THE PRICE OF FRUIT TREES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17321, 22 May 1918, Page 6

THE PRICE OF FRUIT TREES.

TO TITE KDITOB. •, 0 ?u n, ~? 1 £ 1(^ ler in your of tho 18th inst. Mr George A. Green, secretary of the -New Zealand Association of Nurserymen, expresses doubts concerning my veracity m quoting prices at the rate of £55, £65, and £75 per 1000 for fruit trees, and suggesting that the prices, if accurate, must have been obtained from some " jobbers." 1 may inform him that the firms that were written to for quotations would not feel nattered by being referred to as " jobbers," they are nurserymen of standing in tho chief centres of the dominion. I asked for a. price for trees for 100 and 1000 lots, and did not know anything a bout "special," . nursor y> . or " commercial " grades exist-mgf-and m only one instance were such mentioned (x, xx, and xxx) in tho Teplies. the prices quoted to me were not for commercial trees, then they were mideading, and the firms in question will, no doubt, shelter themselves behind such an excuse. As I inquired for a price per 1000 it must have been assumed that 1 was a commercial ' grower, and such a " grade" price would naturally have been quoted, ino grade system," behind which Mr Green attempts to shield himself, is of no importance to me. As a grower for a number of years, who has planted many thousands of trees, I claim to know what is a. .good tree, and what its value is. Certainly I have seen trees sent out by New Zealand nursery firms, three and four years old, which may bo called "special," at a high price, but I would sooner use then) as . firewood than plant them. Tho trees which I handled last year from Victoria were not graded, nor quoted at a "special" P 1 j e 'j they °° st onl y £40 per 1000, landed free at my station, and they wero quite up to "commercial" standard. I may also now inform Mr Green that the only trees I purchased in New Zealand were obtained last season from a leading nursery firm; but that on'their arrival they were so badly affected with woolly aphis scale and spider that they wero not planted. 1 still ha*e these trees " heeled in," and have a witness to bear ooit mv statement. Phese trees were secured for 'the sake of comparison with the imported trees, but were much inferior in quality, at a greatly enhanced price. I do not know that I have the right to publish the names of the firms in question; but to prove to Mr Green that I do not rush into print and make mis-statements, as ho alleges, I shall accept Mr Green's chak lenge and submit tho letter to a representative grower in Dunedin. Moreover, I may state that these samo letters have been seen • 9 c ' rs 8-nd. referred to in a newspaper which published comments on the increased prices. I may also state that mine, is not the first reference in the press to the increase of price by New Zealand nurserymen since tho boycott of Australian trees, as an Otago grower wrote btating his experience when he had to obtain from a local firm at a great increase in price, on account of being unable to obtain his order from Australia last season. When I ask for a price for IUO and 1000 lots and get a quotation of £5 or £6, I consider that is tho price per 1000. Mr Green carefully _ avoids characterising as untruthful that portion of my letter which mentions that freight was to be added to the price, so that if the trees were obtained from Hawke's Bay, Auckland, or Wellingl- - the effect would be to increase the cost still further. This is a thing which has never been done by Australian firms, all orders being packed and delivered free to the nearest railway station. Mr Green champions his cause as an act of justice to a large body of business men; but I ask you, Sir, if I have not an equal right, as a genuine and large fruitgrower, to defend my rishtg and those affecting thousands of other growers.—l am, etc., South 'Canterbury. Jonathan. Have you heard the good news? Colds fly before NAZOL —the ready-for-use and money-saving remedy. Keep NAZOL handy Sixty doses Is 6d.