February 1. 1911) 



H K T I C U L T U R E 



103 



NEW ENGLAND NURSERYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



The eighth annual convention of 

 this association was called to order at 

 2 p. m. on Tuesday, January 28th, at 

 the American House, Boston, by Pres. 

 A. E. Robinson. After the roll call sev- 

 eral new members were unanimously 

 elected. During the convention Wm. H. 

 Judd and Mr. Vandervort of the Arnold 

 Arboretum, and W. N. Craig, secretary 

 of the Gardeners' and Florists' Club uf 

 Boston, were elected to honorary mem- 

 bership. 



President's Address 



President Robinson said in part: 

 When we met in Boston a year ago, 

 the shadows of the great war were 

 hovering over the world. The armies 

 of Germany had wrought terrible de- 

 struction in Europe and had shown a 

 tremendous power in organization and 

 in resources. France and Belgium 

 lay bleeding until the coming of our 

 forces which were materialized with 

 great rapidity, and with one gigantic 

 effort our great army, the finest the 

 world has even seen, was rushing to 

 their aid and the final blow delivered 

 almost before we realized the battle 

 had been won and the beastly Hun 

 shorn of his power. It is, therefore, 

 our first duty as well as our great 

 privilege to render thanks to Almighty 

 God, who in his infinite wisdom has 

 seen fit to end this cruel barbarism. 

 The present year has been one of 

 more or less uncertainty in many 

 ways. We have done our part in the 

 war gardens, and in the various war 

 activities it is a consolation to know 

 that the nurserymen have done their 

 part nobly. We have flown to the 

 breeze our service flags, indicating to 

 all that we have sent many of our best 

 young men to the colors, given lib- 

 erally as our means would allow to 

 charities, working as we never worked 

 before and pocketing our losses as 

 gracefully as any body of men could 

 possibly do. The year, however, has 

 brought about much to encourage us. 

 Our business has not suffered to the 

 extent that one might have expected 

 in time of war. The labor situation 

 has of course been a handicap, but we 

 have managed to pull through. We 

 are now facing the reconstruction pe- 

 riod and present indications seem to 

 show that our products will be in good 

 demand. It is important, however, 

 that we take cognizance of the times 

 in which we are living, for conditions 

 in this country and in Europe will 

 never be the same as before the war. 



In the minutes of the Nurserymen's 

 meeting at Chicago, I find a report of 

 a committee called the Vigilance Com- 

 mittee, whose principal work has been 

 to watch for unfair and misleading ad- 

 vertisements of nursery products and 

 calling guilty parties to account. Such 

 advertisements have appeared during 

 the past year in the columns of some 

 of the Xew England papers and are 

 not only unfair but an imposition upon 

 an innocent public. Such things are 

 a menace to our business and should 

 be done away with, and I believe 

 there is room in this association for 

 such a committee. If there is one 

 thing that New England nurserymen 

 stand for, it is truth and fair dealing. 

 One of the important things on 

 which we are to express our attitude, 

 at this meeting is the recent ruling 

 which prohibits the importation of 

 nearly everything in the way of nurs- 

 ery stock from Europe after June 1, 

 1919. If this drastic measure is al- 

 lowed, the prohibition of all inter- 

 national shipments is not at all im- 

 probable, and I hope something will 

 be done here in Boston to stop it. 

 Secretary's Address. 

 Secretary R. M. Wyman reported 

 that his activities had been confined 

 mostly to publicity and membership en- 

 tailing much correspondence. Thirteen 

 new members were elected during the 

 year, making a total of fifty-four mem- 

 bers. This number does not include 

 members who were elected at this 

 meeting. He was authorized to make 

 an effort to collect membership dues. 



The treasurer, V. A. Vanicek re- 

 ported a balance of $346.93 in the treas- 

 ury, and a committee was appointed 

 to audit the books. 



A. P. Home, of the Executive Com- 

 mittee, gave much praise to the able 

 work performed by the secretary in 

 trying to secure new members, but felt 

 that it was up to every member to do 

 all he could towards that end. He also 

 felt that the yearly membership fee 

 should be five dollars, payable in ad- 

 vance and all members whose dues 

 were eleven months in arrears should 

 be automatically dropped. This recom- 

 mendation was referred to the commit 

 tee on resolutions for their considera 

 tion. 



W. H. Wyman, chairman of the pub- 

 licity committee, then made his report 

 and his recommendations were laid on 

 the table. 



As chairman of the committee on 

 transportation. Charles Adams told of 



the difficulties experienced the past 

 year. In some New England towns, 

 shipments could be made only one day 

 a week, and during the recent strike, 

 demurrage charges of five dollars per 

 box were exacted until the strike was 

 settled. 



In discussing quarantine regulations, 

 F. S. Baker, of Cheshire, Ct., said that, 

 when the number of pests here now is 

 taken into consideration, it is mighty 

 hard to realize that there are any more 

 that can come in, but the authorities 

 agree that there are about 1,400 more 

 that could come in, and he thought it 

 better to have the quarantine regula- 

 tions go through and keep them out. 

 Mr. Wyman said that this was the 

 biggest problem to date that has con- 

 fronted the nurserymen. He told of 

 going before the Federal Horticultural 

 Board some years ago and favored giv- 

 ing the board larger powers. They 

 were given that power, and now the 

 board has become the whole thing. 

 Mr. Wyman recommended that every- 

 one present write to his Congressman 

 setting forth the injustice and demand 

 the immediate repeal of the law or its 

 modification of having a board of five 

 or six men that can hold up the whole 

 agricultural and horticultural interests 

 of the United States removed. 



Curtis Nye Smith, who opened the 

 discussion on the new laws affecting 

 nurserymen reported that there had 

 been very little in that line accom 

 plished the past year. A law giving 

 more power to nursery inspectors in 

 Massachusetts was passed, and $8,000 

 was appropriated so that anyone whose 

 property in fruit bearing trees had 

 been destroyed on account of the white 

 pine blister rust can have his losses 

 adjusted. In regard to the plant em- 

 bargo, Mr. Smith felt that if some sys- 

 tem of plant inspection could be en- 

 forced in Europe and the United States 

 Deparment of Agriculture would adopt 

 such a scheme of inspection over there 

 and have certificates attached to con- 

 signments to this country, all this bug- 

 aboo which threatens to throw this 

 country into horticultural anarchy or 

 loss would be overcome. 



J. Horace McFarland. Harrisburg. 

 Pa., and Peter Koster, of Boskoop, 

 Holland, also gave their views on the 

 quarantine regulations. 



F. F. Rockwell, of New York, felt 

 that the subject of Market Development 

 was worthy of serious consideration 

 now. He felt that a slogan should be 

 adopted, and welcomed any suggestions 



