Miss Mildred M. Jones
The duties of the Secretary during the year were of the usual routine nature. Three separate mailings of information to all members were made. The 1944 report is now exhausted, partly because of the long season in which it was current, and partly because there were several articles in it which were of vital interest to a number of people who were not members of the Association. In March of this year an article appeared in Organic Gardening magazine which referred to our report and the Hemming chestnut trees which were described in the 1944 report. As a result of this one article I was obliged to return more than $30.00 which had been sent to me, a dollar from each person, for this report. I returned the money with a letter to each person telling them Mr. Hemming would bring his report up to date at our meeting this year, telling them about the work of our Association, and inviting them to join our group so they could keep up with progress being made in nut tree culture as the information became available. The sale of reports other than membership this past year amounted to $135.00. This amount includes 5 sets of reports which sell for $8.00 per set. About $95.00 of this amount was for single copies at $1.00 per copy to non-members. Since our printing costs have increased considerably, and since we are handling the mailing and printing of these reports at $1.00 per copy at almost a loss, it would seem advisable to raise the price to non-members.
Every member can help us increase our membership. We have a number of members who are equipped with writing ability and by writing articles about interesting nut trees and mentioning our Association and the Secretary many, many inquiries are received. To these inquiries we can send our four page information folder or answer questions and thus we can increase our membership by letting people who are interested in nut trees know about our Association. On February 28, 1947, Mr. George L. Denman wrote me that at different times he had two articles about nuts and nut trees in the Spokesman-Review of Spokane. He said the result was rather surprising and he requested fifty copies of our folder to assist him and make it easier to answer inquiries. If our Association can be mentioned in the article, many inquiries will come direct to the Secretary and thus save the author the work of answering questions if he does not have time to do so. The article written by Mr. Davidson in December, 1946, American Fruit Grower brought in over 100 inquiries to the Secretary's office.
The Secretary's office has a number of calls for information regarding sources of nuts and nut kernels for private consumption or planting. Chestnuts seem to head the list the past year—mostly for planting. Requests are also received regarding information for market outlets, nut cracking equipment, nut shelling plants, trees, budwood and graftwood. Anything you may do to supply this and other kinds of information about nut trees will be appreciated.
The Secretary of the American Horticultural Society, Inc., with whom we are affiliated, has expressed the desire of that Society for ideas as to how we may both profit more from this affiliation. Their need, like ours, is for more members, more and better articles for the National Horticultural Magazine. Mr. Reed has contributed several worthwhile articles to this magazine. The Editor would like to have more articles about nut trees from our members. The National Horticultural Magazine is nicely printed and bound, issued four times a year, and is well illustrated with pictures of the horticultural subjects described in each issue. Dues in this society are $2.00 per year if you are a member of our Society, $3.00 if you are not. You can ask our Treasurer to bill you for membership at the same time membership in our Association is billed, or membership may be sent direct to The American Horticultural Society, 821 Washington Loan and Trust Building, Washington 4, D. C.
Our membership at present is 621 according to my present mailing list which has been corrected to paid-up members. During the war all members who were thought to be in the armed forces were carried along without the payment of dues according to our Treasurer's report of last year. For this reason we can use only our income as an indication of our growth during those years.
The question of a seal for the Association came up at the time of the Ellis legacy. Our member, Sargent H. Wellman, Boston, Mass., represented the Association, and payment was made finally without our seal being shown. It may be well to consider whether we may need a seal in the future and if so to take the necessary steps to have one made.
The American Fruit Grower magazine has printed quite regularly the column "Nut Growers News". They also refer nut tree inquiries to us and have indicated their interest and further cooperation. They devoted an entire issue to nuts last December.
A number of our members during the year do much work for the Association and it is here that I wish to acknowledge all of the help and assistance the Secretary has had from the various committees and members. The printing of the report for 1946 and the responsibility of getting it mailed was due mostly to the work and effort of Mr. Stoke, and Mr. Reed.
It was a real pleasure to work with the members of the Staff at Ontario Agricultural College with whom I had considerable correspondence during the year in arranging for our meeting this year.
It has been a real pleasure to serve in the capacity of Secretary to this organization and I regret that lack of time to do this work as it should be done makes me feel it is necessary to relinquish this post. I shall always continue my interest in the Association.
Dr. MacDaniels: "More articles should be written for magazines as one way in which to increase membership."
Telegram from Dr. W. C. Deming was read:
"Infirmities of age detain me. Congratulations on membership and on accomplishments. Everything depends on good officers. Present officers are ideal but young members should now take over. Don't wear out the old ones.
W. C. DEMING, Dean."
This telegram was sent to Dr. W. C. Deming:
Sept. 3, 1947.
"We had hoped you would be with us. Your telegram evoked many warm appreciations of your great and long service to our organization and the cause of nut growers in the North. Warmest greetings from N.N.G.A.
SECRETARY."
J. Russell Smith: "Dr. Deming was one of the five founders of the Association. He did an excellent job on the reports and in compiling the cumulative index. He is Dean of the Association."
Report of Committee on Time and Place: Prof. Slate reported three invitations, the most attractive at the present time being the invitation to meet at Norris, Tenn.
Prof. Slate: "In order to bring the matter to a head, I move we hold our 1948 meeting at Norris, Tenn., or wherever arrangements can be made convenient to that point."
Stoke: "Second."
Passed with unanimous approval.
Report on the Ohio Contest—Sterling Smith: "The Ohio contest had 692 entries. Mr. Chase helped with the judging. A number of good walnuts were brought out. The data for the first ten is given in the 1946 annual report. We are trying to find out what the parent trees are doing—what they were bearing in the past and also this year. This is to be done for 5 years. Ohio has 90 members which puts them in the lead—ahead of New York."
J. Russell Smith: "I greatly appreciate the report given. I approve of the 5 year plan. It would bring in members."
Sterling Smith: "Couldn't we offer $100.00 or more for a really outstanding black walnut that would meet certain specifications? Our good walnuts now run about 25 grams and 32% kernel."
Dr. MacDaniels: "Is there anyone present who helped with the judging of this contest?"
Mr. Chase: "It required over 2 weeks with 4 to 6 persons to crack and cull out the ones we knew were not worth further consideration. One-tenth passed the screening test. The nut selected is one in ten-thousand expectancy. This contest brought out some outstanding nuts. The judges didn't have much trouble selecting No. 1. The next four were harder to place. The third prize went to Pennsylvania and the eighth prize to West Virginia."