REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PRIZES AND 

 EXHIBITIONS FOR THE YEAR 1917. 



By James Wheeler, Chairman. 



The exhibitions of the year 1917 have been very satisfactory, 

 the quaUty excellent, the competition good, and the public interest 

 well sustained. 



The Spring Flower Show in March will go on record as the best 

 ever held by the Society. Every available space was filled and the 

 quality of the exhibits was above the standard. It was very 

 gratifying to the officers of the Society to have the hearty cooper- 

 ation of the owners of large private estates, the commercial growers, 

 and the retail florists. The fruit and vegetable growers also put 

 forth special effort to make their exhibits as attractive as possible. 

 The public appreciated this excellent show and the attendance was 

 larger than at any previous exhibition. 



Your committee prepared the 1918 Schedule with prizes amount- 

 ing to $8500.00, introducing many new features. While we wish 

 to keep up the high standard of excellence of standard varieties, 

 we desire to stimulate more interest in new fruits, vegetables, 

 plants, and flowers. 



Owing to the reduction of income and increased expenses the 

 Advisory Committee recommended the cutting down of exhibitions 

 and prizes. After carefully considering the situation we agreed 

 that there was a call for every member of the Society to cooperate 

 with our Government and to do our duty as a Society. The 

 Committee, therefore, decided to have the exhibitions for the year 

 1918 as originally planned but to eliminate all money prizes, and 

 further, to charge an admission fee to all the exhibitions beginning 

 with the Spring Show, the net receipts to be given to the Red 

 Cross or other war relief work. 



We trust this action will meet with the hearty approval of the 



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