206 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
catalogs and price lists, are rapidly and deliberately edu¬ 
cating i)lanlers to l)elievc that our prices are not based on 
actual value or inherent worth, but on what we can get, 
and that we will be glad to (jiiote cut rates, if they will 
take the trouble to send a list of wants? Of course, we 
always have with us the customer, who wants to know 
w hat is the ])rice of a Dollar Collection, and cannot tell 
just what the i)rices are. although they are printed in 
idack double face type, hut if our mail he any criterion w e 
are ('ducating a large j)roportion, of the buying ])uhlic, to 
I he belief that our printed prices do not count, and that 
I hey w ill alw ays he discounted, if they ask us to. 
I do not wajit to open up the old subject of w hat stock 
costs us to grow', hut how' many of us know' wdiat it costs 
us to handle stoek that we buy? What proportion in ad¬ 
dition to freight, should w'e add to the cost of a block or a 
car of trees, to cover the actual cost of hauling, storing 
through the winter, and rehandling and shipping it in 
small lots in the s|)ring? Do not we some times figure, 
that in order to work off our own surplus, and to meet 
('ompetition. w e w ill do all this for nothing, and is not our 
(on!|)etitive selling syst('m establishing a custom of 
handling to the trade, tiu' stock w e buy on a very low 
margiO' ^I'ld if accurate co.sts were known, very often at 
an actual loss? 
I might go on and enumerate our old grievances that 
we have thrashed out over and over again, and will not 
take your tinu*, hut size them uj) and see if most of our 
real troubles ar(‘ not due to competitive struggles to do for 
ourselves, and do our competitors, and if most ot them 
could not he cured, if a fair proi)oition of our members 
should work together in a true co-o])erative s])irit? Not 
in any w ay, that a few' of the hulk may receive the bene¬ 
fits, hut in the true spirit of taking and giving. 
The thing that makes co-operation the most hopeful in 
business life today, is the giving as w ell as the taking. 
When you and your com])etitors, or you and the men 
w ith w hom you have to deal, or to w hom you have to go 
for help in making law s that effect our business, get your 
knees under the same mahogany a few times, you are 
bound to feel and act differently tow'ard them. 
True, we are all after the dollar, hut even the most sor¬ 
did are human, and it is lots easier to reach out the help¬ 
ing hand to the one w ith whom w e co-operate than to the 
comparative stranger w ith w hom we compete. 
We grow ers meet in Convention and field, exchange in¬ 
formation freely, alw ays ready to show' our stock and ex- 
])lain OLii’ methods, and to give ci'edit to the man that is 
w inning out, either in quantity or quality hut w'lien we 
come to the market, w e feel somehow that the demand is 
limited, that it is u]) tons to put forward the broadest 
(daims for our ow u ])roducts, and often to call attention to 
the real or imagined defects in the products of our compe¬ 
titors. The feeling is that if w e allow' one firm to beat us 
ill making extravagant claims or in securing an order, 
that there w ill he less demand for our stock, so we must 
knock his stock, cut his prices, and endeavor in every way 
to see that our ow n stock is sold first. 
While in our line the market possibilities may not be as 
unlimited as those of production, our real proposition 
ought not to he to get a large share of a restricted demand, 
by cutting the other fellow' out, hut to make our products 
available too, and w anted by more and more people by co- 
ojieration in grow ing and shipping, by making it easy for 
people to buy, by assisting orcliardists and fruit and civic 
associations, in creating a demand and spreading know ¬ 
ledge of how to use, in different w'ays, the varied pro¬ 
ducts produced in our nurseries and by our customers. 
A restricted market in this day of publicity, no need to 
exact, if we are alive to our opportunities, ready to work 
w ith and for others, and to boost in a broad w'ay, all that 
tends to increase the demand and to improve the quality 
of our products, and give us a better knowledge, not only 
of each other, but of all that goes to make the nurseryman 
of today alive not only to his ow'n interests, but to the in¬ 
terest of all engaged in the same line, or who are affected 
by it. ' ' 
Unrestricted competition means the narrow outlook, 
the restricted business, the narrow' or no margin of profit, 
the forced savings that affect quality and injure the repu¬ 
tations of our products. 
True, honest co-operation means, not only the material 
benefits that will come to the entire trade, hut a broader 
view' of life, a cleaner insight into the future, and a more 
unselfish idea of the brotherhood of man. 
DETUOIT THE CHOICE EOR THE NEXT CONVENTION 
The delegate, w ith a personal invitation to hold the next 
Convention at Detroit, w'on in a canter. Our w'estern 
friends w ill lose their reputation as boosters and boom¬ 
ers if they don’t look out. 
The claims of California w'cre strongly put, but the 
booster for Michigan w'cnt the limit by saying:— 
“If all the ajijiles grown in the grand state of Michigan 
could he made into one and dropped into the Atlantic 
Ocean, it w'ould he possible to step from America to Eng¬ 
land w ithout wetting your feet. 
If all the potatoes grown in this magnificent State of 
Michigan could he made into one, it w'ould be as large as 
Ireland. 
If all the beef grow'ii in the glorious State of Michigan 
were made into one cow, she could graze at the equaator 
and switch the flies off the North Pole with her tail. 
The California delegate had no more to say. 
BRIEF STATEMENT OF PARCEL POST RATES AS 
APPLIED TO NURSERY STOCK. 
Nursery stock comes under the same parcel post reg¬ 
ulations as ordinary merchandise except as to laws re¬ 
garding fumigation. The zone rates apply and pack¬ 
ages w'eighing up to tw enty pounds and whose length and 
girth together do not exceed seventy-tw'o inches, if se¬ 
curely packed and w'rapped, w ill be accepted for trans¬ 
portation through the mails. Nursery stock cannot be 
sent by parcel post into Canada on account of the fumiga¬ 
tion laws, although herbaceous plants not subject to fum¬ 
igation w ill be accepted. 
The parcels post is cheaper than express on packages 
less than five pounds to any point in the United States; it 
is cheaper than express up to ten pounds in the third 
zone or say w'ithin a radius of 300 or 400 miles; beyond 
this only small packages of five or seven pounds can com¬ 
pete with the express rates. 
