ant societies, of
which there are many.

In my judgment retrenchment is not the answer in the present situation.
Securing additional funds is the best forward-looking policy. The
question comes up as to how this may be done. Experience in our
Association and I believe other associations as well, has shown that
$3.00 is about as far as dues can be raised. There comes a point with
every society when, if the dues are increased, there is a falling off of
membership, which more than offsets the gain. Other obvious procedures
are: (1) increasing the number of members; (2) providing different types
of memberships to encourage larger contributions; (3) gifts; and (4)
special fund raising projects. Of these various ways and means,
certainly increasing the number of members is by far the more promising.
The overhead of the association is not increased with additional
memberships anywhere near in proportion to the contributions of those
members. This is particularly true for additional copies of the report
and general office expense. The drive for new members under President
Best's leadership has produced gratifying results and I believe if this
is continued effectively through the next few years, a membership
increase can be secured that will assure the Association's balancing its
budget. Somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand paid memberships
would solve most of our financial difficulties. Provision is already
made for different types of memberships and it is to be hoped that many
who can do so will join the contributing member class at least until we
are out of our present financial woods.

Other societies raise considerable revenue through special projects such
as the sale of publications of one kind or another, seed distribution or
slide rental. The type of material with which the Northern Nut Growers
Association deals is not comparable to some of these other organizations
but certainly the possibilities of revenue through special projects need
to be explored.

Research with northern nut trees is exceedingly important from the
standpoint of accomplishing the objectives of the Association. The
matter of breeding new varieties has already been touched on. Other
types of research are such that a large part must be carried on by
experiment stations which have a continuing program. Much has been done
in securing observational information by Association members themselves
but some problems are such that they must be continu