36 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



August 19, vjO'j. 



Charles E. Critchell. 



iCIiairman of the Cincinnati Club's Committee on Howling at the t'onvcntion. 



tli;il llicir naiiM's lif i-;nriril in llir iiiniual 

 ropui't iliirinir their ]i\cs umlcr the ti>>iul- 

 injj (tf " PidiK^crs, " ;ni(l llial \u> I'lir- 

 tliiT annual ilni's sliall \n- i-nllcrtcil t'rdin 



tlltTll. 



To Increase the Membership. 



'I'lif ])r('sr'nt in('iiili(islii|i nl' (inr sncii'ty 

 (lofS not includi' move tlian Icn ]>ov c(-ul 

 of tilt' ('oniiiHTcial men who arc owiicis 

 aud operators of smnc kind nt' a Moral 

 establishiiK'nt, ami this iinlicatcs that 

 sonietliin}!^ lias been wi-mij; scinicwlicrc. 

 Wo liavo. eitlicr not lollownl ihi' rij^ht 

 motliod in caiixassiny tor new incmlu'i's, 

 or till' I'ondiict ot' tlir socirty has not 

 hiM'ii such as to interest outsiders and 

 lilill^; tlielll into the t'old. 



< )ur nienilii'rshi|i is es|ie(ially weak 

 ainon<; the I'etail llorists and we have 

 I'i'W meiiiliers in the south nv >in the I'a- 

 i-ilic roast. It is well Wiutll while 1(1 

 consider uhethcr there is not some nujro 

 etl'eetual \\;i\ ot' canvassiiiti for now 

 nicmliers in those states, ami we should 

 try 1o devise some mi-ans ot' interest 



illy ll w tiers of retail llox\ei stores so 



that ihev will lind something in our so 

 eiety and at our conventions ol cs[ie(ial 

 interest and iienetit to liicin. 



'riieie are thousands ot' these ictaileis 

 ill the ((Miiitry ami theii most ci'yiii*; 

 iicr(l at |iresent is smiie t'oini of otj^rani- 

 zalioii whei'cliy they can. witii confi- 

 d>-iic('. exclian;;c orders liy mail or tidc- 

 ijraph. If some such or<4aiii/.at ion could 

 he etfected. continiiic- its meiiilieishi|) to 

 the ineiniiers of this society, I iielieve the 

 retailers would tiock to our slandai'd in 

 Inrj^p nuiiiliers. 



The niemhers of this s,ii-iet\' are on- 

 ijay^eil in so many ditfereiit lines of work 

 that it i< li;iid to airany a iiroyfam 



which will hold the interest of a larj;e 

 [iio|iortion (d' its nii'iiiliers. We (daim to 

 hold the door tipeii for the admission of 

 all persons interested in horticnlturu and 

 to inanufactui'ers of and dealers in hor- 

 ticultural su|ipli(S. Iiut. ha\in<i come in 

 tlir(Mijili our o|>eii door, many fail to iind 

 aiiy1hiii!i of personal interest ^vithin (Uir 

 hoiiH' and so allow their membership to 

 lapse. 'J'lie nianufacliirer or tin- dealer 

 may .join ami attend as a matter of pid- 

 ' icy. but he <-aiiiiot be exjiected to t:ike 

 any <;reat personal interest in the life 

 history of the aphis or in the .Meiidelian 

 theory; nor can the man \\ ho devotes 

 his whole jdace 1o iiiowiny cut liowcrs 

 bi- presumed to takt- a keen interest in 

 lainlscape jjardoniny. 



Convening in Sections. 



While our meinbership is much smaller 

 than it ouyht to be and than we liopt; 

 it will be, it is now laryc emui^h so 

 that the work ol' the convention could 

 be sui-cessfiilly divided into sections, as is 

 done in many societies. ( )ne section 

 mi<ilit take up matters ot' interest to all 

 im|jorteis of bulls and jdants; another 

 section, as I ha\c already inditrated. 

 miyht pnditaiily be dc\otcd to the in- 

 terests of the retailers. 



We miyht lia\e .-i section di'Xotcd to the 

 interests of the private ^lardenei's and 

 oinameiital liort icnit urists. and so jus- 

 tify that portion of our name. ff the 

 oryaiiiziny and coiiductiiiji of such a 

 section should prove to be ot' interest to 

 any considerable number of private gar- 

 deners and ]iark men, we \vould ^'t an 

 ac<-essioii id' valuable members from a 

 direction where we have heretofore awak- 

 ened but little interest. 



In |iiii siKiiicc of siii-h a policy, section 



programs would Le ].re]pared of sped: 

 interest to tlioso engaged in some j>a 

 ticular braiiidi of work, Tliese ditferci 

 sections would hold their meetings in dii 

 ferent rooms and no one would be obliyi 

 to listen to a class of papers that did n.. 

 interest hiui; neither would an intere-i 

 ing discussion have to be abridged t 

 prevent its taking the time set down o 

 the program for a topic of a ditferch 

 nature. 



A number of the members of this sm i 

 ety have been interested in cross-fertili/ 

 ing. Ten or a dozen men devote<l t. 

 that class of work could get into a smai 

 room and hold a very interesting sessioi, 

 Perhaps a half dozen similar meeting 

 might be in session at one time in dii 

 ferent rooms and it would be necessar 

 to devote to them at least one day o' 

 the convention, so that on that day n. 

 general business session would l)e hcM 

 These sessions, being composed of a niui-l 

 smaller number of men than the lary. 

 convention, would be much more fraiiK 

 and men too difiidcnt to speak in a laiy. 

 convention would gladly t.ike part in !lh 

 proceedings. The ino>t \aluable j)oint- 

 we get at these nMi iiuioiis ari' ofiii- 

 olitained in the iiiioiinal talks in hot.! 

 loliliies or in privali; rooms, and tlui. 

 are few who fail to ]pick up somethiiiL: 

 of interest and value "U such i>ccasions, 



A Retailers' Section, 



The retailers' sectum would rt'ceiv. 

 the r(!ports of the ofticers of the delivci v 

 association and its arbitration commii 

 tee wouhl ad.iust controversies. Thc\ 

 would discuss the best methods of draw 

 ing and holding trade; the best method- 

 of bookkeeping and of collecting •.{<■ 

 counts; jirotectioii against dead beat-. 

 (daims for commission put forward b\ 

 mercenary servants; the adoption of uni 

 form charges for tiie renttd of decoia 

 five plants; the jiroper policy to jnirsn' 

 toward churches an<l sc^cieties asking foi 

 donations. All thesi,- and many otlici 

 subjects would furnish fruitful topics for 

 discussion. So many and such substan 

 lial benefits would lie offered that 1lic 

 retailers simply could not afl'ord to stav 

 out. The resultant gathering togethn 

 of retailers would induce larger and moii 

 ju'olitable displays by those concerns w!i'' 

 cater to that trade. 



These are jiossible means for strength 

 eniiig ;ind upbuilding our society tinioiiL; 

 the (dasses at jiresent included in oui 

 membership, ;ind I recommend them to 

 your careful consideration. It is my 

 firm conviction that if some such plan 

 as this hail been followed, we would have 

 had a li'ose ScM-tiou, a Carnation Section 

 and :i Chrysanthemum Section instead ot 

 separate societies, which are doing com 

 mendable work but are to some extent 

 depleting our ranks. 



We must admit that iu the jiast thi- 

 society has been condiKded as a traih^ or 

 ganiziition. without any pretense of oc 

 <upying that broader and larger fiehi 

 which includes the flower-loving public. 

 It is not my intention to criticise thai 

 attitude, for it m.ay have Ijeen the onlv 

 one wiiii h would have <'arried the societv 

 s.afely through the perils which beset it : 

 but the lime has surely come when ^\' 

 should .assume thtit high place in horti 

 cultural councils to which our national 

 charter entitles us. 



Societies of Amateurs. 



The amateur will never lind much ot 

 interest in a convention of florists and I 

 do not assume that any merging of the 

 two elements into one convention wouhi 

 be acceptalde to either, bn^ our interests 



