THERE were three exhibition cen- 

 tres of interest for the gardener 

 in connection with the thirtieth 

 annual convention of the Society 

 of American Florists and Ornamental Horti- 

 culturists in Boston, Mass., August 18 to 

 21. Each had its own special character 

 and served a different purpose. 



From the larger viewpoint of latent inter- 

 est to the great body of amateur gardeners 

 and the general public the ten acre Con- 

 vention Garden, in the Back Bay Fens, was 

 the most notable because of the permanency 

 of actual growing plants. In Mechanics' 

 Hail was a "trade" exhibit, comprising 

 commercial plants for the decorative flor- 

 ists' trade and the appliances and sundries 

 that enter into the production of plants and 

 the ultimate handling of the product, and 

 also the display under the direction of The 

 American Gladiolus Society. 



In Horticultural Hall, the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society had a great display 

 of flowers in season — which resolved itself 

 largely into a display of gladiolus — two 

 exhibitors, W. Sim and B. H. Tracy, be- 

 tween them completely filling the available 

 space in one large hall. Here let it be 

 noted that the present year has been gen- 

 erally most favorable for the development 

 of the gladiolus, and the New England 

 growers had wonderfully fine material to 

 stage in quantity. But they had no mon- 

 opoly on quality, for A. Cowee and T. 

 A. Havemeyer from elsewhere had dis- 

 plays impelling attention. Messrs. T. A. 

 Havemeyer, C. F. Fairbanks andT. Cogger 

 each received awards in the open classes 

 for this flower. If never before the 

 gladiolus has assuredly come into its own 

 this year, and has ably demonstrated its 

 worth as the garden standby for August, 

 whether for outdoor effect or for cutting. 

 The abundant, seasonal rains have given 

 ideal conditions, and growths of even six 

 feet (too large indeed) have been told about! 

 Turning now to the impressions gathered 

 from these combined displays, a few among 

 the host of varieties seem to stand out pre- 

 eminently — which is not to be understood 

 by any means as suggesting that any not 

 named here are necessarily inferior; our 

 purpose being rather to convey to the 

 reader the "crystallization of impressions" 

 of the various displays. Among them are 

 naturally well known names. Probably, as 

 the one best of all for general all round use, 

 America would be the selection — strong, 

 massively flowered, delicate clear pink, it is 

 a flower that fits in to any purpose. In 



yellow, Canary Bird; in blue (really purple, 

 however) Baron Hulot — and those two, be 

 it noted, make a splendid combination; for 

 bright salmon, Dawn, with its wonderful 

 luminous quality, with Mrs. Francis King 

 on a more intense or deeper general tone of 

 color; Hollandia, a "terra cotta"; Schwaben 

 as a delicate, yet rich, cream yellow. 



Among other worthy kinds sown in much 

 smaller numbers, we must name Badenia, a 

 "pale blue" or deep blue-lavender; Mag- 

 num, pale delicate lavender; Panama and 

 Niagara, now fairly well known; Pink Per- 

 fection, perhaps well described as a lighter 

 Dawn; the richly colored Mrs. Frank Pen- 

 dleton, recalling forcibly an old-time show 

 pelargonium; El Capitan, pale yellow and, 

 as shown here, with solid spikes of re- 

 markable length. Orange Glory, the latest 

 addition to the frilled "Glory" family, has 

 an attractive color with the characteristic 

 form of flower that marks that group. 



Among the white flowers Europa made 

 the greatest impression on the eye, but the 

 growers agree it needs more water than most 

 other varieties. 



Mrs. A. H. Austin and Mrs. Francis 

 King offered prizes for the decorative uses 

 of the gladiolus, and in each case, Mr. 

 Cowee won, showing effective baskets and 

 corsage arrangements. Eugene Fisher was 

 awarded the Gladiolus Society's Award of 

 Merit for a set of new seedlings not yet 

 named or introduced. 



The growing exhibits in the io-acre con- 

 vention garden could well have been put 

 into a much smaller area and would have 

 gained considerably in effectiveness thereby. 

 The exhibits comprising this garden will re- 

 main on the ground till frost comes and nec- 

 essarily show changes from time to time. 

 Among the more notable plants was a violet- 

 blue petunia, Velchenblau, of distinct merit 

 and pure deep color; a maroon flowered form 

 of Salvia splendens may or may not be quite 

 new, but it had a decidedly "different" ap- 

 pearance. Several varieties of Aconitum 

 Napellus demonstrated the great value of 

 this fine blue flower at this season. They 

 came from the Mount Desert Nurseries and 

 showed a range of form from a dense lark- 

 spur like habit (var. Meilichoferi) to a free 

 branching, loose panicle of which the best 

 was named acutum. A more compact yet 

 graceful form, was seen in Sparks' variety 

 (Farquhar), deep indigo blue; and from the 

 same source the splendid new lilies myrio- 

 phyllum, Sargentae and the older Henryi, 

 Cinnabar yellow, that best of all lilies for 

 August flowering. An unnamed snap- 



54 



dragon, of fine pastel pink shade, was from 

 two sources (Fletcher and Sims.) Del- 

 phinium Capri, likened to a pale azure bella- 

 donna, was also noted (Eastern Nurseries). 



A few striking kinds of canna are: Fire- 

 brand (Vaughan), glowing deep red, green 

 foliage, with large individual flower; Pan- 

 ama (Boddington and Conard & Jones), 

 light red edged faintly with yellow, dwarf 

 and sturdy. And from the last named also 

 Colossal, a giant orchid flowered, dark 

 orange; Kate F. Deemer, medium pale yel- 

 low; William Saunders, dark red, bronze 

 foliage; Meteor, brilliant dark red, green 

 foliage; Gigantea, deep pink; Mrs. A. F. 

 Conard, light pink. 



Of geraniums, only a few are on view: 

 Maryland (Vincent), a good free flowering, 

 short jointed, dark scarlet semi-double; 

 Everblooming Scarlet, large scarlet, single 

 (Manda); Paul Crampel, dark red single 

 (A. N. Pierson). • 



Of decided interest to the amateur 

 bothered with the problem of watering, was 

 the Skinner Irrigation Company's new auto- 

 matic irrigating device. A water driven 

 motor (using the same water as is being dis- 

 tributed later) turns a length of pipe fitted 

 at intervals with special nozzles) over any 

 desired arc and back, at any desired speed. 

 In this way a central line of removable pipe 

 can cover with water any ordinary lawn, or 

 vegetable garden with a regular distribution 

 of artificial rain. 



The next convention will take place in 

 San Francisco, August, 191 5. President, 

 P. Welch of Boston; Secretary, John Young, 

 New York. 



The usual summer meetings of the "spe- 

 cial" societies were held during the conven- 

 tion week as follows: 



Sweet Pea Society. Although no definite 

 action was taken on the place of next meet- 

 ing, an invitation was presented from New- 

 port, R. I., and the probabilities are that 

 the summer show of 191 5 will be there. 



Carnation Society. Annual convention 

 and exhibition to be held at Buffalo, N. Y., 

 January 27 and 28, 1915. 



Gladiolus Society. Annual meeting at 

 San Francisco, August, 1915. The election 

 of officers resulted: President, C. F. Fair- 

 banks, Boston, Mass.; Secretary, H. Youell, 

 Syracuse, N. Y.; Treasurer, A. E. Kunderd, 

 Goshen, Ind. 



Rose Society. After some discussion on 

 an invitation to meet at Buffalo, N. Y., for 

 the slated annual exhibition, the matter was 

 referred to the executive committee for 

 decision later on. 



