314 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JuMB 29, 1905. 



Seed Trade News. 



AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASS0CI4II0N. 



r oPres., W. H. Grenell. Sagrlnaw, W. S., Mlcli.; 

 First Vice- Pres., L. L. May, St. Paul; Sec'y and 

 Treaa., C. E. Kendel, Cleveland. The 2«th annual 

 meetlngr will be held at Santa Clara, Cal, June, 1906. 



We have spent a week at Paw Paw, 

 Have met Louis here and there; 

 We hare rocked the cradle gently at Des 

 Moines; 

 We have shot the shoots at sunrise, 

 After blowing things for fair. 

 But Grenell lias shown us how to spend the 

 coin. 



SEED TRADE CONVENTION. 



The twenty-third annual convention 

 of the American Seed Trade Associa- 

 tion, held at Alexandria Bay, N. Y., 

 June 20 to 22, was in all respects 

 creditable to the organization. The at- 

 tendance, though not as large as might 

 have been expected, was well up to the 

 average of other years. The close prox- 

 imity of the meeting place to Canada 

 gave the brethren from over the line 

 little excuse for absence and several 

 additions to the membership roll from 

 €anada was a result. Monday evening, 

 June 19, saw a goodly number of mem- 

 bers arrived and the executive session 

 at 10:30 Tuesday morning was well at- 

 tended. The president's address was 

 received with applause and the report 

 of the secretary and treasurer was 

 read and approved. At this session the 

 membership committee reported favor- 

 ably upon the candidates desiring ad- 

 mission to membership and their elec- 

 tion took place. 



A recess of ten minutes was taken 

 in order to give time for the ladies and 

 guests attending the convention to be 

 informed, the session beginning at 11:30 

 was open to all. At this session Mayor 

 Delaney, of Alexandria Bay, welcomed 

 the convention to the beautiful burgh 

 which he has the honor to represent. 

 At the conclusion of his address he 

 took occasion to introduce Major Dur- 

 ham, a resident of the Island region 

 for thirty-three years, as the man who 

 could probably better than any other 

 person do justice to the subject as- 

 signed to him, "Points of Interest at 

 the Thousand Islands." Major Bur- 

 ham was eloquent and his address was 

 punctuated by frequent applause. Ad- 

 journifaent was taken at 12:30 in order 

 that the members might prepare to 

 take the "fifty-mile ramble" through 

 the islands upon the steamer Island 

 Wanderer. On this trip W. H. Grenell 

 was the host and a most enjoyable time 

 was had. Music to soothe and all sorts 

 of refreshments to stimulate were 

 handed out in free handed way. Upon 

 its return from this trip the party was 

 assembled on the hotel lawn and the 

 convention photograph was taken. 



The evening session was well at- 

 tended. The time was taken up by the 

 reading of papers. The paper by Les- 

 ter L. Morse, of Santa Clara, Cal., 

 which had been looked forward to with 

 considerable interest, was the first one 

 called for. Mr. Morse was unavoidably 

 absent but his paper was very accept- 

 ably read by Secretary Kendel. Com- 

 ing from an authority on the question 

 treated, "Seed Growing in California," 

 the information given was listened to 

 attentively and the portion giving fig- 

 ures as to the acreage in California of 

 the different standard seed crops had 

 an especial attraction. "Good Seeds 



Which Do Not Grow," a subject which 

 seedsmen have to discuss and make 

 explanation for continuously in their 

 business, was ably handled by C. L. 

 Allen, of Floral Park, N. Y. "Trials 

 and Pleasures of the Seed Trade" was 

 treated by Harry L. Holmes, of Har- 

 risburg. Pa., in a strong, interesting 

 paper. "Methods of Advertising," a 

 paper by William Henry Maule, of 

 Philadelphia, was read by K. C. Dun- 

 gan, who was introduced to the con- 

 vention as Mr. Maule 's right bower. 

 The time having advanced, a discus- 

 sion of the papers, which many of the 

 members would have liked to listen to, 

 had to be left out. 



The session Wednesday morning was 

 taken up by reports of committees, the 

 recommendation of new committees to 

 the incoming officers and the discussion 

 of the work of the committees and its 

 bearing upon the welfare of the asso- 

 ciation. At this session a fine address 

 by E. U. Conger, of New York, upon 

 "The Science of Business Building" 

 was listened to. The question of the 

 adulteration of seeds was handled by a 

 representative of the Department of 

 Agriculture and a committee of five was 



W. H. GrenelL 



(President American Seed Trade Association.) 



appointed by the chair to report a 

 resolution to the convention embody- 

 ing its feeling in the matter of re- 

 stricting in some way the importation 

 of trefoil as an adulterant for alfalfa 

 and red clover. This committee re- 

 ported later and its resolution was 

 adopted. The -paper of Albert Mc- 

 CuUough upon "Increasing or Be- 

 stricting Membership in the Asso- 

 ciation" brought from Mr. McCul- 

 lough the remark that a question 

 as to the interpretation of Article 

 III of the constitution was differ- 

 ent to different minds. This be- 

 ing the case, he thought the matter 

 should be called to the attention of the 

 incoming executive committee for de- 

 cision. A uniform interpretation of all 

 the articles of the constitution and by- 

 laws was thought to be desirable and 

 it was the sense of the convention that 

 if two constructions could be put upon 

 any phraseology the sooner a change 

 in them took place the better. In this 

 connection the advisability of increas- 



ing the initiation fee from $5 to $100 

 was discussed. This, with the matter 

 concerning the change of constitution 

 was referred to the new executive 

 committee for action. 



A trip to Brockville, Canada, was 

 the order for the afternoon of Wednes- 

 day, and the host on this occasion 

 as on Tuesday, was W. H. Grenell. At 

 Brockville a band was stationed on the 

 wharf to receive the party, and "The 

 Star Spangled Banner" played under 

 the floating ensign of Great Britain 

 brought cheers from the boat and 

 cheers from the dock. Twenty minutes 

 were given to see Brockville. Part of 

 the company went to the insane asylum 

 and the balance to the jail. Everyone 

 being adjudged safe, as well as sane, 

 however, it was unnecessary to leave 

 anyone behind. As we left the dock at 

 Brockville on the return trip '^God 

 Save the King" was played by, the 

 band, and the Americans joined in at 

 the parting in the cheers .for King 

 Edward. 



Upon the return of the boat to Alex- 

 andria Bay the party found that the 

 liberal-hearted Mr. Grenell had not yet 

 exhausted his idea of what a host should 

 do for his guests. The company was 

 informed that a banquet would be 

 given by Mr. Grenell to the members 

 and guests of the American Seed Trade 

 Association. The discussion of the 

 menu began at 7:30. Albert McCul- 

 lough was toastmaster and neat 

 speeches in response to toasts were 

 made by Messrs, Stokes, Page, Braslan, 

 Ferrell, William Ewing, Sr., and others. 

 The banquet closed operations for 

 Wednesday. 



Thursday, the most important day 

 of the convention, brought routine 

 business, followed by the election of 

 officers. According to custom, L. L. 

 May was the logical candidate for 

 the presidency, but the generous hos- 

 pitality of W. H. Grenell, aided by the 

 no less generous solicitation of Mr. 

 May that a departure from precedent 

 be made at this convention, resulted 

 in the unanimous election of Mr. Gre- 

 nell for president. L. L. May was re- 

 elected first vice-president, G. B. Mc- 

 Vay second vice-president, and C. E. 

 Kendel, of Cleveland, was re-elected 

 secretary and treasurer. The nominat- 

 ing committee named the executive 

 committee and at the solicitation of 

 Charles P. Braslan an informal vote 

 standing 32 to 5 was given in favor 

 of San Jose, Cal., as the next meeting 

 place of the convention. The conven- 

 tion then adjourned. 



The adjournment by no means put 

 any sort of a stopper on the entertain- 

 ment, for each member and guest of 

 the Seed Trade Association carried a 

 card in his pocket bearing an invita- 

 tion to attend an excursion and lunch- 

 eon given by A. T. Ferrell, the man 

 who sets up the best seed cleaning 

 mill. Mr. Ferrell is a royal enter- 

 tainer and a delightful trip was taken 

 on the boat he chartered. It was a 

 duplication of all the other trips as far 

 as supplies, music, etc., were con- 

 cerned, and at a stop of twenty min- 

 utes at Thousand Island Park another 

 photograph of the party was taken. 

 In the evening of Thursday another 

 trip termed a "searchlight excursion" 

 was given and the sight of the islands 

 and inlets as seen when the search- 

 light was thrown upon them was beau- 

 tiful indeed. No such entertainment 



^^ 



