506 
THE NATIONAL NUESEBYMAN 
It is only under liigliest tillage that apple trees suc¬ 
ceed in nurseries and all the evidence shows that they do 
not behave diflerently when transplanted. 
Grass left as a mulch in an orchard is bad enough. 
Grass without the mulch is all but fatal—it makes the 
trees sterile and paralyzes their growth. It is the chief 
cause of unprofitable orchards in New York. 
WHERE ARE YOUR TREES GOING? 
Paper read by Jefferson Thomas, Jacksonville, Fla., at the 
Cleveland Convention. 
The genial chairman of the program committee was 
given my topic as “Where Are Your Trees Going?” The 
printed program makes it “Where Are Our Trees Go¬ 
ing?” There is a distinction with a difference but just 
the same I appreciate the implied compliment. 
Probably most of you know where your trees are 
going, as regards their geographical destination, but in 
the broader sense of relation to the position they will take 
in the profit and loss accounts of the persons who plant 
them, I fear that the best they can say for themselves 
is: “We don’t know where we are going, but we are on 
our way.” 
It is to this broader phase of the question of where 
your trees are going, involving not only the elements of 
quality that will enable them to produce bountiful crops 
but the conditions which will make this production profit¬ 
able to the orchardist, that I would call your attention in 
particular this good day. It seems to me that the impor¬ 
tance of candid consideration of this subject is greater 
now than at any time during my twenty-one years asso¬ 
ciation with the nursery business from the selling side. 
The careful manufacturer takes a long look ahead in 
his calculations as to probable and potential demand for 
his product before he increases the capacity of his plant, 
even though it may be inadequate to meet the present call 
for his goods. Some nurserymen have learned to apply 
the same principles in making their business plans for the 
future, but far too many of them, in my judgment, occupy 
much the same attitude to the matter of knowledge of the 
trade they may expect five, ten, fifteen, twenty or twenty- 
five years hence as did the country boy to the calf which 
was dragging him down the road. 
It must be admitted that many uncertain elements 
enter into the (juestion of what will be the demand of the 
future for trees of any kind. The old order of things is 
changing rapidly, just as much in agricultural and horti¬ 
cultural operations as in political circles. But practically 
every other branch of business endeavor is confronted by 
equally as much uncertainty, in any effort, to forecast the 
future.. I am not willing to admit that nurserymen have 
any less capacity to solve the problems of the times than 
is possessed by business men in other lines. 
It must be apparent to even the most superficial ob¬ 
server of the situation that as better methods of farming 
and orcharding are adopted more of the trees sold by nur¬ 
serymen will go into active and maximum production 
than formerly was the case. It must be almost equally 
apparent that under present conditions of marketing 
there is grave danger of over-production with certain 
standard fruits, even though millions of possible consum¬ 
ers of these fruits will remain unable to get them at prop¬ 
er prices. I use the term “over-production” in this con¬ 
nection because it is common vogue; the real trouble will 
come through insufficient distribution and unscientific 
selling methods. 
In other words, your trees are going into a produc¬ 
tion, that as matters now stand with reference to the 
handling of the fruit can hardly be profitable to the grow¬ 
er. It is in the inevitable conclusion that in proportion 
as this condition is attained, demand for nursery stock 
will drop off. To my way of thinking, it is not necessary 
to let this state of affairs come to pass. As much fruit 
as possibly can be grown in the United States during the 
next fifty years may be disposed of, at prices which will 
give a profit on its production to the grower who operates 
in a business-like and scientific manner and yet be fair to 
the consumer and help to restore the proper relations be¬ 
tween incomes and the cost of living. 
As the folks who above all other are vitally interested 
in the working out of the problems which have been men¬ 
tioned, nurserymen have it very largely within their pow¬ 
er to determine the future of their business. They can 
know with a reasonable degree of certainty where their 
trees will be going, not only next year but for many years 
lo come, if they will but get busy early enough and ag¬ 
gressively enough. To a man up a tree on the commer¬ 
cial highway which to-day is traveled by the nursery in¬ 
terests of America, it looks very much as if the forks in 
the road were just over the hill. If the nurserymen of 
America prepare themselves to take one of the routes 
which will be open to them when this point is reached, 
they may make their business bigger and broader and 
greater than ever it has been before—commanding for it¬ 
self the respect of the commercial world and an establish¬ 
ed position among the great industrial factors of the com¬ 
ing years. Should they not prepare themselves to travel 
the road that leads to this success, theirs will become in¬ 
creasingly a business of broken hopes, of buried ambi¬ 
tions and of dreams that came not true. 
To-day all success is founded on service. One of 
the most active organizations of business men, with 
branches in practically every important city, has as its 
motto,—^“He profits most who serves best.” Long years 
ago Lord Lytton expressed the same thought more poet¬ 
ically in his famous expression, “Who seeks for aid must 
show how service sought can be repaid.” In selling 
science there has developed the highest form of the ser¬ 
vice idea. Whether a man has for sale a ten cent tin 
cup or a ten thousand dollar touring car, he must show 
wherein what he has to offer will give greater service to 
the purchaser than something else at the same price be¬ 
fore he can put over the transaction. But the mere dem¬ 
onstration of the superior service rendered in supplying a 
need already known to exist is not the culminating 
achievement of modern selling methods. More and more 
of these are devoting great energy to educational work in 
the creation of demand for comforts or necessities not 
heretofore regarded as essential to human happiness. The 
highest form of scientific salesmanship is that which 
looks ahead far enough to see the things for which a de¬ 
mand may be developed through the proper education of 
the people as to the benefits to be derived from the use 
