;m 



llulJTICULTUKE 



Aiik'iist 25, liti; 



The annual ri'i>ort of tho tronsnrcr 

 was noxi presonicil by J. J. lless, the 

 rollowln^ Ih'Iiik II hriof siiniinnry: 



TREASURER'S REPORT. 



Kndinc tVllll July Slut, 1017. 

 lliiliiiii->- rniih iiii biiiiil Jiiniiiiry 1. lUlT: 



I'rriiiuiii-nt Kuiid »:;i.4Sil.l4 



Uonprul PunJ J.VU;C>."S 



fl 1. 421 .02 



I(iM-<'l|iln: 



IVriiiaii.-iil Kiind »2.2S!1.»2 



Gciicnil KuiiU 4,4.'i8.70 



W.10K.82 



DlKBl'llSE^rENTS. 



r.cnertil Fund » 6,727.87 



roriiiiiiii'iit Kiinil 71..10 



VIS 4,340.44 



»11,144.81 



f(3,02S.01 

 Italanrc on liuiiil a» follows: 



UiiiikcllHT); Hoiiil 110(1 M'tic'H $.1,000.00 



City niitl Sub. Koalty Co L.'iOO.OO 



LIborty noiida 10.027.22 



Peoples* Hnnk 8,0.*<7.7.'i 



Kcal Kstate M'tB'e 12.08.'i.00 



German .^avlnjjs Itauk S01.r»2 



Gorman-.^iniTleau Bank .1.7ll5.n5 



Onialin National Bank 1.127,.'«7 



*4,'!,025.01 



The next business was the reading of 

 reports by \Vm. F. Gude as Washing- 

 ton representative and as chairman of 

 the Committee on Tariff and Legisla- 

 tion. 



REPORT OF THE WASHINGTON 

 REPRESENTATIVE. W. F. GUDE. 

 There have been many problems 

 submitted to me during the past 

 twelve months, some of them very 

 unusual and only affecting one or 

 more individuals, other matters of vi- 

 tal importance affecting, more or less, 

 all of our members. .Many of thase 

 matters are disposed of while other 

 questions take months of time and 

 much correspondence. 



Botanic Gardens. Since my last re- 

 port when the Society went on record 

 as favoring the maintenance of the 

 United States Botanic Garden in its 

 present location, I am happy to state 

 that through the indefatigable efforts 

 of the Honorable Jacob H. Gallinger, 

 United States Senator from New 

 Hampshire, a bill has passed the Sen- 

 ate authorizing the acquisition of the 

 two government reservations lying 

 just west of the Gardens, known as 

 East and West Seaton Parks. This ad- 

 dition would materially increase the 

 area of the Botanic Gardens. It Is 

 hoped that the measure may soon be- 

 come a law, for if the people through- 

 out the country could but witness the 

 thousands of visitors from all parts of 

 the world that visit the Botanic Gar- 

 dens annually, there surely would be 

 no hesitancy in enlarging the Gardens 

 at once. During the past season, 

 there has been much of special inter- 

 est to attract the citizens of Washing- 

 ton, and the tens of thousands of visi- 

 tors to the Botanic Gardens and our 

 daily press has been most liberal in 

 e.'sploiting the educational advantages 

 of the Botanical Gardens and its in- 

 fluence for good to the public in gen- 

 eral. Our whole-souled superinten- 

 dent and fellow-director, Mr. George 

 AV. Hess, is ever to the front in aiding 

 and pushing that which seems best 

 for the uplift and education of all 

 mankind for the more beautiful in life 

 and it is our sincere hope that the ad- 

 ditions asked for from Congress may 

 be granted ere long. 



Rose Gardens. The Rose Gardens 

 at Arlington Farms have made mate- 



rial progress since my Inst report. 

 .\bout 101) viiricticg hnvo been added 

 to the collectlunH and the Ciirden ns a 

 whole Is improving very much In ap- 

 ponrnncp. The winter of lltU'ilT was 

 especially hard on tho ton and hybrid 

 tea rosos and Ihoy did not look as 

 well In tho early spring as in previous 

 years, but they have later grown vig- 

 orously and have bloomed well during 

 the season. It has been necessary 

 to do some re-nrranglng to provide 

 more room for several typos. Addi- 

 tional trellsos have been erected to 

 accommodate the increasing numbers 

 of climbing roses. It was found that 

 the rugosas were too crowded for sat- 

 isfactory development so that one- 

 half of Ihenr had to be taken out and 

 |)laced In a new bed In order to give 

 chance for development. The older 

 climbing roses on the outside fence 

 and tho arches added greatly to the 

 Interest and appearance of the Gar- 

 den this season. A large number of 

 visitors inspected the Garden every 

 week and on June 4th, an outdoor 

 meeting of the American Rose Socie- 

 ty, which was largely attended, was 

 held in the Garden. 



A Peony Garden in co-operation 

 with the American Peony Society 

 has been established, over 400 varie- 

 ties having been planted last fall. 

 They are making good growth and In 

 a year or two this garden promises to 

 be very interesting to flower lovers. 

 The Iris collection of 250 varieties 

 has been increased by a number of 

 unnamed seedlings. 



The hardy chrysanthenrum collec- 

 tion now includes about 1,000 varie- 

 ties. An attempt has been made to 

 make a special collection of the most 

 desirable kinds for this section with 

 the expectation of eliminating other 

 varieties as these selections prove 

 themselves to be good. The object of 

 the work with chrysanthemums is to 

 find a few good early varieties as a 

 basis for breeding others which may 

 be relied upon for outdoor growth in 

 more northern sections of the country 

 without protection — varieties that 

 would be suitable for the grounds of 

 the ordinary suburbanite or a farm 

 home where intentive culture and 

 much special care is impossible. There 

 are growing this year 5,000 seedlings 

 from which it is hoped to get a few 

 to bloom earlier than the average of 

 the large collection. 



Some work is also being done in the 

 breeding of carnations and on some 

 of the problems in connection with 

 the propagation of roses. 



I again wish to draw the attention 

 of members to the splendid work the 

 Department at Washington is doing 

 for the beneiit of horticulture and 

 floriculture in general, not only in the 

 outdoor work of the Garden, but also 

 in the forcing and propagating lines 

 in the greenhouse of the Experimen- 

 tal Gardens and Grounds on the Mall 

 where all manner of new plants are 

 being propagated and tried out. Mr. 

 E. M. Byrnes, the able superintendent 

 of the houses and grounds is ever 

 ready to aid and assist in giving in- 

 formation to anyone seeking the same. 



The Annual Chrysanthemum Ex- 

 hibition held October 30th to Novem- 

 ber 5th, 1916 was attended by many 

 thousands of visitors and as in the 

 past since these exhibitions have 



been hold, dues niurli towards cn- 

 ('ouraglng tho growing of llowors 

 by Individuals. 



Tho past year In the florist busi- 

 ness In Washington has been good 

 and profllablo to grower, wholesaler 

 and retailor, nolwltlislandlng the fact 

 that since our last meeting our coun- 

 try has been drawn Into this horrible 

 war and llio deniand for money and 

 men, already very heavy, bids fair to 

 be heavier, and yet tho future for our 

 l)UBlne8s looks bright. The work In 

 connection with representing this 

 large Influential association is an 

 honor of which any man should be ex- 

 ceedingly proud. I wish to reassure 

 every fellow-nieinber that I fully ap- 

 preciate the honor and I tender my 

 grateful thanks to all who have will- 

 ingly rendered assistance for the 

 benefit of the S. A. F. and O. H. 



Report of Committee on Tariff and 

 Legislature. 



One of the first and most serious 

 problems encountered since our last re- 

 port was a bill prohibiting imports. 

 The demand for the stopping of Im- 

 ports of all kinds of plants, trees and 

 bulbs from all sources, comes from a 

 small group of Entomologists, who 

 seem to thing that legislation, often 

 ill-advised, is the solution of all evils. 

 They do not seem to know how depend- 

 ent our trade is upon other countries 

 for such raw materials as lily bulbs, 

 valley iiips, azaleas, manetti stocks, 

 Dutch bulbs, etc., but they think that 

 by prohibiting these imports it will re- 

 duce the annual damage done to our 

 crops and forests by insect pests and 

 plant diseases. The seriousness of the 

 matter to this organization comes from 

 the fact that this small group of En- 

 tomologists had the American Forestry 

 -Association endorse their plan. This 

 body has a membership of over 5,000 

 ■ members, so is politically powerful In 

 Washington. It consists largely of 

 lumbermen, who, of course, are enthu- 

 siastically in favor of any plan which 

 they are told will protect our forests. 



Since the proposed prohibition 

 affected tha nurserymen almost as 

 vitally as the florists, arrangements 

 have been made whereby the nursery- 

 men join with the florists in combat- 

 ting the plan, and share the expense of 

 employing what talent may be neces- 

 sary. During the summer months our 

 Committee and the Nurserymen's Com- 

 mittee is to meet with the Entomolog- 

 ical Committee in charge — and there 

 the matter now stands. 



It has been stated that tho Entomo- 

 logical Committee would be satisfied at 

 this time with a partial quarantine on 

 what they term "finished products;" 

 this would then quarantine only such 

 items as bay trees, azaleas, boxwood, 

 etc., but your committee has good rea- 

 son for believing this would only be 

 the thin end of the wedge — and largely 

 used to divide the nurserymen and 

 florists in their opposition. If this plan 

 of the prohibition of imports is al- 

 lowed to become effective, there is little 

 doubt that the next step will be an em- 

 bargo on interstate trade. Every argu- 

 ment that is used for one prohibition 

 can be used for the other — and it has 

 been frankly said by our opponents 

 that they hope to see the time when 

 no plant or nursery stock shipments 

 shall be allowed passage in interstate 



