THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
in tin' United States l)ut it is no lime to stand by and 
“Let (ieor^'(‘ do it.” We must all put our shoulders to 
l!i(‘ wlu'el and liel]) as much as we can. Any subscrip- 
ti<tns that wo. may make will be money well spent and 1 
trust that those who have not already subscribed will 
the maltc'r serious consideration wdien it comes up. 
SurroHT OF the American Association: We have 
with us today Mr. J. R. Mayhew, the man who is mnv at 
lh(' head of the American Association of Nurserymen and 
who was lar^’dy instrumental in bringing about the re¬ 
organization of that body at Detroit three years ago. 
lJnd(M- the leadership of men like Mr. Mayhew and Henry 
Uhas(' the American Association has taken great strides 
forwai'd since its re-organization and today is much 
more usi'ful and efficient in looking after the interests 
of niirsei’yiiRMi than ever before. It is the duly of every 
nurs('ryman to obtain membership in the Ameriean As¬ 
sociation and giv(‘ it his utmost suppoit. The results al- 
r<'ady accomplished are nothing compared to what can be 
accomplislu'd in the future if this support is given by all, 
and. frankly, friends, the time has come when wo simply 
must bind ourselves together and pul our business upon 
a Ix'tter basis if w^e are to meet the new conditions that 
confi'onl (‘very nurseryman at the present time as regards 
high cost of production, adverse l(‘gislation and lack of 
int(‘rest on the part of the Imying public. 
L(T nu5 ui'ge again upon those who are not already 
iiK'inhers of the American Association to align themselves 
w ith that organization at once and give it their greatest 
assistance for to do so will surely improve business pros- 
p(‘cts for us all. 
II[(iiier Ethics: The time for sharp practices in the 
nui'sery luisincss is past. Those who do not realize it now 
w ill do so to their sorrow later on. We must see to it 
that the jiurchasers of our goods get value received. It 
would be worse than useless to undertake the spending 
of large sums of money upon advertising in an effort to 
('ri'afe an interest and demand for our stock unless wo go 
into it with the determination that every buyer shall 
have plants just as honest and as good as we can make 
them. The belter the results from planting nurseiy slock 
lh(^ more wo can sell. We should not hesitate to charge a 
good fair jirice for our stock hut wo must see to itHhat 
the buyer will not have cause to regret the transaction 
ill years to come. 
Educational Booklet: During our session here we 
liofie to have a free and open discussion of the Educa¬ 
tional Booklet edited under the direction of this Associa¬ 
tion and distributed by its members. Regardless of ad- 
v(‘rtising camjiaigns carried on in other woys I feel that 
this booklet has a special mission for the Southc'rn Nur- 
S(‘ryman and that it should be continued w ith improve- 
nu'iits Irom time to time. National Advertising cannot fill 
local nt‘(‘ds. It will create an interest that must be 
clinched and made tangible. The needs of the Southern 
Nui’servmen ar(‘ different from those of nurserymen in 
ollu'r sections of the country and it seems to me that a 
iK'w (‘dition of this booklet, broadened and amplified, 
w ill do much good in obtaining business that cannot be 
obtained in the ordinary way and in stimulating interest 
lliat w ill r(‘sult in increas(‘d sales later. There has long 
b(‘(‘n n('(‘d of a concise and accui-al(‘ handbook of infor¬ 
mation on the subject of Orchard and Home Ground 
Plantings in the South. 
Executive Committee: Pardon me for saying it, hut 
under present conditions your Executive Committee does 
not do you much good. We get our names printed on a 
f(w\' letter heads and about once a year we have the privi¬ 
lege of voting on a new'^ applicant for membership but 
we are rarely ever called upon for any real service. I 
feel that this Committee could be used to considerable 
advantage to the members of this Association if details 
are worked out. My idea is that with the present tojisy- 
turvy conditions there are many problems that come up 
from time to time with every nurseryman that the Ex¬ 
ecutive Committee or, if you will, a special Commitho 
could give assistance in. A case in point is that last 
season Shingle-tow^ was practically unobtainable from 
the usual sources of supply and many of us spent slee})- 
less nights wondering where wo would get our packing 
material. Could not your Executive Committee, or a 
special Committee make it their business whenever in¬ 
formed of such shortage to endeavor to locate such ma¬ 
terial and put the members in touch with the source of 
supply and could not the same Committee arrange for the 
contracting of such material as is used in quantity by the 
members so that it might be secured more cheaply. In 
the face of rising markets it would seem good business to 
endeavor to so arrange matters that all staple materials 
could be secured w ithout liability to the Association, for 
the memhers and thus get the advantage of quantity 
prices. 
FERTILIZERS AND WAR SUBSTITUTES 
Address by William. P. Redd, Manager of the Grasselle 
Chemical Company, at Southern Nurserymen’s 
Association, Birmingham, Ala., August 21, 1918 
Mr. President and Gentlemen: 
The available supply of plant foods for agricultural 
uses during the w^ar, has given the Government serious 
concern, as the Government knew the extent of our re¬ 
sources in this field and to w^hat extent they would be 
drawn upon to prosecute this War to a successful con¬ 
clusion; while, on the other hand, the user of plant foods 
(or lertilizers) did not begin to realize to what extent 
these same plant foods would be consumed in the manu¬ 
facture of explosives. 
Of all the plant foods now known to science, there are 
none given as serious consideration as the three essen¬ 
tials — viz: jihosphate, nitrogen and potash, and our soils 
do not produce, successfully, many things where these 
three elements are not either present or supplied. It is 
also a well proven fact that the blending of these foods 
into one complete mixture before applying, in such pro¬ 
portions as each individual crop requires, is the most in¬ 
telligent and innlitable method of application; therefore, 
it may be concluded that the curtailment of either of the 
three essential plant foods is a serious handicap to soil 
