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AuoDBT 18, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



39 



Investment of the Permanent Fund. 



The financial statements attached to 

 this report, as well as the treasurer's re- 

 port, will show a gratifying increase in 

 the general fund and an unusually good 

 increase in the permanent fund. The 

 custom of adding all interest received on 

 both funds to the permanent fund has 

 been continued, and the latter fund has 

 now reached so large an amount that the 

 interest on it is quite an item. Steps 

 are being taken to make permanent in- 

 vestments of this fund, which will se- 

 cure larger interest returns than are ob- 

 tained at present. Starting out twenty- 

 five years ago with no pattern to follow, 

 except foreign horticultural societies, 

 which were organized to fit different con- 

 ditions, our society has had to try many 

 experiments and abandon many of them. 

 We are now just beginning to get our 

 bearings and to see clearly the work 

 which lies before us. 



Personally the writer believes that we 

 shall never really and truly come to our 

 own, except through the nursing into a 

 rapid growth of our permanent fund. 

 The society will never be what it should 

 be and can never accomplish what it 

 should accomplish for the floricultural 

 interests, until it has a permanent home 

 of its own, with ample glass structures 

 for the testing of new varieties and for 

 the growing and maintaining in the best 

 condition of a large and representative 

 collection of subjects adaptable to Amer- 

 ican conditions. This is going to take 

 an enormous amount of money, and we 

 must not be impatient and attempt to 

 start this sort of work until the funds 

 at our disposal are sufficient to make a 

 reasonably good beginning. At that time 

 the writer hopes that the strength and 

 influence of the society will be so great 

 that the national government can be in- 

 <luced to assist directly in the work. 



Sources of Revenue. 



There are three sources, aside from 

 government assistance, to which we can 

 look for strengthening our permanent 

 fund. First, of course, in fact the only 

 one which has up to date been of much 

 effect, has been the life memberships 

 and the compounding of the interest, 

 which has been steadily going on. 



Second is the trade exhibition, which 

 has grand possibilities, but which we 

 seem to have largely overlooked hereto- 

 fore. The present method of taking the 

 entire trade exhibition matter directly 

 into the hands of the society itself, is a 

 move in the right direction, and I be- 

 lieve will show excellent results this 

 year. The charges for space have been 

 experimentally fS;ed very low. The writer 

 is convinced that they are altogether too 

 low and that, unlike the tariff, they 

 should be revised upward. Careful han- 

 dling of this matter, your secretary is 

 convinced, will shortly produce an in- 

 come greater than your entire present 

 revenue, both general fund and perma- 

 nent. 



The third source of income is one that 

 has never been exploited, so far as I 

 know; namely, bequests and donations. 

 In the twenty-five years of the existence 

 of our society no money has been left to 

 it by wiU and no gift has been made 

 which could be add^ to the permanent 

 fund and which would in any way assist 

 us to arrive at the permanent home. It 

 seems to your secretary that we have 

 been sadly neglectful in this respect, and 

 that a proper placing before our mem- 

 bers of the vast good to be accomplished 



by such bequests would soon produce re- 

 sults. 



Getting and Keepios Members. 



Of course, we must continue to use 

 every effort to increase our membership 

 in the way of annual members, because 

 our ability to carry on our present work 

 depends largely on the income from tliat 

 source. However, too much stress lias 

 been placed on the getting of new mem- 

 bers, or, perhaps, it would be better to 

 say that not enough stress has been 

 placed on the necessity of keeping the 

 members we have. We must at all times 

 carefully consider and carry out every 

 possible means of retaining the interest 

 of the members we already have. The 

 man who deliberately sends in his appli- 

 cation in the middle of the year because 

 a study of the conditions has led him to 

 believe that membership in the society 

 will be valuable to him, is a continuing 

 source of gain, because he will stick, if 

 the handling of the society work is such 

 as not to disappoint him in his expecta- 

 tions. The man who joins under the ex- 

 citement of the convention, or through 

 the strong solicitation in a personal way 

 of officers or members, is often worth 

 just $5 and no more. His interest is 

 only a fleeting one, and if he does not 

 attend the next convention he fails to 

 renew his membership and drops out. 



In the past we have been neglectful in 

 the matter of getting into close and 

 continuous touch with our individual 

 members; we have not shown them that 

 this is their society, and that the whole 

 strength of the society is at their dis- 

 posal at all times, to every reasonable 

 degree. They should be encouraged to 

 submit their problems to the secretary 

 and should be led to expect, and should 

 be given, prompt help. Many of the 



inquiries coming in relating to the diffi- 

 culties of our members, especially the 

 ones just starting in business, can be 

 readily attended to by the secretary, 

 while for those questions of a more seri- 

 ous nature we have hundreds of able 

 men in the society who will, I am sure,, 

 be glad to help solve the problems of 

 their brother members. 



The Experiment Stations. 



The writer has for many years been 

 much interested in the matter of experi- 

 ment station work, and has believed that 

 the florists were not getting their dues, 

 largely because they failed to appre- 

 ciate the importance of the work and to 

 ask for what they wanted. The work of 

 the experiment stations, in comparatively 

 a few years, has revolutionized farming, 

 dairying, live stock breeding and fruit 

 culture. It has done nothing for us, 

 comparatively speaking. The work at 

 Illinois, being a combination of the best 

 scientific skill with the close scrutiny 

 and advice of members of the trade, is 

 going to be of enormous value, and the 

 writer believes that the same conditions 

 can be brought about in nearly every 

 state in the Union. 



In order to lay before you the facts, 

 your secretary some time since took up 

 correspondence with the experiment sta- 

 tions in the country, hoping to be able 

 to tabulate the facilities at the various, 

 stations and the work they were doings 

 and to urge upon you an active cam- 

 paign for securing better things. Un- 

 fortunately, the correspondence has 

 dragged out and the information has 

 come in so slowly that the data cannot 

 be given to you at this time. I hope to. 

 complete it, however, and ask your per- 

 mission to publish it in the forthcom- 

 ing volume. The results will be so dis- 



•-'■^:^5^ 



Richard Witterstaetter. 



(Chairman Finance Oommittee for the Cincinnati Convention.) 



