54 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
How much shall we grow ? 
Grow all you can ])rolital)ly market. 
How much is that ? 
The basis for the answer must l)e your own ex])er- 
ience. Tlie Rei)ort of the Oruameiital Growei*s’ As¬ 
sociation may ])rove hel])ful hut only in a relative 
way. 
Is it not rather largely a (inestion of the market 
that we have develo])ed, and from past exi)erience 
have learned to have faith that we can de])end n])on ? 
'^riiei'e may be those here who have found a way to 
obtain a re])ort of the total nninber of separate items 
that is consumed in this country each year. I, for one, 
should very greatly a])i)reciate such information, 
and having measured the Nation’s ca])acity for the 
consumption of certain items, as for example Rose 
])lants, I should take great interest in ithe factors 
which regulate, control, or inflnence that capacity or 
})owei‘ of consum])tion, and then i;t wonld be still 
more interesting to measure one’s own output against 
the big yardstick of the total out}nit all told in each 
class, and each item. But when it comes down to 
figuring how much stock we intend to grow of a cer¬ 
tain item next year, we know of no safer basis upon 
which to work than ithe record of what was sold last 
year, or what would be still more valuable, the aver¬ 
age sale for the past five years. Doubtless, all here 
have such data at their finger’s end. Even in the re¬ 
tail portion of our business, we have found that it 
])aid to make at the end of each season a separate cal¬ 
culation showing the number sold, on each of some 
2000 items. 
To be sure, one’s business may vacillate from year 
to year. If one’s trade is reasonably even, it may 
still be subjecit to fluctuations for causes that some¬ 
times can be foreseen. It is common knowledge that 
the demand for our goods may change somewhat in 
accordance with the altered ])urchasing ])Ower of our 
])atrons, which depends in turn upon the financial 
stress or plenty over the country. 
AVe have great faith that the demand will increase 
by virtues of the excellent qualities of the stock we 
have sold. “Advertised by our loving friends” is 
by no means confined to Baby Food. This is another 
reason why such care should be given to the subject 
of discarding stock that has been superseded by 
something superior, and being keenly upon the alert 
for something new and good. AA"e believe this is a 
sulqect to which nurserymen as a class should give 
more attention. Another huge lever that must al¬ 
ways be taken into consideration in our Imsiness, and 
which like electricity, will one day be used more in¬ 
telligently and universally than at present, 
is advertising, in itself a fascinating and 
fruitful toi)ic. Beginning then with a known 
supply, which this organization intends to 
collate, and a demand whibli may be estimated upon 
a basis of ])ast ex]ierience, with eyes open to the signs 
of the times, through Trade Journals, Trade Organi¬ 
zations, and in the fields of our neighborly conq)eiti- 
tors, we should strive to cultivate an ability to foresee 
changes in demand. For example, a recent cold win¬ 
ter killed a number of California Privet hedges, es- 
])ecially in the Northern Tem})erate climate, since 
which the demand for Barberry as a hedge plant has 
increased more in three years, we believe, than it had 
foi'inerly increased in ten. 
Straws will show which way the winds blow. Ag¬ 
ricultural Ex])erinient Stations are sending out Bulle¬ 
tins which treat of our stock. Do they influence our 
trade ? 
Schools over the country, as well as in the city, are 
beginning to i)lant and to notice plant life around 
them. A\^ill this influence the demand for certain 
items on our lists? If not these, what will? Remem¬ 
ber that aside from prices, and the ])roblem of distri¬ 
bution, our stock of any one item considered as a 
whole, should be gauged with an eye wide open to 
]) 0 ssible consumption, not forgetting that it lies with¬ 
in our power in various ways to increase consump¬ 
tion, which in turn will call for increased ])roduction. 
Happily for us if we are to judge by the increased 
number of acres and the capital invested in the nur¬ 
sery business the demand has been keeping pace 
nicely ahead of the sup])ly, generally speaking; and 
of course it is good business, and economical sales¬ 
manship in distribution, prices being favorable, to 
follow the line of least resistance. The old well 
worn saying of Emerson’s about the man who made 
a better mouse tra]), or did something else better 
tlian any other man, though he lived in a forest, 
Avould have a ])ath worn to his door, by people seek¬ 
ing his product, certainly apjdies to ns, and has to do 
not only with things that we do grow and their qual¬ 
ity, but (juite as much, I am led to believe, with the 
class of items that we include in our list of stock. I 
should be very much better satisfied with this little 
discourse, if it had treated more fully this phase of 
over-i)roduction of the things that are not as gratify¬ 
ing to customers as would have been other items 
quite as readily within our reach did we but spend 
more time, energy and thought in their development. 
I am half afraid to throw stones because I certainly 
live in a glass house in the following respect, and T 
am not at all certain that the rest of you do. 
I hap])en to know that there are some nurserymen 
not yet half aware of the interesting novelties in the 
Arnold Arboretum, of what the Lemoines have done 
for us during the ])ast ten years, with what Air. AVil- 
son has brought from China, and I could mention 
other such items, but it is not only onr clients, but we 
ourselves, ]ierhaps, who need educating. Therefore. 
I take off my hat, figuratively speaking, to the men 
who have made possible this organization, to the op- 
