114 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 



of Nurserymen and the Ornamental Growers' 

 Association; and the Chairman of our Com- 

 mittee on Relations with Trades. 



At this meeting, copies of the amendments 

 which were approved by vote of the members 

 of the A. S. L. A., Inc., during February, 1921, 

 were handed to the Chairman of the other 

 Committees of the Joint Committee. 



The Amendments referred to the memoran- 

 dum of the Committee on Relations with 

 Trades entitled, "Obligations which are nor- 

 mally implied by the placing and acceptance 

 of an order for nursery stock in the absence 

 of specific stipulations to some other effect." 

 This memorandum had been in general ap- 

 proved by vote of the members of the A. S. 

 L. A. at the annual meeting of 1921, and also 

 approved and adopted by the American As- 

 sociation of Nurserymen and the Ornamental 

 Growers' Associations at their regular meet- 

 ings in 1921, and the above mentioned Asso- 

 ciations have approved and adopted the 

 Amendments of February 25, 1921. Copies of 

 the original memorandum and the amendments 

 have been sent to all members of the A. S. 

 L. A., Inc., and after their adoption by the 

 nurserymen's associations, they were printed 

 in the nursery trade papers, so that there is 

 now a very general knowledge of the agree- 

 ment which covers many important points on 

 the relations between the nurserymen and 

 landscape architects. 



In addition to the matters embodied in the 

 memorandum and the amendments many 

 others were discussed at considerable length, 

 but no definite conclusions were reached. The 

 principal subjects under discussion were the 

 following: 



1. Standardizing of sizes and grades of 

 Nursery Stock and the desirability of making 

 a draft of specifications. 



2. Standardization of prices. 



3. Uniformity in the matter of discounts 

 allowed by Nurserymen to clients of Land- 

 scape Architects. 



4. Commissions to Gardeners. 



5. Modification of the law or administra- 

 tive methods governing the importation of 

 plants. 



In regard to the first four subjects, Mr. Mee- 

 han explained that the nurserymen had been 

 considering them for many years and that 

 some progress had been made, but that there 

 were great difficulties in the way of satisfac- 



tory standardization because of the differences 

 in the cost of production and the character 

 and conditions of trade in the various parts of 

 the country. It was generally agreed that 

 these matters would have to be worked out 

 eventually by the nurserymen themselves, and 

 that the Joint Committee could not contribute 

 very much in the solution of these problems. 



In regard to the Quarantine Act (No. 37) 

 which prohibits the importation of plants for 

 immediate sale, Mr. Meehan explained that the 

 nurserymen in general had changed their at- 

 titude toward this act. In the beginning they 

 had opposed it, but since it became a law, 

 they have made the necessary provisions for 

 propagating and growing most of the ma- 

 terials that had previously been imported, and 

 that the nurserymen were now in favor of its 

 enforcement. The real grievances of the 

 nurserymen at the time of this meeting, were 

 the state quarantine and embargos and regu- 

 lations of the Federal Horticultural Board of 

 the Department of Agriculture at Washing- 

 ton, which prohibit the sale and transporta- 

 tion of many kinds of nursery stock outside 

 of certain states, counties or arbitrarily de- 

 fined districts. 



Our Committee was not in a position to 

 make any definite suggestion in regard to the 

 modification of the law or of the administra- 

 tive methods governing the importation and 

 transportation of plants. The subject iS a very 

 complicated one and will have to be investigated 

 and studied further. The purpose of Quarantine 

 Order No. 37 and the regulations of the Federal 

 Horticulture Board is to prevent the intro- 

 duction and to check the spread of insect 

 pests, scale and fungus diseases and is a mat- 

 ter which deserves careful consideration. The 

 landscape architects may make their influence 

 for good felt in a direct way by urging all 

 clients to keep their trees and shrubs clean by 

 spraying and other accepted means of fighting 

 the enemies of plant life. 



The relations between the nurserymen and 

 the members of the A. S. L. A. are very friend- 

 ly. It is believed that there are at present 

 very few misunderstandings, and the commit- 

 tee has noticed with gratification the evidence 

 of a spirit of co-operation on the part of the 

 nurserymen, and an appreciation on their part 

 of the professional aims and the business 

 methods of the members of the American So- 

 ciety of Landscape Architects. 



