August 19, 1916 



HOBTICULTUBB 



243 



Indulgence, while I review some of the 

 matters that have come up during my 

 tenure of office. 



National Flower Shows. 



The greatest and most successful 

 undertaking in the history ot our So- 

 ciety was the Philadelphia Flower 

 Shows of 1916. Philadelphia crowned 

 herself with honors at thai slimv. We 

 cannot bestow upon Chairman Asmus 

 and his able committees too much 

 praise for the splendid work they ac- 

 complished in staging this exliibition, 

 and we cannot overloolc the co-opera- 

 tion of our subsidiary societies whose 

 wonderful displays of roses, carnations 

 and sweet peas made the show even 

 more attractive, and whose special 

 days brought many thousands of visit- 

 ors through the gates who had already 

 visited the show. The total gate re- 

 ceipts, representing over one hundred 

 thousand paid admissions, are an indi- 

 cation of how wonderful the displays 

 were. I know that this show will pass 

 into history as the greatest flower 

 show ever held on the American con- 

 tinent. Taking the exhibition from ev- 

 ery point of view I think that we must 

 agree that the exhibits were far ahead 

 of anything that has ever before been, 

 attempted. 



At this point I wish to touch upon 

 the advisability of holding our Con- 

 ventions on concurrent dates with tlie 

 National Flower Shows; that Is to say, 

 I believe that every second year our 

 annual Conventions could be held in 

 March or in April, or at such time as 

 we decide to have our National Flover 

 Show. The old idea that it would be 

 impossible to secure a good attendance 

 at our Convention at any other date 

 than August, has not proved itself to 

 be a fact. I observed with keen inter- 

 est at the National Flower Show in 

 Philadelphia, that a great many repre- 

 sentative men of our profession from 

 all parts of the United States and Can- 

 ada were present. It is just this ma- 

 terial that is wanted at our National 

 Conventions. To me the National 

 Flower Show had more of the Con- 

 vention spirit than many of the Con- 

 ventions that I have attended. At this 

 Show we all concentrated our thoughts 

 on the work that is common among 

 us, and when we left we all felt that 

 we had learned a great deal that 

 would help us in the future. I believe 

 that the spring time is the logical 

 time for our National Shows. A great 

 factor in making a National Show a 

 success in the spring time is the fact 

 that all humanity awakens with a 

 keen appreciation ot the beautiful, af- 

 ter a long season when plant life has 

 been pr^tically dormant. Just as the 

 flowers burst forth to welcome tne 

 sunshine of the spring, so the spirit ot 

 human nature bursts forth with a keen 

 appreciation and eager desire to see 

 and enjoy the beauties of nature. There 

 are many matters of interest that ap- 

 pertain to our work that are called to 

 our attention at National Flower 

 Shows. These matters could be taken 

 up while we are in Convention and I 

 believe that the immediate benefits 

 that would be derived by discussion 

 and through the comparison of notes, 

 would be of far more benefit to us 

 than the social programs which of 

 late years have been characterizing our 

 August Conventions. There are un- 

 doubtedly from six to eight large cities 



in the United States where the Nation- 

 al Flower Shows could be held and 

 where they would be very successful. 

 With this number of cities to draw on, 

 a number of years would naturally 

 elapse before we would complete our 

 circuit and no one city would ever bo 

 burdened with a succession of shows. 

 In the smaller cities where we could 

 convene on alternate years, it should 

 be the privilege of the host-city to set 

 the date for the Convention, for when 

 a man invites a guest to his home he 

 aims to have it at its very best; so the 

 Convention City should also have that 

 privilege. 



Before I leave the matter of Con- 

 ventions I want to say that I have 

 noted in past years that there has 

 been a decided tendency to indulge in 

 extended social program. This, of 

 course, has been very pleasant, and 

 duly appreciated, but it seems that we 

 are in a measure losing the purpose 

 for which we assemble. Our Conven- 

 tions are primarily for trade benefits, 

 and much of the time that is given to 

 entertainment could be utilized for 

 better purposes. Many of the smaller 

 cities that would be glad to have a 

 Convention hestitate because of the 

 expense of entertaining our members, 

 and this condition should not exist, for 

 our purpose as a national society is 

 the promotion of the great work that 

 lies before us. I would, therefore, urge 

 the executive board to carefully weigh 

 these matters. First, the joint sessions 

 of the National Flower Show and the 

 Annual Convention on every second 

 year. Second, the elimination of elab- 

 orate entertainment at Annual Conven- 

 tions, and a strict adherence to mat- 

 ters that will be of trade benefit. 



Convention Gardens. 



Another instructive feature of our 

 Conventions is the "Convention Gar- 

 den." The merits of such displays 

 have been well outlined by my pre- 

 decessors, Mr. Theodore Wirth, and 

 Mr. Patrick Welch, and I heartily 

 agree with them in their views. 



Children's Gardens. 



Still another phase of our work to- 

 ward which I would direct your at- 

 tention is the promotion of an interest 

 in children's gardens. AVe all know 

 that the love of flowers is indicative 

 of the highest form of civilization, and 

 it is the mission of every member of 

 the Society of American Florists to 

 help to instill the love of flowers and 

 plant life in the hearts of the young. 

 I do not think that we fully reali;:e 

 the extent of the influence towara the 

 moral uplift and esthetic development 

 that is due to the love and apprecia- 

 tion ot flowers, and I would, therefore, 

 urge that the Society give its fullest 

 support toward the promotion of the 

 school gardens. 



I hope that every member of the So- 

 ciety of American Florists has read 

 with interest the excellent report of 

 our school garden committee of 1915. 

 This committee must have stimulated 

 a great interest in school gardens 

 throughout the country. However, our 

 work does not end there. Further- 

 reaching influence can be exerted by 

 parental oversight and encouragement. 

 It is, therefore, also an individual duty 

 of the members of the Society of 

 American Florists to aid in the pro- 

 motion of school gardening by wisely 

 administering encouragement and in- 



terest in the work of our children, for, 

 in the end, this work of beautification 

 is our chief vocation. 



Permanent Secretaryship. 

 I would ask you to review with me 

 also a matter that for the past months 

 has been of considerable concern to 

 me. 1 have noted that as our Society 

 grows the administrative work also as- 

 sumes larger proportions. I believe 

 that we are now large enough to have 

 a secretary who devotes his entire time 

 toward the furtherance of our inter- 

 ests. I believe that such a man should 

 have no other business enterprises to 

 occupy his mind. I would recommend 

 that we make the office ot secretary 

 one with sufficient remuneration to 

 keep a man who can devote his entire 

 time toward the promotion of our In- 

 terests. There will be no lack of work 

 for such a man. He will be constantly 

 occupied, promoting the interests of 

 the society. Should the Convention 

 and National Flower Show fall on con- 

 current dates, our secretary would 

 have the twofold duty of attending 

 to matters appertaining to both the 

 Convention and the Flower Show. I 

 wish, therefore, that the society would 

 consider very carefully the expediency 

 of adopting the above suggestion. This 

 office should not be a temporary one, 

 and there should be some way of es- 

 tablishing its permanency. We all 

 laiow that the work accomplished by 

 our society is just as much, if not 

 more, due to the efforts of the secre- 

 tary as it is to the president or the 

 executive board, as the man holding 

 this office acts as a helmsman and 

 should be fully qualified to handle 

 these affairs, and his mind should be 

 on our work at all times. It seems to 

 me that if this were the case the long 

 dormant period that our society passes 

 through from the date of one Conven- 

 tion to the date of another will become 

 a period of activity and promotion. To 

 be a successful Society we must al- 

 ways be active. 1 do not wish my re- 

 marks to he construed as in any man- 

 ner criticizing our present secretary. 

 He has discharged the duties ot his 

 office with the greatest efficiency and 

 fidelity. We have been very fortunate 

 to have had the services of so able a 

 man as the present incumbent, Mr. 

 John Young. I simply believe that It 

 would be to the interest of all of us 

 that this official, whoever, he may be, 

 should be in a position to devote his 

 undivided attention to the society. 



Mothers' Day. 



At the last executive meeting of our 

 society it was decided that a collec- 

 tion be made from our members from 

 dift'erent parts ot the cotintry. The 

 moneys obtained were to be used by 

 Miss Jarvis for the furtherance of her 

 good work — the promotion of Mother's 

 bay. This act, I believe, was a good 

 one, for Jlother's Day has become uni- 

 versally recognized throughout the 

 countrv, and it is up to the florists to 

 continue to advertise and promote the 

 work that has been so well begun. 

 However, while I myself approved 

 such contributions to Miss Jarvis, I do 

 not believe that such a method of se- 

 curing funds for this work is effective 

 or business-like. As soon as the fund 

 so accrued is complete the work will 

 naturallv discontinue and we, as a So- 

 ciety are here to perpetuate Mother's 

 Dav ' I would, therefore, recommend 



