i6o 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
BENEFITS TO BE DERIVED FROM THE AMERICAN 
ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN 
Adapted from a speech made before the Pacific Coast Nurserymen’s 
Association, by S. A. Miller, of Milton, Oregon. 
Men have been, and always will be. benefited by proper 
intercourse, socially and commercially. We are all depen¬ 
dent each upon the other; no one of us is independent. 
We today enjoy the fruits of the cooperation and concert 
of action of our forefathers who established our government. 
Today we are the greatest and grandest nation on earth; 
without cooperation we could not have attained this 
distinction. 
Nurserymen may well seek to secure to themselves the 
lasting;' benefits to be derived from united effort from east 
and west, north and south of all interested in the nursery 
business. The national association makes it possible to 
organize in detail, and adopt a policy by which we shall 
be governed and our growth promoted. The benefits 
to be derived from the association have hardly been realized 
to their full extent as yet. It is well that we have occasions 
when we all meet together, mingle together and exchange 
our plans and ideas. 
The American Nurserymen’s Association has entered 
upon certain lines of work, and some very satisfactory 
results are already seen. The work undertaken by the 
Association is well worth careful study and imitation. 
By the efforts of its officers and special committees, gratify¬ 
ing reductions have been secured in freight rates; the 
minimum of car lots lowered; burdensome classifications 
have been removed, and other concessions from the rail¬ 
roads secured, by having their attention called to the 
nurserymen’s business with its needs. 
At one of its meetings a committee was appointed to 
consider the advisability and ways and means of employing 
a commercial agent to look after the interests of the Associ¬ 
ation in the line of reductions in freight rates, lower classifi¬ 
cations, and other matters that would effect the pockets 
of the members of the Association. The committee was 
unanimous in its decision that such a man could be profit¬ 
ably employed by the Association. Unfortunately, how¬ 
ever, the Association was without funds to pay his salary 
and expenses. An increase in the membership dues was 
made, but this did not make up the deficit. That this 
plan might be carried out, members who were present at 
the meeting pledged themselves to make up the deficiency. 
It was the belief that the burden of this deficiency should 
not be wholly borne by the few members who were at the 
meeting, but that all who will be benefited by the work 
that will be accomplished by the employment of a com¬ 
mercial agent will wish to bear a part of this expense. 
This work is in the right direction and will result in untold 
good to all if it is pushed to a successful finish, and if the 
money is carefully spent. The Association and its members 
will receive large returns from this action. 
Much benefit accrues to the business if a systematic 
effort looking toward more uniform legislation touching 
nursery work is made. Every legislative measure that 
has a bearing on our work should be watched. Proper 
action should be taken to secure such changes in existing 
laws as may be necessary to relieve us of burdens and 
losses. 
The uniform grading of nursery stock would prove of 
great value to us. Scarcely a season passes but that some 
one, or all of us, find ourselves long or short on some varie¬ 
ties. With a proper system of grading we will be enabled 
to get from each other just the kind and size of stock we 
need, thus avoiding disappointments in shipments, and 
to our customers. Individually, it would be slow work to 
bring this about, but as an association we can do it with 
but little effort. I do not believe this will or should lead 
to unifying of prices. We must work under varying condi¬ 
tions and circumstances. 
Such matters as prices must be left largely to individuals; 
but as we mingle at our gatherings, these matters are bound 
to receive more or less attention, and a molding influence 
will be exerted in right lines. And so it will be with other 
matters. The exchange of experiences and ideas will be 
helpful. Reports as to crop conditions will enable us to 
relieve our. wants as well as those of others, early in the 
season. Every man has a method and system of doing 
his work, and by comparison we can adopt improvements 
and discard cumbersome and antiquated methods. Im¬ 
provement is the order of the day, and we can secure it. 
It has seemed to me that good fellowship and feeling 
have sprung up and been strengthened as we' mingle 
together from time to time, and as we meet our fellow 
workers; if we should happen to have any differences, 
often a word of explanation will remove them all when 
we meet face to face. 
The National organization forms a means of mutual pro¬ 
tection. Occasionally circumstances arise that were they to 
confront us as individuals we would be quite overwhelmed, 
but by having this association to help fight our battles we 
are largely relieved of the distress and worry. The strength 
and backing we can give unitedly to this Association will 
secure respect and consideration of our rights. Therefore, 
we should support it with our influence and means as needed. 
This organization may aid the patron, as well as its 
members, by suppressing unscrupulous persons who may 
engage in this work. It is a duty we owe to our patrons as 
well as to ourselves to drive out every unfair and unprin¬ 
cipled man engaged in this business, either as a grower or 
as a dealer. Let us raise the standard, and not let it be 
seen among the dishonest and greedy. 
A good and beneficial work could be done by having 
proper committees who would seek out and classify out 
fruits as to their adaptability commercially to the different 
sections; also prevent fraud and loss by testing new varie¬ 
ties of fruits as they are brought out, and recommend 
them or reject them according to their merits. Similar or 
worthless varieties should be weeded out and their multi¬ 
plication discouraged. 
Many times it seems there is little in common between 
the nurseryman and his patron, and much unjust criticism 
