THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
63 
ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT SKINNER BEFORE WESTERN 
ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 
Mr. Skinner spoke in part as follows; We meet here as 
an organization of nurserymen, not coming together solely 
for business purposes, but to meet each other in a friendly 
way, and talk about matters that are of mutual interest. 
I think this organization should feel proud of the work it 
did, or helped to do, in entertaining the members of the 
National Association at the Denver meeting. I am sure w'e 
all are grateful to our Committee who had charge of the 
entertainment program. They worked hard without pay, 
but they have the satisfaction of knowing that as a comimit- 
tee they were a success. 
There are a few matters I would like to call to your atten¬ 
tion. You will remember the remarks that were made 
bout the Inspectors at the Denver meeting. A goodly lot 
f fire-works were set oft’ on their account, and some rather 
mean things said. Now I think that was a mistake and 
cannot result in any good. I believe this Association should 
try to get on friendly terms with the Entomologists and 
Inspectors. Let us treat them in a friendly spirit. True, 
some of them have given us trouble in the past, but they are 
not altogether to blame. They did not make the laws and I 
think the majority of Inspectors are honestly tryuig to do 
their duty. 
DO THE RIGHT THING 
My first nursery consisted of one hard maple tree that 
some forty years ago I found growing in a fence row. I saw 
it might make a nice tree if properly pruned and a year or 
two later planted it near the house. I took much pleasure 
in wa,tching the development of that tree, and while I have 
been many years awmy from the old hom.e the tree that I 
cared for still stands and has been a comfort and pleasure to 
all who have occupied the house. Let us remember then, 
that we are building for the future as well as for the present. 
While our profits may be small, yet we can have the satis¬ 
faction of knowfing that we have done a good work, and that 
much of that work will live after we are gone. I know full 
well that our business must be profitable or w^e must cease 
to carry it on. 
STUDY CONDITIONS 
I am inclined to think that many of us are trying to grow 
stock that will not grow readily in the locality in which w’e 
are working, and cannot be produced at a profit. Would it 
not be wise for us to pay" a little more attention to the cost of 
growing and discontinue the planting of stock that we are 
sure will not be to our profit ? Would we not better buy the 
stock we cannot grow profitably from the nurseryman who 
is more favorably located, and put in our time and labor 
growing those things we are sure we can produce for less 
than the average market price? I know from my own 
experience how hard it is to give up trying to grow a general 
line of stock. We all want to be known as nurserymen 
growing a general line, so we keep on planting stock we know 
has not paid us in the past, hoping the next season may be 
just what that particular plant needs, but alas, the profita¬ 
ble years are so far apart; the lean years so numerous. It 
has taken me some years to reach the point where I am 
ready to put my ambitions aside and say that I will try to 
grow only the things that I think we can grow profitably, 
and let the other man be the big nurseryman, who is 
favored with a greater variety of soils and a more favorable 
climate. However, I do not wish you to think that I am 
advising you to get into a rut. By no means. Grow, or 
try to grow, all that you would like to grow, but do it 
on a small scale. Make your plant of the unprofitable 
stock more of^an experimental plant, and do not work 
on a large scale until you have found a way of growing 
that plant profitably. 
^REASONABLE PRICES 
A nurseryman should be paid, and well paid for .his work, 
but it cannot be profitable to sell trees for five and one-half 
cents when they have cost eight and one-half cents to grow. 
In 1905, a paper on the cost of growing a tree was read by 
Mr. H. L. Bird before the National Association. In this 
article he showed that by a little care it would be possible to 
determine the cost of growing a tree. Few of us, however, 
can tell what it costs to grow the different kinds of trees we 
have in our nurseries. This should not be, and is not in 
other lines of business. Manufacturers know what it costs 
to make any of their products. It would be well if nursery¬ 
men paid more attention to these things. ' I am aware that 
it would be a difficult matter to get the exact cost of produc¬ 
ing a certain tree or plant, but we could calculate closely 
enough for practical purposes. 
STUDY VARIETIES 
I would like to suggest here the advisability of nursery¬ 
men acquainting themselves with the fruit business, that is, 
note what kinds are in greatest demand and the market 
prices. Some kinds that have long been standard sorts may 
be superseded by others. By keeping ourselves posted 
along these lines we may anticipate the wants of the orchard- 
ist, and have the trees when he calls for them. During the 
past few years there has been an increased demand for 
ornamentals. Here in the middle west people are paying 
more attention to the planting of this kind of stock and this 
demand will continue. Nurserymen in this section can help 
to increase the interest. Every nurseryman should make 
his grounds, particularly about his home, as attractive as 
possible. Let it be an object lesson to the public. I think 
too little attention is paid to the care of our grounds. It 
will pay as an advertisement, to say nothing of the pleasure 
we can get out of it ourselves. 
