246 



HORTICULTURE 



August 24, 1907 



of American Florists we can feel just- 

 ly proud that in all the high achieve- 

 ments which adorn and signalize this 

 period as one of unprecedented pro- 

 gi-ess in the science and practice of 

 horticulture this society has had an 

 honorable participation. From the 

 start its roll-book has borne the sig- 

 natures of the leading spirits in the 

 craft to whose uplifting it has been 

 pledged, and in whatever community 

 it has presented itself it has invariably 

 been accorded a welcome and high 

 place in the public esteem. 



Standing here in this fair city where 

 horticulture has ever been honored 

 and beloved, where from the day of 

 its birth this society has been stead- 

 fastly championed— a community, the 

 home of not a few illustrious expo- 

 nents of our art in the days gone by, 

 a community which can boast horti- 

 culturists, florists, plant growere, seed 

 establishments and nurseries second to 

 noi.e in the world today, a people 

 wide-awake and enterprising, yet 

 warm-hearted and companionable — 

 here, iu this City of Brotherly Love, 

 as we voice our gratitude to the 

 pioneers and extend our hand to the 

 coming generation, we may well stop 

 and take a survey of our field, note 

 conditions as we find them, lay plans 

 and invoke continued success for our 

 society and aJl that it represents. 

 The Mission of the Horticulturist. 

 To clothe the earth with loveliness, 

 to cooperate with Nature in her most 

 beautiful functions, to instil into the 

 affections of the people an apprecia- 

 tion of our art and a zeal for his 

 products and to serve them and gratify 

 this desire is the mission of the hor- 

 ticulturist. The materials in which 

 he deals were once classed among the 

 luxuries of life, but the world is fast 

 coming to recognize them as necessi- 

 ties of healthful and rational living 

 and, as this sentiment grows, so also 

 will grow the importance and influ- 

 ence of the horticulturist in the public 

 eye. 



The Mission of the Society. 

 To aid the horticulturist through the 

 influence and power of concentration, 

 by the gathering together, moulding 

 and assimilating of the concrete wis- 

 dom of the many, and to bring the 

 profession to a lively sense of their 

 duties and privileges and a better 

 realization of what is possible through 

 the medium of a well-supported cen- 

 tral organization is the task of this 

 society. Its aim and its purpose have 

 ever been to stimulate emulation, to 

 broaden the channels of business, to 

 promote the fraternal spirit, to help 

 the gardener and florist in making for 

 himself an hcLored position in the 

 commonwealth and to inspire the pro- 

 fession with a more correct under- 

 standing and better appreciation of 

 the nobility of their calling which, as 

 Downing tells us, "is intrinsically the 

 parent and superior of them all," be- 

 cause agriculture is the basis of all 

 wealth and horticulture is the refined 

 essence of agriculture. 



The Field and its Cultivation. 

 Agreeably tc custom it becomes my 

 duty to ask your attention at this 

 time to such suggestions and advice 

 as seem to me sound and wise and 

 conducive to the growth and continued 

 efiiciency of this society. First let us 

 take a look at the situation. We find 



a vast country possessing the widest 

 range of climate, topography and soil, 

 affording homes for ever-multiplying 

 millions of people ambitious, enter- 

 prising and prosperous and now reach- 

 ing that stage where the finer senti- 

 ments begin to develop and the desire 

 for beautiful home environment com- 

 mences to kindle. 



To the extent that the gardener and 

 florist grasp the situation and act 

 upon the opportunity thus presented 

 depends much of the future welfare 

 of our horticultural industries and of 

 gardening art. One thing is indisputa- 

 ble; if the horticulturist is to do his 

 part in directing and developing the 

 garden-hunger of the peopfe he must 

 first make good use of every means 

 to fit himself to do this intelligently. 

 These are times of unprecedented rush 

 and enterprise. Timorousness and 

 parsimony have little part in the 

 policies that lead to success now-a- 

 days, and he who would excel must 

 follow modem methods, taking full 

 advantage of the horticultural litera- 

 ture of the day and of personal in- 



Haury Buntard 



Sergeant-at-Arms. 



timacy with his fellows in the so- 

 cieties and clubs; he must travel, visit 

 exhibitions, — in short, he must use 

 every avenue of publicity and every 

 opportunity to sharpen his wits and 

 enlarge his knowledge. The day when 

 a paying business can be done with 

 untidy grounds, neglected store win- 

 dows, decrepit greenhouses, badly 

 giown plants, misrepresented trees 

 and shrubs, and haphazard financial 

 methods has gone forever. 

 Garden-hunger and the Horticultur- 

 ists' Opportunity. 

 Modern suburban transportation fa- 

 cilities have given a tremendous im- 

 petus to the rural home idea. It is 

 to the man skilled in horticulture that 

 the home-maker will turn for advice, 

 assistance and material needed and 

 for those who grasp the opportunity 

 in the right spirit there will be found 

 abundant scope and full recompense 

 for cultural knowledge and artistic 

 talent Nothing comparable to the 

 present demand for hardy garden ma- 

 terial has ever been experienced in 



this country, and no horticultural en- 

 terprise intelligently and diligently 

 conducted can fail of success if ex- 

 isting conditions are understood and 

 provided for. Tender material, also, 

 will get its full share of the prosperity 

 if used with better discretion as to its 

 adaptations and limitations. For the 

 ambitious, earnest young man, blessed 

 with an artistic temperament, no de- 

 partment of horticulture offers brighter 

 emolument or higher honor than that 

 of outdoor gardening in all its 

 branches. Within the scope of our 

 vision today the field seems practically 

 unlimited and the young generation 

 may safely go into training for large 

 responsibilities — every one will be 

 needed. Under pressure of exigencies 

 prevailing in the past the gardener 

 has in too many instances been ac- 

 quiring a one-sided experience and 

 some of our most talented indoor 

 growers find themselves badly handi- 

 capped through deficient education in 

 the fundamental operations of general 

 gardening. The horticulturist who 

 makes his mark in the future will not 

 have these limitations, but will com- 

 bine a thorough equipment for out- 

 door planting, grading, management 

 and executive ability, with a fine 

 knowledge of indoor operations and 

 proficiency in the production of flow- 

 ers and fruits under glass that will 

 stand the test of comparison with the 

 products of the specialist. Several of 

 the agricultural colleges are doing 

 good work on this order and turning 

 out trained young men from whom 

 v/e may expect much. 



Room for Improvement. 



Too many greenhouses are devoted 

 to crops for which neither the houses 

 nor their owners are competent We see 

 acros of nursery space filled with an-. 

 liquated stock; well-grown flowers 

 sacrificed through careless handling 

 or through inefficiency in the sales 

 department; the once-prosperous 

 flower-shipping business prostrated by 

 short-sighted methods; the trade sub- 

 .iected to criticism because of the 

 trumpeting of undeserving novelties. 

 Our exhibitions are crude in method, 

 faulty in manner of making awards 

 or interesting the public. In every 

 branch of activity there is room for 

 better system. The arrangement of 

 flowers, the planting of garden beds 

 or the larger operations of beautify- 

 ing an estate or creating a landscape 

 picture, in many of which as we see 

 them from day to day the qualities 

 of originality and artistic intelligence 

 In form and color harmony are 

 conspicuously lacking show conclu- 

 sively the need for study and self- 

 education in artistic taste before we 

 are properly fitted to instruct the pub- 

 lic. It is the province of the florists' 

 club to seek out and apply the remedy 

 for all these deficiencies and it be- 

 comes the duty of the craftsman in 

 justice to himself and his fellows to 

 uphold in every possible way his local 

 organization and do his share towards 

 the general advancement which is sure 

 to follow the fraternizing of congenial 

 spirits whose material interests are 

 identical. 



Support the Societies. 



No better evidence of progressive- 

 nesB in a given locality or in any 

 special branch of our industries can 

 be adduced than a full representaJon 



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