THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
101 
sjXNiker told of ;i iiudliod of huiying tlu‘ shrubs “top and 
all” with I ho roots (Mid»od<lod in a wiro baskot. Thos(' 
could !)(' du^- any tinu' in the snnnnor and planted with 
sncooss. lie believed that with a seienlilie sindy of tho 
prol)leni it might soon b(‘ possil)l(^ for nurserymen lo 
plant throughout the y<“ar, and so do away with the pres¬ 
ent disadvantage of short planting s(‘asons. 
Mr. A. K. Nelson, of Swain Nedson & Sons Co., then in- 
Irodneed I he subject "Tlu' Co-redation w liieb should exist 
between Ibdees and the C.ost of Producing. Selling and 
Distribution of Nursery Products.” lie said that although 
an ardent siipj)orler of the “City Jieautiful” idea and all 
such landsca])e improvement propaganda, he still main¬ 
tained that the niirseiy business as a business, exists for 
the purpose of making prolits. It is the i)rolits which 
w ill make the l)usiness llourish and the absence of profit 
w ill make it go to the w all. And yet, he thought, the nur¬ 
serymen held })aek from sj)eaking about this impoidant 
phase of their business. Perbaps they thought that as 
long as they managed their business all right, they would 
be making a good profit. Put the fact was that nursery¬ 
men made very little j)rofit. Compared with the skill in¬ 
volved, the amount of w ork done, and the chances taken, 
the j)rofits made are comparatively meagre. There are 
w-ages for the men. and for the pro])rietors, if they give 
their time to it. Then the interest on investments w hieh 
should l)e more than the interest on a Covernment Bond. 
They should not get together for the ])urpose of making 
exhorbitant prices, but it seemed to him that 6% while a 
good return from a safe investment in bonds, w as not any¬ 
thing like enough to re])ay the nurseryman for his efforts. 
He called attention to the fact that nurserymen’s pro¬ 
ducts are distributed through many channels, each of 
w Inch should be priced in accordance w ith cost of mak¬ 
ing sales and shipping the goods. While the cost of th(' 
goods remains the same, the cost of selling and shi])j)ing 
varies enormously. The prices therefore should vary in 
the same ])roportion as these costs. And while the cost 
of selling to the trade is very low^ because the same cus¬ 
tomer is sold to every year, selling to the consumer is 
expensive because new customers have to be found for 
each sale. It is therefore a great injustice to the retailer 
w ho has developed a prospective sale if he has to compete 
w ith the w holesale prices that are so indiscriminately sent 
out hy many nurserymen. In illustration of the point he 
desired to make, Mr. Nelson exhibited a chart which 
showed that although the wholesale and retail prices 
varied greatly, the net profit on a •'|>100.00 sale is jirac- 
tically the same in the wholesale and retail business. 
Also, another mattei' connecti'd wdth this (piestion of pro¬ 
fits is the value of the dollar. A dollar is worth merely 
the amount a dollar will purchase, and it shrinks or ex¬ 
pands in value according to the price of commodities. The 
dollar now is worth only about fifty cents compared w ith 
its value in 1806. While money has depreciated, the cost 
of labor has gone up correspondingly. This is w hy the 
<|uestion of making fair profits on their stock is a serious 
one. 
After going into considerable (hdails regarding the 
various methods of computing cost. Mr. Nelson closi'd his 
addri'ss by expressing the' lielief that the nursmynu'ii 
could get togt'tluu’ and discover a solution of the prolihmi 
of profits w liich would be for the benefit of all. 
It is almost umu'cessary to stat(‘ that this (pu'stion of 
“pi'ofits” cri'ati'd considmabh' int(M'(*st. Mr. Nidson's 
figures weri' acci'pti'd as a |■(‘asonahle basis of computa¬ 
tion and it was ri'alizi'd that more' attimtion would havi; 
to be giviMi to the matter than had beim doiu! in tin' past. 
As to the fortuiu's madi' by nursc'rymen, om* sp(‘ak(‘r 
thought th(U(' w (“r(* souk* w ho w im’i; making good momy 
out of the busiiH'ss. Th(‘ consimsus of opinion siamied lo 
be in agreement with tin* position taken in Mr. Nelson’s 
address, and that it would Ik' a good thing for tin* Asso¬ 
ciation to look for (‘xpiM't advice on this subji'ct. 
The next jiaper read was by Mr. A. II. (bdlra, of 
Onarga, Ilk. on “How to projierly pack Nursery Stock.” 
A l)ri(‘f discussion followed on tin* various methods of 
liacking foi- shijnnent and emphasis was laid on the im¬ 
portance of keeping the stock in the dark whether in tlu' 
bins or on transit. 
At the Bound Table talk ju'i'sided over by Mr. John M. 
Wise, of Freejiort, Ilk, several subjects were taken up, 
and the chairman mad(‘ some excellent remarks of an op¬ 
timistic cpiality as to the great possibilities for future 
growth of the nursery business. He drew attention to 
the enormous development of landscape planting in the 
suburbs of large cities and country towns which would 
more and more demand the products of the nurserymen. 
Friday Morniny. 
Most of Friday morning w as occupied w ith the consid¬ 
eration of matters connected w ith the various Stati' In- 
s|)ection laws in relation to the nursery business. The 
subject was introduced liy Mr. P. A. Glenn, State Inspec¬ 
tor of Illinois, who read a ])aper on “The Inspection of 
Nurseries, Home Grounds, (fity Trees, Parks, etc.” The 
subject was very fully treated by Mr. Glenn and led to 
considerable discussion. It was argued by some that 
many of the present difficulties and annoyances comu'cted 
with the shipjiing of nursery stock would be obviated if 
there wos an Interstate Law w liicli would make it allow^- 
able to ship stock to all other States under the certificate 
of the State in which it is grown. It was also claimed 
that the embargoes [ilaced on shijiments of ci'rtain iilanls 
into Illinois operated unfairly against the loyal nurseiy- 
men of the Stati* inasmuch as tluuv was no effective 
method of keeping out such plants when they are sent 
direct to the consumei's by mail. Mr. Glenn (‘xplained 
that all such shipments were illegal and that efforts are 
being made to previmt the same. Om' sjieakiu’ asserted 
that the (|uarantine law in regard to c('rtain fruit stock 
was absolutely unjustified and inconsistent. Although 
the Pine Blister Bust had existed in the ('asl for tiu' past 
15 vears, it had not affected Illinois. For fortv veais 
Bilx's had l)een imj)ort(Ml into Illinois from the infecti'd 
areas, but during that tim(‘ th(M'(‘ has Ixam no cas(‘ of in- 
IVcb'd Bibes in this Stat(‘. It therefore appeared lo be an 
entirely unnec(‘ssarv restriction. 
A r(‘solution was ultimat(‘ly mov(‘d and a|)pi'ov(*d. ask- n 
ing the Departnamt of Agriculture to modify the Pine 
Blister Bust (piaranlim* to the effect that Bibes may b(‘ 
admitted into Illinois from any uninfected nursery. From 
further information giv('n to the meeting it appeaivd that 
th(M’(‘ was (‘X|)eclation of tin* eai'ly modification of tlu' 
(luarantine. 
A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Ghmii for 
his att(Midance at the convention and for the valuable as- 
