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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



August 22, 1007. 



Frank H. Traead(y» Preiidint-elect Sjciety of American Florists. 



tlie growth and continued eflSciency of 

 this society. First, let us take a look at 

 the situation. We find a vast country, 

 possessing the widest range of climate, 

 tofMigraphy and soil, affording homes for 

 t'ver-inultiplying millions of people am- 

 bitious, enterprising and prosperous and 

 now reaching that stage where the finer 

 sentiments begin to develop and the de- 

 sire for beautiful home environment com- 

 mences to kindle. • 



On the extent tliat the gardener and 

 florist grasp the situation and act upon 

 the opportunity thus presented depends 

 much of the future welfare of our horti- 

 cultural industries and of gardening art. 

 One thing is indisputable: If the hor- 

 ticulturist is to do his part in directing 

 and devel()i)ing the garden-hunger of the 

 people he nuist first make good use of 

 every means to fit himself to do this 

 intelligently. 



Tliese are times of unprecedented rush 

 and enteri)ri8e. Timorousness and parsi- 

 mony have little part in the policies that 

 lead to success nowadays, and he who 

 would excel must follow modern methods, 

 taking full advantage of the horticultu- 

 lal literature of the day and of personal 

 intimacy with his fellows in the societies 

 and clul)s; he must travel, visit exhibi- 

 tions — in short, he must use every avenue 

 of publicity and every opportunity to 

 sharpen his wits and enlarge his knowl- 

 edge. The day when a paying business 

 can be done with untidy grounds, neg- 

 lected store windows, decrepit green- 

 houses. ))}nlly grown plants, misrepre- 

 sented trees ami shrubs and haphazard 

 financial methods has gone forever. 



Our Opportunity. 



Modern suburban transportation facili- 



ties have given a tremendous imj)etus to 

 the rural home idea. It is to the man 

 skilled in horticulture that the home- 

 maker will turn for advice, assistance 

 and material needed, and for those who 

 grasp the opportunity in the right spirit 

 there will be found abundant scope and 

 full recompense for cultural knowledge 

 and artistic talent. Nothing comparable 

 to the present demand for hardy garden 

 material has ever been experienced in this 

 country, and no horticultural enterprise 

 intelligently and diligently conducted can 

 fail of success if existing conditions are 

 understood and provided for. Tender ma- 

 terial, also, -»\ill get its full share of the 

 prosperity if used with better discretion 

 Jis to its adaptations and limitations. For 

 the ambitious, earnest young man, blessed 

 with an artistic temperament, no depart- 

 ment of horticulture offers brighter emol- 

 ument or higher honor than that of out- 

 door gardening in all its branches. Within 

 the scope of our vision today the field 

 seems practically unlimited and the young 

 generation may safely go into training 

 for large responsibilities — every one will 

 be needed. Under pressure of exigencies 

 prevailing in the past the gardener has in 

 too m.any instances been acquiring a one- 

 sided experience and some of otrr most tal- 

 ented indoor growers find themselves bad- 

 ly handicapped through deficient educa- 

 tion in the fundamental operations of 

 general gardening. The horticulturist who 

 makes his mark in the future will not have 

 these limitations, but will combine a thor- 

 ough equipment for outdoor planting, 

 grading, management and executive abil- 

 ity, with a fine knowledge of indoor opera- 

 tions and proficiency in the production of 

 flowers and fruits under glass that will 



stand the test of comparison with the 

 products of the specialist. Several of the 

 agricultural colleges are doing good work 

 on this order and turning out trained 

 young men from whom we may expect 

 much. 



Room for Improvement. 



Too many greenhouses are devoted to 

 crops for which neither the houses nor 

 their owners are competent. We see acres 

 of nursery space filled with antiquated 

 stock; well grown flowers sacrificed 

 through careless handling or through in- 

 efficiency in the sales department; the 

 once-prosperous flower shipping business 

 prostrated by shortsighted methods; the 

 trade subjected to criticism because of 

 the trumpeting of undeserving novelties. 

 Our exhibitions are crude in method, 

 faulty in manner of making awards or 

 interesting the public. In every branch 

 of activity there is room for better sys- 

 tem. The arrangement of flowers, the 

 planting of garden beds or the larger 

 operations of beautifying an estate or 

 creating a landscape picture, in many of 

 which, as we see them from day to day, 

 the qualities of originality and artistic 

 intelligence in form and color harmony 

 are conspicuously lacking, show conclu- 

 sively the need for study and self -educa- 

 tion in artistic taste before we are prop- 

 erly fitted to instruct the public. 



It is the province of the florists' club 

 to seek out and apply the remedy for all 

 these deficiencies and it becomes the duty 

 of the craftsman in justice to himself and 

 his fellows to uphold in every possible 

 way his local organization and do his 

 share toward the general advancement 

 which is sure to follow the fraternizing of 

 congenial spirits whose material interests 

 arc identical. 



Work for Community Interests. 



No better evidence of progressiveness 

 in a given locality or in any special 

 branch of our industries can be adduced 

 than a full representation on the society 

 roll books and at the regular meetings, yet 

 how pitifully small in the aggregate is the 

 proportion of the horticultural craft rep- 

 resented in the membership of all our 

 local or national bodies ! The power of or- 

 ganization when all stand behind it, for 

 whatever is just and right, the tremend- 

 ous advantage in being able to command 

 unity of sentiment and action when any 

 evil menaces, is a lesson that is being 

 learned with exasperating slowness. 



While on the subject of societies it may 

 not be amiss to call attention to the ef- 

 forts that are being made for the protec- 

 tion of what is left of our forests — a her- 

 itage of greater intrinsic value to the 

 health and prosperity of our country than 

 all the gold mines on the continent. De- 

 vastation by .soil erosion, floods and 

 droughts, bird extermination, insect 

 plagues, and many other evils are follow- 

 ing in the wake of the wanton forest de- 

 structidn which has been going on. Few- 

 interests are more seriously affected by 

 all this than is horticulture, and every 

 movement, local, state or national^for for- 

 est preservation should have our zealous 

 support individually and collectively. 



The School Garden Movement. 



Chief among the instrumentalities for the 

 upbuilding of our industries is the educa- 

 tion of the public to a fuller appreciation 

 of our products. The majority of Ameri- 

 can homes fall short of the home ideal in 

 their lack of any setting of living green. 

 Consider the possibilities — the millions of 

 house plants, the hundreds of thousands 



