THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
269 
scale or the so-called “elastic” price, which expands for one 
man and contracts for another. No doubt many of us 
remember the old system of conducting business in clothing 
stores: When a fellow came to town to buy a suit of clothes, 
he seldom expected to pay the “asking price,” but after 
selecting the suit he wanted he always expected to do more or 
less “bargaining,” and after getting all he could thrown off 
(and sometimes a railroad ticket thrown in) the deal was 
closed. Frequently after getting home and looking his suit 
over, the buyer wondered if he really had gotten the bottom 
price. A very unsatisfactory and unstable way of conducting 
business—not good for the customer nor for the merchant! 
Now-a-days under advanced business methods, prices for the 
same grade of goods are relatively the same everywhere, and 
it would not occur to a man to go into a reliable store and 
“dicker” over prices where goods are marked in plain figures. 
Although I was only asked to talk on retail prices, I am 
tempted to say a few words to the wholesalers. Panic struck 
the cherry market last spring. The price started during the 
winter at ten cents, which is as low as cherries should be sold, 
but “A” got frightened and issued his surplus list the last of 
January quoting cherries at eight cents. “B” was about 
getting his list out and seeing “A” was cutting prices, went 
one better and put them at seven cents. “C” thought he 
would close out his stock by quoting them still lower, so 
offered them at six cents. Later on I saw them quoted in 
several lists at five cents. 
Now there is a certain quantity of cherries wanted each 
year and the demand cannot be increased by cutting prices, 
so that as a result of putting prices below cost, not a single 
additional tree was sold and there will be just as many trees 
burned as though the prices had been kept at a normal figure; 
the nurseryman is no better off even though he sold twice the 
number at half the price, while next fall it will be hard work 
to get those people who bought five cent cherries last Spring 
to pay ten cents for them another year. It has been said 
that the brush heap is a profitable adjunct to the nursery 
business, and while in the above sense it may be a good adjunct 
to the nursery business, it would be a better adjunct if the 
brush heap were used for the burning of all stock of inferior 
quality, so that good stock could be kept up to a high 
standard of price and not sacrificed. It is a mistake to 
sacrifice profits and good business methods for the sake of 
getting rid of a surplus one season because there happens to 
be no particular demand for that line of goods that year. 
In an experience of over fifty years in this business, I have 
found that intelligent buyers will readily pay a good price for 
nursery stock if they can be guaranteed that the stock will be 
of the highest standard of quality and reliability. 
HOW TO EXTEND OUR RETAIL MARKET 
J. M. Pitkin, Newark, N. Y. 
To the man who is strictly a grower the best advice is 
“Help the Retail Nurserymen,” and do nothing that inter¬ 
feres in any way with the Retail Nurserymen selling to the 
retail buyer. 
There are firms in the nursery business who have at a great 
expense worked up a force of Salesmen, or as they are some¬ 
times called, a force of Tree Agents. While some of the firms 
controlling a good sized force of agents are growers themselves, 
they are also buyers from the grower members of this Asso¬ 
ciation. Some of the firms controlling an agency force are 
exclusively buyers, not growers, and buy from the grower 
members of the Association. 
To extend our Retail Market is of benefit to each grower 
member of the Association. The main demand for Nursery 
Stock has been brought about by the effort of the Retail 
Agent. 
The retail market uses up a large proportion of the entire 
stock grown—and to secure retail orders now costs the retail 
Nurserymen considerable money. Without the Retail Mar¬ 
ket that comes through the effort of the Retailer, the grower 
members of the American Association would find their busi¬ 
ness greatly curtailed, or would find the expense of doing 
their business greatly increased. 
From a Retailer’s side of the question I want to acknowl¬ 
edge the most cordial support given the Retail Nurserymen 
by the Jackson & Perkins Co., (who will pardon my being 
personal) who refer the retail inquiries for prices which they 
receive, to Retail Nursery firms, to answer and make quota¬ 
tion, and thereby this Company is certainly and surely mak¬ 
ing a move that does extend our Retail Markets. This is 
actually supporting the Retail Nurserymen.' 
The present demand for Nursery Stock is the result of the 
work of the humble and much abused Tree Agent, and if he 
has been the means of bringing the business up to its present 
magnitude, then every grower, large or small, should lend a 
helping hand to the Retail Nurseryman and thus extend our 
Retail Market. 
■ You ask a Church man how to extend Home Missions, and 
he will say: Support it. You ask a Baseball Fan how to 
extend the Baseball game and he will say —support it. 
Now, Mr. Grower, the answer to this subject—“How to 
Extend our Retail Market,” must be —support it; that is, 
support the Retail Nurseryman in his great work of creating 
a demand for fruit and ornamental goods, as that is what he 
is doing, by means of a force of salesmen. 
EATING AN APPLE 
“Do you know what you’re eating?’’ said the doctor to the girl. 
“An apple, of course.’’ 
“You are eating,’’ said the doctor, “albumen, sugar, gum, malic 
acid, gallic acid, fiber, water and phosphorus.’’ 
“I hope those things are good. They sound alarming.” 
“Nothing could be better. You ate, I observed, rather too 
much meat at dinner. The malic acid of apples neutralizes the 
excess of chalky matter caused by too much meat, and thereby 
helps to keep you young. Apples are good for your complexion. 
Their acids drive out the noxious matter which cause skin eruptions. 
They are good for your brain, which those same noxious matters, if 
retained, render sluggish. Moreover, the acids of the apples diminish 
the acidity of the stomach that comes with some forms of indiges¬ 
tion. The phosphorus, of which apples contain a larger percentage 
than any other fruit or vegetable, renews the essential nervous 
matter of the brain and spinal column. Oh, the ancients were not 
wrong when they esteemed the apple the food of the gods—the 
magic renewer of youth to which the gods resorted when they felt 
themselves growing old and feeble. I think I’ll have an apple,” 
concluded the doctor .—New York Tribune. 
