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THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
The National Nurseryman 
Established 1893 by C. L. YATES. Incorporated 1902 
Published monthly by 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN PUBLISHING CO., Inc. 
Hatboro, Pa. 
Editor .ERNEST HEMMING, Flourtown, Pa. 
The leading trade journal issued for Growers and Dealers in 
Nursery Stocks of all kinds. It circulates throughout the 
United States, Canad a and Europe. __ 
AWARDED THE GRAND PRIZE AT PARIS EXPOSITION, 1900 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES 
One Year in Advance .. 
Foreign Subscriptions, in advance .$2.00 
Six Months .$1.00 
Advertising rates will be sent upon application. Advertisements 
should reach this office by the 20th of the month previous to the 
date of issue. .. . _ _. 
Payment in advance required for foreign advertisements. Drafts 
on New York or postal orders, instead of checks, are requested by 
the Business Manager, Hatboro, Pa. 
Correspondence from all points and articles of interest to nursery- 
men and horticulturists are cordially solicited. 
Photographs and news notes of interest to nurserymen should be 
addressed, Editor, Flourtown, Pa., and should be mailed to arrive 
not later than the 25th of the month. ______ 
Entered as second-class matter June 22, 1916, at the post office at 
Hatboro, Pennsylvania, under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
Hatboro, Pa., May 1921 
In our March Issue Mr. J. R. 
WHICH IS WANTED Mayhew asks the question, “Is 
\ NATIONAL our work as an association for 
ASSOCIATION OR A the past five years to he 
NURSERY TRUST? scrapped?” 
The answer is no. The senti¬ 
ment of the great majority of the trade is in favor of what 
the reorganized Association stands for. The cooperation 
of Nurserymen to accomplish things to the best interests 
of the whole Nursery Trade. 
If there are any differences of opinion they are cer¬ 
tainly not on this question, hut rather as to the best 
method of accomplishing the desired results. If one 
analyses the opposition in so far as it has expressed it¬ 
self at convention and through the trade papers. It re¬ 
solves itself into the one word “practicability.” 
We may be as materialistic as we like but we cannot 
side step the eternal verities, one of which is there is a 
spirit back of every thought and action. 
If the motive back of the Association is selfish, the re¬ 
sults will be accordingly. It matters little how its pro¬ 
cesses be camouflaged to hide the selfishness. 
It is not intended to imply there is anything wrong in 
a selfish motive, all business is selfish, namely the ac¬ 
quisition of the dollar. 
If this is the chief motive then by all means model the 
American Association on the lines of a corporation or 
trust, advertise the trademark and force every Nursery¬ 
man to become a member for self protection. 
Modeled along these lines the more money that can be 
spent in propaganda (he more powerful it will become 
and be influential in bringing about economic reforms in 
the trade and even indirectly protect the consumer ol 
nursery products. 
Rut is it possible to run a National Association ol Nur¬ 
serymen on the lines of a commercial trust or large cor¬ 
poration? 
It cannot emulate their methods, as there is no way 
of coercing recalcitrant members into obedience. 
There are too many conflicting interests of its mem¬ 
bers and the naturalness of its products, to which little 
if any control can he had over production, either inside 
or outside the membership. 
In other words however powerful, the Association be¬ 
came, it would always be extremely vulnerable as the 
sources of supply of the products of the soil cannot be 
cornered or controlled for any length of time and being 
in one sense of the term non-essentials, it the consuming 
public cannot get one thing it will make another do. 
When the reorganization of the American Association 
took place, class and provincial ideas should have been 
dropped entirely. The vision of the future for the Asso¬ 
ciation should be along national lines, transportation, 
statistics, surpluses and shortages, standardization, Mar¬ 
ket Development, etc. Code of Ethics, yes, Article IX, 
yes and several more articles if necessary to make mem¬ 
bership in the American Association an honor to be 
sought for. 
This will never be accomplished by making it a clear¬ 
ing house for petty squabbles or having rules and regula¬ 
tions that cannot be enforced. 
The functions of the American Association of Nur¬ 
serymen should govern only such matters as are national 
in their scope, and leave local affairs to the State organ¬ 
izations and such organizations as the Retail Nursery¬ 
men’s Association, Fruit Tree Grower’s Association, Or¬ 
namental Growers’ Association, etc., who are in a better 
position to adjust among their own membership the 
things which more particularly concern them. 
We have good examples in the Federal and State Gov¬ 
ernments. The Grand and Subordinate Lodges in Ec¬ 
clesiastical governing bodies, in fact it would appear to 
be the logical thing to do. 
The present differences of opinion can be readily har¬ 
monized by a clearly stated platform that will leave out 
narrow selfish motives and confine itself to objects 
worthy of a national Association. 
There may be some difficulty in getting back to a prac¬ 
tical working plan, but the difficulties are not insuper¬ 
able, even those hones of contention such as Article Nine 
and National Advertising and the financing of it, all 
properly belong; it is merely the spirit and aim that has 
been misapplied. 
To summarize in as few words as possible the next 
convention will decide either for an Association modeled 
along the lines of a trust or corporation with the purely 
business object of promoting the interests of its mem¬ 
bers. 
Or a national Association whose aim is the advance¬ 
ment of the nursery interests of the country. 
That the American Association can remain true to its 
constitution and by-laws as already adopted and become 
an extremely powerful force in guiding and fostering 
