48 
Gardeners and Florists’ Annual for J9J8 
Society of American Florists 
The thirty-third annual meeting and convention of this society was 
held in Mew York, Aug. 21 to 23. President R. C. Kerr of Houston, 
Texas, presided, and there was a good attendance. The exhibition at 
the Grand Central Palace was also one of the best of recent years. 
The convention was described as a “Business Convention,” inasmuch as 
the subjects discussed pertained to Collections, Advertising, Windstonn 
Insurance and such like. 
The great achievement of the convention was the inauguration of a 
fund for the national advertising of cut flowers through the magazines 
and newspapers. The sum of $8,000 was subscribed among members on 
the floor, while the S. A. F. itself promised an additional $5000, and 
subscriptions were later received totaling $15,000. The proposition made 
by the publicity committee of the society was that $50,000 be spent 
during the coming year and that a sum eqiialing this amount be spent 
during the succeeding three years. 
The officers elected were: President, Chas. H. Totty, Madison, N. J.; 
vice-president, Jules P. Bourdet, St. Ixniis, Mo.; treasurer, J. J. Hess, 
Omaha, Neb.; secretary, John Young, 53 W. 28th st.. New York. 
The next convention will be held in conjunction with the National 
Flower Show at St. E/)uis, April 6 to 15, 1918; while the convention of 
1919 will be held at Detroit, Mich. A proposition to have the election 
of the secretary left in the hands of the board of directors was lost on 
vote. W. F. Gude, Washington representative, submitted a long report 
on legislative matters during the year. He spoke of the N’alley situa- 
tion, of the long struggle that had taken place in regard to importations 
of Azaleas, also in regard to express shipments of cut flowers, wherein 
the express company had deemed a 24 hours’ delay in the shipment of 
cut flowers as not unreasonable. Another matter that had received the 
attention of the legislation committee was that of granting licenses to 
firemen. The war revenue bill of the early Summer had suggested the 
impost of a 10 per cent, ad valorem duty on all imports. This would 
have caused great inconvenience to importers. The proposition was with- 
drawn. The coal situation, which materially affected producers every- 
wdiere, was another matter that had received considerable attention. 
Patrick Welch of Boston, delivered an important report of the 
work which had been undertaken by the committee on collections. 
.Anders Rasmussen, M’^ew Albany, Ind., delivered a report on hail and 
windstorm insurance. Both of the.se reports were adopted. 
A convention garden was made at the Bronx Park. 
The grand total of membership was 2215. The society’s net balance 
of funds was $43,025.78. 
Vegetable Growers’ Association 
of America 
The tenth anniversary of this organization was celebrated in the 
week of Oct. 20 at Springfield, Mass. There was a good attendance. 
In connection, there was a large vegetable exhibition called the First 
National Vegetable Show. There were represented in this exhibition the 
following: Flintstone Fruit Orchards, Dalton, Mass.; the Highland 
