TOO 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
or ;i pardonable dosin' to uplift or reform society always 
pick out the sore spots and sad to say the spots lose 
nothing by their method of exposure. 
We are reading in the papers daily of the grave re¬ 
sults of the unmoral canceling of orders which has been 
so freely practiced by many trades. It per¬ 
haps is not untimely to feel gratified, the Nursery Trade 
has not quite become so demoralized in spite of the con¬ 
ditions produced by the war. The average nurseryman 
still tries to live up to his obligations. 
According to some the nursery trade is in a pretty rot¬ 
ten condition. In fact it is not a business at all but just 
a lot of amateurs trying to grow trees and plants then 
selling them at less than cost, if they can and if not burn¬ 
ing them up. 
According to others it is mostly composed of crooks 
who send out conscienceless agents all over the country 
with pretty pictures to inveigle the people into buying 
their goods and when the time comes for delivering them 
they send a few sticks and weeds dug out of the woods 
or seedling peaches instead of budded ones or lien 
Davis Apple instead of Winesap, or just anything ex¬ 
cept what was ordered.. 
If real Nursery stock is sent it is dead when it arrives 
or so small it is not worth planting. 
Another group of critics accuse the Nurserymen of be¬ 
ing responsible for most of the disease and pests that 
kill the forest trees, ruin the farmers’ crops and would 
place the business under the most stringent laws and 
regulations to save the people from being buncoed out 
of their boots and the country saved from disaster. 
Another group claims the Nursery Business is the one 
above all others that gives happiness and well being to 
humanity. It brings delicious apples, peaches, pears, 
cherries, plums, strawberries, within the reach of every¬ 
one. 
If makes our towns and cities inhabitable and para¬ 
dises out of barren waste. 
In fact without the Nursery business we should be no 
better olT than the Indian in the forest and our civilized 
communities would be a horror and a blemish on the face 
of the earth. 
Still other diagnosticians think the Nursery Business 
is all right, it is a necessary adjunct to civilization, it is 
mostly composed of normal honest men that ranks with 
any other profession or business, is subject to fluctua¬ 
tion, booms and depressions. Requires about the same 
amount of government supervision, the same amount of 
laws as is usually required to guide the conduct of those 
carrying on. 
In other words it averages up as a norma) business. So 
tin' best thing to do is to fire the doctors and try Christian 
or some other science when it gets a little out of order. 
Let nurserymena sindividuals or collectively through 
their Associations feel the strength of an honest purpose 
and ignore the yapping of the self appointed judges who 
are assuming the holier than “Thou” attitude. 
Welcome honest constructive criticism from outsiders 
and just as readily repudiate any practice by any one in 
flu' trade that discredits its fair name. 
the country has had surfeit of reforms that do not im¬ 
prove things, investigations, resolutions, committees, so¬ 
cieties, propaganda, fads and foolishness. 
The business man is nauseated with being importuned 
for funds to promote every conceivable thing, to make 
laws and to prevent them. 
He is taxed and harrassed, investigated and restricted 
licensed and permitted, until he can hardly think a single 
thought in connection with his own business that has not 
to be supervised by some union, Board, Association, or 
other body. 
Let us quit looking for quack remedies and go in for 
high quality production, increased sales and common 
sense business methods. 
WORK 
Here is something on the nobility of labor that should 
be preached from pulpits, posted on bulletin boards in 
shop and factory, printed and reprinted in public sheets 
and house organs until it sinks into the consciousness of 
every man big and little in this broad land we call 
America. 
“Work is the best gift of God to men. There is no 
such thing as degrading work in itself. The coal-heaver 
and garbage-gatherer are doing just as clean and honor¬ 
able a service, in itself considered, as the teacher, the ar¬ 
tist or the banker. 
“The spirit in which work is done is what counts. 
Slaves are slaves because they have a slave’s soul, not 
because they do hard work. 
“If we admit the truth of the idea that manual work is 
an accursed slavery, we arc driven logically to the con¬ 
clusion that it is the duty of every manual worker to quit 
work, and that idleness is the ideal of a happy life. This 
noble ideal put into practice would freeze and starve the 
world to death in a few weeks. There is no possible exis¬ 
tence for those who won’t struggle for it. There ought 
not to be. 
“And suppose manual labor is hard and dirty; what 
of it? Bearing children is the hardest work in the world. 
Would you abolish this most ancient of industries? 
Learning to read, write and cipher is drudgery. Shall 
we therefore abolish all study and sink into unanimous 
illiteracy? Every foot of land yielding food represents 
toil and sweat. Shall we quit producing food? Every 
home was built by labor. Shall we become cave men, 
and go back to nest with the animals? 
“A society which becomes too sentimental, lazy and 
fat to do its own hard work is not ripe, but rotten.” 
★ ★ ★ 
The foregoing is from the pen of Dr. Charles Aubrey 
Eaton, editor of Leslie’s Weekly. 
Any man who does not find pleasure in work is to be 
pitied. Any man who thinks life would be sweet with¬ 
out labor is a fool. 
There’s time for work and there’s time for play. Too 
much of either is bad. Work well and play well, and 
you’ll find the greatest fun in the world is work — 
Richard Spillane in Philadelphia Public Ledger. 
