NURSERY STOCK

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2365, 22 January 1915, Page 6

NURSERY STOCK

; THE COST OF PRODUCTION. At the Nurserymen's Conference In the Chamber of Commerce yesterday morning, Mr. G. A. Green read a papen on "The Prices of-Nursery : Stock m Relation to Cost of Production/' There were few nurserymen, .'he said, who knew even approximately what the cost of production was. Of late years there had been some improvement, but results had not been dffected appreciably because the cost of - produotion had been continually increasing. There' was no business in' the Dominion that; returned sucli small profits on the capital invested and the wages paid as .the nursery trade, and few trades required, more knowledge and skill. The causes of this were mainly : i (1) The majority of nurserymen were by training; gardeners or landscape artist, or else amateurs who loved the hursery work, but regarded the business as a necessary •evil 5; (2) from ■ lack of commercial training-or .energy; sold their stock at auction, aUowirig; the buyer tocfis the. price. In looking for a remedy they must- first of all arrange their nurseries "eo ' that they knew the cost of production. That done, and a loss being discovered, they must either (a) increase the price t-6 the purchaser (by means of organisation); (b> reduce cost by (1) improvod machinery, (2) by cheaper land, (3) greater skillj _ (0) specialise, dropping unprofitable lines. Hie labour problem; Mr. Green said,' would always be with them, 4 Higher wages would have to be paid in the future, - but thev were .entitled to look for greater skill and must look into the question of training and examining apprentices-in a regular wav. Mr. . Green was'heartily thanked for his interesting paper.