The Weekly Florists' Review. 



28 J 



THE BUFFALO CONVENTION! 



A Great Meeting and a Splendid 

 Exiiibition. 



Next Meeting to be Held at Asheville, N. C. 



OFFICERS FOR 1902: 



President, JOHN BURTON, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Vice-President, J. W. C. DEAKE, Asheville, N. C. 



Secretary, WM. J. STEWART, Boston, Mass. 



Treasurer, H. B. BEATTY, Oil City, Pa. 



The Buffalo convention certainly broke 

 all records for attendance and a most en- 

 thusiastic gathering of the leading flor- 

 ists of the United States filled the large 

 convention hall to overflowing. It was 

 a splendid gathering, marked for its in- 

 telligence and good natuie. Vice Presi- 

 dent Kasting was all abeaming, when, 

 as the local representative, he in a few 

 happy words introduced Mayor Diebl of 

 Buffalo, who said it afforded him the 

 greatest pleasure to meet and offer the 

 freedom of the city of Buffalo to a so- 

 ciety whose acts were so beautiful and 

 noble. He said that Buffalo people con- 

 sidered theirs the finest residential city 

 in the world and he ho'ped that all would 

 thoroughly enjoy their visit. 



President O'Mara in response said the 

 members of the society had fond recol- 

 lections of their visit to Buffalo twelve 

 years ago, and that the country at pres- 

 ent felt the power and influence of Niag- 

 ara and the beauty of Buffalo. As the 

 S. A. F. 0. H. was a society organized to 

 develop the beautiful its members could 

 appreciate what they had come to see 

 and do. He called for three cheers for 

 the mayor of Buffalo, to which a tre- 

 mendous tiger was added. 



William Scott in welcoming the so- 

 ciety spoke in his usual forceful style 

 and said the city of Buffalo had more 

 asphalted streets than any other city 

 in the world, and that in wind the city 

 was surpassed only by Chicago. 



President O'Mara on formally opening 

 the convention paid a high tribute to 

 the Buffalo Florists' Club. He said that 

 New York city florists well knew from 

 recent experience the amount of labor 

 and thought that must be expended in 

 preparing for a convention. He urged 

 a good attendance at all the sessions and 

 said that while the proceedings lived in 

 the written page, it required the spirit 

 of the members to emphasize the work. 

 He then read his address as follows: 



President O'Mara's Address. 



To the Society of American Florists- 

 Ladies and Gentlemen : Part of the duty 

 impof-ed upon your president is to report 

 to you in his address to the convention 

 the results of his stewardship since as- 



suming that honorable position. It is, 

 by common consent, his right to recom- 

 mend to your careful consideration such 

 measures as, in his judgment, deserve 

 your attention, so that you may take 

 such action thereon as your prudence 

 and wisdom may dictate. The opening 

 year of the twentieth century finds hor- 

 ticulture in a flourishing condition in 

 America. It finds, too, the S. A. F. es- 

 tablished on a firmer basis than at any 

 time in its history. The experimental 

 stage has apparently been passed. The 

 usefulness of this society to its mem- 

 bers, and to horticulture in general, 

 has been so thoroughly demon- 

 strated that there is no longer any 

 hesitation. We move confidently, our 

 membership is more stable, and from 

 every source we learn that it is individu- 

 ally and collectively more ardently im- 

 bued with the spirit of progress and har- 

 mony, that there is a settled determina- 

 tion to achieve, in their highest sense, the 

 aims and ambitions of the society, to de- 

 velop and advance American horticulture. 

 The progress made at the New York con- 

 vention last year has been continued, our 

 life membership has noticeably increased, 

 our financial condition is excellent, the 

 receipts for the past year have exceeded 

 any in the previous history of the society, 

 and it is befitting that your president 

 should congratulate you on the substan- 

 tial progress made. In doing this, let me 

 urge you to continue the good work en- 

 ergetically, let each member perform 

 cheerfully and conscientiously the duties 

 assigned to him, be they great or small. 

 This being done, there is no limit to the 

 sphere of usefulness of our beloved so- 

 ciety. 



Horticultural Progress. 

 It is proper, too, that your president 

 should note the general prosperity of the 

 craft during the past year. The pros- 

 perity of horticulture has been coincident 

 with the general good business condi- 

 tions of the country. Never before, per- 

 haps, in a single year was such progress 

 made in building country homes near our 

 large cities, in developing large estates, 

 thus creating a demand for the prodiicts 

 of horticulture unprecedented in the an- 

 nals of the country. It is the earnest 



hope and wish of your president that 

 this condition will continue, that our 

 glorious country will keep on its God- 

 appointed course, triumphing in the arts 

 of peace, a cloud by day and a pillar of 

 fire by night in the vanguard of the 

 world's upward progress. It is, too, his 

 earnest hope and wish that this society 

 will keep step with every advance made, 

 and that it will achieve its ambition to 

 become the leading horticultural society 

 in the world. 



The National Charter. 



At the last year's convention a motion 

 was made and carried that the in- 

 coming president appoint a committee 

 of five to continue and carry out the pro- 

 ject of obtaining a national charter for 

 this society. One of the first duties of 

 your president was to appoint said com- 

 mittee, which was made larger upon the 

 advice of the chairman appointed, viz, 

 Mr. Wm. R. Smith. The efl'orts of that 

 committee were successful, and, without 

 detracting from the work of any member, 

 it can be said that to the chairman, ably 

 assisted by Mr. Durfee, we are today in 

 the highly honorable and uijique position 

 of enjoying a charter granted by the Con- 

 gress and .signed by the President of the 

 United States. The task undertaken 

 eight years ago, and brought once to the 

 threshold of successful completion, has 

 at last been finished. All honor to the 

 man through whose untiring and unsel- 

 fish efi'orts we are enabled today in this 

 first year of the new century, within the 

 shadow of the great Exposition of Pan- 

 American progress, to meet in name and 

 in fame a bona fide national American 

 Society of Horticulture. 



Work of the Incorporators. 



The incorporators met in Washington 

 on May 14th last, to organize legally 

 under the new charter and to formulate 

 a constitution and by-laws to meet the 

 exigencies presented by the new condi- 

 tions. The question of closer co-opera- 

 tion between the S. A. F. and special 

 societies, which are in a large sense the 

 natural expansion of what has been aptly 

 termed the parent society, received care- 

 ful consideration, and the constitution 

 which will be presented to you in due 

 time was unanimously adopted. Our 

 able and industrious secretary prepared 

 and submitted a draft of these in advance 

 to the incorporators. A committee of five 

 appointed at the meeting of the Execu- 

 tive Committee in March also had the 

 matter under consideration and passed 

 favorably upon them, so that the consti- 

 tution and by-laws to be presented may 

 be fairly stated as embodyinsr the views 

 and judgment of a very representative 

 body of this society. We were also as- 

 sisted by the advice and counsel of mem- 

 bers of the various special societiea most 

 interested; thus lln' ni.iMor will oorae 

 before you oii(l..i-,,l i i\ rnbly by those 

 who have at tln^ |.r. -. m lime the respon- 

 sibility of oflicc up. ill lli.-m. 



The Value of Co-operation. 



The value to all of closer co-operation 

 is generally conreled; (he only differences 

 of opinion are in the means to be adopted. 

 Time may demonstrate that there is no 

 more apparent need for a special flower 

 socictv, having a separate and isolated 

 cxistoiKO. than there is for a special fruit, 

 tree or vegetable society. I make hold to 

 say that if the S. A. F. were not in exist- 

 I ciicc, and the special flower societies were 



