HORTICULTURE 



Vol. XXX 



AUGUST 23, 1919 



No. 8 



THE BIG CONVENTION UNDER WAY 



Detroit, Mich., Aug. 21.— The big 

 convention has been under way for 

 several (lays and its bigness has 

 grown upon the delegates as they have 

 watched events unfold and moved 

 about among the trade exhibits. The 

 Detroit florists, acting as hosts, are 

 untiring in their efforts to make every- 

 body happy. 



The convention hotels are badly 

 crowded, but that was expected, and 

 minor inconveniences are put up with 

 smilingly. The eastern delegates had 

 a good trip coming out. The numbers 

 of the Boston party had an enjoyable 

 day at Niagara, and on the boat to 

 Detroit were the guests of the New 

 York delegation, the florists having a 

 dining room to themselves. 



Every inch of space in the exhibi- 

 tion hall has been taken. It is cer- 

 tainly a good business convention, as 

 everybody seems to agree. 



Or Tuesday the delegates were wel- 

 comed by a representative of the 

 mayor and the response was made by 

 E. G. Hill. The routine work was then 

 taken up. the reports of the commit- 

 tees made and the addresses of the 

 officers delivered. 



PRES. AMMANN'S ADDRESS 

 Members of the Society, Ladies and 

 Gentlemen: 

 For the very great pleasure it gives 

 me to preside at this meeting I can- 

 not find words. I feel that the honor 

 should be intended more for St. Louis, 

 the community I represent, than for 

 just the individual. Be that as it may, 

 I do want to sincerely and from the 

 bottom of my heart, thank the St. 

 Louis Florist Club for their unani- 

 mous endorsement and the members 

 of the Society for electing me to this 

 most cherished and honorable position 

 in the gift of our beloved Society. 



We are just now in the first stages, 

 so to speak, of the reconstruction 

 period, after one of the greatest wars 

 ever fought by mankind. We can only 

 grasp the immensity of it when we 

 stop to consider that approximately 

 fifty million men were mobilized for 

 the great conflict; of which eight mil- 

 lion are dead; eighteen million are 

 wounded, six million are permanent 

 wrecks and seven million were blown 

 to pieces buried dead or alive, or are 

 prisoners to be worked or starved to 



death. Nine million civilians, women, 

 children and ageds have been mur- 

 dered, starved and slain by disease; 

 jr.! because some war Lords dreamed 

 Of a world conquest. 



The Society's Past, Present and 

 Future. 



And now friends for a brief review 

 of our work of the past, present and 

 future. Thirty-five years ago this So- 

 ciety was organized, as our charter 

 reads, for the development and ad- 

 vancement of floriculture and horti- 

 culture in all their branches; to in- 

 crease and diffuse the knowledge 

 thereof, and for kindred purposes in 

 the interest of floriculture and horti- 

 culture. 



Let us see how well we have lived 

 up to the precepts laid down for us, by 

 the grand old pioneers of our organi- 

 zation. Statistics speak for the won- 

 derful advancement of both floricul- 

 ture and horticulture and I shall not 

 burden you with figures on that, at 

 this time. 



Knowledge has certainly been 

 spread over this land, creating a love 

 for the beautiful, through the various 

 mediums of our Society. It will not 

 be amiss here to name just a few. 

 The School Garden Committee, under 

 the splendid guidance of their chair- 

 man, Mr. Benjamin Hammond have 

 done and are still doing a great work 

 along this line. The American Rose 

 Society, with it's long list of both 

 amateur and professional members 

 are spreading the gospel of, "A Rose 

 for every home and a Bush for every 

 Garden," through the publication of 

 their Rose Manual. Time can only 

 tell the results of this great work. 

 Many more active influences in the 

 past, as the National Flower Shows, 

 The Convention Garden and others 

 could be mentioned; but suffice to say 

 that this Society has truly lived up to 

 the mandate of its charter, in the 

 spreading of knowledge of floriculture 

 and horticulture, from its very be- 

 ginning. 



Just now we are in the midst of the 

 greatest campaign of publicity in flori- 

 culture the world has ever known. 

 Ornamental horticulture is also com- 

 ing in for its full share in this great 

 campaign. Aside from the paid adver- 

 tisements we are getting a lot of valu- 



able knowledge before the public 

 Hi rough the Promotion Bureau; which 

 material is gotten out in the secre- 

 tary's office at very little cost to the 

 Soi lety. Of this you will hear more 

 in detail later from the secretary's 

 report; this is just a citation, to show 

 the increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge of the various branches of flori- 

 culture and horticulture 



Kindred Organizations. 



What about the kindred purposes in 

 the interest of floriculture and horti- 

 culture. First of all we have the 

 Florist Hail Association, a product of 

 this Society, organized thirty-two 

 years ago; gives protection to over 

 sixteen hundred greenhouse establish- 

 ments, with over forty-five million feet 

 of glass insured; has paid out to date 

 over four hundred sixty-five thousand 

 dollars in losses to its members and 

 has at present a reserve fund of over 

 forty-seven thousand dollars. Of 

 course when we think of hail insur- 

 ance we think of J. G. Esler who has 

 faithfully steered this wonderful by- 

 product along the road of success, 

 from its instillation to the present 

 date. 



Next we have the Florist Telegraph 

 Delivery, of much later origin, but 

 such a wonderful growing medium 

 that it too bids fair to vie with the 

 parent Organization in the near fut- 

 ure, for numbers in membership. Or- 

 ganized in 1909 has now a membership 

 of over eleven hundred and transmit- 

 ted by telegraph the past year orders 

 to the amount of approximately one 

 million dollars and the worthy secre- 

 tary Mr. Pochelon informs me this is 

 bound to increase from thirty to fifty 

 per cent annually. 



This is without a doubt the greatest 

 one medium that * floriculture has 

 through which to spread the gospel of 

 publicity. We cannot think of this 

 young giant of an organization with- 

 out bowing our heads in sorrow for 

 the great loss to the trade and to 

 humanity, of its founder ex-president, 

 J. A. Valentine. We, too, are ever 

 mindful of the efficient secretary of 

 i his organization, Mr. A. Pochelon, 

 who with untiring efforts has really 

 ben the bulwark of its great prog- 

 ress. I plead with every member of 

 our Society to give this wonderful off. 



