.Tf.ne 1.5, 1008 



horticulture: 



785 



stock, charge him good prices for it, 

 and you will soon find him talking 

 care of it and willing to pay you the 

 right prices for good trees. 



Inspection Law. 



The kindliest feeling exists between 

 the American Association of Nursery- 

 men and the organization of Econ- 

 omic Entomologists and Horticultural 

 Inspectors, as was manifested by the 

 hearty co-operation of committees 

 from these societies with that from 

 our Association at Chicago last win- 

 ter. The report of ex-President Or- 

 lando Harrison, chairman of Commit- 

 tee on Uniform Inspection Law, will 

 no doubt set forth the resolutions 

 unanimously agreed upon by these or- 

 ganizations, which were to be the ba- 

 sis of the proposed Uniform Inspection 

 Law. It was greatly desired that this 

 proposed bill be introduced and be 

 made a law by the session of Congress 

 which has just adjourned, but Mr. Har- 

 rison deemed it not advisable to pre- 

 sent it at that session. 



I am personally of the opinion that 

 the enactment of the law proposed 

 would do much to obviate the many 

 vexatious and annoying conditions 

 which arise under the present situa- 

 tion, and advise that it be vigorously 

 pushed by this or a similar commit- 

 tee before the next session of Con- 

 gress or else the matter be dropped 

 entirely and further expense avoided. 



Transportation Committee. 



We cannot over-estimate the impor- 

 tance of the transportation commit- 

 tee, and while nothing requiring spe- 

 cial attention has occurred during 

 the past year, yet I am inclined to 

 think there may be much to look 

 after in the near future. A recent 

 movement on the part of the rail- 

 roads has been inaugurated for the 

 advance of freight rates. The Indus- 

 trial Traffic League at its meeting in 

 Chicago a short time since, carefully 

 considered the matter from the stand- 

 point of large shippers, and it was 

 estimated that the proposed increase 

 would aggregate the enormous sum 

 of $170,000,000 annually. If the pro- 

 posed advance is permitted, the nur- 

 serymen will, of course, have to bear 

 his share of the additional burden. 



The adoption by the Western Clas- 

 sification Association of what is 

 known as "Rule t," by which Western 

 railroads are to be released from lia- 

 bility for loss or damage to goods in 

 transit, imless 20 per cent, is added to 

 the tariff rates, is one which if en- 

 forced will result in a great hardship 

 upon the members of this Association. 

 ITiis rule, I am informed, became ef- 

 fective on May :;Oth. but one of the 

 leading western roads notified the In- 

 tei-?tate Commerce Commission of its 

 refusal to concur therein. Mr. Stan- 

 nard, chairman of the Transportation 

 Committee, inaugurated a plan by 

 which I think the remaining roads 

 may be induced to regard the matter 

 in the same light. Your committee in 

 this and all other matters should re- 

 ceive your hearty co-operation, and 

 every nurserj-nian should respond 

 promptly to suggestions made by it. 

 I feel that the chairman of this com- 

 mittee should have an emergency fund 

 placed at his disposal to permit his 

 attending the meetins-s of the classi- 

 fication committees whenever matters 



of importance are liable to come up 

 in which we are interested. 



Legislative Department. 



In this deparlraent seme good re- 

 sults have been accomplished during 

 the past year in the modification of 

 the South Dakota law, as you will 

 learn from the report of Mr. Pitkin, 

 chairman of that committee. The 

 states of Wisconsin and Wyoming, 

 however, have enacted unreasonable 

 laws which ha\e given members of 

 this Association much annoyance and 

 unnec€s-san- expense during the past 

 year. I am advised that the Secretary 

 of Agi'iculture in one of these states 

 has been unusua,!ly arrogant and over- 

 bearing in his dealings with outside 

 nurscnmen making shipments within 

 his teiTitory during the past seasou. 



I recommend that the proper com- 

 mittee be authorized to investigate as 

 to the constitutionality of the lav.'s in 

 these states and Oklahoma, and pro- 

 ceed at once to test the same with the 

 least possible delay. It has been sug- 

 gested that the Executive Ctommittee 

 be given discretionarj' power to appro- 

 priate litnds and to proceed through 

 the Legislative or through their own 

 committee to test these or any other 

 laws which in their judgment are a 

 menace to the interests of the nur- 

 seryman. I shall be pleased to have 

 you give this matter your considera- 

 ion, thus avoiding unnecessary delay 

 on account of no appropriation of 

 funds, except for specified cases, which 

 confronted your committee during the 

 past year. 



I personally wrote the various vice- 

 presidents this year, reqtiesting that 

 they keep a sharp lookout for pro- 

 posed adverse legislation in their re- 

 spective states during the sessions of 

 their general assemblies last winter, 

 and promptly report same to the legis- 

 lative committee. Few of the states 

 held any session last year, but I urge 

 upon tliese gentlemen the great impor- 

 tance of watching this matter during 

 the coming winter. The passage of 

 many of these laws c^n be prevented 

 if proper action be taken beforehand. 

 Advertising. 



I want to repeat, with greater em- 

 phasis if possible, wha^t my predeces- 

 sor stated at our last session regard- 

 ing the necessity of giving g;'eater 

 publicity to our products through the 

 m'edium of newspaper advertising. We 

 are living in the greatest advertising 

 age the country has ever known, as 

 may be easily ascertained by closely 

 examining the columns of our leading 

 papers and magazines. The live, up- 

 to-date nurser\'man can ill afford to 

 listlesslv follow in beaten paths be- 

 cause they led his father to success, or 

 to continue the methods that he him- 

 self even adopted ten years ago. We 

 must adapt ourselves to new methods 

 and the changed conditions brought 

 about by this ei-a of advertising. 



Select some .good advertising medi- 

 ums, which publish tlie truth, and 

 which have the confidence of their 

 readers: send them honest, truthful 

 ads. and let them know what you have 

 to offer. 



B\irnish your customer just what 

 you agree to furnish, thtis upholding 

 the respectability and truthfulness of 

 the journal or magazine, and at the 

 same time realize the consciousness of 

 having treated your patron right, and 



just as you stated you would in your 

 adveriisement. 



Honesty and truthfulness in adver- 

 tising is the only policy which will en- 

 dure. 



Exhibits. 

 I desire in this connection to espe- 

 cially call your attention to that fea- 

 ture of our convention known as "Ex- 

 hibits" under the skillful management 

 of Mr. Meehan of Pennsylvania, Mr. 

 Barnard of Karlsas and Mr. Kelsey 

 of New York. This feature of our an- 

 nual meeting has been developed un- 

 til it has become one of the most in- 

 teresting departments of the Associa- 

 tion work. You will find here not only 

 a display of nursery stock, fruits, 

 flowers, etc., which will interest you, 

 but machinery and labor-saving de- 

 vices which will appeal to every 

 "wide-awake, up-to-date" nurseryman 

 in attendance. It has required the ex- 

 penditure of much time and labor on 

 the part of the gentlemen which is 

 greatly appreciated. The exhibition 

 rooms are located on the floor below 

 and in an adjoining room on this iloor, 

 in which you can spend much of your 

 time with profit to yourselves. 

 Insurance. 

 The question of mutual insurance 

 among the members of this Associa- 

 tion has been given much thought and 

 investigation by the committee to 

 which it was referred last .lune at De- 

 troit. 



On account of the varied exposure 

 in the different plants and the con- 

 stantly changing contents of the build- 

 ings, it would necessitate a personal 

 examination by a representative of the 

 insurance department. And on ac- 

 count of the widely scattered patron- 

 age which must necessarily be secured, 

 it would be almost impossible for this 

 personal examination to be made with- 

 out great expense, hence this proposi- 

 tion is deemed impracticable, and we 

 recommend that it be dropped for the 

 present. 



Editing Annual Report. 

 I recommend that the task of edit- 

 ing the minutes of the Association be 

 placed in the hands of a committee of 

 which the Secretary of the Association 

 shall be chairman. 



My reasons for so doing are from 

 the "simple fact that he is always pres- 

 ent at each session of the convention, 

 and knows more about the proceeding 

 than any other member. In the second 

 place he is compensated for his serv- 

 ices, and in my judgment this is a part 

 of his work. He can take a portion of 

 his manuscript and edit it at his lei- 

 sure, thus saving time in completing 

 the work, with the result that the re- 

 ports will be mailed to the members 

 upon a much earlier date. 

 Program. 

 You will note by the printed program 

 Ml the Radge Book that arrangements 

 have been made to hold but one busi- 

 ness session of the Association proper, 

 each day. The thought being that a 

 session of nine o'clock to one daily 

 would be more largely attended and 

 prove more interesting than more fre- 

 quent daily meetings. This will give 

 the members an opportunity of spend- 

 ing more time in a social way, sight- 

 seeing, in the exhibition room. etc. 



This will give more time also for hold- 

 ing the annual meetings of associate or- 



