264 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
set our price where it will give us a reasonable profit, 
and we should stick to that price when once it has been 
established. In that event we may not sell all of our 
stock, (juite true; but we shall get as much money for 
what we sell at a reasonable price, as we shall for all of 
it. sold at any ridiculously low price; and we shall not 
have ruined our prospects for another year. 
What do, then, with the surplus? By all means burn 
it. The bonfire is one of the best paying propositions in 
such a case. When prices are so reduced it follows that 
quality suffers. When selling so cheaply everything 
must go. When there is an over-abundance, the highest 
standards of quality should be maintained. There is no 
time when an article cannot be marketed at a profit, i! 
only men will hold themselves to the proposition, that 
they will not sell, unless it can be done at a fair percen¬ 
tage of gain. 
This does not follow that we have got to come together 
in convention and attempt to set a price on our wares; 
nothing of the kind. To attempt that would be to invite 
disaster. But we can, every one of us, say that if we can¬ 
not sell our stock at a profit, we will not sell at all. The 
result will be; that if we hold to that proposition, we 
shall all sell enough of our stock so that we shall all 
make some money, even if we are obliged to burn a part 
of it. If we cannot make money we are inviting disaster, 
and the quicker we hoist the white flag and go out of 
business, the better for what possessions we may have, 
and for the business in which we are engaged. 
In the event of each man’s fixing his price based upon 
the cost, plus a reasonable profit, there would be no 
uniformity of prices, and that is what we do not want. 
That would work injustice, for there is not and never can 
be a uniformity in quality of stock and of service. In the 
nature of things these cannot be standardized, for the 
personal element enters into them. 
When I purchase stock of a given size of one party, I 
am willing to pay more than I would for the same size 
stock from some other party. In the one case, I know 
that the name of the concern carries with it a degree of 
quality, that, I can depend upon. And this leads me to 
the crux of the whole matter. Our rivalry should not be 
in cutting prices to gain business; but in perfecting the 
quality of our stock and quality of our service. 
Nurserymen should not forget that there is a pro¬ 
hibition against the importation of nursery stock in the 
mails from foreign countries. Postmasters are requireed 
to return immediately to the point of entry all packages 
of such material from abroad. 
The term “nursery stock” as applied to the prohibition 
in question, includes all growing or living plants, seeds 
and other plant products for propagation, except field, 
vegetable and flower seeds. It includes also bulbs, roots 
and tubers and with the exception noted, the seeds of all 
trees, shrubs or other plants. The only plant or plant 
products excepted from the prohibition are those ordered 
by, or intended for, and addressed to the “Office of For¬ 
eign Seed and Plant Introduction. United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.” 
BOOT-KNOT A DESTRUCTIVE DISEASE 
Nearly 500 kinds of plants are already known to be 
susceptible to root-knot, and it is probable that future 
observations will greatly increase this number, known 
under the names of root-knot, root-gall, big-root, etc., this 
disease does immense damage out-of-doors in all except 
the most northern States, and everywhere causes damage 
in greenhouses. It is due to a minute parasite of the 
nematode family sometimes known as an eelworm, which 
causes the roots of susceptible plants to become so en¬ 
larged that the transfer of water to the stem and leaves 
is seriously interfered with. On the other hand the en¬ 
trance of harmful fungi or bacteria is made easier. In 
the case of cotton, for example, the root-knot parasite 
may be present in such small numbers as not to cause 
much harm itself but may nevertheless prepare the way 
for wilt or black-root, a fungous disease. 
The seriousness of root-knot is pointed out in a new 
publication of the United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture—Farmers’ Bulletin 648, “The Control of Root- 
Knot”—which discusses the most feasible methods of 
eradicating the disease. Under ordinary circumstances, 
says the bulletin, the most satisfactory method is to raise 
in the infested fields for a period of two or three years 
crops that are immune to the parasite, carefully killing at 
the same time all weeds and susceptible plants. Of the 
highly resistant crops the most important are: 
Barley, Crab-grass, 
Beggarweed, Iron cowpea, 
Brabham cowpea, Peanut, 
Broom-corn Millet, Pearl millet, 
Corn, Redtop, 
Rye, 
Sorghum, 
Timothy, 
Velvet bean, 
Wheat, 
Winter oats. 
In general it will be found desirable to include several 
of these crops in rotation in which a summer legume 
alternates with a winter grain. In the South, where the 
nematodes are perhaps the most harmful, the two most 
successful winter crops are winter rye and winter oats. 
The following rotation is therefore suggested as a prac¬ 
tical one in the majority of instances. 
In the fall, sow winter rye so early that it can make a 
good growth before it is necessary to plow the land for 
the next crop. In the spring, turn under the rye as green 
manure and plant corn. Later, place cowpeas of the Iron 
or Brabham varieties, which are resistant to root-knot, 
in the drill between the rows. The second fall, sow 
winter grain—preferably oats—and either allow it to 
