for December, 1920 



407 



National Association of Gardeners I 



J Omce: 286 FIFTH AVE., NEW YOKK | 



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President — L. P. Jensen, St. Louis, Mo. 

 Vice-President — D. L. Mackintosh, Alpine, New Jersey. 

 Secretary — M. C. Ebel, 286 Fifth Ave., New York. 

 Treasurer— T. W. Head, Red Bank, X. J. 



TRUSTEXS (For 1920)— Peter Duff, William Waite, Arthur Smith, New- 

 Jersey ; Robert Weeks, Ohio; W. H. Griffiths, Michigan. 



DIRECTORS (To serve until 1921)— William N. Craig, Massachusetts; 

 William Hertrick, California; William Gray, Rhode Island; G. Hennen- 

 hofer, Montana; Thomas Hatton. Connecticut; Albin Martini, Iowa; A. 

 C. Jordahn, Florida. (To serve until 1922)— George Wilson, Illinois; James 

 Stuart, New York; William Kleinheinz, Pennsylvania; John F. Huss, 

 Connecticut; Edwin Jenkins, Massachusetts; Carl N. Fohn, Colorado; 

 Joseph Tansey, New York. (To serve until 1923)— Robert Williamson, 

 Ojrmecticut; Robert Cameron, Massachusetts; Theodore Wirth, Min- 

 nesota; George H. Pring, Missouri; George W. Hess, District of Colum- 

 bia; Daniel J. CoughJin, New York; John Barnet, Pennsylvania. 



NEW SUSTAINING MEMBERS 



Xew York — Mrs. J. J. Albright, George F. Baker, Edwin S. Bayer, 

 Albert Clayburgh, W. R. Coe, Mrs. F. A. Constable, Paul D. Cravath, 

 Mrs. \\'. Bayard Cutting, Cleveland H. Dodge, Mrs. David Dows, Frank 

 J. Dupignac, Mrs. Coleman du Font, Childs Frick, \V. H. Gratwick, Daniel 

 Guggenheim, Mrs. W. D. Guthrie, Mrs. William P. Hamilton, Mrs. John 

 Henry Hammond, T. A. Havemeyer, Mrs. L. A. Hermann, B. H. Howell, 

 C. t). Iselin, Otto H. Kahn, Mrs. Frank B. Keech, W. Eugene Kimball, 

 Adolph Lewisohn, John Magee, Mrs. Julius McVicker, Morton H. Mein- 

 hard. Mrs. Eugene Meyer, Jr., J. Pierpont Morgan, Mrs. J. Pierpont 

 .Morgan, Stanley G. Mortimer, Mrs. Harold I. Pratt, John T. Pratt, E. F. 

 Price, Mrs. William A. Read, H. D. Roosen, Charles A. Sherman, Mrs. 

 Samuel Sloan, Benjamin Stern, Mrs. W. Stursberg, Daniel Tatum, Mrs. 

 R. M. Thompson, Mrs. Edwin Thorne, Mrs. Henry M, Tilford, Carll 

 Tucker, Samuel Untermyer, Mrs. Payne Whitney. Nezv Jersey — .\. .\lbright, 

 Jr., Charles A. Bradley, Joseph P. Day, James B. Duke, Mrs. Lewis L. 

 Dunham, Mrs. Frederick Frelmghuysen, Mrs. Charles Guggenheimer, Mrs. 

 Gustav E. Kissel. C. Lewis, Mrs. Paul Moore, Hubert T. Parson, Mrs. 

 Manuel Rionda, Mrs. John I. Waterbury. Pennsylvania — Samuel T. Bodine, 

 (Jen. Richard t'oulter, Mrs. J. D. Lyons, R. B. Mellon, Gifford Pinchot. 

 George K. Tyler, Edward A. Woods. Delaware — Irenee du Pont, Pierre S. 

 du Pont. Conneeticnt — E. C. Converse. Dr. and Mrs. Tracy Farnam. 

 George M. Hendee, Miss A. B. Jennings. W. H- Truesdale, William Ziegler, 

 Jr. Rhode Island — Gov. R. Livingston Beeckinan, George P. W'etmore. 

 Massachusetts — Harry E. Converse, Mrs. Henry C. Frick, Mrs. Louis Froth- 

 ingham, C. H. Hutchins, Mrs. C. G. Rice, Prof. C. S. Sargent. Mrs. J. A. 

 Spoor. Ohio — F. F. Drury, H. S. Firestone, Mrs. Frances F. Prentiss, 

 John L. Severance, H. S. Sherman, H. L. Thompson. Indiana — Theodore 

 F. Thieme. Michigan — E. D. Speck, J. B. Schlotman. Illinois — A. Watson 

 Armour, Harry B. Clow, .-\. B. Dick, Clayton Mark, Mrs. F. W. Upham. 

 H''isconsin — F. D. Countiss. Minnesota — Mrs. Chester A. Congdon, A. C. 

 Loring. Iowa — Mrs. G. B. Douglas. Missouri — August -\. Busch,. Dr. 

 George T. Moore. Virginia — Miss Grace E. Arents. \\\ Virginia — Mrs. 

 Arthur Lee. Kentuck\. — F. M. Sackett. Georgia— C. H. Candler, E. H. 

 Inman. 



NEW SUSTAINING MEMBERS 



Carll Tucker, Mt. Kisco, X. V.; Gcor.i^c l\ Tyler, Elkins Park, 

 Pa.; Mrs. Frank B. Keech, Tuxedo Park, N. 'Y. ; John Magee, 

 -Mt. Kisco, X. Y. (Henry Prideaux, gardener), have become 

 sustaining members of the association. 



NEW MEMBERS. 



The following new mcinlicrs havi- luiMi recently added to our 

 membership list: Archie Campell, Brooklyn, X. Y.; Irving Scho- 

 ticld, West Orange, X. J.; Frederick C. Sorgc, Deal Beach, N. 

 J.; Carl F. Eicke, Watson, Ark.; William II. Ward, .\storia, 

 L I.; George Stewart, Garden City, L. I. 



AMONG THE GARDENERS. 



Frederick W. Sparks resigned his position as superintendent 

 of the A. B. Dick estate, Lake Forest, 111., to accept a similar 

 position on the estate of Mrs. Juliuc Roscnwald, Ravinia. 111., 

 assuming charge February 1. 



Herbert H. Fletcher, gardener to C. F. Dietrich, Millbrook, 

 X. ^ . for the last twenty years, resigned his position to accept 

 the position of head gardener on the new estate of L. B. Tow!, 

 Newton, Mass. 



James Clunas secured the position of head gardener to Mrs. 

 William Grosvenor. Xcwport, R. 1. 



William H. Ward accepted the position of superintendent on 

 the estate of Robert Jones, Madalin, X. Y. 



Robert McLaren secured the position of superintendent on 

 the II. M. Wallis estate. Racine, Wis., having previously been 

 in charge of the landscape development work. 



Gustav Hamclin secured the position of gardener to Mrs. 

 Helen Hartley Jenkins, Xorfolk, Conn. 



WARNING AGAINST AN UNSCRUPULOUS PRAC- 

 TICE. 



It has come to the attention of the Service Bureau of the 

 association several times recently that men not members of the 

 association, learning that the Service Bureau had the filling of 

 a position, applied, representing that they had been sent by the 

 association. Unless an applicant can present a proper introduc- 

 tion from the secretary, a stateme.it that he has been instructed 

 to apply by the association or its Service Bureau, should not 

 be acceptable. 



PROFESSIONAL EXAMINATIONS FOR GARDENERS, 



Secretary, National Association of Gardeners: 



SIXCE reading the report of the St. Louis Convention I 

 had intended to write to you on the above matter in time 

 for the Xovember issue, but other matters supervened. 



Upon the surface, the general report, so far as it covered this 

 question as it came before the Convention, cannot be looked upon 

 as being anything but one-sided. A full report of the recommen- 

 dations against professional examinations was published, but the 

 report of the recommendations in favor of them was limited to 

 the statement that they contained nothing tangible in the way of 

 an operating plan. I have not had the opportunity of reading the 

 recommendations of the Xewport branch as it was not published. 

 (The Xewport branch recommendations were published in the 

 March issue of the Gardener'.s Chronicle. — Editor.! As regards 

 my own, I have always been under the impression that a tangible 

 plan is one that is capable of being carried out. One reason why 

 I consider the plan I set forth tangible is because it w'as the same 

 in principle as that in use by the United States— not European- 

 Civil Service, for examinations in horticulture in connection with 

 the United States Department of Agriculture; this being, that 

 questions are set upon the principles and practice of gardening 

 for candidates to answer upon paper. Certainlv a very simple 

 and easily carried out method in which it is irnpossible to find 

 anything intangible. 



So far as one can gather from the report, it does not appear 

 that the real question was discussed upon its merits at all, as 

 instead of advancing one logical reason against the principle itself, 

 those opposing it contented themselves with bringing forward 

 excuses as to why it could not be carried out. The fundamentals 

 of the practice of gardening are the same all over the world, and 

 the idea is quite a mistaken one that gardening is an entirely 

 different thing in one part of the country from what it is in 

 another. As a matter of fact, a truly professional gardener would 

 be as much at home in Florida as he would be in Maine ; he would 

 have no more trouble in being successful along the Pacific coast 

 than lie would along the .\tlantic. It is true that a man going 

 from Xorth to South, or from East to West, would have to 

 handle some different species of plants, but no one has any right 

 to call himself a professional gardener if he knows nothing more 

 about it than is necessary to grow plants limited to one county 

 in one State. In the South, a man would be able to grow out of 

 doors subjects which perhaps he had only handled under glass 

 in the Xorth ; the successful rosarian of the East would find parts 

 of the State of Oregon so ideal for roses that his success there 

 would be obtained with the minimum of trouble. It is only those 

 .gardeners whose practice is based upon rule of thumb who would 

 find any difficulty in adapting themselves to a new environment. 

 Further, there is in sonic States as much difference in climatic 

 conditions within the borders of one State as is covered by several 

 degrees of Latitude and a man must have made very poor use 

 of his time if his knowledge of climatology is limited to the 

 climatic conditions of one State or township. To carry the 

 excuse about haying different examinations for different parts of 

 the country to its logical conclusion would entail not only dif- 

 ferent examinations for different States but also for ditTerent 

 counties within those States. y 



Because it was pointed out that the Royal Hortic .(tiral Society 

 of England bad for some ten years been holding examinations 

 for professional gardeners, a red herring was drawn across the 

 trail by the statement that examinations should be along .-\merican 

 lines and not European. It was never suggested that examina- 

 tions should be confined along European lines. ■ Are the I'nited 

 States Civil Service examinations in horticulture along European 



