THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



723 



ASSOCIATION NOTES 



M. C. EBEL. Secretary, MADISON, N. J. 



THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION. 



The third annual meeting of the National Associ- 

 ation of Gardeners, since its reorganization, was held 

 in the West Assembly Hall in the American Museum 

 of Natural Historv. Xew \drk City, on Xovember 3, 

 1913. 



The meeting was called to order at 2:30 p. m.. Pres- 

 ident W aite in the chair. 



After a short speech congratulating the members on 

 their fine showing, and telling of the great increase in 

 membership recently. President Waite introduced F. 

 R. Pierson, who, in the name of the Horticultural So- 

 ciety of New York, welcomed the members of the 

 association and invited the association to avail itself 

 of the museum building and assembly halls whenever 

 the opportunity afifored itself. He referred to the 

 spring flower show to be held in New York in 1914, 

 and urged that all the gardeners present co-operate 

 to make it a great success. 



The minutes of the last annual meeting held in 

 Newark, X. J., (.)n Novemhcr 19, 1'.'12, were read and 

 approved. 



The minutes of the spring meeting held in the 

 Grand Central Palace, April 7, 1913, were read and 

 approved. 



The secretary's annual report follows: 



A |.roiiM'--iM' ii.ti\it\. an iiu-reasing interest and an iinsur- 

 pas-nl ui"»tli i- till' a-~"riation"s record for the past year. 



Till- a-^'" lat HMi- .ii.\ .■lopnicnt since it was reorganized in 1911 

 lias l)ci'n alniiist entirely along tlie lines of perfecting a thorough 

 organizatinn. and we have been successful in having enrolled in 

 our nieniln'r^liip men who rank foremost in the profession of 

 liorticulture :'nd florioulturo in which we include the leaders in 

 the commercial fields who arc enrolled with us as associate 

 memhers. 



In the report of 1912 460 nuMn1)ers were recorded in good stand- 

 ing, and it is with much pleasure that I can today announce that 

 this membership has been increased to 730 within the past year. 

 With the interest that is now being manifested towards the Na- 

 tional Association of Gardeners in all parts of the country I am 

 lirnily convinced that with the same co-operation on the part of 

 the members as we have had the past year, the next annual 

 report will show a membership list of over 1,000 members. 



Three meetings of the Executive Board were held within the 

 vear — New York, January 8, 101:3, and April 7, 1913; Boston, July 

 "12, 1913. 



-At the January meeting of the Executive Board it was decided 

 that the association award a medal for any new variety of flow- 

 ers, plants, vegetables or fruits originated by a gardener, a 

 member of the National Association of Gardeners, to be passed on 

 as meritorious by a committee of judges, such committee to be 

 appointed annually by the jiresidcnt. 



It was also decided that tlic association do all in its power to 

 help make the International I'lower Show in New York City in 

 April. 1913, the success it proved to be, and in this way recipro- 

 cate for the liberality with which the National Flower Show Com- 

 mittee provided for "the private gardeners. 



It was also decided that the National Association of Gardeners 

 hold a National Gardeners and Florists bowling tournament in 

 New- York City during the week of the International Flower Show 

 to which it invite the membirs of the Society of American Flor- 

 ists to participate. An appropriation of .$100 was voted for the 

 expense of alloy.s, prizes, etc.. and a committee consisting of John 

 H. Dodds. .Tohn W. Everett. .Anton Bauer, James Stuart and 

 William Robertson were apiioiiitcd with power to make all ar- 

 rangements. The committee was successful in securing a collec- 

 tion of valuable prizes, and the tournament was a pronounced 

 success. 



At the meeting of the Executive Board held at the Grand Cen- 

 tral Prflace during the International Flower Show it was decided 

 thatithc invitation from the Horticultural Society of New York 

 be accepted to hold our annual convention in New York City in 

 conjunction with the flower sImiw of the Horticultural .Society. 



till' Miciety nil,.] ing tu provide meeting rooms, etc., free of expense. 



It was also decided to accept the ijivitation of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society to hold the summer meeting of the 

 E.xecutive Board in Boston during the show of the American 

 Sweet Pea Society. 



Your secretary was instructed to carry out the plans pre- 

 viously suggested by him to establish a service bureau where 

 deserving members might file their applications and to which 

 owners, superintendents and gardeners of estates may look to 

 secure ca])able men of the profession. The bureau was ordered to 

 be maintained along strict lines, and that it should not be con- 

 ducted as an agency to provide for the shiftless men in the pro- 

 fession habitually out of jobs. 



The summer meeting of the Executive Board held in Boston on 

 July 12 was slimly attended, and only routine business of the 

 association was disposed of. Following the adjournment of the 

 meeting the m.embers present became the guests of the Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Club of Boston at the banquet at the Copiev Square 

 Hotel. r . 1 



A general meeting of the association was held at the Grand 

 Central Palace, New York, during the International Flower Show. 

 April 7, 1913, and was well attended by many distant members. 

 The meeting was addressed by President J. K." II. L. Farquhar, of 

 the .Society of American Florists; W. J. Kennedy, president of the 

 (Sardeners' and Florists' Club of Boston, and James Shields, a 

 director of the N. A. G., from Monticello, III. 



The time has arrived to take up for serious consideration some 

 of the problems ^\hich confront the gardening profession in this 

 country. The N. A. G. is now thoroughly organized, the etiorts 

 of the officers having been directed to accomplish this during the 

 past two years. Their efforts should now be directed to other 

 channels, and your secretary offers the suggestion that various 

 committees be appointed to take up the different problems of the 

 gardener and to report with recommendations at the next annual 

 meeting. Also that every member of the association be invited 

 to co-operate with the officers by presenting any suggestions or 

 recommendations which may be for the benefit of the profession 

 as a whole. There is a future ahead for the profession of gar- 

 dening in this country equal to any opportunities ever held out 

 to any other profession, and it rests entirely with the men of 

 the profession whether they want to take advantage of these 

 opportiuiities or not. Some of the older gardeners may not bene- 

 fit by the future possibilities, but what efforts they may now 

 put forth will accrue to the benefit of the younger generation of 

 gardeners, and it is our duty to help those who come after us 

 as we have been helped by those who have gone before us. 



The oervioe bureau which was organized immediately after 

 the International Flower SIiow should receive further and more 

 thoughtful attention. The majority of responses tliat have come 

 to it so far are applications from young men at present engaged 

 as assistants, many of them praeticallj' beginners in the profes- 

 sion, all seekiu;; head gardeners' positions. Many inquiries have 

 come to hand for assistants in first-class positions olfering good 

 compensation, but it was only possible to fill a few of them owing 

 to a lack of applications for such positions. Several head gar- 

 deners' positions were filled. The service bureau of the N. A, G. 

 if it is to prove successful must be careful in its selections. It 

 cannot ]dace an assistant as head gardener until he is thoroughly 

 qualified for such position, and applicants should realize this. 



Your secretary recommends that an appropriation be made to 

 make it possible to place a card in two or three of the leading 

 periodicals circulating among that class of people who employ 

 gardeners to make them familiar with our service bureau and tro 

 acquaint them with the fact that they may look to it to secure 

 reliable and capable men for any department of horticulture or 

 floriculture. 



Your secretary ventures to suggest that an essay committee 

 be established to draw out the younger men in the profession 

 and to encourage them to take up the pen to contribute to the 

 advancement of horticulture. A suitable reward for the best 

 written essays received by the committee would produce an in- 

 terest and undoubtedly some suitable prizes would be forthcom- 

 ing were such a campaign iiromotcd. 



A closer afiiliation between the National Association of Gar- 

 deners and the local gardeners' clubs and societies, such as now 

 exists between the national associations of other professions and 

 their local societies, would be productive of immeasurable benefit 

 to the hardening ])rofcs-.ion, for in unity there is strength. This 

 subject'^should lie carefully considered and diseusseil anmug the 

 "ardenin" fraternity at its local meetings looking towards devis- 



