54 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



June 16, 1910. 



NURSERY NEWS. 



AHEBIGAN ASSOCIATION OF NUBSEBTHEN. 



Officers for lUlO-11: Pres., W. P. Stark, Louisi- 

 ana, Mo.; Vice-pres., E. 8. Welch, Shenandoah, 

 la.; Sec'y, John Hall, Rochester. N Y.: Treas., 

 C. L. Yates, Rochester, N. Y. Thirty-sixth an- 

 nual meeting, St. Louis, June. IttU. 



The Teas Nursery Co., of Houston, 

 Tex., has been incorporated, with a capi- 

 tal of $20,000, by Edward Teas, C. S. 

 Preston and A. J. Condit. 



C. Grootendorst, of F. J. Grooten- 

 dorst & Sons, Boskoop, who has been 

 visiting nurserymen and plantsmen in 

 this country for two months or more, 

 sailed for Holland June 14, from New 

 York. 



Charged with using the mails to de- 

 fraud, J. A. Delaney was arrested at 

 Crystal Lake, 111., June 6, by a postoffice 

 inspector. Delaney formerly was em- 

 ployed by Saddler Bros., of Bloomington, 

 and by Arthur Bryant & Sons, of Prince- 

 ton, and is alleged to have defrauded his 

 employers by means, of forged orders. 

 At Chicago Commissioner Foote held him 

 in $1,500 bail. 



PROGRESS IN THE TRADE. 



At the thirty-fifth annual convention 

 of the American Association of Nur- 

 serymen, held at Denver June 8 and 9, 

 President F. H. Stannard sounded the 

 keynote in the following words, quoted 

 from his annual address: 



"Much has been done in recent 

 years in establishing uniform grades, 

 in furnishing the grades now required 

 by the trade, and discarding the objec- 

 tionable trees as required by the vari- 

 ous state laws, making the producer 

 furnish more real value for the money 

 than at any other period in the history 

 of the nursery business. For these rea- 

 sons there ought to be a united effort 

 on the part of the nurserymen to get 

 better prices." 



Better stock and better prices; that 

 was the theme, one way or another, of 

 almost every speaker. 



PRESIDENT STARK. 



W. P. Stark, the new president of the 

 American Association of Nurserymen, 

 also is president of the Missouri State 

 Board of Horticulture, and is one of 

 the most enthusiastic of orchardists, as 

 well as nurserymen. He is treasurer of 

 Stark Bros.' Nurseries & Orchards Co., 

 of Louisiana, Mo., and an untiring 

 worker in the field of horticulture gen- 

 erally. The Stark firm was established 

 in 1825, and is now being managed by 

 the third and fourth generations of the 

 Stark family. The company has a cap- 

 ital stock of a million dollars, all paid 

 up, and is probably the largest nursery 

 concern in the world. The company 

 grows its stock in nine states. Experi- 

 ence has shown them that no one local- 

 ity will produce all kinds of stock to 

 the best advantage, and this is given 

 as the reason that the growing end of 

 the business is scattered over such a 

 large territory. The company employs 

 thousands of agents, and also has a 

 large mail order trade, which is in- 

 creasing rapidly. The past season's 

 business was the largest m the history 

 of the concern. The company is the 

 introducer of Delicious, King David, 



Senator, Champion, Black Ben, and 

 other apples, the names of which they 

 registered as trademarks, as well a"s 

 some fine peaches, grapes, etc. 



During the year just closed Mr. 

 Stark has served the association as 

 vice-president and chairman of the 

 transportation committee, and the way 

 he handled the latter position showed 

 how wise is the act of calling him to 

 assume the general direction of the 

 affairs of the association. 



THE DENVER CONVENTION. 



[The opening of the convention was fully re- 

 ported in last week's Issue of The Review.] 



Trade Ethics. 



The American Association of Nur- 

 serymen, on the closing day of its con- 

 vention at Denver last week, went 

 squarely on record in regard to a ques- 

 tion of trade ethics. It was declared 

 by resolution that trade lists should be 

 withheld from those not nurserymen or 

 dealers with established headquarters; 

 that prices should not be cut as the sea- 



W. P. Stark. 



(President American Association of 

 Nurserymen.) 



son progresses, and that those not buy- 

 ing to sell again should be charged re- 

 tail rates. 



President F. H. Stannard introduced 

 the subject by saying, in his annual 

 address: "At our meeting in Roches- 

 ter last year, J. H. Dayton, of Paines- 

 ville, O., read a paper on 'Nurserymen 

 Pulling Together a Little More,' which 

 I believe was much appreciated by 

 every nurseryman present, not only be- 

 cause of the entertaining way in which 

 he handled the subject, but because of 

 the facts presented, which we all recog- 

 nize and ought to make a special effort 



to put in practice." The discussion 

 crystallized in the adoption of the fol- 

 lowing resolutions: 



Resolved — That our lowest prices or trade lists 

 should he mailed only to r.urserymen or dealers 

 with established headquarters, who are knowu to 

 be actively engaged in the trade; 



That some effort should be made to have our 

 price lists and quotations to orchardists and re- 

 tail buyers nearer a uniform basis for the same 

 grades and varieties of stock. 



Tiiat as the practice of cutting prices as the 

 season advances is one of the great demoralizers 

 of both the wholesale and retail trade, estab- 

 lished rates should be adhered to throughout the 

 season. 



That parks, cemeteries and other public Instl 

 tutlons are not in the trade and are not entltleU 

 to trade rates. 



That stock shipped on orders of landscape 

 architects and Invoiced direct to their customers 

 should be billed at same retail rates as if the 

 order came direct from the planter. 



Opposed to Replace Policy. 



Having gone so far as to define who 

 should and who should not get trade 

 prices, J. R. Mayhew, of Waxahachie, 

 Tex., found little opposition to his plan 

 to have the association go on record 

 as condemning the so-called replace 

 policy, which is Mr. Mayhew 's pet 

 abomination. He purposes to do what 

 he can to stamp it out, and recently 

 secured the adoption of a resolution by 

 the Texas Nurserymen's Association 

 condemnatory of the practice of replac- 

 ing stock at less than full price. Being 

 on the program for a paper on "The 

 Resultant Evils of the Replace Pol- 

 icy," he said in part: "When and 

 where the practice originated I am un- 

 able to say, but this I know, that few 

 retail men the country over but have 

 practiced the policy of replacing, or the 

 promise to replace, at one-half price, 

 free, or on some other nonsensical basis. 

 Doubtless he who first conceived the 

 idea believed it to be a business asset, 

 but has it so proven? It has proven a 

 millstone about our necks, branded us 

 as shysters, grafters, and what not? 

 My friends, this insane policy, if not 

 checked, will keep us poor. A business 

 policy detrimental to the common good 

 should be suppressed, whether in our 

 own business or that of our competitor, 

 for our fields are so close by that if 

 one sows tares we all get our share of 

 the harvest." 



After a vehement denunciation of 

 the practice of replacing by E. W. 

 Kirkpatrick, and a mildly apologetic 

 talk in its favor by J. S. Kerr, all 

 Texans, the following resolution was 

 adopted: 



Whereas, the policy of replacing nursery stork 

 at less than full value, heretofore extensively 

 practiced over the country generally, has re- 

 sulted in serious Injury to the nurserymen, exer- 

 cised a demoralizing influence over the salesmen. 

 and has not really benefited the planter because 

 it has encouraged negligence on his part lu 

 planting and looking after trees and plants pnr- 

 ihased by him and led him to underestimate 

 the value of such nursery stock sold him; ana 



Whereas, this association was Instituted and is 

 maintained to promote the best interests of botu 

 nurseryman and planter, which said interests 

 are being seriously crippled by the above polic.v; 

 and 



Whereas, said practice necessarily tends to 

 destroy the confidence of the planter in tlie 

 nurseryman, and produces in his mind an errone- 

 ous impression as to the real value of the goous 

 sold by the nurseryman, now therefore, 



Be It Resolved, That this association un^ 

 qualifledly condemns the said policy of replacmS 

 nursery stock at less than its full market value 

 as being unwise, unbusinesslike and wholly u"' 

 necessary, and 



Be It Further Resolved, That the real m^ 

 terests of the nurseryman and planter will "* 

 best promoted by the exercise of sound business 

 methods in this, as well as other dealings, witn 

 them. 



Hard Root Gall Innocuous. 



E. A. Smith, of Lake City, Min'i-, 

 presented a paper on the hard or hairy 

 form of root gall or crown gall. The 

 subject is an important one, because 

 several states have passed laws prohib- 

 iting the admission of trees showing 



