40 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



April 6, 1911. 



cially did all enjoy the hearty welcome 

 extended by Mrs. W. H. Elliott at her 

 new home in Brighton, Mass., Friday, 

 and last but not least, do we mention 

 that the silver vase given for best table 

 decorations by the Ladies' S. A. F. 

 was awarded to Hoffman, the florist of 

 Boston. 



Mrs. Chas. H. Maynard, Sec'y^ ^ 

 , 7 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



[George Asmus, president of the Society of 

 Mmnicaii Florists, made the following address in 

 opening the meeting held at Boston, March 31. J 



It is with great pleasure I address 

 you, ladies and gentlemen of the So- 

 ciety of American Florists, at this gath- 

 ering here during the first spring meet- 

 ing attempted by our organization in 

 amalgamation with our kindred socie- 

 ties. 



It is the first time that the combina- 

 tion of holding flower shows, conven-_^ 

 tiona and trade exhibits has been at- 

 tempted, and it is for the purpose of 

 ascertaining whether or not it has met 

 with a general feeling of success by the 

 different societies participating, and in 

 view of the fact that our annual con- 

 vention will take place as usual in Bal- 

 timore in August, the officers and mem- 

 bers of the board of directors did not 

 deem it advisable to interfere with the 

 usual program of that meeting. I will, 

 therefore, as briefly as. possible, bid you, 

 the members of the bodies participating 

 in this gathering, a most cordial wel- 

 come in behalf of the Society of Amer- 

 ican Florists. 



This gathering is the fulfillment of 

 one of my most beautiful dreams. I for 

 a number of years have. thought that 

 the concentration of all interested at 

 the time of the year when the greatest 

 number of varieties of flowers are ob- 

 tainable, namely, the spring, would be 

 ideal for a convention. 



There are a great many things favor- 

 able to a spring meeting, one in par- 

 ticular being the time of the year to 

 make displays of the goods we are most 

 interested in, another being the doing 

 away with excessive railroad travel, and 

 time devoted to going to the different 

 conventions when they are held sepa- 

 rately in different cities and at different 

 times. 



We are all busy people and time 

 means money with all of us. It has 

 been said that we have more time in 

 August than at any other time of the 

 year for convention purposes. This is 

 true when a convention is taken in the 

 way of recreation instead of business. 

 I take the stand that conventions prop- 

 erly attended are strictly business, par- 

 ticularlv when carried on as one would 

 be by the amalgamation of the different 

 societies, such as are represented by 

 this, the second National Flower Show. 



While our membership has slowly in- 

 creased, it is not an increase such as 

 would be justified by the work done by 

 our organization. When there are so 

 many large questions constantly coming 

 up, and which are of vital importance 

 to the success of our business, it 

 would seem two meetings a year were 

 almost a necessity. Then again the big 

 displays that would naturally follow 

 such spring meetings would be of al- 

 most priceless value in the way of stim- 

 ulating advertising. 



In the cities where such conventions 

 and exhibitions were held, they would 

 be self-sustaining to a certain extent, 

 and it is not necessary that these exhi- 

 bitions and conventions be held in the 

 very largest cities, but any city of a 



population of 200,000 or more would 

 perhaps be as good, taking into consid- 

 eration the great good exhibitions of 

 this kind would do local communities, 

 as such exhibitions could not help arous- 

 ing a great horticultural interest to the 

 public at. large, and this would be one 

 of the ways our organii^atjon would do 

 ^ great horticultural good- 



While there is no doubt about the 

 grand hospitality that .has been ex- 

 tended to the different societies at their 

 ipeetings in the past, and while there is 

 an open welcome in the hearts of all 

 florists for their brethren in business, 

 we know that in some instances in 

 towns and small cities the work falls 

 upon a few people, and the precedent 

 for entertainment having been estab- 

 .Jished has become a custom, and has 

 not always been an easy matter for the 

 consideration of the local people. In- 

 stead of being anything of that kind to 

 "^"^ large city, it would be just the re 

 verse. It should mean such a big horti- 

 cultural boom to that particular city, or 

 section wherein same was held, that 

 they would be more than recompensed 

 for any trouble they may have had. 



I sincerely hope that the talks which 

 follow after the close of my few re- 

 marks will be favorable to a continua- 

 tion of the combined society meetings 

 annually in the spring of each year. 



I wish here to give credit to the un- 

 tiring efforts of our chairman of the 

 National Flower Show Committee, F. E. 

 Pierson, of Tarrytown, N. Y., also to 

 the members of that committee, as well 

 as to the Board of Control and to local 

 horticultural organizations who have 

 been untiring in their efforts to make 

 this show the great success it has been. 

 But few on the inside know the great 

 amount of work and detail there is in 

 connection with an enormous undertak- 

 ing of this kind, but it has been ever 

 thus in the workings of our society. 

 Untiring unselfishness for the gen- 

 eral good of all has been the watch- 

 word of the great majority of the mem- 

 bers of this society. Let us assist them 

 at any and all times it is in our power. 

 Nor must we think we have achieved 

 the greatest, or reached the top of the 

 ladder, but put our knowledge and 

 thoughts to greater things, many of 

 which are in their infancy, and which 

 I will dwell upon in my address at the 

 August convention. 



One of my predecessors, Mr. Valen- 

 tine, of Denver, in his address before 

 the convention at Cincinnati, recom- 

 mended the setting aside of certain 

 hours for the meetings of florists who 

 are interested in the different branches 

 of the business, such as the Retail Sec- 

 tion, Carnation Society, Rose Society, 

 etc., which at that time created a very 

 favorable impression. I was one of 

 those who were deeply impressed with 

 the idea, and believe that the present 

 meeting has to a great extent covered 

 a great many of the ideas advjinced in 

 his recommendation. 



Our business, branching out as it 

 does, and specializing itself as it has, 

 and will continue to do from this on, 

 must have individual organizations to 

 further their specific purposes. 



I do not suppose that we can have 

 an exhibition on so elaborate a scale 

 as this each year, but with the com- 

 bined efforts of the Carnation, Rose and 

 Sweet Pea Societies, and additional pre- 

 miums for plants, etc., I think a good 

 annual spring show ought to be a suc- 

 cessful feature from all points of view, 

 and would recommend to you the con- 



sideration of a plan whereby the advis- 

 ability of such be considered. 



The Society of American Florists is 

 not a society with any one object in 

 view, but the general promotion of all 

 interests. We want the membership of 

 the members of these, organizations in 

 the mother society. We should support 

 them, and they should support us, as we 

 should be one in purpose and one in 

 accord. 



TREASURER'S REPORT. ; 



[W. F. Kastlng, treasurer of the Society of 

 American Florists, presented a report, of which 

 the following is a summary, at tne meeting at 

 Boston, March 31.] 



The period covered by this report is 

 the vear from January 1, 1910, to De- 

 cember 31, 1910. 



RECEIPTS. 



Permanent fund $ 9,020.17 



General fund 9,319.86 



Total .$18,340.03 



DISBURSEMENTS. 

 General fund $ 3,0(55.00 



BALANCES. 



Permanent fund $ 9,020.17 



General fund 6,254.77 



Total $15,274.94 



INVESTED AS FOLLOWS. 

 Bond and Mort. Dunlielberg, Ft. 



Wayne, Ind $ 6,000.00 



Bond- and Mort. City Sub. Realty Co., 



Ft. Wayne, Ind 1,500.00 



Germania Savings Baulc, Pittsburg. Pa. 619.72 



American Savings Bank, Buffalo, N. Y. 4,409.91 



Peoples Bank, Buffalo, Permanent Fd. 744.64 



Peoples Bnnk, Buffalo, Checking Acct. . 2,000.67 



Total $15,274.94 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



[H. B. Dorner, secretary of the Society of 

 American Florists, presented the following report 

 at the meeting at Boston, March 31.] 



As the regular secretary's report was 

 given at the convention held during the 

 summer, the report at this time will be 

 in the nature of a supplementary one, 

 covering the time from the last con- 

 vention up to date. 



The financial statement attached to 

 this report, as well as the treasurer's 

 report, shows a gratifying increase in 

 the general fund and a marked increase 

 in the permanent fund. During the 

 year, the fees of twenty-eight members 

 were added to this fund. As has been 

 the custom in the past, the executive 

 board has ordered that all interest on 

 both general and permanent fund be 

 added to the permanent fund. 



The trade exhibit of 1910 was unusu- 

 ally successful. The entire receipts for 

 sale of space were $2,460.43. The total 

 expenditure, including the superintend- 

 ent's salary, was .$944.52, leaving a 

 balance of $1,515.91 in the treasury. 

 This was without doubt the most suc- 

 cessful trade exhibition ever held by 

 the S. A. F. 



A comparison of the membership of 



1909 and 1910 may be of interest: 



Life. Annual. Total. 

 1900 219 776 99.") 



1910 247 826 1,073 



During the year, 228 new members 

 were taken in. This number also in- 

 cluded old members reinstated. Of this 

 number, thirteen entered as life mem- 

 bers. In addition to these, fifteen mem- 

 bers were transferred from the annual 

 to the life membership roll. The total 

 number of life members added during 

 the year was twenty-eight. 



We are now past the 1,000 mark and 

 have raised our goal to the 2,000 mark. 

 Let us hope that by united effort we 

 will reach that mark in a few years, in- 

 stead of the twenty-seven necessary to 

 reach the 1,000 mark. This could be 

 done easily if each member made an 

 effort and secured one new member. 



