THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
375 
WHO ARE ENTITLED TO TRADE LISTS 
Extract from Jim Parker’s Speech at St. Louis 
WHOLEvSALE NURSERYMEN 
It is the province of the wholesale nurseryman to notice 
the trend of planting in the great fruit growing districts, to 
watch the public approval or disapproval of the different 
varieties and govern his plantings accordingly, to foster and 
encourage all movements for the beautifying of the cities, 
and to see that the supply of nursery stock is always up to 
the demand. In the wholesale nurseryman is centered that 
power and knowledge that gives stability and dignity to the 
business. 
RETAIL NURSERYMEN 
The retail nurseryman keeps in touch with local demands. 
He prepares those breezy advertisements which make the 
city man lonesome. He is constantly on the outlook for 
opportunities of increasing sales. If there is a large crop of 
apples in any community, he is ready to rush his salesmen 
in and push the sale of apple trees. If some farmer makes 
good money out of a peach crop, he is ready to offer that 
farmer’s neighbors a chance to get rich growing peaches. 
If there is a glut in the wholesale market or a peculiar condi¬ 
tion which causes the market to drop, thus offering him an 
opportunity for unusual profit, he is Johnny-on-the-spot 
and he knows just in which neck of the woods to go and sell 
trees. 
TRAVELING SALESMEN 
But the real worth of selling nursery stock on final analysis 
is found to depend upon the personal influence of the travel¬ 
ing salesman. Did you ever have one of those smiling 
Knights of the Grip come into the field where you were 
plowing? He did not put on any airs. He only quietly told 
you his name was Jones, and then added in a peculiarly 
friendly tone “John Jones.’’ And the way he said John 
made you feel like you were not much interested in whether 
his name was Jones or Smith, John was the name by which 
he should be known to you. And you felt like if you had not 
met John before you ought to have met him. It was not 
necessary for John to make inquiry about your wife and 
children and your growing crops. There was that peculiar 
feeling of good fellowship in his voice and manner which 
made you know that he was interested in you and ^murs. 
In his cheerful presence your griefs were soon forgotten and 
your blues stole softly away. Then do you remember how 
you and John sat down on the plow handles and looked at the 
pictures in his book. He did not presume to advise or argue 
with you, but somehow his peculiarly interested and sugges¬ 
tive way of asking about your plans started you to thinking 
and planning, and as your plans developed in your own mind, 
you were glad to have your friend John by your side to help 
you work out the details and get things right. Trade with 
.John, of course you do! He is the sort of a man you like to do 
business with. 
I once walked up to the counter of a busy merchant and 
remarked “Have you not for the last five years been planning 
to plant that field in front of your house to apple trees?’’ 
He answered, “Yes, but I cannot plant the orchard this year 
and I am too busy to talk to you.’’ I laid my watch on the 
counter and asked him to give me two minutes. He con¬ 
sented. I asked him what would be his estimate on the yield 
of an apple tree at the ages of five, six, seven, eight, nine and 
ten years? He replied one-half bushel at five, one at six, 
one and a half at seven, two at eight, two and a half at nine 
and three bushels at ten. I called his attention to the fact 
that the one-half bushel gradual increase of yield each year 
represented the amount of fruit that he would gain within 
ten years as a result of planting this year instead of delaying 
a year longer, that it amounted to three bushels per tree or 
six thousand bushels for two thousand trees he was intending 
to plant. Then I asked him what was the difference in 
expense between planting this year and next? He replied, 
only the interest on the cost of trees and labor which would 
amount to about $30. I then said, “When I come back here 
at one o’clock tomorrow, I want you to tell me wherein 
your own figures are incorrect or give me a reason satis¬ 
factory to yourself why you are not willing to swap that $30 
for 6,000 bushels of fruit?’’ On the stroke of one I again 
approached my merchant and from the smile on his face, I 
knew I had won. I merely asked him what varieties he 
wished to plant. He replied, “You know best what sorts are 
profitable, I will leave the selection to you.’’ In less than 
one minute the deal was closed. When those trees were 
delivered, my merchant said to me, “Had you called on me 
five years sooner, I would now have had an orchard worth 
$5,000.00 instead of just beginning to plant.’’ The man who 
stirs people up and gets them to plant orchards and im¬ 
prove their homes is doing a real service for his fellowmen. 
And, gentlemen, in spite of the abuses of the system, three- 
fourths of the orchards of the country have been and will 
continue to be planted because of the hope and energy in¬ 
spired in the minds of men by the genius and good sense of 
the traveling salesman. It is to the interest of the nursery 
trade to give him a chance to do his best. 
In saying we should give salesmen a chance to do their 
best, I do not mean that we should make cheap prices. The 
question of opportunity and honesty is not necessarily 
dependent on whether prices are high or low. I mean we 
should give the salesmen a square deal; that our catalogues 
and instructions to salesmen should tell the truth. That no 
difference whether we sell an apple tree for one dollar or for 
ten cents that apple tree should be as good a tree as we 
promise and bear the fruit we say it will. Uniform prices 
to the retail trade are not practicable. There are com¬ 
munities where sales are light and consequently higher 
prices must be charged. There is the City Trade which 
demands the largest and best frees. The actual cost of the 
trees may not be more than two cents above the cost of 
grades sold in thousand lots to farmers, but the cost of sell¬ 
ing one to a dozen trees to a customer and handling the busi¬ 
ness as the City Trade demands may make it necessary to 
charge fifty cents per tree more in the city than in the 
country. 
