THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
243 
We can increase the love for cultivation of the soil. 
Organizations like yours can accomplish a great deal in each 
of the different sections of the country. Go to the news¬ 
papers and ask them to devote a page Sundays to subjects 
connected with the cultivation of the soil. Go to the school 
committee, and ask them to take up the subject in a practical 
way. Go to the stage managers, and have them put the 
pleasant side of farm life to the front. There will be an 
opportunity for reform of the American mind that will make 
boys wish to become practical farmers. 
Mr. J. Woodward Manning responded briefly and appro¬ 
priately. 
THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS 
J. H. Dayton, Painesville, O. 
For thirty-six years the Nurserymen of the United States 
have duly assembled in their annual convention. 
It is not my purpose to recount the results or try to list the 
many good things accomplished, but as we meet for our 
thirty-seventh annual conclave, to express my hope that it 
will not only be the largest in numbers, the best in entertain¬ 
ment, but in practical results that will send us home to 
increase the earning capacity of our business, it will stand at 
the head. 
It would be easy to devote this address to telling you what 
good fellows you are, and how your wives have picked the 
best men in the world, or the advances made in methods, or 
the better ideas that are gaining ground among us, but it is 
easier to knock, and there are still some things that may be 
improved. 
When his Satanic Majesty climbed the tree to pluck the 
golden fruit, with which to dazzle and debase the first nursery 
firm, he certainly grafted or cross-fertilized, or pedigreed, or 
bud variated to such good purpose, that the Devil and a 
whole brood of snakes have remained to plague the tree and 
the grower ever since. 
Believe I am an optimist and think we have beyond any 
question one of the grandest and best businesses in the world, 
capable under proper management of giving rich financial 
rewards; a business that should be recognized by all as one of 
the most imjDortant, but which, caused largely by our own lack 
of faith, of cooperation, of the application of business ]5rin- 
ciples, does not so stand, either in our own eyes, or the eyes 
of the business men of the world. 
With thirty-six years of united effort behind us, with the 
richest country in the world for our habitation, with a pros- . 
pect of the greatest .development the world has ever known, 
both in the production of fruits and the use of ornamentals 
for the beautifying of public and private grounds it seems to 
me it is time, that when we produce a first-class healthy tree 
or shrub, true to name, carefully and properly pack and 
deliver it to the transportation company or planter in good 
condition, at an agreed price, that it be definitely understood 
it belongs to the purchaser, and that under no circumstances 
are we liable for its growth or in any way bound to replace, 
refund or make good in case the tree does not succeed in its 
new home. 
Jit’s time we know what a tree of any grade or size in 
salable condition is worth, and sell it for its full value, and 
that its value if properly handled is the same to the planter 
the first day of May as the first day of April. 
It’s time we priced our lists at fair prices for honest stock, 
taking into consideration our risks and surplus and then 
adhere to our prices. What other business issues expensive 
price lists and then proceeds to cut rates to every inquirer? 
Why should we have any standing among the business men in 
the country, when not only the large but practically 
every small buyer of any experience has found that by 
sending out a few inquiries he can get prices below printed 
rates ? 
It’s time we realized that the nurseryman is no exception 
to the rule “that man cannot live to himself,’’ that bad busi¬ 
ness practice on part of one injures all. As a body we should 
place our condemnation on any practice that tends to bring 
discredit, any departure from honest business dealings, any 
method of dishonest advertising, in press or catalog. In fact, 
show the millions of honest consumers that we are trying to 
eliminate from our own ranks by all means in our power 
everyone who is not trying to give a square deal. 
It’s time we learned when we have produced a surplus, 
as we will on some items every year, that the place for it is the 
brush pile, instead of seeking by cut prices, surplus lists, etc., 
to demoralize our market, not only for that season, but for 
years to come. 
It’s time we reorganized our credit departments and 
stopped taking chances on doubtful accounts, because it is 
the rush season, and we have no time to look the customers 
up, or because we have the stock and may not have another 
chance to sell it. 
Why recapitulate the breed of snakes ? We all know them, 
we lament their presence every year, and every time a few of 
us happen to meet, we know the deadliness of their poison 
fangs and we really think we could eliminate them from our 
business, if the other fellow would from his. 
Is it not time we had earnest, whole-souled, enthusiastic 
cooperation, with faith and trust in one another, and in our 
officers and committees and backed them and each other up in 
all efforts to eliminate the bad, elevate the good, to introduce 
new and better methods, to present a solid front against all 
threatening ills, and for all that tends to improve ? 
Time of meeting. This perennial question needs settling. 
Think every nurseryman of the North and East realizes more 
than ever this last season, that the second week in June is too 
early for our meeting. At last year’s convention, you in¬ 
structed your President to appoint a special committee to 
consider the matter, in cooperation with the State Vice-Presi-, 
dents and report at this meeting. Regret to have to state 
that amongst my other short comings, these instructions were 
overlooked and no committee has been api^ointed. I recom¬ 
mend the appointment of such a committee, and the election 
of a president who will attend to business. 
Your officers and committee reports will advise as to the 
work and standing of matters which they have in charge. 
My sincere thanks are due the chairmen and members of the 
different committees, who have accomplished a great deal of 
efficient work. Your Legislative Committee chairman has 
had the time of his life and knows all the joys of a prolonged 
flight betwixt the devil and the deep blue sea. Unquestion¬ 
ably in spite of the action taken at our last convention, the 
nurserymen stand today, if not endorsing as a whole, at least 
as not opposing a quarantine law for all foreign countries and 
