TFTE NATIONAI. NIIRSERYA[AN 
403 
iii^^ a^oiicy to buy ovcMTlIiiii^? wo ihmmI al the factory, tags, 
lalx'ls, l)iirla|), luinIxM’, shingle tow, etc. ff we save ten 
|)('r c(Mit. it will iiuvni hiiiKlia'ds of dollars to us. Our 
agent could g('l wlioh'sah' |)ric(‘s (hdivered say at Dallas 
or Waco, some c(Milral place decich'd hy vole for that mat¬ 
ter; could order Just w hat he wanted, l)oxed and shipped 
to (Mch party. Say 1 want 15,000 labels at 85c. I wumhl 
send the ag<'id my check for -‘j^l2.75. They would come 
to the distributing i)oint and railroad would forward on 
to destination. We would soon (ind agents of these fac¬ 
tories meeting w ilh us at our annual meeting place. 
Again, it seems to me that the large growers arc not 
making the j)rop('r elloi’t to hold the trade wdiich legiti¬ 
mately belongs to them. Of course, they are to he the 
judges as to w hether the ellort is worth w bile. For most 
of us small growers w hen we can’t trade w ith, i. e., can’t 
find what we want with each other, buy of Alabama, 
Tennessee or Kansas nurserymen. Of course this should 
not he. We should barter, trade, and buy w ith our home 
nurseries wherever ])ossihle. For instance. I have a fine 
lot of Sycamore 10 to 12 feet at 15 to 18 cents F. 0. B.; 
also Silver Maph' 6 to 8 feet or 10 feet, some Umbrella, 
China, Peach, Plums, etc. I shall have to have a lot of 
Figs, Cape Jasmine, MiKjnoUa fp'andiflora, Arhondtae and 
all my roses. Why should we not exchangi^ and keep 
our money at home, instead of simding it to Kansas or 
cls(‘w here, to f)(M)|)le w ho m'ver have and never w ill trade 
a dollai’ w ith any of us? But if our larger growers will 
allow' the foreign (out of slate) nursery make us lietler 
jii’ices, and then fill his own shortage from the same 
source, what (dse is he to expect? 
Now' to conclude, if we will, for we can if we wdll, 
make this Nursery Association a mutual benefit organiza¬ 
tion for every mendjer of it, it w ill soon lake on new^ life 
and fairly hum with vigor and success. The railroad 
would then gladly acknowledge us, give us reduced rales 
to our meetings, not that we are not entitled to them now, 
for we are, as the hulk of our very large shipments, hun¬ 
dreds of thousands of dollars every fall and wdnter go 
hy exprt'ss. Still, we are not appreciated enough to get 
reduced rates anyw here, unless we clul) in w ith some oth¬ 
er organization. 
Then let us get together for a long pull, a strong pull, 
for the full development of our order, and the greatest 
benefit to the large farming class w hich we supi)ly. This 
in duty to ourselves and in justice to them. 
liesalls of the fire wlilrli, deslroyed the Storage and Pactdng Houses of the Thomas B. Meeluin Co., Dresher, Pa. 
Dieslier, Pa., November 5, 1917. 
Ernest Hemming, Editor, 
Flourtowii, Pa. 
Dear Sir:— 
I was very much interested in reading the communica¬ 
tions between Lewis Boesch and J. B. Mayhew, which 
aj)peai'ed in the Novemlier issue of The National Nursery¬ 
man. and ])articularly in that part of Mr. Mayhew’s let- 
let I'elative to the organizations within the National As¬ 
sociation. I (|uote from his letter: 
“In fact I am rcdiahly informed that the Protective 
Association expc'cted to go out of l)usiness in favor of 
the parent association at its last annual meeting, hut the 
organization of the American Association was not pre¬ 
pared to take over the work.” 
I have been secretary of the Protective Association for 
about tw enty-five years and never missed a meeting, and 
I can say that the subject of being taken over by the 
National Association was not discussed, or consid¬ 
ered directly, or indirectly either at the Milwau¬ 
kee or Philadelphia meetings, nor do I believe that the 
suhject has ever been seriously considered by any mem¬ 
ber of the Protective Association. 
An organization which has been in existence for as 
many years as the I^rotective Association, would give ser¬ 
ious consideration to any ])roposilion to abandon its wmrk 
even in favor of the National Association. 
I am inclined to thiid< that someone was handing out a 
little “josh” to Mr. Mayhew'. 
Very truly yours, 
Thomas B. Meehan, Secretary, 
American yurseryniens Protective Association. 
