.sC) 



HORTICULTURE 



January 31, 1920 



vice-president and doubtless he will be 

 president next year. In D. G. Grill- 

 bortzer. an excellent choice was made. 

 He is known as an energetic, live wire 

 and always a booster for the Carna- 

 tion Society. 



Several of the New England dele- 

 gation stopped at different cities on 

 their way to Chicago. Mr. Goddard, 

 Mr. Buxton of Nashua, and Mr. Pegler 



of Lewiston spent some time at the 

 Dorner place in Lafayette and were 

 greatly Impressed with what they saw 

 there. From there they went to In- 

 dianapolis and looked over the splen- 

 did houses on the Baur place. The 

 Ruth Baur showed up in excellent 

 shape, and the New England men who 

 have a good stock on hand feel confi- 

 dent that it will be a winner when the 

 Mowers are put on the market next 

 year. 



Convention of New England Nurserymen 



The Annual Convention of the New 

 England Nurserymen's Association, 

 which was held at the American 

 House. Boston, Tuesday and Wednes- 

 day of this week, was largely attended 

 and many interesting points were 

 brought out. despite the fact that sev- 

 eral of the expected speakers, includ- 

 ing J. Edward Moon, president of the 

 American Association of Nurserymen; 

 Ernest F. Cole, of New Haven, and 

 Paul Stark of Louisiana, Mo., were un- 

 able to be present because of illness. 

 President C. R. Burr, of Manchester, 

 Ct., presided at the session and the 

 following officers were elected to serve 

 for the coming year: 



President. Charles Adams. Spring- 

 field, Mass. 



Vice-president, John K. M. L. Far- 

 quhar, Boston. 



Secretary, Sheldon M. Robinson, 

 Lexington, Mass. 



Treasurer, V. A. Vanicek, Newport, 

 R. I. 



Executive Committee— C. R. Burr, 

 A. P. Home. Manchester. N. H., and 

 C. E. Dow, of Bar Harbor. Me. 



The Association went on record as 

 opposed to Quarantine 37, as it now 

 stands. This Association also voted 

 in favor of daylight saving, although 

 the vote was by no means unanimous. 



The new president, Mr. Adams, said 

 a few words in accepting the honor. 

 Mr. Farquhar emphasized the neces- 

 sity of having the woik of the Asso- 

 ciation continue through the year In- 

 stead of being confined to the annual 

 convention. He also said that in his 

 opinion the nurserymen should not 

 attempt to gouge the public by charg- 

 ing abnormal prices for stock. He 

 thought that they should receive rea- 

 sonable prices, but that it was of more 

 importance that they should keep the 

 public in a buying attitude, for it was 

 on this ground that the success of the 

 future depended. 



One of the most interesting papers 

 on the opening day was that of Harlan 

 P. Kelsey on the Standardization of 

 Prices. In part Mr. Kelsey said: 



My own practice has been to hx a 

 standard price which is the published 

 price, with 2.5 per cent discount to the 

 trade and 10 per cent discount to land- 

 scape architects and public institu- 

 tions. A fair question arises if this 

 allows a sufficient margin to the trade, 

 particularly where packing charges 

 are added, while with retail sales pack- 

 ing is free. Most nurserymen maintain 



PRESIDENT CHARLES ADAMS 



that the trade discount should range 

 from 33 1-3 to 50 per cent on what we 

 are here calling the "standard price" 

 or price granted to the ordinary retail 

 buyer: while only a few days ago I re- 

 ceived a letter from a nurseryman 

 stating that he expected a 100 per cent 

 margin. That is, he expected to sell 

 either wholesale or retail at 100 per 

 cent advance on the cost of the stock 

 to him. 



Now. should the "standard price" be 

 a wholesale price on which percen- 

 tages should be added to arrive at fair 

 landscape architects and retail prices, 

 — assuming that the landscape archi- 

 tect should get a better than the re- 

 tail customer's price, — or should the 

 retail price be the standard price, and 



any other price arrived at by dis- 

 counts? My own belief is that the 

 latter is' the best method as it will 

 tend to make the average standard 

 price higher. Also, if in fact the 

 wholesale discount runs from 33 1-3 to 

 .50 per cent below such standard price 

 it tends to keep from the general pub- 

 lic eye the trade prices, as they would 

 not appear in published form. On the 

 other hand, fixing the "trade" price as 

 the standard price, enables the nur- 

 seryman or dealer who purchases to 

 soar to any retail heights that his re- 

 tail customer may be persuaded to pay, 

 and to many this will make a distinct 

 appeal. In any event those who are le- 

 gitimately in the trade should agree as 

 to which is really the most proper 

 method of arriving at the standard 

 price. 



A way out would be found of selling 

 at reduced prices to those in the trade, 

 to institutions or to the retail buyer 

 under restricted conditions that would 

 save a bulk of loss, and further I be- 

 lieve it would stimulate the use of nur- 

 sery stock in general and at fair 

 prices. The bargain sales of the dry- 

 goods merchant do not seem to affect 

 in the least his standard prices after 

 the special sales are over. 



That the present standard prices of 

 nursery stock, however arrived at, are 

 too low. no one will deny. 



The well-known florist Mr. William 

 H. Elliott in a recent paper on the cost 

 of rose growing at the present time, 

 states that the increase in prices 

 should be at least 300 per cent over 

 pre-war prices. 



May we not agree that the first thing 

 to do is to find out Just what our 

 plants are really costing us and do it 

 by more scientifically accurate and 

 conclusive methods. We believe that 

 nurserymen as a class of tradesmen 

 have not pulled together as well as 

 people in other trades and businesses. 

 I believe the question of fixing a cor- 

 rect standard price is not so serious or 

 difficult as is the question of having 

 all members in the trade stick to a 

 standard price for a standard article at 

 a standard time. Surplus can he han- 

 dled by special methods and arrange- 

 ments. 



A certain well-known western nur- 

 seryman in visiting me last summer 

 told me my prices should be increased 

 50 to 100 per cent and gave good- 

 sounding reasons. With alacrity and 

 rejoicing I immediately jumped my 

 current catalog prices to meet his 

 views, thinking that at last both of us 

 would now actually make a little profit 

 the coming season, only to find after 

 my catalog went out that on most of 



