82 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 
[do! I tin.) led from page, 7S.) 
1)1 most ciiscs Ili('si‘ men seemed bent on extermimiting the foreign 
nni’seiTimin I'lillier llnin liis insect pests. 
Ih'ing on the gi'onnd, we dealt with them with some degree of suc- 
(■('ss, Init it went Inird rvith nui-serymen at a distiince. We were mak¬ 
ing th(' liest of this and gjiining ground slowly, when on top of this 
ciune the AV'ashington law i-eciuiring !j;;j,0()0 bond rvith much red tape, 
such as notifying the Seenhary of 8tate Ihaird of 1 lorticultui'e of the 
intention to shi]) an invoice into the state, with name of consignee. 
Also tine or im])risonment for sending woolly iiphis or other insects 
into the state and iibuiuhint fees for the inspection of each consignment. 
Also the Oi'cgon law, rvhich went into elfect Alay 4, 18ho, made up 
of stiingent exactions which render it unsafe, if not almost impossible, 
to work there. Every consignment has to be inspected at timd destina¬ 
tion, sidiject to the folknving fees for the inspection of apple, pear, 
plum, jicach, nectarine, prune,- cherry, apricot and nut-bearing trees; 
()f all consignments nundiering under one hundred trees, $2; one hundred 
trees and under two Imndred and fifty, !f2.50; two hundred and fifty 
and under five hundred, |;3, iind for every five hundred or fraction 
thei-eof over five hundred, !j;l additional. 
For other nursery stock fees slndl be $2.10 on $20 in vidue or fiaiction 
thei’eof; $3.50 on any consignment over $25 and up to $50 in value; and 
5 jicr cent, additional on value over $50. 
tVdien stock is found to be infested with insect pests or diseases, a 
charge of fifty per cent, will be added to the foregoing rates to pay ex- 
jienses of the quarantine olficers. 
These laws are in my possession for inspection by any who imiy be 
interested. 
We therefore abandon the territory. Aluch stock from AV^esteiai New 
Yoi'k, and doubtless still more from the more western nurseries has 
found an outlet in this tendtory; now the trade is wiped out. 
One nurseryimin informed us that his entire sale in Novji Scoti:i Inid 
been condemned by local inspectors this spi’ing. 
Tlu-re is dsmger of the siu'ead of this kind of legislation. Nursery¬ 
men iind fruit growers must work together and l)e on the :dcrt to check 
i1. Such hiws discouriige enterprise, retiirdthe growth of the section in 
which they exist and cresite sectiomd feelings riither tlnm a regard for 
the entire country as one country in whose weUare, to its most remote 
outposts, we are idl interested. If the Pacific coast woidd extend open 
iirins to eastern business men iind capitid the country would be a suc¬ 
cess. 
Let locid legislators know that rvliiit is needed is more intelligence 
iimong the people regarding the ctire of their stock, in keeping it free 
from insects and disease and in thrifty growing condition. Laws re¬ 
garding the triinsportation of stock simply burden the section covered 
by them, prevent free exchange with ntitural fields of trade and make 
biul feelings, Iciul to retaliation and disturbance. 
Neglected stock alwiiys encourages insects and idl the other rewiirds 
of neglect. In Oregon it is the almost universid rule to find the fruit 
trees covered with moss and insects. W^ith their mild, diuup climate, 
these insects propagate riqiidly. The few aphis, or othei- insects tlnit 
might be tiiken into the state on the young trees are nothing iis com- 
piired with what they already have. 
Let every member of this association, wholesale and retail, wiitch 
this imitter and see to it that no stone is left unturned to prevent in iiny 
section the enactment of any law looking to the. discouragement of the 
mu'seiy indust ly. AVe should have ii committee to keep the trade 
posted tlu'ough our triide journal and otherwise and to publish fjicts in 
iuiy endangered field looking to the prevention of such legislation. 
THE RETAIL NURSERY TRADE. 
A. Willis, Ottawa, Kan., read the following paper : 
Having been solicited for a paper on the above subject, 
I will give you a few thoughts from the practical side of 
the question under consideration. The retail trade is in 
this business greatly the most important, for make the 
wholesale trade as great and important as you will, if the 
retailer fails to place the stock in the hands of the ulti¬ 
mate purchasers the wholesaler must fail. Therefore all 
are interested in the success of the retail trade, and all 
look forward with anxiety to its success. 
In the discussion of this subject we shall draw largely 
from our own personal experience in the hope that some 
one may be benefited. In the early years ot our experi¬ 
ence we believed advertising to be valuable and thou ght 
no advertisement could be better than well-kept grounds 
filled with thrifty growing stock, but as year by year 
passed and people who passed our grounds at least weekly 
bought their goods of traveling salesmen, and went by 
our place to get them and carried or hauled them by our 
place to go home, while few came in to buy of us, we con¬ 
cluded people cared very little for well-kept grounds and 
thrifty stock growing almost at their own door, and some¬ 
thing else must be done to get trade. 
We tried low prices; the people were supposed to want 
to save money and low prices would do it, it would be 
better to come to us and pay 7 to 10 cents each for apple 
trees than to pay 12 1-2 to 15 cents for trees to traveling 
salesmen, and besides trees fresh from the nursery are 
supposed to be better than trees from a distance. To 
those who lived in the country there was not only the 
saving in cost, but the satisfaction of patronizing a home 
industry. But after repeated attempts to secure trade in 
this way and on all the plans I could think of, I con¬ 
cluded that the people were not struck on low prices, and 
so far as patronizing a home industry goes this matter is 
sometimes overlooked. And now after many years of 
experience I believe if you put a full stock of the best as¬ 
sorted trees ever grown in Kansas at the most convenient 
market town in the county and offer them at 5 cents each 
the mass of the people will buy of traveling salesmen and 
pay 25 cents each for trees of less value. One is some¬ 
times tempted to say with the late P. T. Barnum, “The 
American people like to be humbugged.” 
Advertising by newspapers, hand bills, posters, cata¬ 
logues, etc., undoubtedly has its place, but in my experi¬ 
ence is unsatisfactory. The sales I have been able to 
make by these means have been so few as to be hardly 
worth mentioning. Some years ago, believing sales could 
be made in this way, I published what I thought to have 
been the finest catalogue sent out by any nursery in the 
state, and when they were received I sent out a quantity; 
I think about five or six hundred, to parties from whom 
I had received orders through traveling salesmen the year 
before, and as I remember now this did not bring me one 
order. I also selected three newspapers of good general 
circulation in different counties convenient to ship to 
from Ottawa, and advertised in them for two or three 
months, including February and March, that I would send 
on application to parties desiring to plant trees the finest 
catalogue published by any nursery firm in Kansas. These 
three advertisements cost me $14 and brought applica¬ 
tions for two catalogues and no orders, and it did not 
seem profitable to pay $7 each for names to send ex¬ 
pensive catalogues to that brought no orders. I am now 
advertising in two papers and have received from them 
