268 



HOETICULTUEE 



August 24, 1912 



Show, we present other salient benefits 

 to be derived therefrom— which we can 

 well do— such as a year book to be is- 

 sued by the Society, a permanent home, 

 a school of horticulture wherein your 

 sons or any worthy young men can be 

 educated; all these and other features 

 will prove attractive in leading to an 

 enlarged membership, the limit of 

 which should bo placed at not less than 

 3000. 



Annual Dues and Membership. 



Although membership in this Socie- 

 ty is probably worth more today than 

 when it was originated, I do not be- 

 lieve that either the membership fee or 

 the life membership fee should be in- 

 creased, not, at least, until we have 

 more inducement to offer prospective 

 members. The most important point 

 I have to make is in regard to regula- 

 tion of membership. I urge that this 

 Society pass a rule whereby new mem- 

 bers proposed must have the endorse- 

 ment of the vice-presidents of their 

 respective States or of their florists' 

 clubs, or of two members of the S. A. 

 F. in good standing, before their appli- 

 cation is granted by the Society; this 

 to be through its secretary or a mem- 

 bership committee. 



Increase in Membership. 



Much has been said with regard to 

 increasing our membership, but actu- 

 ally little has been done toward that 

 end. Several of our members have 

 distinguished themselves by bringing 

 in many new members, but, taken as a 

 whole, the majority have made no great 

 effort to influence others to join with 

 us. One need not seek far to ascertain 

 the reasons for this passive condition. 

 "With all that has been said and done 

 in the matter, the fact remains that un- 

 til quite recently our Society held one 

 big meeting once a year, and when that 

 meeting adjourned the Society was 

 practically dead for the next eleven 

 months and three weeks. The insti- 

 tution of the biennial National Flower 

 Show has already worked considerable 

 change in this apathetic condition, and 

 a few further live moves in the right 

 direction on the part of our Society 

 will materially alter the condition of 

 indifference to the S. A. F. prevailing 

 among the trade at large. When we 

 make membership sufficiently attrac- 

 tive to the pocketbooks of our fellow 

 florists, we shall obtain the adhesion, 

 not spasmodically at each city visited 

 as has been the case in past years, but 

 for keeps, just as a live trade paper 

 holds its circulation. 



Annual Convention Meeting Date. 



The subject of holding our annual 

 conventions at the same time as the 

 Spring Flower Show created a lively 

 debate at our meeting in Baltimore 

 last August, and those in favor of 

 holding the convention in the month 

 of August had the better of the argu- 

 ment. Inasmuch as it is absolutely im- 

 possible to do convention work whilst 

 a great flower show is in progress, this 

 fact being fully demonstrated at our 

 last National Flower Show held in Bos- 

 ton, when it was found impractical to 

 bring our members together for a busi- 

 ness session, although they were pres- 

 ent in great force all through the week, 

 it would seem just as well that this 

 Society continue its August meetings 

 as heretofore. 

 Affiliation of Horticultural Societies. 



It is useless to further attempt to 



disguise facts. The Society in its early 

 days committed its first tactical error 

 in not assuming the paternity of the 

 Florists' Hail Association, and it has 

 gone on from year to year disregarding 

 the requirements of its specialists in 

 all lines until today we have strong 

 societies which, in the value of their 

 work and the influence they wield, are 

 nearly at par with the work done by 

 the so-called parent body, the S. A. F. 

 and 0. H. iVIore discussion has been 

 offered on the matter of closer relation- 

 ship than possibly on any other sub- 

 ject, at our various meetings for the 

 past ten years or so; yet, with it all, 

 cot one step in advance has been made 

 to clear the situation or bring about 

 the desired ends until the present year. 

 Prospects are now brighter and, if a 

 good working committee can be gotten 

 together during this convention, results 

 may follow. There is no doubt in my 

 mind but that the most active of our 

 societies will continue each under its 

 own autonomy. Societies such as the 

 Carnation, the Rose, the Gladiolus, the 

 Sweet Pea, even the Peony, will each 

 continue on its way. fixing their sev- 

 eral policies to suit the needs of the 

 hour and enlarging their organizations 

 and scope as the years go by. In great 

 part the men who are prominent in 

 these societies are the men who are 

 prominent in the S. A. F. and 0. H., 

 and it must be said of these men that 

 they are just as loyal to the old S. A. F. 

 as they are to the separate societies in 

 which they take so active an interest. 

 It is for tlie reasons aforesaid that 

 every plan of affiliation which has here- 

 tofore been brought forward has been 

 laid on the table. There must, how- 

 ever, be some common ground on which 

 these societies can come together in 

 order to form that strong, compact 

 body of horticultural interests which 

 could produce far more good for the 

 business than is possible through the 

 ehorts of isolated groups and separate 

 organizations. I ask the most thor- 

 ough consideration of the plans which 

 will be presented on this floor with 

 that object in view, the result of a "get 

 together" meeting held in this city. 



With regard to the affiliation of the 

 purely local horticultural societies 

 throughout the country, we think the 

 way should be made easy whereby 

 these may become affiliated with our 

 Society. It is for this convention to 

 decide as to whether it would be in 

 opposition to an attempt to form an 

 amateur section of the S. A. F.; our 

 constitution and by-laws, and our na- 

 tional charter make provision for the 

 admission of all interested in horticul- 

 ture. I ask the privilege of appointing 

 a committee to formulate plans to that 

 effect, said committee to report to this 

 convention in 1913. The admission of 

 local horticultural societies should 

 place no additional burden on the funds 

 of this Society, while much mutual ben- 

 efit would result. The Society itself 

 would become better known locally 

 throughout the country, while the am- 

 ateur societies represented could have 

 the assistance and advice of the Socie- 

 ty's officers whenever they were re- 

 quired. The S. A. F. could also afford 

 to contribute silver and bronze medals 

 to the various shows conducted by the 

 affiliated amateur societies, could pro- 

 vide a uniform constitution and by- 

 laws, scale for point judging, and rules 

 for show handling among those affili- 

 ated. A feature of the affiliation should 



be that officials or members of the S. 

 A. F. be in official evidence at all ex- 

 hibitions of the societies, an easy de- 

 tail to provide for on account of our 

 universal membership. 



With regard to the florists' clubs 

 throughout the country, the question of 

 the affiliation of these is the next most 

 important to that of the affiliation of 

 the various larger societies mentioned. 

 Can we not offer representation to 

 these clubs on a basis that would be 

 satisfactory to both contracting par- 

 ties? The individual florist clubs form 

 the backbone of the S. A. F. and de- 

 serve better recognition. The same 

 committee appointed to take up the af- 

 filiation of the local horticultural so- 

 cieties could also consider this proposi- 

 tion. 



How to Bring About Affiliation. 



Some of the lines on which our so- 

 cieties might be brought together and 

 affiliated with the S. A. F. and O. H. 

 are as follows: 



Liberty to join or resign — in effect 

 state sovereignty and home rule. 



Affiliation along co-operative lines. 



Reason for affiliation being that there 

 is strength in unity. 



Bach society to be represented in the 

 S. A. F. directorate. 



S. A. F. to exercise the functions of 

 our Federal Government. 



In the publication of an annual, 

 each affiliated society could pay its 

 proportionate expense of publication, 

 taking as well a certain proportion of 

 the copies printed. 



Attendance at Meetings. 



We most certainly need a reform in 

 this direction. It is scant courtesy to 

 ask a gentleman to prepare a paper on 

 some special feature of interest and 

 then have him lecture to a beggarly 

 array of benches. It the members will 

 not remain in session to hear the es- 

 says, we should eliminate them from 

 our programs, and confine ourselves 

 entirely to the matters of business 

 which are presented for our considera- 

 tion. In fact, it has often occurred to 

 me that while in former days, when 

 there were no trade journals to rely 

 upon, the presentation of essays was 

 most advisable; in these days such, 

 papers are not so necessary as a part 

 of our meetings, unless they be con- 

 nected with some special feature of 

 the business which calls for elucidation 

 or discussion. Subjects selected should 

 be confined to those which appeal to 

 the entire membership, for a Carna- 

 tion grower does not care to listen to 

 a paper on Roses, a Rose grower to 

 one on general gardening principles, 

 and so on. Papers on cultural topics 

 can well be confined to the societies 

 which represent one phase of our busi- 

 ness. 



The Convention Exhibition. 



Here we can report satisfactory 

 progress. The recent action of the ex- 

 ecutive committee, which has brought 

 about the long advocated change to the 

 effect that the receipts of the exhibi- 

 tion Jjelong to the Society, has met 

 with unqualified success. The further 

 supervision of the exhibitions by the 

 Society's secretary is another step in 

 the right direction. The surplus re- 

 ceipts from this and other sources 

 could well go toward the maintenance 

 of our required headquarters. On ac- 

 count of the value of these exhibi- 



