180 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



one t'lse .you will not know whether they are tiriny riiiht or wrong. 

 If I live near by green-honse I can see how the firing is being 

 done; bnt a man who does not know how tlic Hring sho\dd be 

 done will not keep that sort of a watrh ou it. 'Plic gardener 

 shoidd know about many liitle details tliat niiaii niiiili to the 

 comfort of the o\i n( r. 



Remarks of W. F. Gude, Washington, D. C. 



Mr. President and Fellow (.iardeners and Fiorist.s: I do not 

 happen to be one of the college boys, and I do not happen to be 

 a private gardener, bnt just one of the boys who staited in the 

 stoke-hole and went all the way through. 



I want to say to you. gentlemen, that we are employing on an 

 average of eighty men commercially, and we have not a man or 

 boy, no matter what his pay is. that we would ask to do any- 

 thing that we are not willing to do ourselves. It is all how 

 you take your W(nk as to wliether you make a pleasure out of 

 it. I have been much impressed by some of the remarks made 

 here as to the importance of knowing just how things should be 

 done. In most every instance it will be found that people who 

 are fond of flowers and can afl'ord to hire private gardeners have 

 nice homes and have at least a fair endowment of tlie humane 

 instinct, and they will treat their men fairly. We had at the 

 National Capitol iov upwards of fifty years a private gardener, 

 if you please, as su]ierintendent of the United States Botanic 

 Gardens, a gentleman who was born a poor Scotch boy. entirely 

 too ]ioor to go to school. As he grew up he educated himself, 

 and with the first si.\])encc of his own that he had to spenrl he 

 bought a copy of the works of the poet Burns. You will all 

 remember that Bobby Burns was a gardener, and lie drew the 

 inspiration for njany nt liis poems from nature. Mr. Smith 

 finally came to Washington, and for the fifty odil years that he 

 was superintendent of tlie United States Botanic Harden he did 

 more in tlie halls of Congress and at the Xational Capitol in 

 the way of disseminating knowledge <i\' our work and ennolding 

 our profession than any other one man that 1 ever knew any- 

 tliing at all about. .\nd even up to the time when he passed 

 to his Heavenly reward he was still the same plain man that 

 he had always been, yet he was privileged to share the infiinacy 

 of such men as Andrew Carnegie at Skibo Castle and with 

 other distinguished men; yet lie never wished to be known as 

 anything nnu-e than a uardeiicr. and lie was mighty ]n-oud of it. 

 There was not a uimu or wnnien living that was too |)roud io 

 speak to Mr. Smith, m tliat lie was too |)0or to associate with. 

 liis life presents an e\;ini]>le that tits in nicely witli Mr. Sinitli's 

 p;iper that we have hail. 



Althougli I am not a private gardener or a liorticulturist. but 

 simply a ]dain ordinary Horist wlio has grown from the ground 

 u)] to m\" position, everything [ have got I owe to my own en- 

 deavors, yet I like to feel tliat if duty calls me. or if I can do 

 some good for my fellow-man, I thank God that lie gives me 

 strength to do al'l 1 can to help the other fellow ;ilong. (Aji- 

 plause.) 



Now, even if Mr, Smith has passed to his Heavenly reward, I 

 am not through working for him. While there might be many 

 wlio can take up the projiosition better than I can do and do 

 what I am trying to do, yet I received in the last two or three 

 weeks letters from California, from Maine, from New York, from 

 the South, anil all over, enclosing cinitiiliutions to erect at the 

 National Capitol a memorial to the late William R. Smith, which 

 shall not only be a magnificent tribute to one of the best pri- 

 vate gardeners, if you please, and horticulturists that I ever 

 knew, but I believe one that did more to elevate the horticulture 

 profession and the gardeners' profession, the tree men's profes- 

 sion, if I might use that term — because he is largely responsible 

 at the National Capitol for the finest treed city on the face of the 

 globe, in which his work lives after him. 



So my mission today is to do all I ])ossilily e;iii to the end that 

 within a few years there shall be erected at tlie Xational Capitol 

 a memorial to tlie late William I!. Smith. Sujierinteiident of the 

 United States Botanic Garden, that will be a fitting tribute 

 to the man who did so magnificently for his country, Wliile he 

 was a true Scotchman, he was a thorough American, and we 

 want this memorial to not only be a tribute to him but one in 

 wliicli every gardener of the United States and every member of 

 any organi/ation of florists or horticulturists can take pride; a 

 memoiial that when you look upon it you will say, "That w'as a 

 grand man. I am proud of my |irofessinn for recognizing and 

 rewarding such a man." 



Let us not forget that Mr. Smith always toiik greatest pride 

 in the fact that he was only a gardener, a member of one of the 

 grandest professions on the face of the earth, because, as he used 

 to say, it linked the finite and infinite and tends ciuitinually to 

 uplift mankind and make man purer and better. 



In thinking over the life of Jlr. Smith it was borne in upon 

 me that he more than any man I have ever known exemplified the 

 lines of his faA'i^rite ))oet. Bdlilu" Burns. t1i:it are so well known 

 to all of \(>n - 



"The rank is but the guinea's stamp. 



A man's a man for a' that."' 

 You know the rest of it. 



Gentlemen- let us get together, and wliether we can give little 

 or much, contribute to the memorial at the Xational Capitol; 

 and it is my lio|ie that in the near future we sliall liave at the 

 Xational Capitol tliere a magnificent memorial of that repre- 

 sentative gardener. William K. Smith -.a memorial that sliall be 

 an education for future generations and a tiiluite to the plain, 

 simple and homely virtues of William R. Smitli. 1 tliank you. 

 (Applause.) 



Ml!. EBEL; Mr, Chairman, I move that the Xational Associa- 

 tion of Gardeners open a subscriiition list and permit those of its 

 members who may desire to subscribe to the William R. Smith 

 memorial fund to do so. In this way we will aid the Society of 

 .\niericaii Floiists in providing a suitable memorial for ;\Ir. Siiiitli. 



■file motion carried unanimously. 



I'RKSIDEXT WAITE: Is there any further business? 



Mr. Vernon T. Sherwood, Cluirlestown. N. H.. brought up tlie 

 -ubject of a big white worm .vbout two inches long that was 

 doing some damage in his section, and proposed remedies for 

 this and other worms -were discussed by Jlessi-. Slieiwood, Craig. 

 DnHiis li'Brieii, Popp and others. 



.\li;. (I'liRIEN: I think that if tlic members of the X:itioiial 

 Gardeners' Association liad a badge or button of some kind to 

 wear it would increase the national spirit. It would indii'atc 

 to other members that he belonged to the organization, ami he 

 would receive recognition t)ie same as the ^lasons or Odd Fellows 

 or soniething like tliat. 



:\1R. WM. COLLIXS, Boston. >lass.: im, ,it the gentlemen over 

 here .>poke of a Xational button. I'ersinially. I tliinU a little but- 

 ton would not lie a liad idea at all of a suitable ilesign, to be worn 

 by every member of the Association, We are doing all we can to 

 populari/c this society, and the button is one way of doing it. It 

 is a cheap method. For instance, some of us are wearing the S, A. 

 F. button, whii'h indicates that we are members of that Associa- 

 tion; but if you meet a gardener you do not know whether he 

 is a nii'inlicr of the X^ational Association or not. If we had some 

 ideiitii'ving bailge. we would know each other, and when we met 

 a memlier we could talk with him on subjects congenial to both. 



On motion tlie subject of an Association button was referred to 

 tlie E.xecutive Committee. 



On motion the meeting now adioiiiiied withniit day. 



The following were among these in attindance: W. FI. Waite, 

 Yonkers. N. Y.; Martin C. Ebel. .Madison. N. .1.; Thomas W. 

 Logan. .Tenkintown. Pa.; William .\iidersoii. Soutli Lancaster, 

 Mass,; .1. Canning, Ardsley. X. V,; Daniel Madtorie, San Fran- 

 cisco, Cal.: Theodore Wirth, Minneapolis. .Minn.; R. Williamson. 

 Greenwich. Conn.; E. .1. Norman. Lenox. Mass.; Robert .loliiisoii. 

 Smithborougli, Mass.; George Westland. X'ortli Andover, M.iss.; 

 C. B. Turner, Roxbury, Mass.; John S. Flay, Philadelphia. I'a.: 

 Treiineth Finlayson. Boston, Mass,; Cfeorge F. Stewart, Medford, 

 Mass.: Robert Dougherty, West Medway, Mass.; Vernon T. Sher- 

 wood. Charleston. N. H.; Andrew Wilson. Springfield. N. J.; 

 William E. Picthall. Dover, Mass.: William Angus. Buzzard's Bay, 

 Mass.: Andrew Keith, Chestnut Hill. ]\Iass.: .1. Smith. Swani]iseiit. 

 Mass.; P. il. jNIiller. Boston. Mass.; .Tames Marlborough, Tops- 

 Held, Mass.: .Tames Stuart. Mamaroneck. X'. Y. ; Luther Webb. 

 Dedham. ilass.: David \\'eir, Fvosendall, Mass.; W. N. Craiu. 

 Brookline. Mass.; .Jolm Duguid, Wellesley, Mass.; C. H. FTallier, 

 Hopedale, Jlass.; A. J. Newell, Hopedale, Mass.; E. M. Ross, Mor- 

 ristown, N. .1.: George W. Hess. Washington. I). C. ; George Mason, 

 Elberon, X*. .1.: P. \V. Popp, Mamaroneck, N, Y.: William Downs. 

 Chestnut Hill. Mass.; Alexander Michie. Plvmouth. Mass.; .Tames 

 Hamilton, Warwick. R. I,; N, Y. Payne. Philadelphia. Pa.; .Tolin T. 

 Burns. New Canaan. Conn.: .John T. O'Brien. Williamstown, 

 Mass.: Robert Bottomlcy, New Canaan, Conn.: William Platli. 

 San I'^rancisco. Cal.; \^'illiam Collins. Boston. Mass.; Luke O'lieillv, 

 Madison, N, .1.: John F. Huss. Hartford, Conn.; C. N. Tolin, Colo- 

 rado S]irings. Colo.; William F. (Jiide. Washington. D. C: Jolm 

 Young. New York, N. Y.: Prot. E. A. White, Ithaca. N. Y.; 

 Oscar Carlson. Fairfield, Conn.; William De Bree, Rutherford, 

 Conn.; William Cruickshank, Boston, Mass.: William Kennedy, 

 Chestnut Hill, ilass.; William Plumb, New York. 



ANNUAL CONVENTION, PHILADELPHIA, 

 DECEMBER, 1914. 



At tlie executive meeting of the hoard of trustees and directors 

 held at llie Copley Square Hotel, Boston, Wednesday niorniuK', 

 August 1ft, it wa,s unaiiiniously voted to hold the next annual 

 convention in the eit,v of Philadelphia during the first week in 

 December, The convention will iie of two days' duration : the busi- 

 ness ineetins to be held on the first da.v, followed by a bamiuet in 

 the e\enina: a bowling contest in the morning and seeing Philadel- 

 jiliin in the afternoon of the second da.v. 



