and on the other hand will take good care of stock from nurserymen 
who give such gratuities or graft," 
New England Nurseries Co., Bedford, Mass. 
" We positively do not and would refuse to do business rather than 
stoop to this practice. Gardeners open to this form of bribery are 
undesirable as customers as well as employees." 
Cherry Hill Nurseries, West Newbury, Mass. 
"We have never nor do we ever expect to give any commission, 
gratuity or present to gardeners as we believe it is a pernicious 
practice both from a moral and business point of view. Merely from 
the business point of view the gardener is shopping arouftd to find 
where he can get the biggest discoimt, and it is only a question of 
time until he finds some dealer who will make a larger discount 
than the one which he has previously been getting. This must finally 
come from the owner of the estate who pays the bills and he either 
pays more for his stock or gets a poorer grade. 
A. N. Pier son, Cromwell, Connecticut. 
"We do not give commissions or gratuities to anyone. We have 
never done so, although we realize that we have lost a great deal of 
business by not allowing the customary lo per cent graft to profes- 
sional gardeners. We have never transgressed in this. We do not 
beHeve in it and prefer to lose business rather than to get it in what 
we consider a dishonest manner. The giving of gratuities by any 
concern is against the laws of the United States. The Federal Board 
of Trade at Washington has recently prosecuted practically the entire 
paint industry on the grounds of unfair competition and unfair 
business methods. We have no desire to lay ourselves Uable to such 
prosecution." 
Princeton Nurseries, Princeton, New Jersey. 
"No; in the first place because we do no business with gardeners 
or their employers. We sell to nurserymen only. I have been in the 
wholesale business for fifteen years, and in all my time I never gave 
or heard of any other seller giving any commission or present of 
any sort to any buyer for a nursery firm. As far as business within 
the trade is concerned, such a thing as graft is unknown, — ^it is only 
very recently that I heard of its being practiced in the retail business. 
And frankly I can see no difference between the man who takes 
graft and the man who gives it. For several states, I beHeve, there 
are already laws covering dishonest practices of this sort. Such a 
law was recently passed by the legislature of New Jersey, but under 
a misapprehension, I am sure, was vetoed by Governor Edge as class 
legislation. You are aware, doubtless, that in England there are 
severe penalties for the giving or the accepting by gardeners or other 
