232 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
commercial man,” but in reality without his aid, the 
nursery business would he far behind its present devel¬ 
opment, and the general public would still he ignorant 
of the wonderful advancement that has been made in hor¬ 
ticulture. 
There should he a more intelligent system of planting 
in order to avoid over production, which results in the 
demoralization of prices, and the hawking of nursery pro¬ 
ducts about in improper channels of distribution and at 
ruinous prices creating the impression that nursery 
stock has no real value. There is no business in the 
Prof. J. G. Sanders, Prof. F. L. Washburn 
Madison, Wis. St. Anthony Park, Minn. 
United States which pays so little attention to a uniform 
system and standardization of prices as ours, and if some 
member of our Association can bring about this much 
needed change, they will have earned for themselves a 
lasting name and will have accomplished a great work. 
A close relationship ought to he established between our 
National Association and the various District Associations 
throughout the United States. This would increase the 
efficiency of all, and secure more effective co-operation in 
the handling of the many problems that arise. 
Legislation:— The work of the Legislative Committee 
has been greatly benefitted by the employment of the Hon. 
Curtis Nye Smith, of Boston, as general counsel for the 
Association. He has given careful attention to all legis¬ 
lative questions that have been brought up during the 
year. One of the most important is the question of 
quarantine by the Federal Horticultural Board against 
the importation of Currants and Gooseberries on account 
of the White Pine Blister Rust. The Board also have 
seriously considered quarantining against the shipment 
of these products from the Eastern section of the United 
States into other states. This question will be fully 
covered by Mr. Pitkin, Chairman of the Legislative Com¬ 
mittee. 
Transportation :—There have not been many changes 
in freight rates since our last convention. Mr. Sizemore, 
Chairman of this Committee, has given the work careful 
attention, and made every effort to promote the interest 
of the members. On June 1st, 1915 rates on car lots in 
the Official Classification were advanced from Fifth to 
Fourth Class in spite of the protests of the shipper. Mr. 
Sizemore lias worked faithfully during the year to get 
the former rating restored, but has not succeeded. An 
organized effort should be made to secure a minimum 
of 14560 pounds for small cars in both the Official and 
Southern Classification territory. The shippers find 
this minimum a decided advantage in the Western terri¬ 
tory and I am confident it is an advantage to the R. R. 
Company. It encourages shipping in car lot, thereby 
saving the expense of loading, transferring and handling 
of many local shipments by employees. It insures more 
prompt delivery which is a great advantage to both the 
carrier and consignee. 
The congestion of traffic in the East, due to increased 
volume of shipments on account of the European war 
lias been a difficult problem for many of our Eastern 
friends. The result has been, serious losses and vex¬ 
atious delays. Many nurserymen throughout the 
United States have suffered heavy losses on import ship¬ 
ments, due to war conditions. The transportation of 
our products lias been a serious one for many of us, and 
it is our sincere hope that these conditions will not con¬ 
tinue during the ensuing year. 
Tariff: —The question of tariff is one which has con¬ 
fronted the business man for half a century. Person- 
ally, I favor an advance in the rate on nursery stock not 
otherwise specified, in order to check the importation of 
foreign stock and give greater protection to the American 
grower. A large amount of general nursery stock (as 
lias already been pointed out) is imported annually that 
can be grown and sold at a profit by our American nur¬ 
serymen; at the prices we pay for it abroad; after adding 
the cost of delivering and duties. 
Trade Terms:— The Executive Committee has adopted 
a system of trade terms which were published in connec¬ 
tion with Bulletin No. 1. These terms were also 
adopted by the Western Association of Nurserymen. The 
question was submitted to the convention at Detroit and 
referred to the Executive Committee for action, the 
printed terms in the form of stickers ready for use may 
be secured from our Secretary. If the action of your 
committee meets with your approval, it might be well to 
ratify them during this convention. 
Arbitration:— The Detroit convention provided for an 
Arbitration Committee, where disputes among our mem- 
