PARK AND CEMETERY. 
662 
WHO GETS TRADE PRICES on NURSERY STOCK? 
First, let us try to decide what con- 
stitutes a “trade rate.” Is it the trade 
catalogue prices which nurserymen pub- 
lish, or IS it the inside price which 
nearly every nurseryman is ready and 
willing to quote by letter to the trade 
in general, or perchance to a few se- 
lected nurserymen who favor him 
with regular orders or, as in some 
instances, worry him with the belief 
that his prices are high and that all 
other nurserymen are selling lower 
than he. 
Or, let us take the so-called “trade 
catalogue.” Asterbilts trade cata- 
logue quotes Norway maples at ly^ 
to 2-inch caliper at $1.50 each. The 
Standard Nursery Co., sam% size at 
$1.25 each. Grabem & Co., the Hold- 
fast Nursery, I. Gottem & Sons each 
offer same grade of tree at anywhere 
from 75 to 85 cents each. Now which 
of all of these prices is the trade 
price? 
Examine the trade prices on ever- 
greens. You will find that two or 
three feet Norway spruce are offered 
all the way from 15 cents to 50 cents, 
and American Arbor Vitae same size 
at anywhere from 10 cents to 40 
cents. 
This past spring 1 was offered 
Spirea Anthony Waterer, 18 to 24 
inches, at the following prices, 6, 7, 
8, 9 and 10 cents, all by responsible 
nurserymen. Now which of these 
prices is the trade price? 
You may say that these prices on 
Spiraea Anthony Waterer' were spe- 
cial prices made according to the 
quantity of stock each bidder had to 
offer and those who quoted the low- 
est prices did so because they or he 
had a surplus to unload. Grant this 
to be the fact — then take the follow- 
ing prices taken direct from trade 
catalogues and tell me which of these 
prices is the correct trade price, 6, 
7, 8, 10 cents. 
Now take the trade catalogue of a 
nurseryman whose business is large- 
ly with parks, cemeteries and land- 
scape gardeners, and his so-called 
trade rates average ten to twenty per 
cent higher than the prices of the 
nurseryman who sells regularly to 
the trade. Does he not occupy a field 
of his own and does he do any harm 
to his fellow nurseryman by selling 
to his customers at such prices? True, 
there may be some nurserymen whose 
trade prices are still higher, but in 
An Address before the National Association 
of Nurserymen, by Thomas B. Meehan 
that case, can you consider those 
prices trade prices, when the majority 
of the nurserymen are offering the 
same stock at lower rates? 
But you may say that this nursery- 
man should sell his stock to his 
brother nurseryman at a less price 
than he is selling to the park, ceme- 
tery and landscape gardeners. If he 
can sell his stock at the trade price 
he is getting, why should he lose 
money by selling any part of that 
stock at a reduced price? If nursery- 
men buy from him at his trade prices, 
it is because they want his particular 
stock, they know it is better than the 
average run of stock or because they 
cannot get it elsewhere. 
I was told by a certain nurseryman, 
a prominent member of this associa- 
tion and a good fellow at that, that 
a nurseryman had no business to 
sell to the trade if he could not give 
him _ a lower price than he gave 
to the park, cemetery and landscape 
trade, even though his trade prices 
were ten to twenty per cent higher in 
the average than the regular so-called 
trade price. Is that right? 
This past spring a certain city in 
the west required a carload of trees. 
An eastern nurseryman was given the 
opportunity to figure* on the lot. His 
catalogue price was $1.00 each. The 
same grade of trees was being offered 
in the west, near the same place the 
trees were to be delivered, at 50, 60 
and 70 cents each. This eastern nur- 
seryman, having a large supply of the 
trees, and knowing if he got the or- 
der, it was like carrying coals to 
New Castle, offered to deliver the 
carload at his catalogue price of 
about 93 cents each. He got the or- 
der, but has not yet been forgiven by 
certain dealers in the immediate vi- 
cinity of the point of delivery, be- 
cause they say he had cut prices. Yet 
his average price of 92 cents each was 
fifty to seventy-five per cent higher 
than the average trade price of other 
nurserymen. 
But I may have drifted from the 
point at issue. If you are prepared 
to fix the average trade price of Hy- 
drangea P. G., 2 to 3 feet, at seven 
cents each and that is the lowest 
trade price at which all nurserymen 
will sell the stock, then I would say 
unquestionably a nurseryman should 
not sell the plant to parks, cemeteries 
and landscape gardeners at seven 
cents each ; his price should be at least 
20 to 25 per cent higher. Or, if the 
average price of Norway maples of a 
certain grade is $1.00, then the price 
to the park, cemetery and landscape 
gardener trade should be no less than 
$1.25 each, but until some standard 
price on every item of ornamental 
stock is fixed and adhered to by all 
nurserymen alike, east and west, north 
and south, I fail to see how this ques- 
tion of what is a trade price can be 
overcome. 
In no other trade does this condi- 
tion of affairs exist. You cannot buy 
iron pipe, hardware, spades or other 
tools direct from the manufacturers 
at what we call trade prices. He may 
perhaps sell his goods direct to you 
at a list price and perhaps give you 
10, 20 or 30 per cent discount, but 
when the jobber goes to him for a 
price, he will get an extra 10 or 20 
per cent off, that you cannot get. The 
jobber is protected. 
But conditions are somewhat dif- 
ferent between the manufacturer and 
the nurseryman. The manufacturer 
knows exactly, to the fraction of a 
cent, just what his goods cost him to 
produce and fixes his selling price 
based on the cost of production, but 
where is the nurseryman who can 
say “My 2 to 3 feet Hydrangea P. 
G. cost me exactly four, five or six 
cents to grow,” and can prove it. 
A nurseryman once said to me, “I 
keep figures which show me exactly 
what my stock cost me to grow,” and 
he showed me an elaborate system of 
figures. I took several items and 
asked him if he did not think certain 
items of his expense on that item 
were greatly in excess of what they 
actually should be. He assured me 
they were not and that his figures 
were taken from the correct records 
kept during the actual process of the 
work. I took his figures and proved 
to his satisfaction by his own figures 
that his men would have to stand 
with spade poised in the air for half 
a minute between each spade full of 
earth to enable them to put in the 
time his cost sheets required. 
From what I have said it may ap- 
pear to you, gentlemen, that I am in 
sympathy with the idea of selling nur- 
sery stock to parks, cemeteries and 
landscape engineers at trade prices. 
I have had occasion in the past to 
{Concluded on page X) 
