August 19, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



39 



Investment of the Permanent Fund. 



The financial stateinonts attached to 

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

 port, will show a gratifyiii}^- increase in 

 the ji;eueral 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 

 l»ecn continued, and the latter fund has 

 HOW reached so large an amount that the 

 interest on it is <piite an item. Steps 

 are being taken to make permanent in- 

 vestments of this fund, which will se- 

 cure larger interest returns than are olt- 

 tained at i)resent. St^-rting out twenty- 

 live years ago with no pattern to follow, 

 except foreign horticultural societies, 

 which were organized to fit dill'erent con- 

 ilitions, our society has had to try many 

 .■xperiments and abandon many of them. 

 We are now just beginning to get our 

 l»earings and to see clearly the work 

 which lies before us. 



Personally the writer believes tliat 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 sliould 

 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 

 I'or the testing of new varieties and for 

 the growing and maintaining in the best 

 <!ondition 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 

 tlie writer hopes that tiie strength and 

 •nfluenco of the society will be so great 

 iliat the national government can be in- 

 'hiced to assist directly in the work. 



Sources of Revenue. 



There are tliree sources, ;iside from 

 uovernment assistance, to which we can 

 l<»ok for strengthening our ])ermanent 

 fund. First, of course, in fact tiie only 

 one which has up to (hite been of much 

 <(lect, has been the life memberships 

 and the compounding of the interest, 

 which lias been steadily going on. 



Second is the trade exhibition, which 

 lias grand possibilities, but which we 

 seem to have largely overlooked heretn- 

 lore. The present method of taking the 

 iiitire 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 spact; have been 

 experimentally fixed very low. The wiitiT 

 is convinced that they are altogether loo 

 low and that, unlike the larilV. lliey 

 shouhl be revised upward. Careful han- 

 dling of this matter, your seciclaiy is 

 eonvinccd, will shortly ]iroduce aji' in- 

 ' onie greater than your enliii present 

 ie\(Miue, both g(,'n(>ral fund and jierma- 



lle?ll. 



I'lu! Ihinl source of income is one that 

 has never been exploited, so far as 1 

 know; nami'ly, betjuests and donations. 

 In the twenty-live years of the existence 

 of our society no money has been left to 

 it by will and no gift has been nuule 

 wlii;-h could be added to the permanent 

 fund and which would in any way assist 

 us to arrive at the permanent home. It 

 seems to your secretary that W(! have 

 been sadly neglectful in this respect, and 

 that a jiroper j)lacing before our mem- 

 bers of the vast good to be accomplislKHl 



by such betpiests would soon jn-oduce re 

 suits. 



Getting and Keeping Members. 



Of course, ■»(■ must continue to use 

 every elfort to increase our nienilpership 

 iu the way of ainiual niendiers. iiecause 

 our .ability to cairy on our preseni woi'k 

 depends largely on the income tVom tiiat 

 source. llowcNer, loo much slrts> lias 

 been jilaced oi! the getting of new mem 

 bers, or, jierhajis, il would be better to 

 say that not enough stress has lieen 

 jdaced on the necessity of keeping the 

 members we have. We must at all times 

 carefully consider and carry out e\ery 

 ]iossible nu'.ans of retaining the interest 

 of the members we already have. The 

 nmn who deliber;itely sends in his appli 

 cation in the middle of the year because 

 a study of the conditions has led him to 

 believe that membeiship in the society 

 will be \aluable to him, is ii continuiiii; 

 source of gain, because he \vill stick, if 

 the handling of the society work is such 

 as not to (.lisappoinl him in his expecta- 

 tions. The nmn who joins umler the ex- 

 citement of the convention, or through 

 the strong solicitation in a personal way 

 of officers or mend)ers, is often avcu-Ui 

 just .$5 ami no nu)re. I lis intt-rest is 

 only a fleeting one, ami if he does not 

 atttuid the next convention he fails to 

 renew his membership ami drops out. 



lu the past we hav(> been nei;h'ctful iu 

 the matter of getting into dose ;ind 

 continuous touch with our individual 

 members; we have not shown them that 

 this is their society, and that the whole 

 strength of the soci(>ty is ;it their dis- 

 posal at all tinu's. to every icasiuiable 

 degree. Thoy should be encourageil to 

 submit their problems to the secretary 

 and shouM lie led to e\pe<t. and should 

 he gi\en. prompt iiel|i. Many ol the 



I iiKpuiies coming in relating to the difli- 

 i cullies of (lur nn'tnliers, i-speciall}- the 

 ! ones just starting in busiin^ss, >-an be 



rejidily attended to by the secretary. 

 ' while for those (|uestions of a more seri- 

 j ous natni-e we Innc hundreds of able 

 i men in tiie society who will, I ;ini sure» 



be elad to help soKe 'In |iroli|erns of 



their brother inendiers. 



The Experiment Stations. 



The writer has \',,i many years been 



nuich intereste(| in ibc matter of experi- 



' meat station wcirk, aiel has believed that 



i the llorists were not yettin;^ their dues, 



j largi'ly because they failed to appro- 



j ciate the imi)ortanie of the work ami tc 



ask f(U' what they wanted. The wnvk of 



' the experiment stations, in eumparat ively 



I ;i few years, lias re\ ulut ioni/.ed farmin"^, 



] dairying, li\c stock breeiling and fruit 



j culture. It has done nothiriji for us, 



I comparat i\(dy speaking. The work at 



Illinois, being ;i combination of the best. 



I s(dentific skill with tin <losi- scrutiny- 



and ad\ic(.' of members of the trade, is 



yoing to be of enormous value, and tht; 



\\riter b(die\(s that the same conditions 



can be brought about iu nearly e\-ery 



state in the Union. 



In order to lay bel'ori you the facts, 

 your secretary sonn; time siin'e took up 

 ciurespomlence with the i-xperimeut sta- 

 tions in the country, liopine- to Ijc^ able 

 to talndate the facilities ,-ii the \;tri(nis 

 statioiis and the work they \\ere doing. 

 ;ind to urge ujioii you an active cutt'.- 

 p.aign for seeurine bettei- things. I'n- 

 fortunately, the coiic,s|M^ndenct das 

 dr;igged out :ind the inf^irnmtion iias 

 eome in so slowly that the data canuot 

 lu; given to you at this time. I hope t(i 

 <'oniplete it, however, .-ind ask \'our per- 

 mission let jiublisli it iii the fortlu-oui- 

 illy \()lunie. The 'esult- will be so dis- 



Richard Witterstaetter. 



K'hainiian Finance Committee for the C'ineiniiati Convention. ) 



