THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
101 
alone. Everywhere the manager of the Nurserymen’s 
National Service Bureau has been, and from the dozens 
of nurserymen with whom he has discussed the general 
subject of Market Developtnent, has come the same story: 
“Yes, we do need a campaign for market development 
and more business, hut even more than more business we 
need better business!” 
Well, if that is true,—and all the evidence available 
seems to indicate that it is true,—there is no one on earth 
who can make better business hut the nurserymen them¬ 
selves. It is no wonder that some nurserymen have hesi¬ 
tated about putting up money for market development 
work when they felt that in order to get as much bus¬ 
iness as they should have even under present conditions, 
they had to meet or come veiy near meeting the competi¬ 
tion of some firm or individual who was willing to sell 
stock at less than what it actually cost to grow it,—in 
some instances at less than it cost to dig, pack and ship it! 
And it is no wonder that others have hesitated to join an 
organization contemplating a campaign for increasing 
the demand for nursery products when they felt that 
other members of the same association might ship out 
stock which was either poorly grown or not true to name, 
and as a result w ould “kill” the demand for nursery pro¬ 
ducts and cause the buying public to he generally sus¬ 
picious of all nurserymen. ^ 
If such conditions are serious obstacles inAt^e way of 
market development on a national basis—and there can 
be no doubt that they are,—then most certainly it is part 
of the work of the organizaton built for the purpose of 
market development to see if it is not possible to do 
something tow^ard bettering practices which have and are 
still having such a serious effect on the entire industry. 
With this in mind the Executive Committee of the Organ¬ 
ization for Market Development is endeavoring to work 
out a practical plan wdiich will he directly aimed at the 
elimination of these conditions and thus help to build a 
broader and a firmer foundation for the market develop¬ 
ment wmrk w^hich it is hoped to accomplish during the 
next five years. 
Every association of nurserymen in the country has 
felt increasingly the necessity for attempting to do 
something along this line; something to curb the actions 
of the growler w^ho is attempting to quote prices without 
any regard to cost or who is willing to sell 
stock w^hich is not up to the quality that 
should be maintained in order to quote “cheap 
prices.” Many attempts have been made, and wiiile they 
have not succeeded in accomplishing everything wiiich 
needed to be done, nevertheless progress has reen made. 
It should lie kept in mind that it is not so much wiiere 
w e are as the direction in w Inch w^e are going that really 
counts! By far the greater number of nurserymen with 
w hom the manager of the National Service Bureau has 
talked have felt very definitely that some things have 
been done and that the time for doing still more impor¬ 
tant things, looking to the improvement of conditions in 
the industry, is ripe. If this is true then most certainly 
it is up to every nurseryman who thinks at all well of the 
business in w hich he is engaged or if he expects to re¬ 
main in it for any time to come to put his shoulder to the 
w heel along wdh the rest of the hunch and do his “bit”. 
The Executive Committee is anxious and eager to 
have the co-operation of anyone wdio has helped to do 
the good wmrk already done. Several of the associa¬ 
tions in attempting to bring about some degree of stan¬ 
dardization and a minimum level of prices fixed at least 
above actual cost of production, and will be glad to re¬ 
ceive any suggestions along this line. 
The Manager of the Nurserymen’s National Service 
Bureau which has its headquarters at 220 West 42nd 
Street, New York, will be glad to send full particulars 
regarding the syndicated articles sent out, illustrated lec¬ 
tures, etc., to any nurserymen whether a subscriber to 
the market development fund or not. The National Ser¬ 
vice Bureau is to help all nurserymen—but by that same 
token all nurserymen should help the National Service 
Bureau. If you are not a subscriber yet, let us hear 
from you so w^e can explain a little more fully just what 
you will have to gain by coming aboard. 
THE FARM TRACTOR 
The Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., has issued a 
circular on the Farm Tractor, giving an analysis of 
tractor situation in that state. 
The results are very interesting and viewed from all 
angles indicates a decided gain in popularity and their 
is little doubt but that their use will steadily increase. 
Out of 95 owners reporting 77 expressed themselves 
as satisfied. 
Maximum results can only be expected when the 
operator of the tractor is a thorough mechanic, and it 
looks as if the farmer or nurseiyman of the future will 
hav^e to be a good machinist if he expects to be successful 
in his profession. 
“The question ‘How long will a tractor last?’ is fre¬ 
quently asked, and it cannot yet be answered from the 
experience of Indiana farmers, as most of the tractors 
are less than three years old. There are w^ell cared for 
stationary gas engines wiiich have been running day 
after day for 20 years and are still giving good service. 
If a tractor is carefully w^atched and the ‘stitch in time’ 
is alw^ays given, it wmuld seem as if it should be good 
