THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
99 
But alas the officiating priestess failed to dip the heel by 
which he was held and soon an adder stung the vulner¬ 
able spot and he died, before his day even. The adders 
that beset the hybrid are many and the sad experience of 
more than ten generations should surely teach us more 
of wisdom. Be iconoclasts, break the idols your fore¬ 
bears so long worshipped in vain, and follow in the loot- 
slops of that level headed Gincinnatus that alone led you 
lo Ihe prosperity of his day, which is to us also. 
ON NURSERY INVENTORY 
By x 
It would seem a bit bromidic to dwell at any length on 
the importance of accounting, it is so clearly recognized 
in nearly every business, but a great deal of evidence 
goes to show that this is not true with nurseries. When 
the year closes the books are the only guide to show what 
has been done. Has the business been profitable? If so. 
has every branch paid, or are you carrying some dead de¬ 
partments? If it has not paid, why not? A myriad ques¬ 
tions. Scrutinize the books. If the answer is not there 
your accounting is either wrong or incomplete. The easi¬ 
est person in the world to fool by faulty accounting is 
yourself, because you think that you know all about your 
own business. What a sad conceit in many cases. 
However, the subject up for discussion is inventory, 
and its place in accounting. It is a most important ac¬ 
count, especially if your business consists, wholly or in 
part, of growing stock. 
Accounting in general carries inventory at (1) mar¬ 
ket, (2) cost, or (3) cost or market, whichever is lower. 
No. 1 can be dismissed as absolutely impractical as ap¬ 
plied to the trade as it is almost impossible to arrive at. 
Quoted prices are so delightfully variable, even consider¬ 
ing quality. The prospect of a nursery whose products 
are of the finest, underquoting one of whom the same 
cannot be said, is a familiar one. When inventory is car¬ 
ried at market, market should mean the price at which 
Ihe products can be liquidated at short notice. Nursery 
stock can seldom, if ever, be liquidated at short notice at 
anywhere near its value. 
The second method, “cost,” then presents itself. When 
plants are grown it is necessary to keep a careful record 
of all expense that goes into growing such as labor, etc. 
Then should also be charged rent of land, depreciation 
of plant and all equipment used. Then a proportion of 
general overhead, determining the proportion by the ap¬ 
proximate amount of business effort expended in grow¬ 
ing. When all this has been done, however, each item 
should be carefully scrutinized and the question asked 
“Gould I buy this plant and put it here on the ground at 
a lower price than I have grown it ?” Which shows the 
efficacy of the third method: 
Gost or market, whichever is lower. Market being con¬ 
sidered in this case the price at which you can replace 
each item by purchase. Which is not the sense of the 
phrase as it is generally used. But the nurseryman’s in¬ 
ventory differs from others; of which, more later. The 
objection might be raised that if this method were used 
it might show a loss which is not real as, given lime, you 
would be able to sell this stock raised, at a profit. But 
it is real, for if you were able to buy cheaper than you 
could raise, your profit at the time you sell would be very 
much larger. If you are raising something at a greater 
cost than you could buy it you are either on your way 
to the poor house or are letting some profitable depart¬ 
ment carry this dead weight. 
Certain nurseries make a practice of carrying inven¬ 
tory at nothing, or at a purely arbitrary figure well under 
its value. This is certainly a conservative method, but it 
is begging the whole question. It reminds one of the 
farmer who determined his profits at the end of the year 
by the size of the roll under his mattress. 
The position of inventory on the balance sheet is a 
matter of interest. Inventory is nearly always consid¬ 
ered a quick asset. By quick assets are meant those 
items which can readily be converted into cash. Build¬ 
ings, machinery, etc., are fixed assets which, although 
they may be worth their full valuation in the continued 
course of business, cannot be readily disposed of in the 
event of liquidation. It would seem that the nursery¬ 
man's inventory should come under this latter heading. 
To rehash a bit, too much emphasis cannot be laid on 
the importance of costs accounting for every nursery. 
Suppose for example one nursery has an accurate basis 
for estimating costs and is able therefrom to correctly 
price its products. What happens if it is not general? 
A competitor may cut prices even though his cost be high¬ 
er, continue to produce and undersell with disastrous re¬ 
sults to all. A thorough campaign of education in ac¬ 
counting would seem to be in order. Would it not be a 
desirable departure for the A. A. N. to do this? They 
could, for example, employ a firm of accountants which 
make a specialty of this sort of thing to work out a simple 
system for keeping costs and pass this along to their 
members. Such a plan is too expensive for each firm to 
attempt alone. The results obtained would unquestion¬ 
ably do much to stabilize the industry if such a thing 
were followed accurately. 
RHODODENDRONS THRIVE IN SOIL TREATED WITH 
ALUMINUM SULPHATE 
A method for making the ordinary garden soil suitable 
for rhododendrons has been discovered by Dr. Frederick 
V. Coville, botanist of the United States Department of 
Agriculture, which although still in the experimental 
stage, will be welcomed by nurserymen and others inter¬ 
ested in growing ornamental shrubbery. This knowledge 
is likely to be of importance at the present time when tin' 
importation of these plants has been greatly curtailed 
through the plant quarantine laws, and nurserymen arc 
now trying to grow the needed plants inside the United 
States. 
Native rhododendrons unlike most plants and crops 
require an acid soil and will not thrive in the ordin¬ 
ary fertile garden or greenhouse soil, but they grow with 
great luxuriance in sand mixed with peat, with rotting 
wood, or with halt-rotted leaves. Experiments have 
made it clear that rhododendrons thrive in this kind of soil 
because its chemical reaction is acid, and they die in the 
ordinary fertile soil because its reaction is neutral or 
