THE NATIONAL NURSERY^NfAN 
13 
STANDARDIZATION OF NURSERY PRODUCTS 
An Address before the California Nurserymen’s Association at Santa Barbara, October 20, 1910 
By William T. Kirkman, Jr., Kirkman Nurseries, Fresno, California. 
T ills certainly is an age of standardizalion of pro¬ 
ducts and merchandise of all descriptions. Now 
a-days when one purcliases a pound of butter, it 
must weigh one pound; a gallon of gasoline must contain 
four full quarts, and it must not have been diluted so 
that the specific gravity is below a certain point, which is 
regulated by the government. In horticultural products 
most sales are made under established governmental 
specifications. Where a carload of prunes are sold it is 
designated as 70’s, 60’s, oO’s, as the case may be; it means 
that the entire shipment will average 70, 60 or 50 prunes 
to the pound. A shipment of oranges is sold to the con¬ 
sumer with the knowledge that there aie just so many 
oranges in the pack, and usually with the further assur- 
rance that the quality has been passed by a competent 
inspector. A carload of grapes is carefully packed by 
skilled laborers and the sugar content is accurately tested 
before it is offered to the consumer for his table. There 
has been a general movement to compel the delivery of 
a dollar’s worth of produce for every dollar expended, 
and the consumer knows that he is buying a certain stan¬ 
dardized quality. This movement is not only a benefit to 
the consumer but extends its greatest and most far reach¬ 
ing benefit to the producer. To standardize a product 
and offer a superior quality to the buying public, means 
that the public immediately responds with a decided in¬ 
crease of consumption, this fact is proven in many in¬ 
stances in California. To cite a local instance in the 
San Joaquin Valley, the raisin industry has been put on a 
firm foundation and the market practically doubled by in¬ 
telligent management at the hands of the raisin Associa¬ 
tion. Business houses find that the best way to adver¬ 
tise their efficiency is to declare to the public that they 
are affiliated with organizations governing the service 
they are marketing. Even in the windows of our banks, 
we find a card stating that they are members of a certain 
banking association. Our daily newspapers assure us 
that the news that is printed on their pages is guaranteed 
to be authentic by Associated Press, or the International 
news service. The valuable feature claimed by the var¬ 
ious Labor Unions, is that a workman belonging to a 
Union is an efficient workman who can render you accur¬ 
ate and speedy service. If the California Association of 
Nurserymen wishes to keep pace with this line of stan- 
dandization, it is high time that it be proven to planters, 
and that by doing business with the nurseryman affiliated 
with this organization, he will be guaranteed a certain 
grade and quality of nursery stock, and he will not by any 
chance receive shipment of inferior, poorly graded, or 
damaged trees. It is safe to say that the planting pub¬ 
lic would respond as quickly to such a movement as the 
buying public has done in other products. 
We all know of many unsatisfactory deliveries of nur¬ 
sery stock, not only to the planters but also between our¬ 
selves. We all know the temptation to get a little more 
money out of a block of stock, simply by shutting our 
eyes to the teclmi([ue of proper grading. Is there one 
among us wlio has not been exasperated to the fighting 
point because of llie receipt of a shipment of poor stock 
wiien he had l)een depending on tlie nurseryman to send 
a first-class article, and wlien it was then too late to re¬ 
fuse the shij)ment and get a good supply elsewhere? 
Gentlemen, is tlie California Association of Nurserymen 
really doing what it should in demanding a uniform out¬ 
put by its members? Should not members of this Asso¬ 
ciation put out a certain definite quaity under each 
named grade? It is not fair that some of us should put 
in to the first grade, that is 4 to 6 feet trees in deciduous 
nursery stock, practically everything in the nursery row 
and sell at a lesser price when others are including in this 
grade only good straight, well rooted trees that caliper 
between %, to %, or % to % inch? 
There is another step—a much longer stride, that also 
could well be discussed under this head, viz., the standar¬ 
dization of varieties. A general plan of getting to¬ 
gether on “strains” or new varieties. If we nursery¬ 
men could really all pull together for our own good and 
the most efficient service to the planters it would not be 
impossible or impractical to collectively employ a man to 
oversee the securing of all propogating wood, even to 
plant and own our own budwood orchards, and to care¬ 
fully expert any new “strain” or variety before any mem¬ 
ber be allowed to advertise to the public that he has 
something far superior to the old fashioned stuff being 
marketed by his moss-back contemporaries. 
Let me hasten to assure you that I do not depreciate 
the value of new introductions, and more productive 
strains of old varieties, but we must admit that almost 
every splash made by the many remarkable and astound¬ 
ing “new varieties” which have been offered to suscep¬ 
tible planters, has died away, not even leaving a ripple in 
the stream of steady output of known and tried sorts. 
Some new discoveries have really made good and hold 
important places in the orchards and vineyard industries, 
but few of them have really cleaned the field of all com¬ 
petition as has been often prophesied for them. 
A few years ago the Tilton apricot was advertised far 
and wide as the certain successor of all the old varieties 
by an enterprising nursery company, and many trees 
were sold throughout California and Oregon at fifty cents 
and $1.00 each, while the remainder of us were looking 
for chances to sell poor old Blenheim and Boyal at 20 
cents or less. The Royal and Blenheim are still doing 
business at the old stand and the Tilton, while a valuable 
fruit in many localities, is holding third place to say the 
best. The Washington Navel is still with us notwith¬ 
standing the Thomson’s Improved. The old fashioned 
Mission and Adriatic fig are still yielding good interest on 
a valuation of a $1000 to $2,500 per acre in many in¬ 
stances, notwithstanding the newer Smyrna types, and 
the new “clean sweep” the Kodata. There are new strains 
of the old Petite de Agen prune, which are reputed to be 
