August 26, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



405 



Correspondence. 

 " A Massachusetts Forest." 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Mr. Baxter's enthusiastic article about the Blue Hills of 

 Massachusetts (inyourissuefor August5th) prompts me to urge 

 again the creation of one general board of commissioners 

 endowed with power to take lands for park purposes in any of 

 the twenty municipalities which compose Greater Boston. 

 These eight cities and twelve towns possess a million inhabit- 

 ants and more than a thousand million dollars' worth of taxed 

 property. The whole district needs to reserve at once numer- 

 ous small plots of land for squares and breathing-places ; and 

 for country parks not the Blue Hills only, but the Fells and 

 some other wild lands as well. These needed reservations 

 will never be secured unless the several municipalities will 

 unite for the purpose. Let the next Legislature frame an act 

 naming a metropolitan park commission and giving it power 

 to take lands regardless of town and city boundaries. Let the 

 act provide money for the purchase of lands by means of a 

 state loan to be repaid in fifty years by the interested towns. 

 Then let the act provide that it shall take effect and the com- 

 mission come into existence only when a majority of the votes 

 cast at special elections held in the twenty municipalities shall 

 be yes votes. 



A tax levied on a growing thousand millions at the rate of a 

 tenth of a mill on the dollar would in fifty years yield more 

 than enough to pay off a loan of five millions spent in the pur- 

 chase of lands to-day. Five millions would to-day buy sites 

 for at least fifty squares averaging five acres, together with ten 

 thousand acres of wild lands distributed between the Fells, the 

 Blue Hills and other quarters. Another tenth of a mill on 

 every dollar would provide a hundred thousand a year for 

 road-building and maintenance. Thus easily can Greater 

 Boston save, if she will, her reputation as the most beautiful 

 and most enlightened city in America. 



Boston. Charles Eliot. 



[This letter should have appeared in last week's issue, 

 which contains an editorial allusion to it. — Ed.] 



The Florists' Convention. — I. 



Extracts from Papers Read. 



THE seventh annual convention of the Society of 

 American Florists was held at Toronto last week. 

 The society had never before met without the limits of the 

 United States, and the courtesies extended to the members 

 from this side of the boundary by the local clubs and the 

 city authorities made the convention a most agreeable one 

 in its social features. The addresses of welcome by the 

 Mayor and Alderman Hallam were particularly happy, and 

 the response by Judge Hoitt, of Nashua, New Hampshire, 

 contained fitting allusion to the services rendered to horti- 

 culture by English societies and Englishmen. The visitors 

 received the most cordial attentions, and the garden-party, 

 with the accompanying banquet in the beautiful suburban 

 grounds of Alderman Hallam at Chorley Park, 'deserves 

 mention as an example of hearty hospitality. Mr. James 

 Allison, Chief of the Department of Manufactures of the 

 Columbian Exposition and acting head of the Department 

 of Horticulture, was present throughout the meeting, having 

 come at the request of Director-General Davis to report the 

 progress made in organizing the World's Fair and to invite 

 suggestions as to the best means of securing an appro- 

 priate representation of the horticulture of the country at 

 the exposition. A committee was appointed to report on 

 this subject, and they recommended the necessity of imme- 

 diate action, as the time was already too short for securing 

 the proper growth of plants for exhibition. They also 

 recommended that arrangements should be made for ample 

 out-door space for gardening, and they advised the man- 

 agers to invite the owners of private conservatories to 

 make contributions of specimen plants for the display. 

 Mr. John Thorpe, the first President of the society, was 

 unanimously recommended as a suitable man to take 

 charge of the interests of floriculture at the exhibition. 

 The work of the year specially commended in the report 



of the Secretary was that of the Committee on Nomencla- 

 ture, whose members have taken great pains to secure ac- 

 curacy in the naming of garden-plants, and especially to 

 reduce the number of synonyms. The officers elected for 

 the ensuing year were James Dean, of Bay Ridge, Long 

 Island, President ; William R. Smith, of the Botanic 

 Gardens, Washington, Vice-President; W. J.Stewart, Bos- 

 ton, Massachusetts, Secretary ; Myron A. Hunt, Terre 

 Haute, Indiana, Treasurer. The next annual meeting is 

 to be held at Washington. 



Extracts from some of the more important papers read 

 at the meeting are given below : 



THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



President Norton, in his opening address, stated, as a grati- 

 fying fact, that the membership of the Society was still increas- 

 ing, and that there was more money in the treasury than there 

 had been at any time since the organization of the Society, 

 seven years ago. Nearly 1,000 names are found now on the roll 

 of the Society, and the number of new members who have 

 joined during the early part of this year is much larger than 

 that of any previous year in its history. Mr. Norton alluded 

 to the present tendency of growing specialties, and he attrib- 

 uted the excellence which had been attained in the growing of 

 special plants like Roses, Carnations, Violets, Chrysanthe- 

 mums and the like, to the devotion of florists to individual 

 flowers. This excellence was more manifest in the market, 

 because growers took care to reject poor blooms, culling them 

 out and throwing them away, so that the improvement in the 

 general quality of those plants which were sold has been very 

 marked. 



During a year or two past certain flowers have brought 

 much higher prices than ever before, and this illustrates the 

 truth that people are always willing to pay the highest price 

 for good quality, so that the extra pains required in growing 

 the best plants and in preparing them for the market always 

 has its reward. Wholesale dealers have no trouble in dispos- 

 ing of such stock, and in spite of its high cost is more readily 

 sold than flowers of inferior quality. 



The President congratulated the Society upon the improved 

 methods of arranging cut flowers. The loose, natural way of 

 putting them together with long stems and healthy foliage and 

 with an eye to soft harmonies and contrasts of color, and the 

 habit of using only a few colors in each basket, is a vast im- 

 provement upon the style of a few years ago, when matches, 

 corn-broom and wire were considered indispensable factors 

 in making up designs, and when an infinite variety of flowers 

 of all colors was packed stiffly together. 



Mr. Norton recommended that ampler opportunities should 

 be afforded to women for going into business as florists. In 

 retail stores especially they have been found exceedingly use- 

 ful, not only as book-keepers and cashiers, but in waiting 

 upon customers and filling orders. Their correct taste and 

 aptitude for recognizing the beautiful in form and color makes 

 their services of value as artists and designers. Many women 

 to-day throughout the country are doing profitable business 

 on their own account, and there is room foi ; many more in an 

 occupation so pleasant and for which they are so admirably 

 fitted in refinement and taste. 



It was said to be an appropriate work of the Society to en- 

 courage in every way public exhibitions of plants and flowers. 

 There is no better way of advertising for the trade than by 

 displaying florists' productions at such exhibitions. It edu- 

 cates public taste and creates a demand for florists' products. 

 Horticultural exhibitions which are supported mainly by con- 

 tributions from private collections are very creditable, but the 

 exhibitions are always better when they are supplemented by 

 the stock of commercial growers. 



REVIEW OF NEW PLANTS. 



Tnis was the subject of a long paper compiled by Mr. 

 William Falconer, of Glen Cove, New York, from reports on 

 various classes of garden-plants made by recognized experts 

 in special fields. Thus the lists of Hardy Perennials were pre- 

 pared by Mr. Edward Gillett, of Southwick, Massachusetts, 

 and Mr. George C. Woolson, Superintendent of Planting in 

 the New York City Parks. The best new Chrysanthemums 

 were named by Mr. Edwin Lonsdale, Secretary of the National 

 Chrysanthemum Society. The lists of new Begonias were 

 made by John Saul, of Washington ; J. N. Gerard, of Eliza- 

 beth, New Jersey ; F. T. M'Fadden, of Cincinnati ; Mr. E. G. 

 Hill, of Richmond, Indiana ; Henry A. Dreer, of Philadelphia ; 

 and Messrs. Pitcher & Manda, of the United States Nurseries, 



