THE NATIOKAL XURSEr^Y^rAN 
403 
itoiis of French exporliiig nurserynieii. 
Signed by the following French firms: 
American 
Andre Leroy, Angers 
C. Detriche, Sr., Angers 
Louis Leroy, Angers 
P. Delaunay, Angers 
Victor Detriche & Co., 
\(ienLs 
A. L. Causse, 105 Hudson St., N. 
Jackson & Perkins Co., Newark, N, 
H. F. Darrow, 26 Barclay St., N. 
C. 11. Weber, Greenfield, Ind. 
Hans, 17 State St., N. Y. 
Y. 
Y. 
Y. 
iMIF MellUTCIlISOX’S liFFLV TO TIIF .MiOVF 
IMUfTFST 
Xnlional Nurseryman, 
Oenllemen — 
In defending the article published in the Sept(Mnher 
issue of “ 1 h(* National Nuisiuyinan” ov(*r oui' signature 
we w ish to point out that you failed to note the follow ing 
important facts:— 
A. The article was seid on recjuest. We were 
asked for oar opinion, hence it followc'd that the views 
expressed were ours. No expression of your views 
had reached us uj) to that time. 
IF The reijuest asked our opinion of tluj “imme¬ 
diate eflects” of the war, hence the opinion we ex¬ 
pressed was on the “immediate eflects”—not latcu" 
eflects. 
C. The article was written August 18th and it 
clearly stated that our opinion was given for that date 
only and said “at present everything is uncertain and 
anything we write now' would he affected by the for¬ 
tunes of war.” 
I). On August 18th the (lerman forces had pushed 
through llelgium and more than half way through 
France, and while we lielieved the Allied forces would 
evenlually stop them, there was no indication of it at 
that time. 
E. The censorship prevailing in the countries at 
w ar prevent them getting a comprehensive grasp of the 
situation as it affects commercial transactions. Here, 
in a neutral country, we get accurate information 
from all sources, hence it follows that our oiiinion 
should be worth more than that of om^ in the countries 
at war. 
After calling your attention to these facts, we wish to 
enter our defense to the points you raise in your protest 
as follows:— 
1. Your protest evidently is based entirely on an in¬ 
correct translation, or a misunderstanding of the 
meaning of what w as written. 
2. The article was not “pessimistic” in tone, in 
fact it was full of confidence and courage and said 
“we expect to receive French shipments, though they 
w ill likely he late.” ■|{emend)er this was on August 
18th, when everything looked black. 
3. It is true we admitted some doubt of shipments 
being made from Fince and other countries, l)ut the 
doubt was iii all minds and we did not place it there. 
You admit the same doubt in your pi'ot(‘St, in other 
words you give less assui-ance and less real informa¬ 
tion in October than we gave in August. 
4. Nothing was said in the article al)out the “im- 
j)ossihility” of making French shipments, this is 
proven by the words of the article “we expect to re¬ 
ceive French shipments.” Fvidenlly you got a w rong 
translation of the article. 
3. What we said al)out “Holland shipments” refers 
to what we receive fj'om Ilollaml. We do not receive 
either fruit or small oriiaimmtal stocks from Holland, 
hut oidy lai'ge trees and nursery stock, which our- 
Fi'ench firm does not pi’oduce. If necc'ssary, we will 
produce our Holland catalogues and price-lists in 
proof. 
6. We did not nuMdion (leriminy or lielgium in our 
article, because the shipments we get from these do 
not interest Nurserymen—and we were writing to a 
j)aper which goes oidy to Nursejyjiien. As a maltor- 
ol-lact, we have received this fall over 1,000 ease's 
from Helgiuni and w ill receive over 2,500 cases from 
(jermany, hut those goods intei’est only florists, not 
nurserymen, and inlormation goes to florists papers, 
not to nursejy papers. 
7. In the article, jeractically the same doubt was 
expressed of receiving shipna'iils from Fngland and 
Holland as from Fjance, and while that doubt still 
exists, it is l(!ss j)i‘onounced now than it was in August. 
8. No Jiui’sery stock is inijjorted by us from either 
(lermany or Belgium, nursery stock comes exclusively 
from Holland, Fran(*e and England in Furope, hut 
neither from llolland or Fngland do we get fruit or 
ornamental stocks such as is produced by French 
firms. 
In the October issue of “National Nurseryman” we 
wrote “w'e expect all shi])ments to ari'ive from France in 
proper season.” In Novemhei- issue of “National Nur¬ 
seryman” we wu'ote “W'C are now' reasonably sure that 
French shipments will he mode,” etc. On October 1st 
we sent out 1117 lettei’s to American nurserymen saying 
that French shipments would he made. In October issue 
of “National Nurseryman” we published a half page ad¬ 
vertisement emphasizijig oui- opinion that French shij)- 
ments would he made. In addition we published four 
quarter page advertisements in the Florists j)ai)ers in the. 
effort to instill courage and confidence in the buyers at a 
cost to us of «‘j?310. Wo could give many other instances. 
Now^ that wo have shown you your mistakes and made 
our defense, let us ask you a few (luestions. Let the man 
or firm who gave you a wrong translation of our article 
answ er (juestion No. 1. 
1. W"e have shown the ailicles, letters and adver¬ 
tisements we have puhlislual here to help the French 
Nurserymen. How many articles or letters have you 
w ritten to help them? How^ much money have- you 
spent for adveilisements to instill courage and confi¬ 
dence in American buyers? 
2. If the Allied Navies do not continue to control 
the seas at shipping tinu', how will you forwaid your 
shij)menls? 
3. If the (lerman foives occupy the French .North¬ 
ern ])orts at shipping tina* (as now s('ems possible) by 
w hich poi’ts w ill you forward your shipmc'ids? 
4. If the sea routes, or the French ports are oe- 
cupied by the (h'linans at shipping time, how (*an the 
French (loveinment mak(' good on its guai’aidee? 
5. Have nil of tin' Fn'nch firms, doing business in 
America comhin<*d w ith their ag('nts. doin' as much in 
America for French Nursery firms in matters id' Trans- 
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