THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
119 
the nursery trade goes without saying hut it must he 
quite sure of its aims and ideals and not be sidetracked 
from its object by trying to emulate the processes of big 
business and so called trusts. 
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS AND TRADE PRICES 
The following letters are self explanatory and throw light 
on the efforts being made to bring about better trade 
practices between Landscape Architects and 
Nurserymen 
March 11th, 1921. 
Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, 
Brookline, Mass. 
Dear Sir:— 
lour letter inquiring as to our experience, etc. 
It would be easier to make comment and suggestions 
it we had any experience of business given by landscape 
architects on a basis agreed upon at the joint meeting 
May 31st, 1919 which you referred to. 
I have inquired from nurserymen near Chicago as to 
their experience in the matter, and they all tell me that 
whenever a landscape architect sends a list for them to 
quote on, if they do not give trade prices, they do not 
get the business. This suggests whether the practice of 
sending out for competitive bids does not nullify the re¬ 
commendations of the joint meeting referred to. Of 
course, it may be said that it is the nurseryman’s own 
fault if he quotes trade prices; but on the other hand, 
the nurseryman retorts that he gets none of the land¬ 
scape architects business unless he quotes trade prices. 
The only other thought which occurs to me at the pres¬ 
ent time as a means oi improving the relation between 
landscape architects and nurserymen, is that we should 
try to devise some way of demonstrating by certified ac¬ 
countants what is a fair price for nursery products. 
Hardly any nurseryman knows this himself, because 
very meagre cost accounts have ever been kept, and 
these have almost always ignored over-head charges 
which constitute an important item. 
I venture to say there is hardly a nursery in the United 
States which in the last twenty years has made a net 
average profit of 10% of the capital invested, from its 
nursery activities. There have been many cases where 
such profits have been made from the increase in the 
value ol land; but such increased value of land cannot 
be used as a basis for arriving at a fair price for nursery 
products, and this with many nurseries has been the 
only source of profit. 
Yours very truly, 
(Signed) Alvin E. Nelson. 
March 23, 1921. 
Mr. Alvin E. Nelson, 
Swain, Nelson & Sons, 
940 Marquette Bldg., 
Chicago, Ill. 
Dear Sir:— 
Many thanks for your letter of the 11th. 
4ou touch on trade practices which are certainly cap¬ 
able oi improvement to the advantage of all concerned, 
when you mention the practice, on the part of landscape 
architects, oi habitually sending out lists for nursery¬ 
men to quote on competitively in disregard of their cata¬ 
log prices, and the practice on the part of nurserymen of 
quoting special prices lower than their publicly an¬ 
nounced prices when urged to do so by individual 
buyers, whether landscape architects or others who have 
no logical claim to special reductions. 
Every one must agree that it is to the interest of all 
concerned that lor these kinds ol plants habitually sold 
in sufficient quantities to make it possible to establish 
recognized market prices, such prices should be deter¬ 
mined by open and aboveboard competition, and that 
they should be reasonably stabilized at levels sufficient 
to give a reasonable return, on the average, to those nur¬ 
serymen who run their business efficiently. 
In proportion to the extent to which prices are deter¬ 
mined by secret private bargaining without the stabiliz¬ 
ing influence of an open market, the buyers and sellers 
who devote much of their time and energy to privately 
shopping around and offering special inducements, 
(which because they are secret may be dishonorable 
without much danger oi exposure) obtain advantages 
over those who devote more of their attention to the 
strictly productive part of their work. This is an evil in 
a direction opposite to the evil of monopolistic price fix¬ 
ing combinations which destroy* (healthy competition, 
and it may be just as bad. 
Responsibility for minimizing this evil rests primarily 
with the nurserymen. 
If a considerable number of nurserymen, whose stock 
and prices make it worth while to pay any attention to 
them, habitually (upon request) quote prices lower than 
they have publicly announced, it becomes necessary for 
business-like buyers to go to the trouble and annoyance 
of getting their real prices by special inquiry. A rea¬ 
sonably business-like buyer, whether landscape archi¬ 
tect or otherwise, will hardly continue to take the trouble 
to send out lists for special quotations if he finds that 
such requests do not secure quotations different in the 
main from the announced prices which may be obtained 
from the catalogs, either directly or by applying a known 
and publicly stated percentage discount. 
To such small extent as the influence of the American 
Society of Landscape Architects can effect this situation, 
I can assure you that we wish to help in the right direc¬ 
tion. 
I may say that the experience of the firm of Olmsted 
Brothers is that these nurseries which in general give 
the most for the money to our clients, taking account of 
Pi ices, quality ol stock and other elements of service, so 
seldom make secret special cuts in prices below their 
publicly announced prices (except where the conditions 
of the order are abnormal as noted below) that it is not 
worth while to go to the trouble and expense of sending 
for such quotations in any normal cases. 
The abnormal cases in which Olmsted Brothers do 
send out requests for special quotations from time to 
time are mainly, if not wholly, as follows: 
1. Special and peculiar stock not represented in the 
catalog prices as fixed for the ordinary run of commer¬ 
cial stock. 
2. Abnormally large orders where a reasonable and 
proper reduction in price due to the wholesale nature of 
