August 24, 1912 



HOETICULTUEE 



269 



tions to the trade at large it does seem 

 advisable that our conventions should 

 be held in cities of large population. 

 The trade exhibition is of more interest 

 to the average attendant than any 

 other feature of our convention, and 

 its development should be encouraged 

 by every means in our power. 



Tariff and Legislative Committee. 



The affiliation of all horticultural so- 

 cieties and florists' club would go far 

 toward strengthening the hands of the 

 gentlemen composing that committee, 

 inasmuch as in numbers there is 

 strength. The work this committee is 

 called upon to handle is mainly of a 

 nature which brings it into contention 

 with great interests, such as the rail- 

 roads, the express companies, the va- 

 rious National and State legislative 

 bodies, as also the Interstate Commis- 

 sion. Prom this it will readily be seen 

 that when this committee succeeds in 

 winning a decision on a contested case 

 or in obtaining a concession, it is do- 

 ing great work, not alone for the So- 

 ciety, but for the trade at large. 



Society Work Between Conventions. 



We should make a strong effort to 

 check the deadness which so often 

 characterizes this Society between its 

 annual meetings. A real, live Society 

 should have something doing all the 

 time. It should not be like the annual 

 circus which comes to town, pitches 

 its tent, performs for a week and then 

 fades away to remain unheard of and 

 unnoticed for a year to come. 



Affiliation of societies, committees 

 working on live issues, the National 

 Flower Show and a progressive secre- 

 tary always on his mettle and on the 

 move for betterment of the Society, 

 will help greatly to remove an apa- 

 thetic condition which has too often 

 been directed against us in reproach. 

 Horticulture Flourishing. 



For years past our successive 

 presidents have felt called upon to 

 make remarks upon the improvement 

 of floricultural conditions, and I find 

 myself joining in this acclaim with 

 my predecessors, for certainly the de- 

 velopment of our product has kept 

 pace with that of all other arts and 

 sciences which tend toward the bet- 

 terment of the condition of the people 

 of our common country. Within the 

 past ten years there has been a won- 

 derful "back to the land" movement 

 on the part of our wealthy men. Con- 

 sequently gi'eat amounts of money 

 have been spent in the embellisliment 

 of estates; this movement has been in 

 no way confined to that class, for we 

 find that the desire is becoming uni- 

 versal on the part of all who own 

 their homes to make their grounds 

 beautiful. Civic improvement is the 

 order of the day everywhere. The de- 

 mand for the best in horticulture is 

 increasing accordingly. As this added 

 knowledge of plant life is gained it 

 becomes necessary that we keep pro- 

 gressing, furnishing not only better 

 but more diversified stock, meeting 

 present wants yet encouraging the call 

 for more expensive stock. 

 Our State and National Experiment 

 Stations. 



There are valuable educational fac- 

 tors in the working out of experiments 

 In regard to insect pests, diseases of 

 plants, and in solving matters which 

 could not be handled by the general 



horticulturists. As a trade, we are 

 in a position to obtain bulletins. State 

 and Federal, practically free of cost, 

 and in fact any information on any 

 reasonable subject when it is asked 

 for of the proper authorities. In the 

 proposed "Annual" could be incorpor- 

 ated a list of the experiment stations 

 and the names of the officers to whom 

 to refer for guidance on the various 

 subjects of insect pests, diseases, etc. 

 The Society and its members should 

 endeavor to aid the experiment sta-, 

 tions in every way in their power, in 

 order that their managements may be 

 provided with sufficient funds that 

 they may be in no way restricted in 

 their researches for practical knowl- 

 edge. Efforts should also be made to 

 interest the stations in horticultural 

 studies as well as in studies purely 

 agricultural, to which latter they 

 mostly incline. 



Permanent Headquarters for the 



S. A. F. 

 The national charter granted our 

 S. A. F. and O. H., and signed by 

 President McKinley, requires that we 

 maintain permanent headquarters in 

 the city of Washington. We have 

 dodged action on this subject from 

 year to year. It is time that we took 

 it up, got down to business, and in- 

 stituted our home in that city, even 

 though its start be on a most humble 

 scale. Let us begin by making a lie- 

 ginning. We want a home there for 

 our Society. With this we should in- 

 stitute a practical school of horticul- 

 ture for our children and a permanent 

 trial ground for our members. If this 

 convention will take the necessary 

 preliminary steps to establish such a 

 home, this desirable institution can 

 be brought about. What we will, we 

 can do. The permanent headquarters 

 should contain the offices of the secre- 

 tary of the S. A. F. ; our executive 

 board meetings can be held there; it 

 could be made the rallying point of 

 horticulturists; and, in fact, the in- 

 stitution can be so handled as to cre- 

 ate an added attraction to that Mecca 

 of America — the city of Washington. 

 Possessing such an institution, the So- 

 ciety would take on additional vigor; 

 it would add to its name and to its 

 reiHitation. and would then be in a 

 position to assert itself and its influ- 

 ence. There are many things this 

 Society should do, but none more im- 

 portant. If this matter is placed in 

 the hands of an able committee at this 

 present convention, I have no doubt 

 that it will find ways and means to 

 make aa early start. 



Publicity. 



To still further advance the cause 

 of . horticulture, the subject of florists' 

 publicity is expected to be brought be- 

 fore this meeting. We have many im- 

 portant subjects before us. none much 

 more important than this. I simply 

 allude to the subject in order that not 

 one of you be absent when the matter 

 is brought up for discussion. It is 

 one which appeals to your pocket- 

 books in that it is desired to plan 

 ways and means whereby a much 

 greater interest in our business may 

 be stimulated, to the end that a 

 still greater volume of business may 

 be transacted. It is proposed to do 

 this through co-operation, and I sin- 

 cerely trust that a practical method 

 of working out this idea will be 



evolved. For instance, if through 

 publicity we could influence every 

 man on the street to wear a bouton- 

 niere and every lady a corsage bou- 

 quet, can any one figure just how 

 many cut flowers would be required 

 daily for this one particular custom? 



Overhead Costs. 



Here is a subject which must appeal 

 to us all. How many of our members 

 have put into practice a system where- 

 by they can tell, weekly or monthly, 

 just what their overhead expenses 

 amount to in actual money? There is 

 no point more vital to success in any 

 business than the possession of this 

 knowledge. Houses which understand 

 fully their overhead costs seldom go 

 into bankruptcy; on the other hand, 

 they will generally be found among 

 the more prosperous of our country's 

 establishments. By overhead costs I 

 refer to the thousand and one ex- 

 penses of a business which, being in- 

 direct, are all too often lost sight of 

 when making a price. These over- 

 head expenses comprise every detail 

 of cost which is responsible for the 

 ability to produce your goods but 

 which do not appear as direct ex- 

 penses; for instance, rent, coal, origi- 

 nal cost of building and ordinary wear 

 and tear on same, the keeping up of 

 horses and wagons or automobiles, 

 advertising, taxes and insurance, nec- 

 essary travel, the salaries paid to all 

 non-producers and petty expenses. In 

 clearer words, overhead expenses con- 

 sist of the non-productive factors in 

 a business, all of which, however, 

 have to be reckoned with and provided 

 for in making a scale of charges for 

 your product. 



I would like to see a committee ap- 

 pointed on overhead costs, to be di- 

 rected to present a report at the 1913 

 convention, with such figures and 

 data as they could bring to bear on 

 this progressive subject. When a man 

 in business has the certainty that the 

 price at which he is selling his stock 

 includes all the indirect charges inci- 

 dental to its production, he can feel 

 that his business is being run at a 

 profit, but with these factors unknown, 

 it must ever be a case of "hit or miss." 

 With the establishment of the cost 

 system, we will soon be made ac- 

 quainted with those stocks we are 

 handling on which we are making a 

 profit and those on which we do not 

 make a profit, and as the tendency of 

 modern business is to throw out every- 

 thing on which it is impossible to make 

 money, this knowledge, once fixed, will 

 certainly be of untold value to all of 

 us who lack that knowledge, and who 

 set a price on their goods, not because 

 they know it will pay them, but be- 

 cause of the fact that others are selling 

 the same stock at an approximate 

 price. 



This committee, if agreed upon, 

 should have an appropriation of $100 

 for advice from experts as to how to 

 correctly take up the consideration of 

 the subject. 



Coming National Flower Show. 

 The chairman of the National Flower 

 Show Committee will make his report 

 at this meeting, and from what we 

 have gathered, tlie same will contain 

 much cheering information, prospects 

 being exceedingly bright for a first- 

 class exhibition. Mr. Chas. H. Totty, 

 its chairman, having visited the great 



