PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING. 249 



about an early fruiting condition; and, as tiie flower precedes the fruit, 

 is there not sjomethiug furtlier here that we should learn? 



The order to which the rose, apple, pear, plnm. and cherry belong is 

 one of the Lighest in the order of development among plants. Does not 

 this development mean the changing of an annual to biennial, and from 

 a biennial to a perennial? An annual produces a great many more flow- 

 ers and seeds than either a biennial or perennial, and as the rose strictly 

 belongs to the latter class, it can't be expected that it will do so well 

 under the ordinary methods of treatment. It is scarcely enough to say 

 that some are early and some are late, some more tender than others — 

 properties they may have inherited, or that may have been brought about 

 by selection, cultivation, and in various other ways. 



This variability and lack of productiveness must be due to some 

 physical condition within the plants themselves. Some plants must have 

 the power of producing certain elements necessary to reproduction sooner 

 than others. One thing may be said to be true, that nature hastens repro- 

 duction in proportion as life is endangered. If this is as true of plants 

 as it is of animals, it is to our interest to know at what period of their 

 existence the plants grown for flowers have the greatest tendency to 

 reproduce, and what elements can be supplied, if any, to bring it about, 

 for this is simply what flowering means. 



The business of a large flower-growing establishment has become so 

 complicated in detail that it is almost impossible for one man to give 

 each part its proper degree of attention. AMiat is considered the minor 

 duties, though in many cases really the most important, are too often left 

 to the care of those who have no other qualifications than of being cheap 

 and handy. Growers can no longer alford to take chances, and men are 

 in demand that have demonstrated their ability along one particular 

 line. It demands a very high degree of intelligence to grow flowers so as 

 to have them to sell every day in the year, besides an extra supply when 

 necessity demands. 



It has become more than ever essential that site, soil, and structure be 

 taken into consideration when building commercial grc^enhouses. It 

 requires just as much care in this as in the selection of a suitable place 

 for a peach orchard — nay, more, for the orchard may not have cost so 

 much to begin with, and if land and location are not suitable for the pur- 

 pose it will soon give way for something else; but with an ill-selected site 

 for a greenhouse a man may be handicapped all his life. 



More growers are suffering from lack of forethought in this, as their 

 land is far too valuable for greenhouse purj)oses, and their ill-arranged 

 and badly constructed houses take all they can grow to heat them, than 

 from either dull times or low prices. 



I do not wish to criticise or belittle the men who through hard work 

 and determination have done the best they could, but just how they 

 are going to adjust tliemsc^lves to meet the reduced value of their pro- 

 ducts is a })robl('ni that each man must solve for himself. 



The specialist who starts out with a knowledge of what he wishes to 

 grow, and the ability to provide suitable conditions for his crops, has 

 32 



