national ilurser^iinaii 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., Incorporated. 
Vol. XIX. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y., SEPTEMBER, 1911 
No. 9 
SHOULD A NURSERYMAN SELL TO PARKS, CEMETERIES 
AND LANDSCAPE GARDENERS AT 
TRADE PRICES ? 
Thomas B. Meehan 
First, let us try to decide what constitutes a “trade 
rate’’? Is it the trade catalogue prices which nurserymen 
publish or is it the inside price which nearly every nursery¬ 
man is ready and willing to quote by letter to the trade in 
general, or perchance to a few selected nurserymen who 
favor him with regular orders or, as in 
some instances, worry him with the belief 
that his prices are high and that all other 
nurserymen are selling lower than he. 
Or, let us take the so-called “trade 
catalogue,’’ Asterbilts Trade catalogue 
quotes Norway Maples at to 2 inch 
caliper at $1.50 each. The Standard Nur¬ 
sery Co., same size at $1.25 each. Grabem 
& Co., the Holdfast Nursery, I. Gottem & 
Sons each offer same grade of tree at any¬ 
where from 75 to 85 cents each. Now 
which of all of these prices is the Trade 
price ? 
Examine the trade prices on evergreens. 
You will find that two or three feet Nor 
way Spruce are offered all the way from 
15 cents to 50 cents, and American Arbor 
Vitae same size at anywhere from 10 cents 
to 40 cents. 
This past Spring, I was offered Spirea 
Anthony Waterer, 18 to 24 inches at the 
following prices, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 cents, all by responsible 
nirrserymen.. Now which of these prices is the Trade price ." 
You may say that these prices on Spiraea Anthony 
Waterer were special prices made according to the quantity 
of stock each bidder had to offer and those who quoted the 
lowest prices did so because they or he had a surplus to 
unload. Grant this to be the fact,—then take the following 
prices taken direct from Trade catalogues and tell me which 
of these prices is the correet Trade price, 6, 7, 8, 10 cents. 
Now take the trade catalogue of a nurseryman whose 
business is largely with Parks, Cemeteries and Landscape 
Gardeners, and his so-called trade rates average ten to 
twenty per cent higher than the prices of the Nurseryman 
who sells regularly to the trade. Does he not occupy a field 
of his own and does he do any harm to his fellow nurseryman 
Thomas B. Meehan. 
by selling to his customers at such prices? True, there may 
be some nurserymen whose trade prices are still higher but 
in that case, can you consider those prices trade prices, 
when the majority of the nurserymen are offering the same 
stock at lower rates ? 
But you may say that this nurseryman 
should sell his stock to his brother nursery¬ 
man at a less price than he is selling to 
the Park, Cemetery and Landscape Gar¬ 
deners. If he can sell his stock at the trade 
price he is getting, why should he lose 
money by selling any part of that stock at 
a reduced price? If nurserymen buy from 
him at his trade prices, it is because they 
want his particular stock, they know it is 
better than the average run of stock or be¬ 
cause they cannot get it elsewhere. 
I was told by a certain nurseryman, a 
prominent member of this Association and 
a good fellow at that, that a nurseryman had 
no business to sell to the trade if he could 
not give him a lower price than he gave to 
the Parks, Cemetery and Landscape Trade, 
even though his trade prices were ten to 
twenty per cent higher in the average than 
the regular so-called Trade price. Is that 
right? 
This past Spring a certain city in the west required a car¬ 
load of trees. An Eastern nurseryman was given the oppor¬ 
tunity to figure on the lot. His catalogue price was $1.00 
each. The same grade of trees was being offered in the 
west, near the place the trees were to be delivered, at 50, 60 
and 70 cents each. This eastern nurseryman, having a 
large supply of the trees, and knowing if ho got the order, 
it was like carrying coals to New Castle, offered to deliver 
the carload at his catalogue price of $1.00 each, making a 
net price of about 92 cents each. He got the order, but has 
not yet been forgiven by certain dealers in the immediate 
vicinity of the point of delivery, because they say he had 
cut prices. Yet his price of 92 cents each was fifty to seventy 
five per cent higher than the average trade price of other 
nurserymen. 
