THE NATIpNAL NURSERYMAN. 
79 
since its organization desires to express its thanks for its most 
cordial reception and hospital treatment by his honor, the 
mayor of the city of St. Louis ; for the fraternal greeting ex¬ 
tended by our brother nurserymen of the great state of Mis¬ 
souri; for the generous invitation extended by the managers of 
Shaw’s Botanical Garden to be present at their eighth annual 
banquet provided for in the will of Henry Shaw ; for the kind 
treatment we have received at the hands of the manager and 
clerks of the Lindell hotel. 
“ We desire to congratulate the outgoing president, Hon. 
Silas Wilson and his splendid corps of helpers on the success 
of their labors the past year, and heartily thank them for the 
vigilance that they have manifested in their respective posi¬ 
tions. The work of the past year has brought the rainbow of 
promise to our great industry and we are greatly encouraged 
to take new hope, new energy and step forward to a new 
success.” 
SHAW’S GARDEN. 
On the afternoon of June loth a majority of the nurserymen 
at the convention visited the Missouri Botanical Garden where 
they were conducted to points of interest under the direction 
of H. C. Irish and Superintendent Gurney. Every courtesy 
was extended to the visitors by the garden management. The 
nurserymen were greatly pleased with the visit. 
The board of trustees of the Missouri Botanical Garden 
has decided on a loo-acre addition to Shaw’s Garden. Plans 
are being prepared by the Olmsteds of Boston. The work of 
making extensions and improvements will begin during the 
present summer and will cover a period of five years. This 
season will be devoted to grading and the laying of water 
pipes. Next year the planting will begin. The year following 
the walks will be laid out. The fourth year the herbaceous 
plants will be put in, and in the fifth year the work of prepar¬ 
ation will be completed. 
The proposed improvements are the beginning of an entire 
remodeling of Shaw’s Garden. The instructions given to the 
Olmsteds were, first, for a general plan for improving the farm 
land adjoining the garden ; second, a detailed plan for the 
North American synopsis, and a small department of medical 
botany ; third, suggestions for the gradual modification of the 
present park to harmonize with the improvements. Professor 
Trelease, who has embodied the plans in his forthcoming 
annual report, estimates that the cost of the improvement will 
be about $1,500 an acre, and, when completed, will in time 
give Shaw’s Garden a place beside the famous botanical 
gardens of the world. 
THE BANQUET. 
The convention was brought to a close at a banquet, the 
eighth annual, provided for nurserymen, gardeners and florists 
by the terms of the will of Henry Shaw, founder of Shaw’s 
garden. This was held in the spacious banquet hall of the 
Mercantile club and was attended by a large number besides 
the members of the American Association of Nurserymen. 
Dr. William Trelease, director of the Missouri Botanical 
Garden, was toastmaster. He honored the new president of 
the American Association, Mr. Rouse, by calling upon him 
first for a speech. Mr. Rouse responded briefly and suggested 
Mr. Albaugh as the association’s spokesman for the evening. 
Mr. Albaugh said ; ‘‘We belong to a profession the oldest 
in the world. Adam was a nurseryman, for was he not put 
into a garden to keep it ? But not being able to distinguish 
between a Keiffer pear and a Whitney crab, he got into 
trouble. 
“We come here to-night exceptionally well pleased. We 
were jollied at the opening of our convention by the jolliest 
mayor in the United States, and now we are banqueted by the 
most complete banqueters in the United States. We were here 
in convention fifteen years ago. By mistake we met several 
times in your smart suburb, Chicago. We will never do it 
again. Hereafter when we want to go to the center we will 
come to the metropolitan city of St. Louis.” 
Speeches were made by ex-Secretary of the Interior D. R. 
Francis, ex-Secretary of Agriculture Colman, and others. 
CONVENTION NOTES. 
The Lindell hotel, though very old, afforded plenty of room 
for the convention. 
Several of those at the convention visited Jefferson barracks 
on Thursday afternoon. 
Professor Fred W. Card, of the University of Nebraska, read 
a paper on “The Nurseryman as an Educator,” an abstract of 
which will appear in a forthcoming issue of this journal. 
The thanks of the convention were extended by special reso¬ 
lutions to the committees on transportation, tariff and legisla¬ 
tion for their laborious work in behalf of the association. 
A number of the nurserymen visited the Anheuser-Busch 
brewery early Thursday morning and were well repaid. It is 
the largest brewery in the world and is one of the sights of 
St. Louis. 
Thomas B. Meehan had his usual luck with him at the con¬ 
vention. Some one in a moment of absent-mindedness took 
Mr. Meehan’s umbrella and left his own, and now Mr. Meehan 
is wondering in which state his property is. 
F. W. Taylor who pleaded so eloquently for the convention 
at Omaha next year, is chief of the bureau of agriculture, hor¬ 
ticulture, forestry and irrigation of the Trans-Mississippi and 
International Exposition at Omaha from June i to November 
I, 1898. 
Peter Youngers was greatly elated when Omaha was finally 
selected as the place for the next meeting. He arrived on the 
scene Tuesday and worked early and late with F. W. Taylor 
in efforts to secure the next meeting for Omaha. He promised 
to buy something for the advance guard at Omaha next June. 
The weather was all that could be desired during the con¬ 
vention. Just after the president’s gavel fell, closing the last 
session a warm wave arrived and before the nurserymen got 
out of St. Louis they experienced a little of what was feared 
by some last year when the association voted to go to 
St. Louis. 
Sixty members of the association accepted the invitation 
of Stark Brothers to visit the latter’s nurseries and orchards at 
Louisiana, Mo. It had been planned by the Messrs. Stark to 
convey the visitors by steamer during Thursday afternoon to 
Louisiana, but the banquet on Thursday night interfered with 
this plan. So sleeping cars were arranged to be in waiting for 
those who made the trip and these were entered at the conclu¬ 
sion of the banquet. The party arrived in Louisiana early on 
Friday morning, and remained aboard the cars until a season¬ 
able hour when it was taken in carriages about the extensive 
property of Stark Brothers. The party returned to St. Louis 
in the afternoon, some of the visitors proceeding to their homes 
from Louisiana, The party was photographed at Louisiana. 
