2.sfi 



horticulture: 



August 29, 190S 



Oil "State Florists' Associations and 

 Their Relation to the S. A. F." Mr. 

 Valentine spoke in approval, especially 

 of the suggestion of supporting and 

 working through the county fairs for 

 interesting the people in floriculture. 



H. B. Dorner nexl addressed the 

 meeting on "What the State of Illi- 

 nois Is Doing for the Florist." Mr. 

 Dorner is connected with the horti- 

 cultural department of the State Col- 

 lege at Urbana. He described at 

 length the outfit that has been pro- 

 vided for research in the various 

 phases of horticulture and valuable 

 experiments with fertilizers for flor- 

 ists' crops. It is the aim to build up 

 a- fficient school of floriculture. 

 i in prescribed studies in addition to 

 the regular college courses are soil 

 physics, including rotation of crops, 

 etc., botany, entomology, general hor- 

 ticulture, landscape gardening, the 

 principles of evolution, commercial 

 floriculture, exotics for outdoor work. 

 etc. He extended a cordial invitation 

 to all to visit tlie college, where they 

 will he accorded a glad welcome. 



George E. McClure was scheduled 

 to read a paper at this session on 

 "Planting for Winter Effect in the 

 Northern States." but a delay in ar- 

 rival of the train from Buffalo pre- 

 vented his appearance in time to pre- 

 sent the paper and a vote was passed 

 ordering its publication. 



Mr. Hallock then claimed the floor 

 and proceeded to present to President 

 Traendly a splendid case of solid sil- 

 verware as a token of esteem from his 

 friends in the Society. Mr. -Hallock 

 voiced in well-chosen words the ap- 

 preciation of the members for the 

 faithful and just manner in which the 

 president has fulfilled his duty as pre- 

 siding officer. He said that what is 

 invisible, in the hearts of every mem- 

 ber, was the best part of the gift, fat- 

 excelling its intrinsic value. Presi- 

 dent Traendly briefly accepted the 

 token, pleading his inability to find 

 words to express his gratitude. He 

 said he did not feel that he had done 

 much but had done the best he could 

 and coupled the thanks of Mrs. 

 Traendly. who was not able to be 

 present, with his own. 



The report of the judges appointed 

 to examine and make the awards on 

 the prize essays sent in last year was 

 presented by Wm. J. Stewart. The 

 report stated that five essays had 

 been submitted but that the commit- 

 tee did not consider any of them 

 worthy of the amounts appropriated 

 and recommended that a first prize 

 of $10.00 be given for the essay by 

 J. Austin Shaw and two second 

 prizes of $3.00 each for those bj 

 Amelia Shaw and Irwin Bertermann. 

 The report was accepted and recom- 

 mendation adopted. 



Friday Afternoon. 



Friday afternoon was most enjoy- 

 ably spent. The bowling cohorts 

 started early for Buffalo, eager for tb 



scheduled to take place at the 

 Palace Bowling Alleys. The rest of 

 the party, numbering several hundreds, 

 enjoyed a sail up the Niagara River. 

 tiests of W. F. Kasting and o 

 tahle friends of the Buffalo Flor- 

 ists' Club. A lavish lunch was served 

 all through the trip, which lasted about 

 four hours, short stops being made at 

 a number of pleasure resorts. Two 

 steamers were used for the excursion. 



about half the party proceeding on one 

 boal to Buffalo to see the howling and 

 the re i returning to Niagara Falls, 

 it was a most delightful ending to a 

 v. eek of unalloj ed pleasure. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON 



HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION 



IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



"led by F. It. Pierson, Tarrytown-on- 

 Hudson, New York.) 



At the request of Mr. E. V. Hallock, 



Chairman of this Committee, I submit 



the following report on behalf of the 



committee: 



At the last annual meeting of this 

 society, held in Philadelphia, the ques- 

 tion of horticultural education in the 

 common schools was discussed at 

 length, and as a result, a committee 

 was appointed to take up this work. 

 At the Congress of Horticulture, held 

 at the Jamestown Eposition in Sep- 

 tember of the same year, this question 

 was again discussed at length, and a 

 committee was also appointed by that 

 body, consisting of Dr. A. C. True of 

 Washington, D. C, Director of Ex- 

 periment Stations, United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Mr. E. V. 

 Hallock, and myself. 



The suggestion was made at Phila- 

 delphia that effort should be made 

 through the legislature of the various 

 States to establish a system of school 

 gardens: but it seemed wiser to the 

 committee to endeavor first to interest 

 the Department of Education in thio 

 subject before appealing to the legis- 

 lature. 



The committee appointed by the 

 Congress of Horticulture met at Cor- 

 nell University, Ithaca, on June 19, 

 190S, and, after considerable discus- 

 sion, adopted a tentative course of 

 study to be presented to the Educa - 

 tional Department of the State of New 

 York; and a conference was arranged 

 with Dr. A. S. Downing, Assistant 

 Commissioner of the Department, 

 August 3rd. 



At that time, the matter was dis- 

 cussed at length, and the committee 

 was pleased to find that the Depart- 

 ment received favorably the sugges- 

 tions made. Dr. Downing stated that 

 said suggestions were in line with the 

 policy already adopted by the State. 

 and, finally, requested the committee 

 to draw up a course of study for the 

 Consideration of the Department, stat- 

 ing that they would take up the mat- 

 ter and go into the necessary details 

 as soon as a new syllabus was issued, 

 which would be the following year. 



The idea of the committee was to 

 emphasize especially the necessity for 

 elementarj education in horticulture 

 in our graded and common schools, in 

 connection with the school garden 

 idea, making it an interesting and in- 

 structive course of study, combining 

 botany, nature study, etc.. teaching 

 the children to observe and love na- 

 ture. This horticultural course 

 should be made exceedingly simple 

 and practical, and should combine the 

 school garden idea with the adorn- 

 ment of grounds surrounding the 

 school buildings, interesting the chil- 

 dren in their environments. They 

 should he taught what can be done 

 with the most unattractive surround- 

 ings, and, at the same time, be given 

 a general knowledge of horticulture. 



especially making the acquaintance of 

 their. native grasses, trees, shrubs, 

 vines, and flowers. Where the 

 grounds permit, planting should be 

 dene under the direction of competent 

 teachers, so that they will become 

 generally well acquainted with our 

 common plants — something which is 

 practically lacking today, even among 

 the best educated people. And an- 

 other aspect of the case that appeals 

 to the committee is, that by interest- 

 ing the children in their surround- 

 ings, a higher standard will be 

 raised in their minds regarding the 

 ownership of property, which would 

 result in inculcating the right idea 

 in regard to property rights, thus 

 making better citizens of the boys and 

 girls who attend our schools, who are 

 really the warp and woof of our com- 

 monwealth. 



While the work of the committee 

 was especially to secure such a course 

 of study in the common schools, it 

 felt it wise to advocate a complete 

 course; and it was suggested that at 

 least two special horticultural and ag- 

 ricultural schools should be estab- 

 lished for special courses in these 

 branches, — one situated in the east- 

 ern part of the State and one in the 

 western part — the one in the east to 

 specialize more particularly in horti- 

 cultural subjects, and the one in the 

 west in agricultural and pomo- 

 logical subjects. These special sec- 

 ondary high schools would then be- 

 come feeders for Cornell University. 

 It seems to the committee very 

 necessary that such a comprehensive 

 plan should be adopted, as at the pres- 

 ent time, Cornell University is 

 obliged to take practically unpre- 

 pared students, which compels it to 

 do the work that secondary schools 

 should do. The special horticultural 

 and agricultural schools could then 

 do much of the preliminary work that 

 Cornell is now obliged to do, leaving 

 it free to teach the higher and more 

 scientific work, which is its legitimate 

 field. 



The establishment of these schools, 

 however, would be a matter that 

 would come before the legislature, 

 and steps looking toward that end will 

 be taken in due time. The special ef- 

 fort of the committee at present, how- 

 ever, will be to secure the incorpora- 

 tion of a definite course of study in 

 the elementary and graded schools. 



While much has already been done 

 in Xew York State in this direction, 

 the present syllabus leaves too much 

 to the discretion of the individual 

 teachers, who perhaps have little 

 knowledge of the subject. What the 

 committee desires is to secure a defi- 

 nite, systematic course of instruction. 

 incorporated in the syllabus, so that 

 it will not be optional, but as much a 

 required study as mathematics, Eng- 

 lish, and the other common Branches. 

 The committee has considered it 

 wiser to concentrate its efforts, and 

 has selected New York State as the 

 field of operation, and. if this effort 

 is successful, after a definite course 

 has been adopted by the State of New 

 York, the committee will then appeal 

 to the other States. 



Report of the State Vice-President for 

 Maryland. 

 The year 1908 will long be remem- 

 bered as one of difficulties of various 

 kinds all along the horticultural line. 



