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12 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Mat 4. 1911. 



asks is that it receive plenty of water 

 from August through the blooming sea- 

 son. The plants are then making their 

 greatest efforts, and any check at that 

 time ^e^-iously hinders their develop- 

 ment. W. J. Vesey, Jr. , 



T., LADIES' S. A. F. '. 



The president, Mrs. "J. 'V. Phillips, ■ 



appoints as introduction committee the 

 following ladies to serve at Baltimore: 

 'Chairman, Mrs. E. V. Boone, Baltimore, 

 Md.j Mrs. James Glass, Baltimore, Md.; 

 ' Mrs. Richard Vincent, Jr., "White 

 Marsh, Md.; Mrs. W. F. Gude, Wash- 

 ington, D. C; Mrs. J. E. Freeman, 

 Washitifeton, Di C' 

 * ., Mrs. Chas. H. Maynard, Sec 'y. 



k<»^^.S*-^<»^'<^Vt^<»^.i»^'<-^'fer»!)''yrf^ia&^-«r»^ 



OF AMERICA 



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km^ 



By a British Visitor. 



In my three weeks ' trip in the 

 United States many impressions were 

 recorded, some transient, some perma- 

 nent. I hesitate to put some in writ- 

 ing or even to give them a place in my 

 memory, as erroneous impressions are 

 easily formed when all the circum- 

 stances are not apparent. Time did not 

 permit me to substantiate all; therefore 

 on some subjects I have still an open 

 mind. 



On one subject, however, I have no 

 doubts; to me it was most wonderful; 

 namely, the unbounded, genial hospi- 

 tality of the American florists. Who 

 we were and what we had accom- 

 plished to merit such cordiality baffled 

 the wits of my fellow travelers and my- 

 self. Of the magnificent welcome ac- 

 corded all around I have a permanent 

 impression recorded. 



Bight Hand of Fellowship. 



Upon our arrival in New York we 

 were grasped by the right hand of 

 good fellowship, and that same right 

 hand kept its hold all the way from 

 New York to Chicago, Chicago to Bos- 

 ton, and Boston back to New Y.ork. It 

 never tired'; there was no "let' go" in 

 it. Philadelphia passed it on to Balti- 

 more, Baltimore to Washington, and 

 so on all the way around. And, thanks 

 to that right hand of good fellowship 

 extended by American florists, we had 

 a great and glorious, interesting and in- 

 structive time. 



E. Vincent, Jr., White Marsh, Md., 

 met us at New York. Why does he 

 write "Jr." after his namet He car- 

 ries the secret of perpetual youth in his 

 person; no need to label himself "Jr." 

 I have been his pilot more than once in 

 European countries, and whither I went 

 he was bound to follow or get lost in a 

 strange country. He gave me "quid 

 pro quo" in Maryland and Washington. 



New York. 



J. B. Nugent, Jr., took us in hand 

 and worked like a Trojan, taking us 

 here, there and everywhere, in and out 

 the florists' stores, with a running com- 

 ment of ready wit all the time, creat- 

 ing upon our minds most favorable first 

 impressions of New York. 

 The New York florists' banquet was 

 ^ an inspiring sight, strengthening our 

 favorable impressions of New York 

 florists. We had now seen them at 

 work and at play. They know how to 

 do both. To me it was a grand treat 

 to see, in the flesh, P. O'Mara, F. E. 

 Pierson, H. A. Bunyard, C. H. Totty 



and others whose pictures I had "many 

 a time aiid oft" admired, as they 

 adorned the pages of The Eeview. 



Philadelphia. 



In Philadelphia, W. AtJee Burpee 

 was geniality personified. Every word, 

 look and action was eloquent of his 

 welcome to. the Quaker City, and his 

 right-hand men, Howard M. Earl and 

 G. W. Kerr, took their cue from their 

 chief. Happy? Impossible to be other- 

 wise when W, Atlee Burpee has the 

 reins in hand. 



J. Otto Thilow, of Dreer's, struck me 

 as a born organizer, a keen business 

 man and a genial soul withal. My con- 

 freres were heard to say, "Smart men 

 in the seed trade of Philadelphia, " and 

 no one can dispute it. 



Baltimore. 



The Baltimore florists — sorry I can- 

 not name them all — were a merry 

 bunch. They gave us Maryland hospi- 

 tality in right good style at White 

 Marsh and in the Monumental City, 

 also. Toastmaster G. H. Morris was a 

 host in himself. It was a real pleasure 

 to listen to his introductions. He knew 

 his fellow florists and how to draw out 

 the best that was in them. He even 

 drew a maiden speech from one of the 

 Britishers, a flower pot manufacturer, 

 who discoursed on clay. The toastmas- 

 ter kept everything in tune and the 

 after-dinner speeches were not eclipsed 

 at any point on our trip. 



Washington. 



In Washington it was our plan to 

 see the Botanic Gardens, the capitol, 

 the library and other buildings, then 

 "fold our tents — and silently steal 

 away," but the indefatigable B. Vin- 

 cent, Jr., would have none of it. He 

 got W. F. Gude on the 'phone, and — 

 Hey! Presto! Automobile trip! Cham 

 ber of Commerce lunch and Florists' 

 Club banquet were on our program be- 

 fore we had time to wink, 



A treat it was, indeed, to be person- 

 ally conducted over the Botanic Gar- 

 dens by the grand old gardener, W. R. 

 Smith; to marvel at his store of knowl- 

 edge of plants, old and new; to listen 

 to his ready wit and caustic humor, 

 and to note the fire sparkle in his eye 

 as he drew himself up to his full height 

 in an attitude of "ring out the false, 

 ring in the true," when a person or 

 action came under his denunciation. 



Fortunate, indeed, are the Washing- 

 ton florists to have such fine men as 

 the brothers Gude in their ranks. W. 



F. Gude, as president, would- adorn 

 any society. As toastmaster at the 

 banquet in our honor, he was the soul 

 of wit. From time to time, as he rose 

 to speak, I gazed admiringly at his 

 well poised head and manly form, and 

 as his measured sentences, full of sub- 

 tle humor, fell from his lips, I thought 

 over and over again, "What a fine ac- 

 quisition a few men like Gude in our 

 florists' trade at home would be! They 

 would raise the tone of the business all 

 around in many towns." 



Bichmond, Ind. 



Many Americans visit Europe an- 

 nually. We do not always know what 

 they are at home. They tell such tall 

 stories of millions of dollars, hundreds 

 of acres of this and thousands of feet 

 of that, that we discount all they say. 

 Some people call it "swank," E. G. 

 Hill comes over here, but there is no 

 ' * swank " ; he goes . in and out among 

 us modestly and unassumingly all the 

 time and at Eichmond he is just the 

 same. We were in his home, surrounded 

 by members of his family, and right 

 away he made us "at home" also. In 

 his nurseries he had not raised in our 

 minds anticipations of great things, but 

 great things were there all the same. 



Chicago. 



We arrived before 7 a. m., but even 

 at this hour Chicago florists rose to the 

 occasion and met us at the depot. 

 Messrs. Kohlbrand, Vaughan, Winter- 

 son, Bruns, Henderson, West, Kanst and 

 others all did their parts well and gave 

 a grand reception. George Asmus and 

 others, absent in Boston, were missed, 

 but John P. Degnan — few of us knew 

 his surname, he was known as John — 

 proved an excellent deputy. John and 

 his confreres left no stone unturned to 

 interest and entertain us, and what we 

 didn't see of Chicago is no fault of 

 theirs. Sorry I could not personally 

 visit the Poehlmann range, but it made . 

 a great impression on the minds of my 

 confreres. 



Boston. 



George Asmus missed us in Chicago, 

 but he was one of the first to shake 

 hands in Boston, along with F. E. Pier- 

 son and Chester Campoell, who acted as 

 our escort to the exhibition, and from 

 the portals of the entrance hall we 

 noted the British flag flying in honor 

 of our visit. Regarding these gentle- 

 men and Messrs. Eoland, Sim, Farqu- 

 har, Peter Fisher, Robert Craig, S. J. 

 Goddard and many others, I can only 

 say they were all jolly good fellows. 

 From sundry paragraphs in The Re- 

 view I have seen Boston's hospitality 

 associated with beans. I saw few beans, 

 but Boston knows right well how to en- 

 tertain the strangers within her gates. 

 All too soon I said farewell to "the 

 abodes of art, of luxury and taste." 



New York Again. 



Arthur T. Boddington, calm, collected, 

 and H. A. Bunyard, demonstrative, 

 made things hum for us on our last day 

 in New York. Mr. Boddington re- 

 ceived the rudiments of horticulture in 

 England and took peculiar pleasure in 

 entertaining us, presiding with tact and 

 grace. 



H. A. Bunyard is equally at home 

 discoursing on cannas or cocktails, pre- 

 siding at a banquet or mixing a salad, 

 fixing a thousand-dollar order or a 

 penny packet of sweet peas. The 

 largest order he ever took was on a 



