnry Keklord, In Kngland.) 



it has from the first, and Boston can feel ^ 

 proud whefl she remembers that forty 

 years ago the commercial flower business 

 was here born. The mother of that busi- 

 ness was the old Bon Silene, which stands 

 proudly in our exhibition today and can 

 feel proud, not only of her history, but of 

 the fact that she pays just as well today 

 as any of the newer and larger varieties. 

 We are proud of ou/ city; no*t because 



mt 



recommend that exhibitions be held under 

 the guarantee plan, as is being done with 

 this show. There are enough rose grow- 

 ers to put up a guarantee fund to finance 

 the exhibition in some leading city where 

 admission could be charged to the public 

 and the society be in a position to pay its 

 way. With the success of our national 

 exhibitions, a guarantee fund could be 

 produced without any trouble. I believe 



exhibitions tliat would interest the ama- 

 teur and the commercial rose grower could 

 be made to pay. 



Never before has there been such a 

 large number of new varieties of roses 

 offered for our trial. All these narieties 

 should be tried out thoroughly, but one 

 grower cannot undertake to try out the 

 whole number. He will select those that 

 look best to him, and labor with those 

 with the usual uncertain success. Let us 

 hope, however, that these wonders of 

 beauty and productiveness will largely in- 

 crease the profits to all experimenters. 

 The /Careful, arduous work that hybridiz- 

 ers/have done for us certainly deserves 

 oUr support. 



/ Greenhouse Building. 



Greenhouse building has gone ahead at 

 the usual rate. Some new places of great 

 promise have been added to our list and 

 many additions made to the old. There 

 seems to be no lack of enterprise among 

 the growers in this line of work. What is 

 going to be the effect and what will be 

 the outcome of this low price of glass? 

 It looks as if there would be as much 

 greenhouse building done in the next year 

 as has been done in the last five years. 

 This increase of glass will bring a very 

 large immediate increase of stock. What 

 the effect of this production on the prices 

 will be we do not know, but there seems 

 to be some danger that the low price of 

 glass may do us more harm than good. 

 Is our supply really nearing our demand? 

 Can we go ahead with safety with such 

 a tremendous amount of building? It 

 seems a question that should^^^e con- 

 sidered at the present time. 



Now is the time for our society, and 

 kindred societies, to use their influence in 

 regard to tariff rates. The tariff on glass 

 has always been an unreasonable burden 

 on the greenhouse men. The great varia- 

 tions in the prices during the last year 

 have been such as to upset the glass busi- 

 ness and the greenhouse business Jft well. 

 Beforo our convention closes I should like 

 to see a committee appointed to take up 

 the matter of influencing Congress on this 

 subject. Do not think that, because the 

 price of glass is low at the present time, 

 it is going to remain so. 



Standard Grading of Roses. 



A good many years ago, soon after the 

 Society of American Florists was started, 

 they took up the matter of standard pots 

 and they settled it in such a satisfactory 

 manner that no trouble has developed on 

 that score since. A standard length or 

 grade of "tut flowers, with n|mes that 

 would have some definite metming that 

 could be understood by all, would be of a 

 great deal more benefit to the trade than 

 standard measurement of pots has ever 

 been. 



It seems strange, when the matter 

 would be so simple, that no standard of 

 grading or naming of the different grades 

 of roses has ever been adopted. When 

 one goes to New York they inquire what 

 No. 1 se^Us for in Boston and what we get 

 for fancies. It is just as clear as mud to 

 the Boston grower. Why should roses be 

 called firsts, seconds and thirds, A, B, C, 

 fancies or extras, when it is just as easy 

 to call them by their right names, so that 

 everybody would understand? "We have 

 a nomenclature committee on roses and 

 that sort of thing, yet we have no system 

 of naming the different grades of roses 

 under which any florist can send to an- 

 other city and have any definite idea of 

 what he will receive. The names of these 

 different grades refer only to the length 



