President Reed: I don't remember who the membership committee was. Mr. Weber was chairman, I believe, and he is not here. Olcott is next on the committee.
Mr. Olcott: I didn't know I was on that committee.
President Reed: Fagan was on that committee, Potter, Deming, Williams, J. Russell Smith. I guess you are the only member of the committee who is here. We are ready for the report of the secretary and treasurer, Mr. Bixby.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-TREASURER
Sept. 1, 1917-Nov. 30, 1919
| RECEIPTS | ||||||
| Sep. 1. '17 to Dec. 31, '17 | Jan. 1, '18 to May 20, '18 | May 21, '18 to Dec. 31, '18 | Jan. 1, '19 to Nov. 30, '19 | Total | Balance | |
| Balance on hand date of last report, August 31, 1917. | $ 15.93 | |||||
| Received from annual members including joint subscriptions to American Nut Journal | $69.50 | $123.54 | $ 73.75 | $247.35 | $514.14 | |
| Received in payment of life membership | 20.00 | 25.00 | 45.00 | |||
| Sale of reports, brochures and leaflets | 2.25 | 4.00 | 9.95 | 4.85 | 21.05 | |
| Advertising in report of Stamford meetings 8th, 1917 | 21.00 | 21.00 | ||||
| Sales of sundry material. | 1.58 | 1.58 | ||||
| Contributions for 1917 Contest | 25.00 | 125.00 | 150.00 | |||
| Contribution for special hickory prizes | 25.00 | 25.00 | ||||
| $112.75 | $145.12 | $108.70 | $427.20 | $793.77 | $793.77 | |
| $809.70 | ||||||
| EXPENDITURES | ||||||
| American Nut Journal, their portion of joint subscriptions | $ 6.75 | $ 14.00 | $ 59.00 | $ 79.75 | ||
| Stationary, printing and Supplies | .69 | 44.05 | 49.50 | 94.24 | ||
| Postage, Express, etc. | 4.82 | 13.95 | 9.66 | 9.24 | 37.67 | |
| Prizes 1917 Nut Contest | 15.00 | 15.00 | ||||
| Prize 1918 Nut Contest | 107.00 | 107.00 | ||||
| Advertising 1917 Nut Contest $10.21; expenses 1917 contest $2.90 | 13.11 | 13.11 | ||||
| Advertising 1918 Nut Contest | 51.50 | 51.50 | ||||
| Stamford Meeting 1917 expenses | 65.55 | 65.55 | ||||
| Printing Report of Stamford Meeting | 162.00 | 162.00 | ||||
| Errors in remittance corrected | 3.85 | 3.50 | 7.35 | |||
| Litchfield Savings Bank. Life membership of John Rick Balance on hand Dec. 1, 1919. | 20.00 | 20.00 | ||||
| $97.81 | $30.91 | $244.71 | $279.74 | $653.17 | ||
| $653.17 | ||||||
| Balance on hand Dec. 1, 1919. | ||||||
| Special hickory prize | 25.00 | |||||
| Life membership Lee W. Jaques | 25.00 | |||||
| For regular expenses. | 106.53 | |||||
| $809.70 | ||||||
| I have carefully been over the above statement and found it to be correct. C. A. REED, for Auditing Committee. | ||||||
The above are records of receipts and expenditures for two years and three months and are approximately double those noted in the report of of the Stamford meeting. The activities of the Association were necessarily at a low ebb in war time, and, although a joint meeting with the National Association was planned for the fall of 1918, it was never held.
The list of members printed in this report numbers 128 while that in the last one shows 166, apparently a very large decrease. The last report showed 138 paid up members. Following the methods of Secretary Deming, members who have not responded to notices and letters have been dropped. In no case has a member been dropped until a letter with return postage has been sent. In a number of instances members thus written to have resigned giving various reasons, the most common of which are change of occupation or residence, which prevented their doing anything in the line of nut growing or lack of success in their attempts to grow nuts. Two members have died since the last meeting, Mr. Wendell P. Williams and Mr. Mahlon Hutchinson; the former was in the U. S. Service at the time of his death. 57 new members have been added to our rolls since 1917 making a total of 410 joining since organization of whom we now have 128, 282 having dropped out. Of the 52 who have joined since last meeting, 21 joined before Oct. 1, 1919 the date of the proposed meeting in Albany, Ga., which was never held, and 31 since that date.
The holding of members is a difficult problem and one that has not been worked out at all satisfactorily. Most members join in the hope of thereby learning how to successfully grow nut trees. They find out that so much is still experimental that most do not remain. This is bound to continue till we can show grafted or budded nut trees bearing satisfactory crops, and, until that time, there seems nothing to do but to keep on going after new members and by means of bulletins, reports, letters and otherwise making the membership more valuable than ever. There has been a greater interest in nut growing during the past fall than at any time since your Secretary-Treasurer has held office.