54 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
December, 1917 
Amateur Flowers at State Fair 
Mrs. C. M. Strong, West Allis. 
When Wisconsin Horticulture 
comes I usually read it through 
with pleasure and profit. Seldom 
do I disagree with the Editor. 
But when looking over the report 
of Horticulture at the 1917 State 
Fair I read that “The amateur 
flower exhibit was just a little bit 
better than ever before shown.” 
Mr. Editor, I rise to protest vig- 
orously, vociferously and violent- 
ly. Every amateur exhibitor will 
tell you singly and collectively, 
that the exhibit at the 1917 Fair 
was the poorest in years. But, — 
there is a reason why it looked 
better to most people. First, be- 
cause there was such a small ex- 
hibit there was not the need of 
crowding as usual and second, 
our perfectly good superintendent 
added a shelf which helped to re- 
lieve the usual crowded condi- 
tion. Why, actually one could 
tell there were flowers on exhibi- 
tion instead oi a conglomerate 
mass of something, no one knew 
exactly what. 
You can imagine my thoughts 
one day, when standing near the 
exhibit I heard one woman say to 
another, “Why, Celosia and Cen- 
turia are two different flowers. I 
always supposed they were the 
same thing. ’ ’ J ust imagine flowers 
being jammed together so folks 
think they all grow on one plant. 
We are very glad, however, that 
someone else besides ourselves are 
beginning to think we need more 
room. W T e have though so for a 
long time. Have said it very soft- 
ly for several years and were real- 
ly beginning to think we should 
have to do as the spoiled child 
does, “Shut our eyes and howl” 
until we were given more space, 
just so we would be still. 
You ask for my idea of what an 
Amateur flower exhibit should be. 
The building up of a spirit of 
generous competition, each exhib- 
itor working not for premiums 
alone, but the broader and better 
wish, to have an exhibit that is 
worthy the name “Exhibit.” 
There is no reason why the 
Amateur Exhibit should not be a 
most beautiful display of the 
choicest treasures of the flower 
lover both garden and window 
flowers. It needs only a little 
help from those who are interest- 
ed in the exhibits and co-operation 
on the part of the State Fair 
Board and the W. S. H. S. — of 
this we who are doing our best to 
be real exhibitors are sure of. 
We are trying to make the ex- 
hibit more beautful by inducing 
other flower lovers to exhibit and 
we are sure we are going to get 
all the help we ask for. The 
space we have is small but per- 
haps ways may be found to in- 
crease it. 
Now just a few things I have 
heard in twelve years of listening 
to comments on the exhibits. 
“My aren’nt those plants lovely, 
But say, if I could just bring my 
Fern or Fuchsia or Begonia, (it 
just depended on what particular 
pet plant they had) why it is just 
beautiful. But they don’t give 
anything for single plants, only 
Palms. Why don’t they? — why? 
Then every year the same ques- 
tions. “I wish I knew how many 
vases is meant by a display. ” “I 
have such beautiful Asters, or 
Snapdragon, or Dianthus, if they 
would only tell how many vases 
you must have to compete,” “Do 
you suppose all those Asters were 
brought by one person?” “I 
could not bring that many because 
you see we only have a lot and we 
want to grow some vegetables too. 
But my flowers are so nice I would 
like 1o exhibit.” Why should not 
those people have a chance? 
Why could there not be a defi- 
nite number of vases for some of 
the flowers. We need those peo- 
ple, they are the real flower loving 
exhibitors. 
There should be an increase in 
the premiums of some of the ex- 
hibits. Annuals and Hardy per- 
ennials while others could be low- 
ered as they are easy to grow and 
exhibit. Also some should be 
taken off the list as there has not 
been a real exhibit in them for 
\ -ars. Lillies, for example, and 
Sweet Peas, Nasturtiums, Decora- 
tive grasses, Hydrangeas, and as 
for Roses, the only real Rose ex- 
i .tor we have says she wishes 
something else was put in their 
place as she has no competition, 
and jt *s no fun. 
Then, too, why can we not have 
exhibits of Garden Clubs, small 
clubs who will exhibit on some- 
thing of the plan of County Ex- 
hibits. If the Garden Club idea 
was discussed at the Winter Meet- 
ing and at the Institutes this win- 
ter, and also given a boost in WIS- 
CONSIN HORTICULTURE, am 
sure the results would be gratify- 
ing at the Fair. 
I have been very much pleased 
with the interest shown in our lit- 
tle Garden Club here at West Al- 
lis. People from diffei’ent parts 
of the State have asked questions 
about our club. How we organ- 
ized, how many members we had 
and why did we like the small 
Club? Would not a larger Club 
do better work? To that ques- 
tion I have always given this an- 
swer. The small Club usually 
works, the large Club argues. Al- 
so a small club is usually com- 
posed of members who are congen- 
ial, therefore they can do better 
work. 
