Febniary 1, 190S 



HORTICULTURE 



l:i7 



which has been abundautly proven. 

 Seven years ago. at Indianapolis, when 

 the fatal illness of the President, Wm. 

 J. Bertermanu, placed me in the posi- 

 tion of acting chairman, I suggested 

 that the society ought to take some 

 action commending the raiser of any 

 carnation which has proved itself the 

 premier variety of its class for a num- 

 ber of successive years. No attention 

 was given the suggestion at that time, 

 but my opinion has not changed on 

 the subject. I believe that when any 

 variety wins first prize in any class A 

 (open to all) section, for three suc- 

 cessive years, the raiser of such va- 

 riety should be granted the society's 

 gold medal fittingly engraved as an 

 award of sterling merit. It is at least 

 a subject worthy of discussion. There 

 ought also to be a sweepstakes prize 

 covering class A (open to all) sec- 

 tions. 



To refer again to the certificate 

 classes, I believe that the entrance fee 

 in both preliminary and final certifi- 

 cate classes, should be omitted except 

 when such certificate is granted, and 

 that the only restriction placed on 

 exhibiting in these classes should be 

 membership in the society. This should 

 be done for the purpose of increasing 

 the number of exhibits in these classes. 

 The judges may be depended on to 

 properly sift such candidates. 



Reference has been made annually, 

 since the inception of this society, to 

 the proposed exhibition of carnations 

 in pots. Ex-President Rackham spoke 

 of the matter in his address at Detroit. 

 Mr. John Birnie make a strong plea 

 for such varieties in his able paper at 

 Toronto last year. Now to accomplish 

 anything in this line will require a 

 radical step by the society and it may 

 as well be taken at once. Offer a 

 good substantial prize for the best col- 

 lection of plants in bloom in pots. To 

 do this, reduce the breadth and scope 

 of Class B, which, as it now stands, 

 rends toward monotony in the exhibi- 

 tion. 



Also, if it were possible to so divide 

 the money devoted to premiums to 

 admit of it, a certain amount ought 

 to be devoted each year to exhibitions 

 showing the adaptability of the carna- 

 tion to reception and wedding decora- 

 tions. Competitive contests among 

 local retail men are not practicable, 

 but some prominent retail man might 

 be selected to prepare some such ex- 

 hibit each year, as this would interest 

 the public greatly and add to the 

 beauty of the exhibition. 



The very valuable papers 'from 

 foreign carnation growers last year, 

 together with the reports appearing in 

 our trade papers from time to time, 

 indicate the rapid strides being taken 

 by our co-workers in England in the 

 development of the Everblooming Car- 

 nation. Such reports should stimu- 

 late the activity in America for we 

 should retain our supremacy in this 

 line. Taking into consideration the 

 formidable opposition in the securing 

 of new varieties of carnations which 

 the English breeders have now pre- 

 sented, would it not be a good thing 

 to make some arrangement whereby 

 new English sorts could be sent here 

 for tests as to their adaptability to 

 American conditions and markets? 

 Probably some exchange of novelties 

 could be made between growers in the 

 I'nited States and those in England 



for this purpose. A great deal of in- 

 terest is now being taKen in American 

 varieties over in England, and the 

 same thing is likely to happen with 

 English varieties in the United States; 

 hence it would be well for the Ameri- 

 can Carnation Society to take the first 

 steps aiming towards co-operation. 



In the matter of the registration of 

 new varieties, the opinion has been 

 expressed by interested members that 

 the society ought to omit all super- 

 tiuous verbiage as to whether the new 

 variety is better than others of its 

 kind, and give simply the name, the 

 parentage, the date when the cross 

 was made, and the color. A uniform 

 registration blank should be adopted 

 and this should avoid any appearance 

 of indorsing the good qualities of a 

 new kind. 



At the Chicago convention in 1907 

 no action was passed authorizing the 

 offering of American Carnation So- 

 ciety certificates at the fall exhibition 

 in our leading cities, and the appoint- 

 ment of judges for such exhibits. 

 There was a committee appointed with 

 power to act, but the plan never was 

 carried out. This should be taken up 

 and some definite action taken. The 

 S. A. F. and O. H. has invited the co- 

 operation of our society in the National 

 Flower Show to be held in Chicago in 

 November of this year, and we should 

 offer our certificate and medals at that 

 great exhibition. 



It is with gieat pleasure that I look 

 forward to the joint meetings with the 

 .'American Breeders' Association. I 

 hope and believe that much of benefit 

 to the practical grower may result 

 from the joint discussion on carnation 

 breeding. If there is anything tangible 

 as regards Mendel's law in relation to 

 the breeding of carnations it should 

 be brought out at this time. 



The business sessions of the conven- 

 tion in Toronto were the best attended 

 of any convention in a number of 

 years. I am counting on the members 

 to surpass that record in Washington, 



In closing I desire again to join with 

 the visiting members of this society 

 in appreciation of the efforts of the 

 Washin.gton florists which have made 

 possible a successful convention. 



It is a high honor to be chosen 

 President of the best, most business- 

 like and most effective florists' or- 

 ganization in the United States, and 

 I thank you most heartily for that 

 honor. 



Secretary A. M. Herr then presented 

 his annual report, as follows: 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



Mr. President and members of the 

 American Carnation Society: 



Gentlemen, — Your Secretary reports 

 having issued the regular printed mat- 

 ter of the Society during the past year. 

 Our Annual Report was more complete 

 than usual, thanks to our stenograph- 

 er and the fact that being from my 

 own city it could be worked out to 

 better advantage than could possibly 

 be done by correspondence. 



The premium list and dates for the 

 meeting were discussed and adopted 

 at the meeting of the Board of Direc- 

 tors held in Philadelphia last August, 

 quite, a few changes being made in the 

 premium list, and a three-day session 

 agreed upon as an experiment, all of 

 which was duly announced through the 

 trade papers. 



It has since developed that a portion 

 of intending exhibitors are not able to 

 get their flowers through in time for 

 staging for 1 P. M. Tuesday. I would 

 suggest that a portion of our meeting 

 be set aside for the purpose of adopting 

 a premium list, a set of rules govern- 

 ing the exhibition, and the best date 

 for the opening of the show in 1909. 

 With exhibitors, judges and the Board 

 of Directors all present, mistakes and 

 friction could be avoided. The exhibi- 

 tor being the first consideration in our 

 shows should have first consideration 

 in our premium list. 



In the opinion of your Secretary the 

 matter of advertising in our premium 

 list should be dispensed with. The 

 members do not patronize it to any 

 extent, even after personal solicitation 

 and it is hard to get outsiders to look 

 upon it as a good business proposition. 

 For the one issued this year a circular 

 letter was sent to all members of this 

 Society, followed up by a personal let- 

 ter to the possible advertisers (in 

 some cases two and three) and in ad- 

 dition to this, personal letters were 

 gent to about four hundred other ad- 

 vertisers with the results shown before 

 you. The getting up of the premitim 

 list, aside from the solicitation, is al- 

 most as much work as getting out the 

 annual report, and after deducting the 

 extra cost of printing there is such a 

 small margin of profit that it is hardly 

 just to your secretary to pile all this 

 work upon him. 



A pet scheme of my own was tried 

 this year and on invitation sent to 

 every florist within a radius of one 

 hundred miles from the meeting place 

 to join the Society. The responses 

 were two new members and several 

 inquiries, a result that teaches its own 

 lesson. 



In addition to all of the foregoing 

 there have been about seven hundred 

 pieces of mail mostly personal letters 

 in response to inquiries, and the regu- 

 lar correspondence between this oflSce, 

 your President and the Board of Direc- 

 tors. 



Your Secretary requests that unless 

 you have selected a successor for the 

 coming year, he be continued in office 

 for one year longer in order to use up 

 stationery and other matter that would 

 have to be changed and lost if a new 

 one were elected, and that he then be 

 released. The work of this Society is 

 increasing in a ratio of about three to 

 one as compared to membership; it is 

 a work that ought to be done and for 

 which the Society is not in a position 

 to pay a competent salary, so that 

 in making your selection it will be the 

 part of wisdom to select a secretary 

 who has leisure time to devote to this 

 work and one who employs clerical 

 help, to whom can be given the rou- 

 tine of the work. Your present incum- 

 bent having served the Society for 

 thirteen years feels that with another 

 year's service to break the hoodoo, he 

 has borne his share of the work and 

 that some one more competent and 

 better able to give the time and labor 

 required should take it up and can-y 

 it on to completion. 



The report of Treasurer F. Dorner, 

 .Ir., was next presented. 



Secretary Kerr, on behalf of the 

 Nomenclature Committee reported 

 that the registration record for the 

 past year was four seedlings and 



