THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate that very much.
THE SECRETARY: I have two suggestions for ways of drawing attention to our association. The first is lectures. There are a number of our members who have given lectures on the subject of nut growing. Mr. Spencer has just told you that he has and Dr. Morris loses no opportunity to give them. I have given them myself and Mr. Reed of the Department of Agriculture speaks on nut culture. There is hardly a member of this association but belongs to some agricultural society or club. That is one possible place for bringing nut culture to the attention of people who are interested in either agriculture or horticulture. I am sure that Mr. Reed of the Department of Agriculture will send a collection of lantern slides on nut growing to responsible persons. These slides make lecturing much easier. I will undertake to get Mr. Reed to make up a collection of slides to be sent out to members for the purpose of illustrating lectures. My other suggestion is the writing of articles for magazines, horticultural and agricultural, and especially high-class horticultural magazines that reach wealthy people who are interested in new things and in trying experiments, such as the Country Gentleman, Country Life in America and the Garden Magazine. What we really want is some person who will give himself continuously to the promotion of this nut-growing idea. It is a great misfortune that Mr. Bixby has taken up business again because he made a splendid beginning in devoting himself to the interests of nut culture. I did a great deal more myself in the earlier days of this society but circumstances have been such that lately I have not given it much attention. I feel that there must be members who are all ready to do work, members who would like to jump in and take a hand. I would be very glad to share my work as secretary. I would be glad to hand over the entire work of secretary to some member who feels an itch to get in and do this sort of work.
THE PRESIDENT: You are very liberal in your service but I think others ought to take a bigger share so that your duties will be easier and also Mr. Bixby's. Now that we have this thing going I hope we will stick to it until we get something concrete because I can't see that we are going to make much progress just meeting from year to year with an increase of twenty to twenty-five members. I personally will guarantee a hundred members for this year for this association. I speak advisedly because I know what we have been doing in our office this last couple of months. I am satisfied that I can bring to the association a hundred new members this year if the rest will bring ten each. We have got to get more members and more money; let's get down to bed rock and look the thing squarely in the face and make up our minds to go to it and do it.
MR. CORSAN: Where can these slides be got?
THE SECRETARY: I will undertake to furnish them through Mr. Reed of the
Department of Agriculture. There is also a good moving picture film of
Colonel Sober's chestnut grove that I think can be had. I have used it
myself two or three times.
MR. KAINS: Rochester, as a good many of you know, is the center of the fruit industry in western New York. Right here is also the scene of one of the greatest fights to get an association on a paying basis that ever occurred. Some of you probably know that away back in the fifties Patrick Barry and Mr. Worter and several others of the fruit growers got together and formed the Western New York Horticultural Society. Gradually people came in and took an interest in the work but, as always in the beginning, there was trouble to make ends meet and Mr. Barry and some of the others put their hands in their pockets to keep the association going. At last it got so bad and the amount of the deficit was so great that it was decided to have a closed meeting, no one to be admitted except those who had actually paid their one dollar membership fee. The year that it was announced that this would be put into effect the following year there was all kinds of a fuss at the meeting. The next year the people came there in a crowd to see if the rule was going to be put in effect and the result was the largest meeting the association had ever had. The only men and women who got inside the door had paid their dollar. That was the first year that the association got on its feet. One other method that could be used to spread the love of nut growing would be to have the association offer a nut tree to different schools where they would plant it as an Arbor Day tree. In that way the children would learn the value of the grafted nut tree and the value of real first-class nuts. The result would be that other people would become interested in grafted nuts and thus extend the interest in the whole nut-growing proposition, and your membership would most likely increase. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: I will ask for nominations from the floor for the nominating committee.
Mr. Pomeroy, Dr. Morris, Mr. Olcott, Mr. Rick and Mr. Patterson nominated and elected.
THE PRESIDENT: The next order of business is to call for the reports of any of the standing committees.
THE SECRETARY: The chairman of the committee on incorporation, Mr. Littlepage, wrote me not long ago that he was taking active steps to incorporate the association. I don't know whether Mr. O'Connor may know if Mr. Littlepage has done anything about it or not.