264 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Address of Robert Cameron, President of National 



Association of Gardeners 



Delivered at the Annual Convention in Boston 



LET me welcome yon to our city. Some of you liave been here 

 before but at that tune our Association was merely a hondful 

 of men compared with what it is today. The Association has 

 grown with leaps and bounds. We have members in almost every 

 state of the Union, and some of you have come a very long dis- 

 tance. I assure you that you have come to a city that welcomes 

 you and here in the vicinity of this city you will see some of the 

 oldest gardens in this country. In this building (Horticultural 

 Hall) you will see paintings of men who were remarkable horti- 

 culturists. Let me ask you to look earnestly at these paintings of 

 men who in their day were masters of their specialties. In this 

 building you wmH find the largest horticultural library in the world. 

 It is not only the largest, but it contains the oldest and rarest books 

 on horticulture. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society has just 

 published a catalog of the books in the library I have been telling 

 you about. It is conceded by authorities in this country and also 

 those of Europe, to be the most complete library catalog that has 

 ever been published. Therefore. I say to you members who have 

 come from a distance that if you did not sec anything else in the 

 way of horticulture, but what is to be seen in this building, vou 

 would be well rewarded in coming here. 



We could have held our meetings at the Brunswick Hotel, our 

 headquarters, but to some of us this old Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society, that has done so much for the uplifting of horti- 

 culture in this country, is held sacred and undoubtedly our meet- 

 ings with such surroundings will be more successful than if held 

 anywhere else in this city. Therefore, it is with this spirit of 

 intense love of gardening that we welcome you to the Hub of 

 Horticulture. 



When you were invited last year in Xcw York to come to 

 Boston, the members from this section had little thought at tliat 

 time of the destruction that a New England Winter could accom- 

 plish to some of the finest estates in Massachusetts. Some of the 

 estates w-hich we had intended, at that time to show vou had to 

 be given up entirely, owing to the destruction of the line trcj., 

 which spoiled the beauty of these estates for the time being. An 

 ice storm of such severity was never known of in this section 

 before. On our visiting days you will still see some of the hor- 

 rible destruction of this ice storm and I know then that many 

 of you will be pleased that you haven't to garden under such 

 difficulties as gardeners who live and work along these bleak 

 shores. Fortunately, along the seashore, the effect of the ice 

 storm was not felt so severely, consequently it was decided to 

 show you some estates along the Xorth Shore which I hope you 

 will enjoy seeing. 



_ Throughout the country during the past year business condi- 

 tions have not improved greatly. Consequently our profession has 

 suffered somewhat from that cause. One particular outstanding 

 cause for so few new large estates being developed at this time 

 is the outrageous prices nurserymen are charging for plants. The 

 injury that is being done to our profession is serious and until a 

 law is passed to protect customers from such scandalous prices, 

 gardening and horticulture of every description is to suffer. There 

 is no real reason for this condition as labor is plentiful and a 

 good deal cheaper. Our aim as professional gardeners is the 

 beautifying of the country, therefore, our association should do 

 its utmost to get the material such as plants, at reasonable jirices 

 so that everyone who so desires can obtain them to beautifx- their 

 homes. Quarantine Bill Xo. 37 is one of the best things that has 

 happened in a century to enable the nurserymen to get rich (|uick. 

 This has given them an excuse for the unreasonable prices with 

 the pretext that there are not enough plants to supply the demand. 



The love of horticulture is steadily increasing and never before 

 has there been any better exhibitions of such popular plants as 

 Peony. Irises, Phloxes. Roses. Gladioli and Dahlias. The attend- 

 ance at these exhibitir.ns has been very large. A most wonderful 

 exhibition of native plants was staged by the President of tlic 

 Massachusetts Horticultural .Society. Mr. A. C. Burrage. This 

 was a unique exhibition and drew the largest attendance of any 

 horticultural show that has Ix-en staged in this country. It was 

 open to the public for ten days and S.l.fXX) people attended this 

 comprehensive, instructive and wonderful exhibition. Xew York. 

 Philadelphia, Chicago. Indianapolis and many other cities and 

 towns have had wonderful exhibitions of outdoor and indoor 

 plants and flowers, thus indicating that there is no lack of en- 

 thusiasm in gardening throughout this country. 



There were quite a number of men in the early part of the year 

 looking for em(>loyment. Owing to the economic conditions of 

 the country there were not .so many positions fdled as was an- 

 ticipated. The reason for so many asking for changes was brough'. 

 about largely on account of many of the large estates reducing 



the number of men in their uniployincnt. thus making it in many 

 instances almost impossible; for superintendents and head gardeners 

 to run the estates with credit to themselves. Our country at the 

 present moment is suffering acutely from coal and railway strikes 

 and the outlook at the present time is anything but encouraging 

 to those having large greenhouses on their estates. 



There is one thing that *-e all ought to feel proud of and that 

 is that there isn't a .semUance of a union in our association. 

 This is a ptiint that we ought to impress at all times when there 

 is an opportunity on the public that the motives and aims of the 

 .Association are to develop greater interest in horticulture and 

 to bring about a closer bohdship amongst all engaged and inter- 

 ested in gardening. To so "elevate the standard of the profession 

 of gardenin.g that those who engage in it will command respect 

 not only from those who employ them, but from all others. 



The local branches of the Association are of great benefit to 

 the gardeners who live in -.the vicinity where a local branch is 

 located. At the meetings of the branch, matters of importance 

 may be discussed and later, on may be taken up at the annual 

 convention. There are now. four local branches and undoubtedly 

 there will be many more in the near future. These local branches 

 are especially useful if a convention is to be held in a city where 

 a local branch is located. I would strongly urge members to 

 form more local branches over the entire country. 



Young assistant gardeners are no more plentiful than they 

 have been of late years. In previous times Great Britain, Ger- 

 many, Switzerland, France and other European countries kept 

 us well supplied, but since the World War there is a decided 

 shortage. Young American boys have not taken kindly to gar- 

 dening under the old way of training. It gives me great pleasure 

 to announce at this time that the Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 

 lege at Amherst, in co-operation with the National Association of 

 Gardeners, has made arrangements whereby a special course of 

 training for gardeners is to' be established. The Massachusetts 

 .Agricultural College will conduct the theoretical instruction, while 

 the X^'ational Association of Gardeners will take the responsibility 

 of seeing that the training in the practical work is carried on 

 properly. The course of training is planned with the expectation 

 of fitting men for practical gardening, either as commercial 

 florists, nurserymen or as gardeners on estates, foremen and 

 superintendents in parks. 



The gardener of the future has not only to have a practical 

 training, but he must have a good grip of theoretical knowledge 

 which can only be obtained properly in a course of instruction 

 such as is to be given at .Amherst Colle.ge. The first .students are 

 to be admitted on September 27, 1922. I would ask members to 

 try and interest boys who are interested in gardenin.g to take up 

 this course at .Amherst and to give them all the encouragement 

 possible. 



The Massachusetts County .Agricultural Schools are turnin.g out 

 useful toys and many of them are interested in gardening. I 

 liavc had several of them and they have given good satisfaction. 

 Huring our ses.sions these courses will be discussed and I have no 

 doubt many new useful ideas will be obtained. 



Throughout the country there is evidence that the public is 

 being aroused at the wanton destruction of our native llowers and 

 plants. Clubs and societies arc urging their members to do all 

 in their power to protect the native llora. Let our Association 

 go on record as opposed to t'lc ruthless and thoughtless pulling 

 aiul destroying of our native .flowers and i)lants along our road- 

 sides by automobilists and others. Let us also protest against 

 the destruction of our beautiful I.iurel and other Christmas greens 

 for decorations. 



Our .Association should continue to place itself on record as 

 opposed to Quarantine Bill X'o. 37. I am like the nurserymen. I 

 have changed my viewpoint. At one time I believed this Quar- 

 antine No. 37 was the very best thing for our protection. 

 I have two reasons for changing my opinion of this bill. The 

 first is l)ecause some of our most lovely garden plants are de- 

 barred from entering this coulitry and the second is because we 

 have no protection from the prolileering nurseryman. If we bad 

 bad some protection from the5e unreasonable prices then I might 

 have a different opinion about this quarantine bill. If these 

 exorbitant prices continue, gardeners will be forced to start 

 nurseries on the estates where they work, \yhat we want are 

 well grown plants at less money and more gardens. 



.School gardening is of immense value, not nlily to the children 

 but to the jiarcnts also. What the children are taught about gar- 

 dening creates a love for horticulture and in this way the beautify- 



(Cnnliiiitcd I'll l'iii;i' 275) 



