February 16. 1918 



HORTICULTURE 



131 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS AND 

 ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURISTS 



Meeting of the Executive Board 



The Executive Board of the Society 

 of American Florists and Ornamental 

 Horticulturists held a meeting at the 

 Jefferson Hotel. St. Louis, Mo., on 

 Monday. January 21, 1918. This meet- 

 ing took Ihe place of the regular mid- 

 Lent meeting, the change of time be- 

 ing nece.5sitated through the change 

 of Convention dates. 



There were present: President Chas. 

 H. Totty, Madison, N. J.; Secretary 

 John Young, New York; Treasurer J. 

 J. Hess, Omaha, Nebr.; Ex-President 

 R. C. Kerr. Houston, Tex.; Washing- 

 ton Representative Wni. F. Gude; 

 Frank X. Stuppy, St. Joseph, Mo.; 

 Joseph A. Manda, West Orange, N. J.; 

 Chas. E. ■ Critchell. Cincinnati, Ohio; 

 Charles Schenck, President New York 

 Florists' CUib; Fred Lautenschlager, 

 Chicago Florists' Club; Benjamin 

 Hammond, president American Rose 

 Society. There were also present: 

 Henry Penn, Boston, Chairman Pub- 

 licity Committee; George Asmus, 

 Chicago, chairman National Flower 

 Show Committee and Publicity Fi- 

 nance Committee; Herman P. Knoble, 

 Cleveland, Ohio; and J. J. Beneke, St. 

 Louis. 



In opening the meeting President 

 Totty pointed out that the delibera- 

 tions of the Board would, in view of 

 general conditions, be more momen- 

 tous than had ever been the case be- 

 fore. In behalf of the emergency com- 

 mittee appointed to act for the So- 

 ciety in the matter of the coal ques- 

 tion, Wm, F. Gude made a long verbal 

 report, dealing with the hearing given 

 in Washington to twenty-two members 

 of the committee, an account of which 

 was published in the trade papers. 

 Mr. Gude made it plain that the Gov- 

 ernment expected the florists to con- 

 serve coal to the extent of at least 

 one-thirl of their regular consumption, 

 and the Fael Commission wanted some 

 assurance from the Society, as a rep- 

 resentative body, that the florist trade 

 was willing to make the curtailment 

 required of it. Several letters and 

 telegrams from florists were read by 

 the secretary, all expressing a willing- 

 ness to meet requirements. The dis- 

 cussion of the question was long and 

 earnest, and resulted in the appoint- 

 ment of Messrs. Gude, Young and 

 Schenck as a committee to report a 

 resolution for transmission to the Coal 

 Commission at Washington by wire. 



Secretary Young read a letter from 

 Prof. F. L. Mulford, of the Bureau of 

 Plant Iniustry, requesting the co-oper- 

 ation of the Board in an appeal for 

 Rose varieties for planting in the Na- 

 tional Rose Test Garden, and, the 

 Board 'oted to co-operate with the 

 committee in charge of the garden in 

 every po.~sible way. The matter of the 

 need of some regulations governing 

 the registration of new plants and 

 flowers, so that those registered should 

 at least nave sufficient importance to 

 make recognition desirable, was re- 

 ferred to the 1918 Convention. 



Henry Penn, as chairman of the 

 Publicity Committee, read a report 

 showing the progress of the campaign 

 for publicity for flowers since the joint 

 meeting of the Publicity and Publicity 

 Finance Committees in Cleveland last 

 December, at which meeting $20,000 

 was appropriated for immediate needs, 

 and instructions given to the O'Keefe 

 Advertising Agency. Boston, to place 

 the advertising contracts. Mr. Penn 

 exhibited proofs of the advertisements 

 prepared up to date, and other mat- 

 ter which was to be provided for flor- 

 ists in order that they might, through 

 local newspaper advertising, tie up 

 with the campaign, their own adver- 

 tising having especial reference to the 

 advertisements in the magazines. 



Chairman George Asmus of the Pub- 

 licity Finance Committee reported at 

 some length as to the finances of the 

 publicity campaign, and working plans 

 as regards the obtaining of subscrip- 

 tions. Finally, on motion, the Board 

 endorsed the work of the Publicity 

 Committee, and its plans for future 

 action; and a further motion accepted 

 the reports presented and directed 

 that they be made part of the records 

 of the meeting. 



Secretary Young presented his finan- 

 cial report for the year ending Dec. 

 31, 1917, pnd the report of the audi- 

 tors confirming the correctness of 

 same. Treasurer Hess also presented 

 his financial report. Mr. Gude, for 

 the Committee on Tariff and Legisla- 

 tion, reported that, on January 7, a 

 Bill had 1;een presented in Congress 

 prohibiting the importation of seeds, 

 plants ind other commodities, but 

 there was every reason to hope that 

 it would be killed in committee. 



From the report of Theodore Wirth, 

 chairman of the Convention Garden 

 Committee, the prospects for a suc- 

 cessful .garden at the Detroit Conven- 

 tion in 1919 were exceedingly bright. 

 Buildings and grounds had been of- 

 fered tree of charge, and conditions 

 seemed to be ideal. Benjamin Ham- 

 mond made a very enthusiastic re- 

 port for the Committee on School 

 Gardens. School garden work, he 

 stated, had increased with almost the 

 suddenno.iis of an earthquake. After 

 an interesting discussion. President 

 Totty, on motion of Mr. Gude, ap- 

 pointed .Messrs. Stuppy. Lautenschlag- 

 er and Hammond, a committee to draw 

 up resolutions in regard to encourag- 

 ing children everywhere to plant vege- 

 table gardens. The matter of the re- 

 lations of t!ie Society with Miss Jarvis, 

 originator of Mother's Day, was re- 

 ferred to the St. Louis Convention for 

 action. 



The Committee on Credits and Col- 

 lections Bureau, through R. C. Kerr, 

 reported progress. 



The audit committee recommended 

 that all levenue derived from interest 

 be diverted to the general fund, a.4 

 sug.^esterl by the treasurer. The re- 



port was, accepted and the recom- 

 mendation ordered carried out. 



On Tuesday morning, January 22, 

 after disposing of some routine busi- 

 ness. Chairman George Asmus of the 

 National Flower Show Committee 

 presented a resolution adopted by 

 the committee, under which the 

 recommendation was made that the 

 proposed National Flower Show in St. 

 Louis be postponed indefinitely, owing 

 to the general conditions prevailing. 

 The Board accepted the recommenda- 

 tion and a further motion was carried 

 expressing the wish of the Board that 

 the next National Flower Show be 

 held in St. Louis, and that this mo- 

 tion be submitted for the considera- 

 tion of Ihe National Flower Show- 

 Committee at its next meeting. In 

 order, however, that there might be 

 no misunderstanding as to the dates 

 for holding the Convention, the Board, 

 bv motion, re-affirmed the holding 

 dates as April 9, 10 and 11, 1918. 

 Messrs. Hess. Gude and Asmus were 

 appointed a committee to visit the 

 Recorder of Moolah Temple and make 

 such arrangement as they might find 

 possible in regard to the balance of 

 the lease entered into by the Society. 

 The preparation of the program for 

 the Convention was, by motion, placed 

 in the hands of the president, secre- 

 tary and vice-president. 



The usual appropriations were 

 made to the officers of the entomolog- 

 ist, pathologist, botanist, school garden 

 committee, committee on tariff and 

 legislation, the sergeant-at-arms at the 

 Convention, for clerical assistance to 

 secretary at the convention, and the 

 allowances to the secretary for super- 

 intendence of the trade exhibition and 

 sojourn in St. Louis. The Board real- 

 izing that the work of the secretary's 

 office would thenceforth be very great 

 and necessitate the whole time of the 

 secretary, the situation was fully dis- 

 cussed, and Mr. Young was consulted. 

 Finally the secretary was offered a 

 salary of $3,600 per annum, the same 

 to be irrespective of his income from 

 flower show management and other 

 official appointments. This Mr. Young 

 accepted and it was arranged that the 

 Publicity Promotion Bureau should 

 bear its preportionate share of the sal- 

 ary paid the secretary. 



At this point the Board took a re- 

 cess to visit Moolah Temple. 



Later in the afternoon the commit- 

 tee on program reported progress, and 

 many details suggested were discussed, 

 but action was deferred. It was de- 

 cided that cards of identification 

 would he issued to members, instead 

 of the customary official button. 



It appeared to the Board that some 

 change was necessary in regard to the 

 distribution of the volumes of Annual 

 Proceedings, and that, i:i view of the 

 largely increased postal rates on such 

 material, they should only be sent to 

 those who actually required them. 

 After considerable discussion, it was 



