The age-herald., 1897-11-07

provide space for roses and violets, or chids and carnations and the hundred other flowers that apply for admission, it is chiefly an exhibition of the haunt- ing glories of the chrysanthemum, which has ruled the floral world of autumn with the uncompromising scep- ter of despotic power ever since her introduction from far Japan.
 Nobody wants a rose in November. The modest violet is too consciously modest to seem in harmony with the vigorously self assertive weather. The carnation is too uniformly regular to suit the gray and gold days of the month that changes with every wind that blows. The orchid is too ethereal and the lily of the valley lacks the charm of autumn coloring.
 But the chrysanthemum rules its hour in masterful supremacy. It defiantly dares criticism. It filings its jagged pet als into the face of popular opinion and conquers by the very force of it's sturdy obstinacy. Its purple and fine linen are interwoven with the colors that greet the rise of the sun and that follow in it's retinue across the western sky. Each year adds to its size and each season increases it's fascinating gla-
 
 and tuck it's gaudy badges into the but tonhole of coat lapel and merge it's gayety into the general festivfy of a wedding procession.
 A flower show, at which the finest specimens from the conservatories of the Astors, Belmonts, Rockefellers, Goulds. J. Pierpont Morgan and other private conservatories will be exhibited, will be held at the Astoria hotel, in New York, just prior to the opening of the horse show at the Madison Square Garden. Until these affairs took place, Tuxedo. Meadow Brook, Westchester, Cedarhurst, Orange, Staten island and the Hudson river region will have d monopoly of the various social sets, and a few prominent families having luxu- rious homes in Newport and in the Berkshire region will remain where they are until the wintry blasts drive them to town.
 Chicago, not to be behindhand, is all so going to have her display of flowers.
 The coming flower show which on Nov. will transform the bleak inte- rior of the armories on the lake front into a floral bower, glowing with light and color and fragrant with perfume, promises to eclipse it's predecessors in interesting features. The management proclaims a grand international compe- tition in chrysanthemum cut blooms, to be participated in by every state in the American Union and by many of the provinces of Canada. The competition offers a prize of $5 for the most perfect gathering of 12 blossoms. F varieties from each state, the winning exhibitors competing again with each other for the international prize which is $50 The contest has attracted wide atten- tion and is sure to be of lively interest to florists and spectators.
 The scale of points to be used in judgment by the Horticultural society provides that no first prize can be awarded to any exhibit scoring less than S5. The second prize is limited to 75 and the third to 65 In cut chrysan- themums the prizes range from $15 to S2. in plants from $10 to $2. Cut or- chids receive as high an award as $40. Miscellaneous plants and decorations range from S75 to SS. Roses are rated lower than the fashionable chrysanthe- mum, receiving from SIP to $1. For the best dozen of the queen of the green house never before exhibited in Amer ica the society offers a silver cup val ued at $25. For the floral arrangement