THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
57 
PUTTING OUR HOUSE IN ORDER PREPARATORY 
FOR THE MARKET DEVELOPMENT CAMPAIGN 
Address by Geo. Parker, Fayetteville, Ark., at Western 
Association of Nurserymen, Kansas City, Mo., 
January 28th, 1920 
T HE subject of “Putting our house in order” on 
which I have been asked to prepare a paper is 
one that has received more attention and more 
discussion at Nurserymen’s Conventions the past several 
years than most any other subject. The best thing that 
could happen to our nurserymen’s associations would be 
to forget, and forbid any reference to or discussion of 
this and similar subjects. 
I am very sorry that the committee did not assign me 
the subject of “Making a market development campaign 
presentable for a house that is in order” in place of 
“Putting our house in order preparatory for the Mar¬ 
ket Development Campaign.” 
“You may succeed when others do not believe in you, 
when everybody else denounces you even, but never 
when you do not believe in yourself.” I want to make 
my position clear. I do not wish to be misunderstood, 
and I believe that most nurserymen will agree with me 
that ninety-nine per cent of the accusations against 
and criticisms of our business are unwarranted, ex¬ 
aggerated, and unjustified; that fully ninety per cent 
of the people who plant our stock do not give it proper 
attention. 
I have confidence in the members of this association. 
I have confidence in the members of the American Asso¬ 
ciation of Nurserymen. I have confidence in the estab¬ 
lished nurseries who have investments in the equip¬ 
ments for handling the nursery business. I believe that 
the members of this association are progressive bus¬ 
iness men. One evidence they belong to the association. 
Our success is commensurate with, and our growth 
measured by the service that we are able to render the 
public and the satisfaction we give our customers. No 
established nursery who have investments in the bus¬ 
iness, will dare run the risk and hazards and take 
chances on the consequences of an unscrupulous bus¬ 
iness, for, in no other business, are they so great. You 
will find them all striving, whatever may be their 
faults, toward better and more efficient methods, trying 
to improve the quality of their products and to satisfy 
their customers. For, the very nature of the business 
make it so that success otherwise is impossible. M. G. 
Kains, one of the leading horticulturists of the U. S. 
and an authority on this subject said: “Long experience 
and wide observation prompt me to say that the nur¬ 
seryman is the backbone of the stock he sells; and that 
the number of upright nurserymen is legion. I have a 
considerable acquaintance among nurserymen, but I 
don’t know one whose reputation for square dealing I 
can call in question. In all my dealings with nurseries 
I have invariably been well treated. This statement I 
make in simple justice to a maligned body of men the 
nature of whose business I know from personal contact 
to be peculiarly exacting, liable to carping criticism and 
to whose splendid work the whole continent owes a debt 
of gratitude which can never be repaid, for the intro¬ 
duction and dissemination of new and superior as well 
as staple fruits and ornamental plants.” You will find 
that the majority of other careful and intelligent buyers 
of nursery stock will agree with Mr. Kains. 
Our paths are not always strewn with flowers. We 
have been abused by the dishonest and unscrupulous 
planter, by nefarious unjust and prejudiced court de¬ 
cisions, and by obnoxious, unreasonable and burden¬ 
some legislation. 
There is one thing that we know and the public must 
be told of, that to handle nursery stock is different from 
any other line of merchandise. We have only a limited 
time in which to handle a large volume of business. 
Before we are too critical of the services rendered by 
nunrserymen we should take into consideration circum¬ 
stances and conditions often over which they have no 
control, such as weather conditions, railroad delays and 
many other things. So much is dependent on the care 
given trees and plants. So much is dependent on the 
proper planting, the fertility of the soil, the pruning, the 
spraying and the cultivation. Many of the complaints 
are caused by the planter neglecting some of these im¬ 
portant details necessary for the success of the stock 
planted. 
Will our house be put in order and market develop¬ 
ment be increased by a line of publicity that will de¬ 
moralize and disintegrate the American Association of 
Nurserymen; that will cheapen prices and that will 
tend to lower rather than raise the high standards we 
have reached and desire to maintain? I wish to say em¬ 
phatically no. I take it for granted and believe it to be 
a fact that the body of men who belong to the nursery¬ 
men’s association are just as reliable, honorable, and as 
anxious to give a square deal as the Cement Manufac¬ 
turers, the Building Material Manufacturers, the Flor¬ 
ists, the National Fertilizers Association, the Coffee 
trade or the Southern Pine Association, or any other 
class of business men. 
Then, the plan for “Putting our house in order” for 
the market development campaign is cooperative adver¬ 
tising of the established nurseries. Sales pre-suppose 
confidence, and desire on the part of the purchaser. The 
ultimate aim of all advertising is to make sales and pro¬ 
fit for the advertiser but before you can make sales con¬ 
fidence must be established. Thus it is as necessary to 
direct advertising toward a basic foundation as it is to 
direct solicitation of sales. 
A study of the various national cooper dive advertis¬ 
ing campaigns and industries akin to the nursery indus¬ 
try shows conclusively that such advertising has put 
their houses in order and has gained for them perman¬ 
ent and profitable results not only to the associations 
and industries as a whole but especially to each indiv¬ 
idual member. 
Cooperative advertising by nurserymen would remedy 
many of their troubles because many of these troubles 
no doubt are caused by the public not being properly in¬ 
formed. 
Nurserymen do not stress sufficiently in their 
own mind the importance or the dignity of their 
vocation.” We talk about ourselves and each other, per¬ 
mit the public and the press to disparage and stigmatize 
us without resentment but do we say enough and is 
