36 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
Annual Meeting of the Northern Retail Nurserymen’s Association 
Held at St. Paul Minn. 
December 4th and 5th, 1922 
The meeting was called to order by President Hilborn 
who made his opening address, touching on conditions as 
they existed among the members of the nursery industry 
in the early days of our association and reviewing the 
progress we have made to a better general understand¬ 
ing of the fundamental principles of the nursery busi¬ 
ness, bringing out the opportunities that we, as nursery¬ 
men, have to serve the public, and citing the reward that 
is ours for good service. 
After luncheon fall planting was discussed, the gener¬ 
al sentiment being that while a nurseryman who is 
familiar with our climatic peculiarities can successfully 
plant a great many subjects in the fall, it would be un- 
advisable to recommend such course to the average 
planter in the northern MississippiValley for the reason 
that, especially in the prairie sections, newly set stock 
is likely to have practically all the moisture frozen out of 
the stems before the spring thaws and rains set in. 
There was, however, a very strong sentiment in favor 
of encouraging more general planting. Along this line 
R. D. Underwood moved that the Northern Retail Nur¬ 
serymen’s Association go on record as favoring a recom¬ 
mendation to the Governor of Minnesota that he proclaim 
the last week of April as “TREE PLANTING WEEK.” M. 
R. Gashman amended this motion, to send the resolution 
also to the Governors of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, 
North Dakota and Saskatchewan, Canada; that R. D. Un¬ 
derwood be appointed to draft such resolution, and that 
this matter be referred to the Executive Committee. This 
motion was unanimously carried. 
Mr. Cashman recommended that the committee call at¬ 
tention of the Governors addressed to the action along 
this line taken previously by the National Nurserymen’s 
Association and that Governors of other states have made 
similar proclamations. This brought up a discussion of 
the slogan originated by Mr. .T. A. Young, of Aurora. Ill.. 
“Plan To Plant Another Tree”. Mr. T. A. Torgeson 
made a motion that was enthusiastically carried that we 
go on record as heartily in accord with this “Plan to Plant 
Another Tree” campaign. 
Mr. M. R. Cashman gave an address on “What the 
National Association is Doing for Us.” Mr. Cashman, 
having been President of the National Nurserymen’s As¬ 
sociation in 1921, was in a position to give an interesting 
and instructive talk, giving convincing reasons why 
every nurseryman ought to become a member of the 
national organization. 
Following this Mr. E. C. Killmer was heard regarding 
the “Spirit and Value of Co-operation” and how he, as 
one of the newer members, had been benefitted by con¬ 
tact with older firms. 
The matter of freight rates in Minnesota was taken up 
and discussed. 
Mr. B. J. Loss spoke on the theme. “The economies that 
can be effected by co-operative buying of nursery sup¬ 
plies.” Along this line be suggested that we issue a stand¬ 
ardized booklet of instructions for salesmen in regard to 
the principles of landscape planting, and the ornamental 
stock suitable for such purpose in our northern climate, 
and the same also in regard to fruits, etc. The discussion 
lead to a committee being appointed to look into the mat¬ 
ter of getting out such booklet or booklets, and to make 
a recommendation to the executive committee. 
Mr. R. D. Underwood gave a talk, “Reminiscences of 
My Father’s Work ” an interesting review of the life 
work of J. M. Underwood, a man who was prominent in 
mid-west horticultural activities for well over half a 
century. 
Monday evening the members attended the theatre in 
a body. 
Tuesday we had an informal talk by Prof. W. II. Aider- 
man, on “Experiment Station Service for Nurserymen.” 
This in an interesting way touched on the work of the 
various departments that are co-operating to help the 
nurseries keep their stock pure and free from diseases 
and insect pests. He also told about the work at the 
Minnesota State Fruit Breeding Farm in originating and 
testing new varieties of fruits and ornamentals for the 
North, with a list of the most promising of the newer 
apples and plums. 
Following this Mr. John Hawkins, of Minneapolis, gave 
an instructive and practical talk on “The Better Orna¬ 
mentals.” 
Mr. T. A. Torgeson read a paper on “Bonding the 
Salesman”, bringing out the benefits to both salesmen 
and nursery and the public when this becomes the gen¬ 
eral practice. This was conceded to be the outstanding 
topic discussed at the convention. This address will be 
found elsewhere in this issue. 
John Nordine spoke in his usual humorous vein on the 
“Nursery of the Future,” giving us a glimpse of the way 
the business will be run when the millennium arrives. 
The annual dinner was served shortly after six o’clock. 
At the close of this we had the report of the committee 
on resolutions. 
Mr. Mitchell offered the following resolution: 
“The passing of Clarence Wedge has removed from 
our midst one of the outstanding figures of the nursery 
industry. But when big men leave us their places are 
not empty. Their work and their ideas live forever. 
Their influence is still felt. Their memory cannot be 
obliterated. They are still with us. and so Clarence 
Wedge is still with us. 
“Clarence Wedge was one of those pioneer nurserymen 
who contributed so generously and so unselfishly to the 
horticultural progress of the Northwest. His love of na¬ 
ture as expressed in his life, his bigness of heart and his 
honesty are truly mirrored in his work. 
“His influence was not local alone. The name of Clar¬ 
ence Wedge, even in the most remote corners of this great 
Northwest, stands for progress, integrity and horticul¬ 
tural law. We not only mourn him but the thousands 
of readers of the horticultural columns of the large agri¬ 
cultural papers of the Northwest mourn him as their 
friend and horticultural advisor. 
