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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



S(j it nrfuiTcd to in.' t(. imII a mcctiug uf the Sn|nniiitemlpnt of 

 Parks of St. Louis, tiic MaiiaKor of Shaw's Botaiiiial (iardeu. the 

 man who has chargi' of tlio laudsoaiie work for tho si-hools ami a 

 Ijartirularly •■ftirieiu ^'ardcner who has charge of tlie ornamental 

 planting for tlie parks. 1 calletl these men together at my home, 

 and told them that my oh.ieet was to try and form a little social 

 organization ; and on account of the difficulty of anyone entertaining 

 a large gathering at their liome. I suggested that we add to our 

 number enough to make twelve members, and hold a meeting oc- 

 casionally to have no formal organization, no oiiicers of any kind, 

 but that a paper be prepared on horticultural topics, and that after 

 reading the paper wc have a discussion on it. We have had two 

 such meetings, anri made a good start, and I think we are going 

 to Continue it. It seems to me that in some places it might be a 

 good thing to hold such meetings and cultivate good fellowship. 

 These meetings might be held once a month : and if this plan could 

 be adoiited fpiite generally, T think it would create greater efficiency 

 in oui- professi(m.** 



\'ic e-I'resident lli'unie responded that \w quite agreed with Mr. 

 •Jensen that it was a good idea to get together once every month or 

 three nmnths, and come to some agreement together. He also favored 

 the suggi'Stion as to appointing vice-presidents in the different states 

 and having blanches in eacli state to stimulate these gatherings as 

 feeders for the main body. 



Percy Ellings. of Menli) Park. Cal.. secretary of the INIenlo Park 

 Horticultural Society, extended an invitation fn the visiting gar- 

 deners to come to Menlo I'ark and be the guests of the societ.v 

 for a day, stating that they had made arrangements to take the 

 gardener.s all through the iirincijial estates down on the Peninsula 

 and afterward treat tliem to a u'ood old-fashioned Spanish barliecue. 

 whicli would be a no\'elt.v to the visiting gardenei's. 



Owing to some misunderstanding in the itinerary as to the ■late 

 of deiiarture the invitation could not be debnitely acted on. but on 

 motion b.v Mr. Wirtli the invitation was accepted with a \ote of 

 thanks to the Meulo Park Horticultural Society. 



Theodore Wirth. of Minneapolis. Minn., being called on for a few 

 remarks, replied. "I simpl.v want to sa.v this, that while I am a 

 park superintendent now, I came to that position as a gardener, 

 and I am proud to be a gardener and always liave been proud of it 

 and always will be. There are many possibilities in our profess;, ai. 

 so many different ways to develop that it is certainly very im- 

 l)ortanl that we make more effort in the future than in the past 

 to get together and enlarge the usefulness of the National Associa- 

 tion of Gardeners. The only way that this can be (bme best in 

 my opinion is through the formation of local organizations and 

 having them represented b.v delegates .sent b.v these local organi- 

 zations to the national meetings wherever they ma.v be held. 



"You all know that ver,\' few of the gardeners are financially 

 situated so that they can travel clear acro.s.s the continent to attend 

 these meetings. You also know that there are ver.v few employers 

 that realize the value of these meetings. The.v really do not know, 

 chietl.v because the.\' are not informed as to what we are trying to 

 do; conseriuently. there are very few of them who are willing to 

 pay the expen.ses of their gardeners to attend here, although they 

 might he willing to do so if they were properly informed of the value 

 to the gardeners ami to themselves of these meetings. The time 

 will come when they will be willing. I believe, to help us :il(>iig 

 these lines. 



"Jlr. Roy said that it depends upon the man himself as to how 

 his profession shall be regarded. I (|uite agree with him. I think 

 we can improve our situation and our relatioirs as gardeners by 

 showing that we are men as good as ovir employers. If ,\ou can 

 pro\-e that yon are worthy of resiiect. .Viai can receive it, and you 

 will improve your situation and your relation with your employer 

 a great deal." 



Vice-President Ilennie next callid <in Hichard Vimeut. .Tr., of 

 White Marsh, Md., referring to him as only a young boy, to which 

 Mr. Vincent replied. "I am seveut.v-two years young, that's all. 

 Now in regard to this matter before us, I am something like the lioy 

 who made his first trip out in the country, and saw a great big 

 .something there, he did not know what it was, and he looked around 

 and inspected it on all sides. He said, that is a tarnation funny 

 house, with no chinnieys. door.s. or wiiulows to it. An old farmer 

 that he met there said, "That Ls no house.' 'Well, what is it'/' 'A 

 hay-stack.' The boy replied. 'I may be a greenhorn from the city, 

 but .vou can't fool mc that way. Hay don't come in humps like 

 that.' 



"I may be a little green as to wliat the idea of this association 

 is, but I think that the suggestion in regard to building up the 

 organization is an excellent one. Every man who wants his organi- 

 zation to go ahead has to iJUt a little energy into it. Now. in regard 

 to the appointment of a number of Vice-Presidents, of course, you 

 can do that, but what is the use of a large number of Vice- 

 Presidents? They are likely to be simply dead timber, and instead 

 of their stirring up membership for the society, nine times out 

 of ten they will want more stirring up than the men that they are 

 supposed to stir up. 



"I know what a struggle it is to success. Remember I have a 

 babv of my own to care foi-. Tlie .\merican Pahlia Society, which 



lias only been bora within the last six or seven weeks, yet we 

 are hustling all over this country for membership, and we are going 

 to have it. We are going to show the world what Dahlias are. 

 You gardeners have to carry your products somewhere to show 

 the people what you have got. You have got to entice the peopli' 

 to go and see them. It is only by thorough work that yon can make 

 this organization what it ought to be. It is now in its infancy, 

 but it can and will grow if yon will only put your shoulders to 

 tlie wheel and give it a little push up hill. 



"I am sorry Jlr, Ebel is not here, because he would give you 

 a much better talk than I would. He wrote me and asked me to 

 come here aud .just jog you U]i a little bit if it was in my power 

 to do so. 



"So I believe if you iiush this tbinu. you can not only keep up 

 with it but get ahead of it. It needs push all of the time. I hope 

 if it is ever m.v privilege, if I live long enough to address this body 

 again, that I will tell you something better than I have this 

 ;ifternoon." 



ilr. A'incent was folhtwed by some of the members of the' Pacific 

 Coast and their remarks indicated that they were thoroughly inter- 

 ested ill the work that could be accomplished by an organization 

 such as the National Association of Gardeners and that they could 

 be counted on to give their support and i-o-operatiou. 



.\n invitation was received at this time from the .\niericnn 

 .\ssociation of Park Supei'intendenls to have the members join 

 the meeting of the park suiierintendents and to attend the illus- 

 trated lecture of Hon. Samuel E. Hill. President of the Pacific 

 Highway Association on "Good Roads." At the suggestion of Vice- 

 President Rennie and Mr. Wirth, the meeting adjourned to attend 

 the lecture. It was intended to re-convene after the lecture, but 

 owing to .so man.v other attractions of the expositiijp cit.v there 

 was no re-convening and the meeting stood finally adjourned. 



AMONG THE GARDENERS 



riic sympathy (■f the many gardening friends of George A. 

 Breed, jiiesident of the Leno.x Horticultural Society, are extended 

 to him on the recent demise of his wife. 



Richard Brett, for many years superintendent of the S. T. 

 ]'<'ters Estate, Islip. L. I., has been forced to resign his position 

 owing to ill heallh. Mr. Brett is now making' his home at East 

 ( )rangi', N, J. 



I)a\id Hoy, superintendent of "The Moorings," Marion. Mass., 

 and Mrs. Koy, who traveled with the park superintendents on 

 the tri]) to San Francisco and return, say that it was a trip 

 ne\cr to be forgotten by either of them and that western hospi- 

 tality cannot be too highly |)raised. 



Robert \A'illiainson, superintendent of "Milbank," Grecuwiili. 

 t'onn., also a member of the park su])erintendent"s party to the 

 Pacific coast, intended to return by way of the Panama Canal, 

 but changed his plans at San Francisco and returned east with 

 the party. Using his own words "they were such good ccmipany 

 that I could not jiart with tliem.' 



.\. Bischke, superintendent of the Ziegler Estate, traveled with 

 the park superintendents, but left the party at Chicago on its 

 return to join Mrs. P.ischke and daughter there for a more 

 extended vacation. 



I Iscar Karlson. superintendent of the Kingsley Estate IJiver- 

 dale. N. Y.. another of the park superintendents' party reported 

 on his arrival that the horticultural features at the San Diego 

 Exposition must have proven a marvel to all who never before 

 had an opportunity to see California's tropical plants. While 

 the San Francisco Exposition has a fine horticultural display, he. 

 however, stated that it is a more artificial one than the natural 

 idantiiigs to be seen at San Dieeo. 



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