

HORTICULTURE 



August 19, 1911 



There have always heen a number of 

 other Items such as tenographer, 

 bookkeeper and miscellaneous ex- 

 penses, which approximately, from the 

 ts ot the last several years, 

 amount to bet* 00 and $000.00. 



Bach year the office accounts and 

 ds are I. en ntly and I 



ie w hen any of the inci- 

 dentals connected with this office were 

 toi anol her year, which all 

 means some outlay. Now we are all 

 nearly agreed that the secretary's 

 salary is hardly enough to recompense 

 a man such as is necessary to proper- 

 Ij perform the Important duties con- 

 nected with this office for his entire 

 time. Our membership is not increas- 

 ing rapidlj i nough to increase this 

 salary. Now then the same conditions 

 exist concerning the office of super- 

 intendent of trade exhibits. We can 

 not employ one for long enough a 

 id at the amount usually earned, 

 for he must have other employment at 

 ami time and perhaps that some- 

 thing else in liis own business or his 

 employer's; tin: 'ion- we have two im- 

 portant positions partially, when we 

 could have them wholly filled, at a 

 reasonable increase. 



Now, why not combine the duties of 

 the two; they both are clerical in 

 their way, and both at a certain time 

 need the undivided attention of one 

 man ? The duties of the superintend- 

 ent of trade exhibit are mostly corre- 

 spondence, except for a short period 

 before the exhibition and then the sec- 

 retary should be giving his undivided 

 time for the good of our organization 

 and should be in the city where the 

 convention is to be held, assisting, as 

 a paid official, the many willing volun- 

 teers who are giving their time, with- 

 out recompense, toward preparing for 

 the grand welcomes that have greeted 

 us in the past and in this city at this 

 time. This is my solution of obtain- 

 ing that for which we have been striv- 

 ing, the undivided time of a secretary 

 and superintendent of trade exhibits. 



It can easily be seen that both offi- 

 ces can be combined and the duties be 

 competently and judiciously per- 

 formed. The secretary has all the ad- 

 vantage of his office to secure new 

 business, and the combining of the two 

 offices does not entail any more ex- 

 pense than we have been under dur- 

 ing the past two or three years, but it 

 as hitter results. The amount of 

 salary I have in view at the present 

 time is $1500 per year and if the work 

 increases as it should under proper 

 supervision, our income will increase, 

 and the time is not far distant when 

 $2000 a year should be our secretary's 

 salary. He would be the proper man 

 for secretary of the national flower 

 shows, — his statistics and experience 

 would make him the natural choice — 

 his salary and the duties of his office 

 ought to make his presence a necessity 

 on such occasions. 



Separate Section Meetings. 

 The adoption of this suggestion of 

 President Valentine was one of the 

 good things that cannot be praised too 

 highly, and is conducive to great good 

 both to the different societies as well 

 i our own. Buildings such as this 

 in which we are meeting are particu- 

 larly adapted, with the different regi- 

 mental rooms available. I have al- 

 ways been a believer in the necessity 

 of these societies and of their being 

 able to better carry out their specific 



work than can be done in our general 

 meetings, They do not conflict, but 

 assist, and every organization pertain- 

 ing to horticulture, whether a Florists' 

 Club, Horticultural Society, Garden- 

 association or any other specific 

 i. formed to promote its 

 nun Interests, and at the same time 

 the Interests of horticulture, should 

 have the encouragement and Buppori 

 hi our society, Perhaps some plan 

 could be developed whereby each one 

 of these organizations, when they 

 could ShCW a certain number of their 

 membership In our Society, would be 

 entitled to a representation on our 

 Board of Directors. This would help 

 our Board representative of all 



i sts and be an inducement for 



them to get their members into the 

 National organization, thus materially 

 increasing our membership. 



The Outlook. 



The last year has, been one upon 

 which we can look back with much 

 satisfaction, for while business in a 

 great many other lines has not been 

 up to standard and a great feeling of 

 unrest has prevailed among some of 

 them, we, generally speaking, have no 

 complaint and the outlook for a con- 

 tinuance is most promising. There 

 have been fears of over-production 

 among the conservative, but this has 

 not developed, and these fears must 

 have passed away, judging from the 

 large number of buildings being 

 erected or contracted for at present. 

 Some of the building concerns say 

 that this year promises to he the 

 heaviest in their history. 



In conclusion I wish to state that I 

 have refrained from touching on many 

 subjects of importance to the Society, 

 but they are in the hands of carefully 

 selected committees, whose familiarity 

 with their work will give to you far 

 better recommendations than I could, 

 and their reports will be presented in 

 due time at this convention. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



Secretary II. B. Dorner then read 

 his report as follows: 



I have the pleasure of presenting 

 today the secretary's report for the 

 27th annual convention of this, one 

 of the finest national organizations in 

 the country. It has been a pleasure 

 to follow the work of the organization 

 for the year. While the Society has 

 not made the progress that was really 

 possible, there are things that will 

 help to make us more proud of our 

 organization. 



The National Flower Show. 



Perhaps the most important event 

 of the year has been the National 

 Flower Show. All who were there 

 will agree that, it was the finest 

 flower show ever held in this country. 

 Many of the exhibitions were beyond 

 expectation and all were worthy of 

 the trip to see them. A full report 

 will he given later by the committee 

 through whose efforts such a show- 

 was made possible. 



Condition of the Finances. 



The finances of the Society are 

 gradually improving. The permanent 

 or Life Membership fund has been in- 

 creased since the last convention by 

 the sum of $1,261.65. This amount 

 was derived from the fees taken for 

 Life Memberships and interests ac- 



cruing during the year. The fund has 

 now reached the sum of $9,700.15. Of 

 this amount $7,500.00 is invested in 

 the form of two loans secured by 

 mortgages on properties located at 

 Fort Wayne, Indiana. These securi- 

 ties bear interest at 5 per cent. 



Membership. 



The membership has also been 

 steadily increasing. At the end of 

 1909 the membership of the Society 

 was 995. At the end of 1910 this was 

 raised to 107:: with the prospects that 

 it will be much increased during the 

 present year. The paid-up member- 

 ship up to August 10th is 1055, or 

 just 18 less than at the end of 1910. 

 175 of the members on last year's 

 roll have as yet failed to pay their 

 dues but a number will do so before 

 the year is over. 



New Members. 



One hundred and fifty seven new 

 members have already been taken in 

 during the year. This is more than 

 twice the number that were added up 

 to the same date last year. At the 

 suggestion of the President letters 

 were sent out to all the members 

 making an appeal for increased 

 membership. The appeal was in the 

 form of a request that each member 

 make an attempt to secure at least 

 one new member. The names of all 

 members sending in applications are 

 to be included in the printed report. 

 Up to date 19 of the numbered appli- 

 cation blanks, which were sent out 

 with the letters, have been returned. 

 The following members sent in one 

 or more applications: — 



E. A. Peirce 12 



Morris Goldensnn 3 



S. Wallace Tilton 1 



Peter Flanagan 1 



R. Vincent, Jr 1 



W'm. F. Kasting 3 



R. A. Vincent 3 



H. G. Berning 2 



Joseph Ti.iuiH 1 



I. S. Hendrickson 1 



P. L. Larson 1 



Robt. Halliday 10 



.Tames D. Hooper 2 



Geo. Asmus 1 



John Miesem 1 



Jos. Manda 3 



T. P. Langhans 1 



F. E. Brockraan 1 



Matt Than 1 



Florists' Tel. Del 6 



The following vice-presidents were 

 also active and have sent in many new 

 names: 



Conn. — W. R. Plerson 4 



Iowa — Jas. S. Wilson 1 



Mass. (Bast)— W. A. Hastings 14 



Mass. (West)— G. H. Sinclair 1 



Mo.— Fred II. Weber 6 



Penn. (East)— S. S. Skidelsky 1 



Rhode Island— E. J. Renter 2 



Wis, -J. E. Mathewson 2 



Alberta, Canada— A. M. Terrill 1 



Few realize that by a little con- 

 certed effort on the part of the mem- 

 bers, the membership can easily be 

 doubled. It is to be hoped that the 

 method suggested by Pres. Asmus 

 will be continued from year to year 

 and that the members will make a 

 greater effort to aid the Society In 

 this manner. 



Life Members. 



Of the new members added to our 

 roll, five have come in as life mem- 

 bers. In addition to these, 15 old 

 members have also become life mem- 

 bers, making a total of 20 for the 

 current year. This now gives the 

 Society 272 life members. 



