ADDRESS TO THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURAL 



ASSOCIATION 



BY PROF. H. L. HUTT, O. A. C. , GUELPH, ONT. 



1AM pleased to have this opportunity 

 of addressing your Association, be- 

 cause I have a few fatherly sugges- 

 tions to offer, which I think are of import- 

 ance to you. 



In the first place I wish to suggest a 

 change in the name of your Association. 

 Your membership, I am told, is made up 

 largely of the professional florists of On- 

 tario. Why not call yourselves then, the 

 Ontario Florists Association ? Such a name 

 defines your position among the many or- 

 ganizations in this country better than any 

 other. If you had in your Association mem- 

 bers from all of the other provinces there 

 might be no objection to the use of the term 

 Canadian instead of Ontario, but not hav- 

 ing these, you are making the mistake of 

 spreading over too much ground, a mistake 

 which florists as a rule are not guilty of. A 

 good strong provincial organization would, 

 I think, carry more weight than a weak or- 

 ganization spread over the whole Dominion. 

 And the fact of your being a Provincial or- 

 ganization need not in the least prevent your 

 having members from any of the other Pro- 

 vinces. 



There is one other reason why I think 

 your Association should fall in line with the 

 other Provincial Associations, and that is 

 because you might then, like them, look for 

 a little assistance from the Provincial Gov- 

 ernment in aid of your work. I may say, 

 however, that I am not authorized by the 

 Minister of Agriculture or any of his De- 

 partment to make this statement, but do so 

 entirely upon my own responsibility. If 

 you can show that your Association repre- 

 sents one of the important horticultural in- 



dustries of the Province, that is endeavoring 

 to educate, uplift and benefit the people 

 along the line of beautifying their homes, I" 

 see no reason why you should not ask the 

 Department of Agriculture for some sub- 

 stantial assistance in aid of such work as 

 well as the 



Fruit Growers' Association, 



Dairymen's Association, 



Horse Breeders' Association, 



Sheep Breeders' Association, 



Swine Breeders' Association, 



Poultry Associations, 



Beekeepers' Association, 

 and about 200 Agricultural and Horticul- 

 tural Societies. Most of which are proba- 

 bly doing good work, but none of them do- 

 ing any more for the general welfare of the 

 people than you could or should do, if you 

 put yourselves about it. 



My preference for the term Florist instead 

 of Horticulturist is, because this is an age 

 of specialization rather than generalization. 

 The term Horticulture is a broad general 

 term, which includes fruit growing, vegeta- 

 ble gardening, landscape gardening and 

 horticulture. For nearly thirty-five years 

 we have had an active Provincial Fruit 

 Growers' Association. You might be proud 

 of being known as the Ontario Florists' As- 

 sociation. There is plenty of room for a 

 live Provincial Market Gardeners' Associa- 

 tion, and all of these would properly be 

 known as Horticultural Associations. This 

 is enough on this point at present. I sug- 

 gest the change of name because I think it 

 would be for your benefit. 



Now I wish to say a few words with re- 

 ference to your relation to what are known 



