August 22, 1914 



HORTICULTUBE 



281 



been faithful to their trusts and du- 

 ties, as their reports will reveal to 

 you. 



Our Flower Shows. 



I most earnestly believe that one of 

 the most helpful agents in the ad- 

 vancement of our profession and the 

 development of our interests is our 

 flower shows. The great successful 

 New York flower show of last March, 

 held by the horticultural interests of 

 that city, was made possible through 

 the national flower shows held pre- 

 viously in Chicago, Boston and New 

 York. We have no better means of get- 

 ting next to and educating the public, 

 our customers, to our aims, means and 

 powers, than through such demonstra- 

 tions of our skill and achievements. 

 Those shows are the best possible ad- 

 vertisement of our business, and the 

 competition and rivalry of profes- 

 sional skill stimulated through them 

 is our most efficient educator and 

 teacher. Therefore, I say, let us all 

 support our flower shows of national 

 and local character, to the best of our 

 ability. 



Mr. George Asmus, Chairman of the 

 National Flower Show Committee, re- 

 ports very promising prospects for the 

 next national flower show to be held 

 in Philadelphia in the spring of 1916, 

 and I wish to extend to him and his 

 co-workers the Society's thanks for 

 their faithful and successful work, and 

 congratulations for the progress al- 

 ready achieved. 



School Gardens. 



It is eminently proper that we 

 should try to exercise some influence 

 outside of our professional boundaries, 

 or in other words, spread the gospel of 

 gardening amongst laymen and their 

 people. Mr. Benjamin Hammond is 

 chairman of our School Garden Com- 

 mittee, and as such, has tried to reach 

 every city and village where there is a 

 florist, in his efforts to create and stim- 

 ulate an interest in school and home 

 gardening. If but a small number of 

 his appeals find a responsive chord, 

 much will have been accomplished 

 through his efforts and activity. Mr. 

 Hammond's enthusiasm induces me to 

 express the wish 'and hope that a 

 goodly portion of the essence of his 

 teaching will be absorbed with profit 

 by members of the Society under 

 whose banner he is making his laud- 

 able campaign. 



iNDrviDUAL Exhibits in 

 Coleus Bed by A. 



Convention Garden. 

 M. Davenport. 



Gardening, under one name or an- 

 other, above all, means order and 

 cleanliness, and I have often won- 

 dered why it is that so many of our 

 commercial establishments are such 

 striking examples of disorder, neglect 

 and ugliness, in place of order, neat- 

 ness and attractiveness. I have seen 

 some excellent examples of well-kept, 

 attractive commercial horticultural es- 

 tablishments in the vicinity of our 

 Convention City of today, and I hope 

 that they will bring home, to some 

 of these in need of this reminder, the 

 truthfulness of the saying, that "we 

 might with profit practice ourselves 

 what we try to teach." 



Tariff and Legislation. 

 As I am not engaged in the commer- 

 cial business of our trade, 1 believe 

 you will forgive me if I admit the fact 

 that 1 have given no special attention 

 to this part of my official duties. I feel 

 that my appointees to that important 

 committee are able, and have taken 

 good care of the interests entrusted to 

 their care. Our Society never had a 

 more efficient and faithful officer as 

 chairman of any committee, of whom 

 we could say with such propriety that 

 he is the right man in the right place. 





||;-iC3 ■ 



Individual Exhibits in Convention Garden. 

 Bed of Hyacinthus candicans by A. T. Boddlngton. 



as is our friend, William F. Gude, 

 Chairman of the Tariff and Legisla- 

 tion Committee and our Representa- 

 tive in Washington, D. C. his home 

 town. I venture to say that he has, at 

 all times, made all the hay he could 

 for us while the sun was shining, and 

 that every bit of it is under a water- 

 proof roof. 



The William R. Smith Memorial. 



We should indeed do our best to 

 erect an appropriate memorial to our 

 beloved departed leader and friend, 

 William Robertson Smith, to whose 

 efforts alone is due our possession of 

 a national charter, the only one ever 

 granted by the United States Congress 

 to any similar organization. 



Mr. W. F. Gude, Chairman, reports 

 that his committee is most favorably 

 inclined to recommend that this memo- 

 rial shall be in the form of a Horticul- 

 tural School or Garden conducted 

 along more practical lines than most 

 existing institutions of similar char- 

 acter have so far followed. To assist 

 in sucli a plan of practical education, 

 which would surely have met with the 

 approval of him whom we wish to hon- 

 or, would indeed be the most appropri- 

 ate form of tribute we could give to 

 him and his memory. 



Every horticulturist, professional 

 and amateur, employer and employee, 

 should willingly and readily contribute 

 his mite towards such a worthy object. 

 It behooves our organization to take 

 the lead in this movement, and 

 tlirough united action we shall earn 

 and receive the moral and financial 

 support of the National Government. 

 Many progressive and influential men 

 outside of our profession and from all 

 parts of the country, who are also 

 great admirers of the man whose mem- 

 ory we wish to perpetuate, will gladly 

 aid us. We cannot expect to carry out 

 so large and far-reaching an undertak- 

 ing through our own resources alone, 

 but we not only can but must take a 

 leading part in its launching as well 

 as in its development. For this work 

 we should prepare ourselves and 1 

 venture to make the following sugges- 

 tions: First— That the W. R. Smith 

 Memorial Committee be made a per- 



