282 



HORTICULTUEE 



August 22, 1914 



nianent standing committee, similar lu 

 appointment, service and number to 

 the National Flower Show Committee. 

 Second — That this committee be in- 

 structed, not only to further the finan- 

 cial and other interests pertaining to 

 the creation of a memorial as outlined, 

 but that it also formulate for its own 

 guidance a plan of work by which it 

 would become an acceptable advisory 

 board to the authorities under which 

 the W. R. Smith Memorial Garden or 

 School of Practical Horticulture would 

 eventually be conducted. Third — That 

 the committee be requested to con- 

 sider and report to the Society within 

 reasonable time the possibility and ad- 

 visability of creating a professorship, 

 to begin with, at some leading horti- 

 cultural school, to be endowed by our 

 Society, whose purpose would be to in- 

 augurate the practical methods and 

 means of teaching we desire to have 

 adopted at the proposed Memorial 

 School. 



That we shall get the moral and ac- 

 tive support of our National Govern- 

 ment in this or any other worthy un- 

 dertaking, if we go about it in a right, 

 business-like, progressive manner. I 

 feel doublv assured by the ready as- 

 sistance given us for the Rose Test 

 Garden now established on Govern- 

 ment land at Arlington Farms. 



Our Advisory Officers From Our 

 Different State Colleges. 



I wish it distinctly understood that 

 my suggestions in connection with the 

 proposed W. R. Smith School are 

 not intended to cast the least re- 

 flection upon the efficiency of any 

 one of the many excellent state 

 colleges which have rendered us in 

 the past service of inestimable value in 

 many directions. Besides the seiw- 

 ices rendered through their regular 

 courses of study of horticulture and its 

 branches, they have always given us 

 willing, efficient help through the hold- 

 ers of our official positions of botanist, 

 eiitomologist and plant pathologist. I 

 wish to call your special attention to 

 the suggestions offered in the com- 

 munication of Professor W. E. Free- 

 man, Plant Pathologist of the Univer- 

 sity of Minnesota. His suggestions, 

 in the main, embody the idea that we 

 ought to inaugurate a policy of perma- 

 nent constructive work in our scien- 

 tific researches entrusted to those offi- 

 cers. I believe he is absolutely right. 

 This work could eventually be "en- 

 trusted to the staff of the proposed 

 W. R. Smith School, which would in 

 itself be an assurance of the carrying 

 out of the policies suggested bv Pro- 

 fessor Freeman. 



Our Convention Gardens. 



I can truthfully say that in all my 

 professional life I have never experi- 

 enced more pleasure and satisfaction 

 than in the success of our Convention 

 Gardens. The willing, enthusiastic 

 and efficient work of our Boston 

 friends, and the support given by the 

 progressive exhibitors represented in 

 the outdoor plant exhibit at the last 

 and this year's Convention conclu- 

 sively prove to me that I am not mis- 

 taken in placing the value of those 

 gardens as secondary only to that of 

 our flower shows. 



Our trade exhibits are most valuable 

 and are, to a great extent the main 

 stay of our conventions, but I have 

 always felt that they are a trade ex- 



hibit pure and simple, interesting and 

 instructive only to the trade itself. 

 They show us all progress made from 

 year to year in everything we need in 

 our business in all its many details. 

 Our aims, how-ever, should go farther. 

 We must show ourselves and the 

 public as well, what we have achieved, 

 and we must educate the latter 

 through such appropriate exhibitions 

 to make use of our labors, our know- 

 ledge and our experience to improve, 

 beautify and- better the home sur- 

 roundings. We must show them how 

 it can be done. Our mission must be 

 to help them, and we cannot help them 

 without helping ourselves. 



I sincerely hope that the Convention 

 Garden will become a permanent feat- 

 ure of our conventions, and since it is. 

 as I believe it is. the adopted policy 

 of our Society to select its convention 

 cities from its own point of view of 

 possible advancement and benefit and 

 not from one of offered entertainment 

 ?nd outside attractions, I trust that 

 the possibilities offered by cities for 

 such a Convention Garden will always 

 be a strong factor in deciding w-here 

 the convention shall be held. I be- 

 lieve that the present method of finan- 

 cing this undertaking will, in most in- 

 stances be the most feasible one. and 

 that under all circumstances the So- 

 ciety should assume full responsibility 

 and control of it, financially and other- 

 wise. 



Affiliation. 



I have studiously gone through the 

 messages of my predecessors of the 

 last twelve years and find that this 

 problem has been in the mind of 

 most of them in one form or another. 

 My personal belief is that the different 

 kindred associations, organized for the 

 advancement of the specialized 

 branches of our profession to which 

 they are devoted, are better able to 

 tend to those interests than any ap- 

 pointed committee of the National So- 

 ciety possibly could be. 



Your Board of Directors has given 

 this important question very careful 

 consideration and I believe that the 

 plan submitted through the suggested 

 amendments to oui* constitution and 

 by-laws represents the best solution of 

 this long pending question, at least 

 for the present. I sincerely hope that 

 the great majority will approve the 

 plan as presented and that the recom- 

 mendation of the Board of Directors 

 be adopted. 



The main object of afBliation at this 

 time is to establish such relative and 

 representative connections between 

 the National Society, kindred associa- 

 tions and clubs as will afford united 

 action on questions of general im- 

 portance, and this I believe the pro- 

 posed amendments would bring about. 



L' Union Horticole Professionelle In- 

 ternationale. 



Through Mr. Leonard Barron our at- 

 tention has been called to the Inter- 

 national Association of Professional 

 Horticulturists of Europe, organized 

 for the purpose of protecting the in- 

 terests of commercial horticulture in- 

 volved in questions of tariff and other 

 legislation, and registering and nomen- 

 clature of plants, and all other matters 

 pertaining to the advancement and 

 protection of all branches of Horticul- 

 ture. 



Your Board of Directors recom- 

 mends that the S. A. P. & 0. H., apply 

 for membership in this organization, 

 the expense of which membership at 

 the time of consideration being $10.00 

 per year, but which fee will eventual- 

 ly be increased. The Board feels that 

 the Union is worthy and entitled to 

 our support and that sooner or later 

 wo might derive benefit from such as- 

 sociation. Each association member 

 of the union is entitled to be repre- 

 sented by two delegates, and it is pro- 

 posed that the S. A. F. & 0. H., be 

 represented by proxy or by such mem- 

 bers of our Society as may be in Eu- 

 rope at the time the Union meets in 

 congress, which would entail very lit- 

 tle expense, If any, on our Society. I 

 trust that the recommendation of the 

 Board of Directors wall meet with your 

 approval. 



State Vice-Presidents. 



Some of the vice-presidents have 

 made use of the financial aid granted 

 them through a small appropriation to 

 defray the expenses of a campaign in 

 behalf of the Society. I hope that the 

 results will prove satisfactory. 



I wish to repeat Ex-President Far- 

 quhar's excellent suggestion, that our 

 vice-presidents will be able to exercise 

 the greatest influence by calling meet- 

 ings in their respective territories and 

 by addressing such gatherings in be- 

 half of our Society on general topics 

 tending to advance our aims and in- 

 terests. 



Our Finances. 



Financially, our Society is in a 

 flourishing condition, and under the 

 watchful and experienced guidance of 

 our most efficient treasurer, Mr. Wil- 

 liam F. Kasting, our treasury will 

 grow in proportion to our numerical 

 strength and progressive policies. We 

 must not, however, let our prosperity 

 lead us into untimely or, from a fl- 

 nancial standpoint, premature under- 

 takings which will infringe on our cap- 

 ital or overtax our income. We should 

 build up our treasury, which is our 

 working fund, and keep it intact so 

 that eventually the income from the 

 capital will suffice to finance our un- 

 dertakings. 



The Name of Our Society. 



Our first president, to whom all who 

 have known him well refer with love, 

 profound respect and admiration, was 

 a gardener, and as I am also a gar- 

 dener I feel greatly honored and am 

 exceedingly proud of the distinction 

 conferred upon me in calling me to 

 the same office which he so ably filled 

 for the first three years of this Socie- 

 ty's existence. Since you have shown 

 me this confidence and your good will 

 and friendship in such a marked de- 

 gree, I am led to believe that you 

 will bear with me if I make a sug- 

 gestion which I fear will not meet 

 with general favor, but which I know 

 will find a responsive echo in the 

 minds and hearts of many of our most 

 progressive and liberal-minded mem- 

 bers, and which I believe will sooner 

 or later be most seriously considered 

 and finally adopted. 



Agriculture, in its broad translation, 

 means the cultivation of the ground 

 for the purpose of raising food for man 

 and beast. Horticulture stands for the 

 cultivation of a garden with three main 



