250 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
no nurseryman can meet, except at the risk of being 
obliged, sooner or later, to take the poor debtors oath, or 
to have his estate declared insolvent by his administra¬ 
tors in ease of his demise. 
The man or concern which does the most of this job¬ 
bing business, cheats his creditors most in the final set¬ 
tlement,—judging by my limited experience. At the 
present time, some European Nurserymen are sending 
stock to this country for which they have no sale; taking 
the chance of disposing of it. If this is true, and cir¬ 
culars I have received, listing such stock, convince me 
that it is; if this is true, are we longer to tolerate such a 
condition? European Nurserymen should be taught that 
they can not longer play fast and loose in this regard with 
the Nurserymen of America. Either they must do bus¬ 
iness entirely with nurserymen, or do no business what- 
ever with nurserymen. I believe it to be quite within 
the power of this Association to put an end to this sort 
of thing. If we are business men, with any good red 
blood surging through our systems, we should say the 
word that will change the present order, and that word 
should be. deal with nurserymen entirely or deal no more 
with any nurserymen, so far as this Association is con¬ 
cerned. Dutch and English nurserymen should be made 
to understand that they can not longer play this game in 
the old way. It should be a choice between the nursery 
fraternity on the one hand, and the hucksters, and the 
dry-goods houses on the other. Do you think it would 
take long for those foreign gentlemen to decide which 
trade they would prefer? 
The Holland Nurserymen have an organization that can 
control the output of their nurseries, and I believe they 
will when we as an organization, unite upon a policy to 
which we will adhere. When we have done our part, 
when we have perfected our policy, we can then send an 
ultimatum, if necessary, to our Dutch and English cou¬ 
sins, which they will take more seriously, than many 
ultimatums that have been sent to Europe of late. 
We h ave said, both we and the public are the losers by 
the present policy. I think no argument is necessary to 
further substantiate our claim. 
In the final analysis, the public pays the bill. And for 
cheap prices, the public gets cheap service. The stock 
sold by dry-goods houses and hucksters may or it may 
not he reliable, and the chances are that it is not. I have 
been in foreign nursery establishments when they were 
doing up roses for the American dry-goods trade. They 
claim to have been told by the purchasers, to label so 
many roses “Jacks,” so many “Brunners,” etc,, but as to 
what they were, was a minor consideration, only that they 
were roses. The same is true of Rhododendrons; and in 
this regard it is even worse, for so many varieties grown 
over there, are not hardy here. They may be nice plants, 
but not salable there, and sure to die the first winter here. 
They are sold at a price with which no nurseryman can 
compete who has a nursery establishment to maintain. 
At the present time, we and the public are the victims of 
this pernicious system. Shall we longer suffer it to con¬ 
tinue, or shall we so perfect this organization that we can 
say to all comers; he they foreign or domestic, we will 
absolutely have no dealings with those who directly or 
indirectly supply stock to auction rooms, dry-goods 
houses or any individual or concern which does not make 
the production or sale of horticultural products their prin¬ 
cipal business. Let the edict go forth from this Associa¬ 
tion, and let it be as binding as the law of the Medes and 
Persians. I have dealt at some length on this phase of 
our business, which I believe should receive our most 
serious consideration. 
There are other phases of our business that should be 
discussed in open parliament, but which my time does 
not allow me to consider. Let there be a session for 
their consideration at each convention hereafter; and let 
us devote no more time to sight-seeing and merry-making 
so long as there are so many things that need considera¬ 
tion and prompt action. Let the slogan be enunciated 
“The Nursery Business for Nurserymen,” and when we 
have brought such a condition about, it will be of more 
value to the public in general, and to us in particular, 
than every other question on our program for discussion 
at this congress. 
Denison and Sherman, Texas, June 12, 1916. 
TEXAS NURSERYMEN’S ASSOCIATION 
To the members of the Texas Nurserymens’ Associa¬ 
tion. and to all other Nurserymen to whom it may come. 
GREETING:—Another year has rolled around, and 
with it comes the time to renew our allegiance and mem¬ 
bership for the ensuing year. Also, to invite others who 
are not members to become one of us. 
The Badge Rook feature that was inaugurated last 
year met with universally favorable comment, and gave 
members much favorable publicity. For this reason 
the Executive Committee will continue this feature and 
if possible improve upon it. We trust that many more 
names will be added this year. 
None but actual paid up members will enjoy the privi¬ 
leges of the Radge Book. The book will give the name 
and address of each member who has a paid up member¬ 
ship. On opposite pages from the membership direc¬ 
tory, advertisements will be permitted at the rate of $5.00 
per page, or $3.00 for half page, in addition to member¬ 
ship fees. The Badge Book will also contain the pro¬ 
gram of the meetings. 
Two meetings will be held:—One at College Station, 
July 28th during Farmers’ Congress, and the Regular 
Annual Meeting of September 26th and 27th at a place 
to be selected at the College Station meeting. Members 
who send in their membership prior to printing tthe Col¬ 
lege Station Badge Book will have their cards in both the 
July and September Badge Books, so be wise and send 
in your new membership or renewal, at once, to insure 
getting into both editions of the Badge Book. Adver¬ 
tisements received in time for the College Station Badge 
Book, will also be inserted in the September Badge Book, 
without extra charge. 
Badges will be furnished each member with numbers 
to correspond with membership number in Badge Book. 
Those nurserymen who are not members, are welcome to 
the meetings, but no badges will be issued to them. In 
voting, only those having official badges will be permitted 
to vote at either meeting. 
This urgent appeal is made to give all nurserymen in 
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and others in¬ 
terested. a notice and an invitation to send in their mem- 
