The amount of attention he has been able to give it has been much less than he had hoped. While supposed to be retired with nothing to do except just what he wants to this is far from the facts. While it is true that in 1919 he did retire from business, in which he had spent practically all of his time since leaving school, he has never been able to retire entirely and is still president of one corporation and vice-president of two. In the case of one of these the conditions under which it operated have changed so entirely that he has had practically to get back into business and the work of the association has had to be sandwiched in as best it could and at times has had scant attention. Had it not been for Mrs. Bixby's help on the work of the treasurer proper, he would have had to resign.
There is a deficit[1] shown by the treasurer's report although less than that of a year ago. The attempt to induce a rather large proportion of our members to become contributing members, paying $5.00 per year as membership fee, including subscription to the American Nut Journal, has been reasonably successful, about one-quarter of our receipts of membership fees being from this source. The real difficulty, however, is that our total membership is not sufficient to enable receipts from dues to pay expenses. In every year, for a good many years, receipts from contributions have been about equal to those from dues and apparently that condition will have to continue until our membership is doubled, unless the activity of the association is materially reduced, which course seems inadvisable to your treasurer.
[1] This was wiped out at the meeting by contributions and guarantee of new membership which more than equalled the amount of the deficit.
The results of the nut contest the past year have been unsatisfactory. The nut crop was a failure over quite a portion of the country covered by the association. The number of nuts sent in was not over one-tenth of those received in 1920 and no nuts of notable excellence were received. Were it not for the fact that this year promises to be a great year for nuts in the northeastern United States, one might think that the nut contests had outlived their usefulness. They have, however, brought us so many good nuts and are so comparatively inexpensive that your treasurer would not want to give them up yet.
During the past year an earnest effort was made by the treasurer to get new members by getting nurserymen to enclose in their catalogs circulars regarding the association as well as membership application blanks, over $100.00 being expended on this item. The nurserymen on the accredited list responded heartily. The results, however, were far from being as satisfactory as a year ago when the literature sent out by the nurserymen simply called attention to bulletin No. 5. Literature regarding the association and membership application blanks were inserted in bulletin No. 5 and between five and ten per cent. of those who received bulletin No. 5 became members, the number being considerably greater than those from similar efforts this year.
This shows conclusively that direct appeals, unless there is personality behind them, do not have much force. A year ago bulletin No. 5 in the possession of one interested enough to purchase it, supplied the personality and gave force to the appeal that was lacking this year.
Thirty-eight new members have joined the association since the last report, making 561 since organization, of whom we have 249 at present, making 312 who have resigned, or dropped out, or have been removed by death. The additional members obtained this year are largely due to the personal efforts of the president and those in his office.
During the past year we have lost by death our only honorary member, Dr. Walter Van Fleet of the United States Department of Agriculture, and one life member, Col. C. K. Sober of Lewisburg, Penn.
Respectfully submitted,
WILLARD G. BIXBY, Treas.