144 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
Correspondence. 
INTEREST AND CO-OPERATION. 
The number of suggestive and helpful letters which have come to 
the editor’s table during the last month, make the outlook most en¬ 
couraging. As stated in a fomer issue, we wish this paper to stand for 
the nursery interests of America. We wish it to become the medium 
for the exchange of ideas on nursery practice, on the business side of 
nursery life and upon those larger questions like, transportation and 
inter-state laws which are only to be influenced by united and co¬ 
operative effort. The paper to represent nurserymen and nursery 
interests at the present time should not merely chronicle events but 
should contain pointed discussions, and expressions of opinion, upon 
things pertinent to the period. 
The editor has taken many of the friends of the Nurseryman at 
their word and has asked for help and suggestions. Questions pro¬ 
pounded by our correspondents have been referred and will in the future 
be referred to men whose experience and ability qualify them to answer 
these questions. For favors that have been received, we are very 
thankful and for favors to be asked, we present our thanks in advance. 
I think that there has been a decided improvement in your paper 
during the last three months. I also notice that we are getting more 
inquiries from our '''ad” than heretofore. 
Yours very truly, 
Shenandoah, la. E. S. Welch. 
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
SEMI-MONTHLY? 
The National Nurseryman has proven very profitable for 
associating one with the leading lights of the nursery business. 
We consider it a fine exponent of the Nursery interests of America. 
I hardly see that I could offer any suggestions for its improvement, 
unless it be made a semi-monthly instead of montlily. 
Yours very truly, 
Sherman, Texas. John S. Kerr. 
GIVE MORE SPACE TO ORNAMENTALS. 
One feature that I think might be enlarged upon is the ornamental 
department. From what I have seen of the Nurseryman, the paper 
has given more space to the fruit department, possibly because the 
largest number of nurserymen are heavy growers of that class, but I 
think that the ornamental stock is in sufficient demand, so that any 
note in that line will be of great interest to quite a number of your 
readers. Yours truly, 
The Andorra Nurseries. Philadelphia. J. H. Humphreys. 
WILLING TO HELP. 
We believe that many times subscribers to publications could offer 
suggestions that would be helpful to the editor. The National 
Nurseryman is one of the most interesting and useful publications 
that comes to our office. We have received helpful information from 
it many times. 
Any time that anything is wanted from us that can be used in the 
paper we shall be very glad to supply it. We are sometimes a little 
negligent and sometimes a little modest about volunteering criticism 
or information fearing that sometimes such may not be wanted, but 
whenever we are requested it is always a pleasure to do anything, or 
say anything we can. Willis’ Nurseries. 
MAKE IT PRACTICAL; MAKE IT EDUCATIONAL. 
I am much pleased with the development in the National 
Nurseryman since it has come under your editorial care. If 
you can succeed in arousing an interest in the trade so as to have the 
live practical questions of the day actively discussed and treated, there 
is no doubt but that the interest in the monthly will be much greater 
than if the majority of the space is taken up in perfunctory re¬ 
ports of the various horticultural bodies. To merit the name and to 
be a representative journal of the trade the policy of the paper, in my 
judgment, should be more educational than to act as a mere reporter. 
I think that you are meeting with success in your efforts along this 
line upon which I congratulate you and trust that your efforts will 
meet with the appreciation and support of the trade throughout the 
country. Yours truly, 
Elizabeth, N. J. H. T. Jones. 
SUGGESTIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS. 
MAINTAIN REASONABLE PRICES AND WORK FOR UNIFORM INTER-STATE 
LEGISLATION 
We think the nurserymen should be encouraged to maintain rea¬ 
sonable prices for their goods by holding up the character of the busi¬ 
ness, the fruits of which are certainly of the greatest benefit to 
mankind. A very small pittance it is the nurserymen gets for his 
efforts, and very small the recompense for the hard work he lias to do 
in the conducting of the nursery business and the trials he has to 
undergo in the growing and handling of stock. 
We think there should also be a very strong fight against local 
legislation by different states which tends to interfere with Inter-State 
Commerce, and especially the nursery business outside ones own 
state. For instance, the present Virginia laws and others that might 
be cited are cases in point. Yours truly, 
Bridgeport, Ind. Albertson & Hobbs. 
VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS: DEPARTMENTAL BOOKKEEPING. 
We had noticed that the National Nurseryman had undergone a 
change of editors but do not think it has “suffered” a change. We 
think the paper is improving in every way and congratulate you on your 
success in making it so interesting. We do not know that we have very 
much to offer you in the way of suggestions. There is one thing that 
constitutes a very unsatisfactory feature in the grower’s business 
and that is the difficulty, or we might say the impossibility of deter¬ 
mining costs. This matter was discussed to a limited extent at the 
convention in Detroit one year ago but apparently there are few if any 
of the nurserymen who have attempted to keep any records of costs. 
We guess that most of us, if we have any money left at the end of the 
year, proceed to spend it and then call that year a prosperous one. 
If we are hard up at the end of the year we scrape along as best we can 
and think that “hard times have hit us again.” If there is anyone 
among the growers who has devised a way to keep cost records and 
would be willing to tell other people about it through the columns 
of the National Nurseryman we think it would be botli interesting 
and profitable. Even if one can determine to his own satisfaction that 
his total business shows a profit he cannot tell, so far as we know of 
any way, what particular departments of his business have made the 
profit. We should be glad to know if there is anyone in the trade who 
has attempted to keep debit and credit account with the various 
nursery departments, so as to determine separately for example, his 
profit upon fruit trees, his profit (or loss) upon grape vines, his profit 
upon roses, etc. We have had this matter in mind for sometime but 
it looks like such an impossible or difficult task to keep track of 
properly, that we have not made any attempt at it yet. 
Yours truly, 
Newark, N. Y. Jackson & Perkins Co. 
THE NURSERYMAN’S STANDARD OF ETHICS. 
The influence of the press_, both religious and secular, can scarcely 
be over estimated and as the medium of the Nurseryman of America, 
the National Nurseryman offers an opportunity of great importance. 
It would be difficult to name a business that has a greater influence 
for benefitting or injuring the property owners of the country than 
that of the nurseryman. Picture if you will the farmer of limited 
means placing an order with a nurseryman for an orchard of choice 
varieties of fruit. How much it involves. If it produces the fruit he 
ordered, it may mean a home paid for, or if it produces inferior 
fruit, it may mean years of penury. What an opportunity 
for good or evil. Dealing in an article the value of which 
depends so largely upon the integrity of the one who sells it, how 
important that the standard of righteousness should be of the 
highest and yet any one conversant with the business is compelled to 
say that to a great degree it is done in a manner that casts a reproach 
upon the business. It would seem to me that your paper may have a 
wonderful influence in raising the standard of the business through 
its editorial columns. The character of the paper should be one of inde¬ 
pendent thought, not only so far as it relates to members of the trade 
individually but to the good of the business as a whole. It should coop¬ 
erate with the National and State Norticultural societies, in seeking 
to educate the nurserymen of America as to the propogation and dis¬ 
semination of varieties of fruit best suited for the different states, 
