THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
231 
ject in view of making a more useful and effective trade 
organization. 
Under the re-organized plan of our Association, the 
management rests largely with the members of the Exe¬ 
cutive Committee, with the President as Chairman. The 
Vice President is an active member of this committee, 
hence we get the benefit of his services. This was es¬ 
pecially fortunate during the past year, as Vice President 
Watson has rendered valuable service to the Association. 
The President has the act ive co-operation of the Executive 
Committee. 
During the past year the duties were distributed by the 
appointment of sub committees as follows:—Finance 
Publicity, Program, Membership. We found this ar¬ 
rangement worked very satisfactorily and this gathering 
here is an indication of the faithful service these men 
have rendered. No important action is taken or money 
expended, without first securing the approval of the 
Executive Committee. All bills are passed on by the 
Finance Committee before being paid. 
The President called a meeting of the Executive Com¬ 
mittee at Kansas City, at the time of the Annual meeting 
of the Western Association of Nurserymen. A majority 
of five members were able to be present. Such ques¬ 
tions as Membership, Trade Terms, Publicity, Legisla : 
tion and Transportation were discussed, and plans were 
outlined for the future. It was decided to issue a confi¬ 
dential bulletin for the benefit of the membership. We 
hope you have found this a valuable source of informa¬ 
tion. We believe this bulletin can be enlarged and made 
a permanent source of usefulness for our membership. 
This work was placed in the hands of the Publicity Com¬ 
mittee, who handled it in an efficient manner. In this 
connection, I wish to commend our trade journals for 
their loyal support, and to assure them we have no inten¬ 
tion or desire to encroach upon their grounds, but feel 
under our new plan of organization, there will be much 
valuable information that the membership is paying for, 
and which they are entitled to receive. If the work of 
our Officers and Counsel is to be published broadcast and 
made free to everyone, what necessity is there for anyone 
interested in the nursery business, to pay liberal mem¬ 
bership fees and maintain the organization. 
I attended a meeting of the Legislative Committee 
which met in New York in January, at the time of the 
Ornamental Growers Meeting. William Pitkin, Chair¬ 
man with Counsel Smith and several members of the 
committee were present. Many questions affecting the 
welfare of our Association were taken up and definite 
action decided upon. 
We have been working under the new plan the last 
year, and this splendid program which is mapped out for 
us, and this attendance demonstrates the loyalty of the 
membership. Our Association is favored by the loyal 
support of the most capable men in the business. They 
have been untiring in their devotion, unselfish in their 
efforts, and their chief aim has been to make a bigger and 
a better Association of Nurserymen. 
Your officers find there is a much broader field of use¬ 
fulness opening up through the concentration of our ef¬ 
forts along progressive lines. Among the many fields 
of useful activity are the questions of statistics, crop 
reports, standardization of prices, a reporting rating and 
collection bureau, uniform legislation, effective publicity 
and comprehensive group meetings of the various lines 
of business; represented by our organization. We be¬ 
lieve it is going to be practical and possible to help direct 
the efforts of our membership along these lines in effec¬ 
tive co-operation; in such a manner as to make our As¬ 
sociation a powerful and useful instrument for the wel¬ 
fare of our members. 
A group of prominent nurserymen watching the 
maneuvers of Vanclervort's Tractor Tree Digger 
It is essential that we work in harmony if we expect to 
attain our aim. Co-operation must be our watch word, 
and it is my earnest recommendation that all find some 
common ground by which they can work in harmony. 
All branches of the business are represented by our or¬ 
ganization. Wholesale. Retail through salesmen. Mail 
Order by catalog. Each find a necessary place for the 
distribution of our products. All should endeavor to 
work in harmony, and strive to reach the degree of per¬ 
fection that is claimed by every other legitimate bus¬ 
iness. By so doing, our endeavors would be harmonized 
and a better feeling would result from these efforts. 
The efficient and honest nursery salesman, with all his 
faults is an effective force—ever on the alert for secur¬ 
ing business, and always ready to furnish advice and 
service to his customers. Mow would Mrs. Smith know 
that the old fashioned ‘ piny” was really the original of the 
now perfected plant, or that raspberries do not grow on 
plum trees, if it were not for the “Much abused, misused, 
