74fi 



OARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



MR. CAMERON : There is notliing perfect in this world. 

 If this Association were perfect, we would soon tire of it, just 

 as we would get tired of and lose interest in a perfect garden. 



I have been a member of this Association for a number of 

 years and it has always been my contention that we get out of 

 this organization just what we put into it. If the dues were 

 ten or fifteen dollars. I would be quite willing to pay thein. 

 It seems to me that this is a most opportune time for us to 

 get on the right basis. If this .\ssociation is worth anything, 

 it certainly is worth five dollars a year to every single member, 

 and he will probably get much more than that out of it. 



Another thing, why is it that gardeners' advertisements ap- 

 pear in trade papers instead of in our own oapers? It is a 

 fact that very few advertisements are put in The Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. In Boston for about six or seven years they were 

 not supposed to sell to private gardeners, but still a good many 

 of them have been doing it. I think it would indeed be a mis- 

 take if we did not discuss this entire situation and thrash every- 

 thing out right here and now. 



SECRET.\RV EBEL: Some of the New Jersey owners, those 

 located in the vicinity of New York, have the benefit of drawing 

 on New York to meet their demands for men, but a gardener 

 in some other place might like to come down and they would 

 not be willing to pay his expenses. I don't feel like sending word 

 to a man and saying, "I have a position here, but I can't promise 

 to take you when you get here and you will have to come at 

 your own expense." How many would come, under those con- 

 ditions? The New York owner says there ought to be enough 

 men around without having the expense of getting gardeners to 

 come from a distance. I have filled positions in Louisville and 

 had the estate owner come on especially to interview gardeners. 

 After he had interviewed them, he finally sent word to me that 

 I ought to know what he wanted better than he did himself, 

 in fact, I had to fill two positions that way. In the office, I have 

 people calling me up on the 'phone all the time. 



Now, the argument yesterday about the quarantine. That was 

 all pre-arranged. I said when there was nothing doing some- 

 body should get up an argument and that would start the racket 

 going. There was a lady here who will report back to her 

 society, which is a strong one, what she heard here, that the 

 Association is for it rather than against. The gentlemen who 

 started the argument simply got everybody confused in the hall. 



Now, the success of the Association to some extent depends 

 upon the Service Bureau. I ain trying to find all the positions 

 we can and to fill them with satisfaction. I only recall one up 

 in Massachusetts, where a woman was dissatisfied with a man, 

 but I understand she took a second man from another place. 

 That is the only case that I know of where an estate owner 

 was dissatisfied with a member of the Association. It may be 

 that some of the other members know of some, but that is the 

 only record we have. 



PRESIDENT CR.A.IG : This man w'as recommended by this 

 Association and I stood back of him. The employer was a very, 

 very finicky lady. She took in another man to work in the 

 nursery as an assistant in the orchid house. He petered out as 

 I knew he would. They had taken in a man as head gardener 

 who knew less than the man who had just left. They gave the 

 man leaving the preference of staying as second man under the 

 other man. 



MR. M.\CKINTOSH: There is a matter that hasn't been 

 brought up, and that is advertising. How much do you fellows do 

 to help advertising? Was it Mr. Cameron -who stated that in 

 The Florists' Exchange, The American. Florist and The Florist's 

 Rez'icm there are columns of professional gardeners advertising 

 for positions? The G.\rdeners' Chronicle is the Association's 

 organ. You know the paper can only exist on the advertising 

 matter. The paper for The G.vrdeners' Chronicle costs about 

 all the money that paper brings in without any printing that is 

 done, and that is what we pay for. It is the advertisements that 

 pay for the paper. 



MR. STEWART : In my mind the Service Bureau is getting 

 to be a larger job than a one-man job. I am sure Mr. Ebel 

 has done his very best in the years that have gone by, but I 

 believe the time will come when he needs some real assistance 

 instead of criticising him as we are today. We who are doing 

 outside work ought to try to devise ways and means to give 

 him assistance. It is true that the local societies have commit- 

 tees, but that does not debar our trying to find some other way 

 of giving him assistance, having someone at Boston, Newport, 

 Chicago, Cleveland, and so on, to give Mr. Ebel a little help 

 that he may need in reference to the Service Bureau. 



MR. GR.\Y : In Newport we have suggested how they should 

 help out in this matter and I' just want to give you the idea of 

 having a committee to endorse the applicants. That might be 

 of help to Mr. Ebel in the selection of men for positions. He 

 can get the information about them from the location they come 

 from. It would be a good way to keep poor men out of the 

 orga lization and help Mr. Ebel wonderfully. I know he men- 



tioned that he takes a record of the men from references which 

 he gets from their employers. If Mr. Ebel could say these men 

 had had the endorsement of some people up in their communities 

 who are professional gardeners it would help. 



MR. GRAY: Does not our Service Bureau take the place of 

 advertising in The Chronicle? 



SECRET.A.RY EBEL : I never like to take a man's money 

 unless I feel I can give him returns. I don't think The Chroni- 

 cle would help in that way. If any member of the Association 

 in search of a position, will simply advise the Bureau we will 

 do what we can to help him, but I don't think to put an ad- 

 vertisement in The G.^vrdener's Chronicle for a position would 

 get any result. Of course, that is talking against the interests 

 of the paper. 



MR. CAMERON : I think that is poor policy because there 

 are many gardeners that are asked to fill positions. Sometimes 

 they don't know of good men to put into positions, and if they 

 saw the advertisements in The Chronicle I think it might give 

 those men a preference over others. I think that paper ought 

 to take advertisements. 



SECRET.-\RY EBEL: If any of you gentlemen know of good 

 positions, or know of good gardeners, refer them to the Service 

 Bureau. 



MR. CAMERON : What il the Service Bureau does not have 

 anybody? 



SECRETARY EBEL: If you are a inember of the National 

 Association of Gardeners, you will be co-operating with the 

 Service Bureau. If you advertise in outside papers, the mem- 

 bers would lose by it. 



MR, C.\MERON: I think we should help the paper along. 



MR. COLLINS: I have heard a great deal of the National 

 Association of Gardeners on the road and running the Service 

 Bureau in particular. A great many men you run across, when 

 you mention the National Association to them, will bring up 

 the Service Bureau right away. They will tell you about some 

 experience they have had. While there may be some reason 

 for some of the criticism, we should try to devise the ways 

 and means for the elimination of that criticism. That will be a 

 great satisfaction to a great many of the members. I cannot 

 offer any solution — I know of none — but I think there are men 

 enough here to find ways and means for devising a better system 

 than we have. 



PRESIDENT CRAIG: All those in favor of accepting the 

 Committee's report on the Service Bureau, signify by saying 

 "Aye"; opposed. "No." 



. . . The motion to accept the Committee's report was 

 carried . . . 



PRESIDENT CRAIG: We have three other committee re- 

 ports to come before us this morning. I wish to push this thing 

 right along. Next is the report of the Committee on Interesting 

 Young Men in the Gardening Profession. 



Report of Committee on Training Young Men 



At a meeting of the Committee on the Education of young Gar- 

 deners' lield at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Saturday, March 

 19th. the_ following outline of a course of instruction was drafted 

 and is olfered as a tentative scheme for the education of garden- 

 ers. Suggestions and criticisms are invited. 



A. Entrance Rcquirentents. 



1. Age limit 18-25 years. 



2. A'ot less than two years' practical experience in a 

 garden or nursery, or other plant growing establish- 

 ment approved by the National Association of Gar- 

 deners. 



3. Personality to be acceptable to Secretary of N. A. G. 

 and to school authorities. 



B. Course of Study to occupy two years. 



1. Actual practical work not less than four hours per diem. 



2. Lecture and study periods not more than four hours 



per diem. 



C. Courses of lectures as follows : — 



1. Plant Propagation. Seeds, cuttings, division, layering, 

 grafting, etc. 



2. Soils and Fertilizers. Kinds and characteristics of soils. 

 Use of organic and inorganic fertilizers. 



3. General Floriculture. Cultivation of ornainental plants 

 indoors and out. Principles of greenhouse manage- 

 ment. Culture of annuals, biennials, perennials, roses, 

 bulbs, tubers, etc. Floral decoration. 



4. Olericulture. Cultivation of vegetables and salads out- 

 doors and under glass. 



5. Pomology. Cultivation of fruits out-doors and under 

 glass. Pruning, etc. 



6. Dendrology. Cultivation of trees and shrubs. Nursery 

 practice, pruning, tree preservation. 



7. Principles of Landscape Gardening. 



8. Plant Materials. Flowering, trees, shrubs and other 

 plants used in landscape design. 



