190 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
He went out of that room saddened. He felt that he had 
wasted his time in attending the National Nurserymen’s Conven¬ 
tion. None of his problems had been solved. Not a blame thing 
had come up that helped him a bit. They had not talked any¬ 
thing about propagation, transportation or legislation, but they 
had just taken up the time mostly with criticisms of nursery¬ 
men and their methods of doing business. He started out the 
door determined to go home and to give it up. Just on the 
outside he met one of the old guard, a practical level headed 
fellow that had been brought up in the game, a man that had 
learned it from the ground up and he had gathered around him 
a group of other men that had been attending conventions for 
years and they realized that it took about so much hot air and 
so much theory to keep the thing going. But this group were 
practical men and they had found out what the trouble was and 
they talked to him and advised him. They told him not to be 
discouraged because he had got poor stands one year, next year 
would be all right. That in any line of business we had our 
ups and downs, some years would be discouraging, but other years 
would be all right. After they had talked with him and advised 
him he went home with his head up, proud that he was a nur¬ 
seryman, glad to greet his wife, tickled to death to come back, 
to go out into the nursery and to go into his office and take 
up the reins of business once more. 
Now, in conclusion, I have a few words for the young men. 
I was a young man when I first attended these meetings. I am 
not such an old man yet, but I cannot class myself anymore 
with the young men. I want to say to you, young men, I repre¬ 
sent an institution that has been in business fifty-three years and 
we are absolutely proud of the nursery business (applause). We 
know the nurserymen of this nation. We have mingled with 
men in all lines of business, we know them, we know nurserymen. 
There is no finer group of business men, there are no cleaner and 
better men in any line of business than are in the nursery busi¬ 
ness and you young men, don’t you get discouraged about this 
talk in regard to nurserymen being a bad set. There is noth¬ 
ing to it. 
Did you ever pick up your Chicago morning paper and find 
the whole front page calling attention to the crooked deals of 
some nurserymen? You never did. You never did and never 
will. Is there a man here that knows of a nurseryman, a real 
nurseryman, that is in the penitentiary? I do not. I never heard 
of a nurseryman going to the penitentiary. I uave been in the 
greatest centers and communities of the United States and in¬ 
variably the nurserymen were the most prominent men there 
in the community. They are leaders in the church, they are lead¬ 
ers in all educational matters, they are right in the front ranks 
and are for everything that is for the betterment of the com¬ 
munity. I say that honestly and earnestly. 
I was born in the nursery business and I tell you men, I am 
proud of the business. I want my boy to be a nurseryman. Noth¬ 
ing in this world will hurt me more than to have that boy go into 
some other line. I want him to follow me, the same as I followed 
my father. Don’t you young men be discouraged. We have just 
scratched the surface in this great nursery game. I only wish 
that I was twenty years younger. I should like to be in the 
nursery business with you young fellows in the years to come. 
Why, gentlemen, there is a wonderful future. Here is this vast 
western empire that has only just been touched. Hundreds of 
thousands of homes worth not a planting of ornamentals around 
them, thousands and tens of thousands of farmers going to town 
and buying their apples out of the store. There is a wonderful 
opportunity, a grand opportunity. 
I realize that there will be years that the nursery business will 
not be as good as it is now. We must have our lean years as 
well as our fat years, and we need the lean years, gentlemen, to 
take the conceit out of us, to teach us quite often, when we 
think we are in the champagne class, we really belong to the 
cider class, and we have good years ahead of us in the nursery 
business. Some items are going to be plentiful and cheap, we 
know that, but things look awfully good in this nursery busi¬ 
ness to me. I never had as much hope and enthusiasm and cour¬ 
age as I have now. I have not any grouch. I am not cross- 
ways. I can look every man in the eye and smile, because I 
know that the years to come are going to be good. 
You talk today with business institutions all over this nation 
and they are in hard shape financially and thousands of concerns 
at the end of their business year are going to have a loss. Nur¬ 
serymen have been making money, the nursery business is pros¬ 
perous and while we all have our ups and downs, young men, 
there will be years when things will not be just as bright as they 
should be. The nursery business is a very good one to follow. 
Step in, and whenever you hear a man condemning your busi¬ 
ness, have the backbone and the snap and the manhood to stand 
up and defend it. If the business was good enough for your 
old dad and your mother to slave in, long hours, long years, so 
that you might succeed, so that you might go ahead with the 
business already built up, for God’s sake, stand up for it (ap¬ 
plause). It is a grand and glorious business and there never was 
a time that I was as proud to be in this glorious old business as 
I am today. Gentlemen, I thank you. (Great applause.) 
The President—We can all say Amen to that kind of a speech. 
It is what we like to hear. 
Mr. Lindley—I move that we give Mr. Lake a rising vote of 
thanks. 
The President—All in favor rise. 
The motion was carried unanimously by a rising vote. 
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NOMENCLATURE 
To the President and Members: 
As Secretary of the American Joint Committee on Horticul¬ 
tural Nomenclature your chairman is able to give the latest in¬ 
formation as to the forthcoming Official Catalog of Standard¬ 
ized Plant Names. 
As you know the actual work of producing the material for 
this catalog has been done by a sub committee of three, Freder¬ 
ick Law Olmsted, chairman, Frederick Y. Coville and Harlan 
P. Kelsy, ably assisted by officers of national organizations in all 
leading horticultural lines. In the mechanical and business end 
the sub-committee is working closely with J. Horace McFarland, 
chairman of the American Joint Committee, who is also doing 
the printing, which ensures the highest sort of typographical 
excellence and accuracy. 
All the original preparation of manuscript is finished, and Dr. 
Coville, honorary member of the A. A. N. committee, is handling 
the preparation of final copy for the printer 
Over one-fourth of the work is now in type and a set of galley 
proof sheets up to number 65 is submitted herewith as a part 
of this report, together with the Fruit Name List printed as a 
separate. It is by far the most authentic, accurate and up-to- 
date list of fruit names ever published. This list, however, is 
being further revised as belated proofsheets come in. 
No one, least of all your chairman, realized the size of the job 
we were undertaking; yet while everyone regrets the delay, I 
am sure that the finished product will be such as to fully war¬ 
rant the extra time used in careful proofreading and revision. 
This proofreading mostly is done by the sub-committee, for 
those nurserymen who received proofsheets threw up their 
hands when they saw what they were up against. 
Last year the A. A. N. appropriated $250.00 towards the ex¬ 
penses of the American Joint Committee, and advanced $750.00 
as a loan. In view of the unavoidable expenses continuing I be¬ 
lieve the Association should again this year appropriate $250.00. 
So far 1095 copies have been subscribed for at the advance price 
of $3.50 per copy, entirely in response to circulars sent out by 
the secretary, showing that with wide publicity the work will 
be a success in every way. The comments on the proofsheets by 
experts are highly commendatory. 
The price is now $5.00 per copy, and every effort should be 
made to run the sales up to several thousand copies. 
Dr. Coville is devoting much time and labor to the final pre¬ 
paration of printer’s copy, a work that can only be done by a 
single person of exceptional ability in that particular line. The 
Government’s hearty co-operation has saved thousands of dollars 
expense to the American Joint Committee, and horticulturists 
everywhere should know and appreciate this. 
The path trodden has been new and thorny and the obstacles 
unbelievably difficult, but we see daylight ahead and I believe 
that publication may certainly be looked for in a few months. 
For the Committee, 
HARLAN P. KELSEY, Chairman, 
FREDERICK V. COVILLE, 
j. Horace McFarland. 
FIRE AT TIIE THOMAS B. MEEHAN GO. NURSERIES 
One of the large barns of the nurseries of the Thomas 
B. Meehan Go., Dresher, Pa., was struck by lightning 
and was burned to the ground on Saturday, July 1st. 
The contents were a total loss, including a large quan¬ 
tity of raffia and machinery stored in it. Mr. Meehan and 
family were attending convention and had not returned 
home when the lire occurred. 
