AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 287 



the Eighth, and I hadn't a seedling left. Now, the majority of the mem- 

 bers of this association wanted the duty off, and I pitied them. I was 

 reminded of ^sop's fable of the frogs calling for a king, and while they 

 were clamoring, pretty soon Mr. Stork came and gobbled them np, as I 

 knew those foreign nurser>^nel^ would if the duty were taken off. You have 

 not an overstock as they have, and they can ship from almost anywhere in 

 France, Germany, and England cheaper than we can ship from Waukegan 

 to New York — and you can send it from New York pretty cheap. Now, 

 this is not business, and it seems to me that these nurserymen ought to 

 have pluck enough to go on and make the nursery business compare favor- 

 ably with other kinds of business. 



Mr. Emery: I do not consider Mr. Douglass as a nurseryman in the 

 strict sense of the word; I would class him with the specialists — a man 

 that does not attempt selling anything but special stock. The field has 

 been abandoned largely to men of the skill Mr. Douglass has; but we 

 oan not all be specialists. A man that has the general nursery stock — we 

 must provide some means for him to dispose of that, or he is gone. 



Mr. Douglass: What I am trying to make out is that it is hurting me 

 more than the rest of you. If I am a specialist and not a nurseryman, trot 

 out your nurserymen. AVhere are they — in the Miami Valley, in Roches- 

 ter, New York, or wherD are they? I have been a nurseryman as long as 

 any of you, and mean to continue. 



Mr. Emery : Not a general nurseryman. 



Mr. Douglass: Not a general, with tree peddlers and agents, but I 

 am a nurseryman, and the man that says I am not, let him stand right up 

 here to the front, and he won't say it the second time. (Laughter and 

 applause. ) 



Mr. Kellogg of Wisconsin: Friend Emery wants to take back some- 

 thing that he said, that he thinks will hit these tree agents if they are 

 here. Now, I am glad he said it, if they are here, and I hope they are; 

 and I hope he will hit them still harder. I find by looking over the 

 badge-book, that we are composed of about four different classes of men : 

 first, the very wise; second, the otherwise; third, the fools; fourth, the 

 knaves. ( Laughter. ) 



Mr. Douglass: There are tree agents and tree agents. Some are 

 honest men and some are not. The honest men won't take any exceptions 

 to what I have said, and the dishonest men can take it as they please. 

 Look at the growers. They have men taking orders. All of them do not 

 alwaj^s employ true, honorable, good business men. I am only talking 

 against time, but I want to say, you must do something, you must control 

 these agents, you must get honest men for agents. 



Mr. Lamb of New Y^ork: It seems to me that this discussion is drift- 

 ing from the main subject; 1 can not see why the sins of the tree agent 

 have so much influence on the price of stock. It seems to me that the 

 nursery business is similar to any other business. When there is a sur- 

 plus of stock, necessarily the prices will be low. Agents and dealers will 

 try to get their stock at the lowest prices. I see no remedy for this evil 

 except to grow A No. 1 stock, and to get your reputation up for growing 

 such, and furnish always what you agree. Sometimes you have to sell at 

 lower prices, the same as in any other business; but plant the usual 

 quantity every season, and in the end average up the low prices and the 

 high prices, and I do not think we will have to take such a dubious view 

 of the outlook for nurserymen. ( Applause. ) 



