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4 The Canadian Statesman, Bowman ville, Wednesday, September 11,1991 Section Two Reflections of Yesteryear Nursery Veteran Looks Back on Years in Bowmanville Norman J. Scott was being so low was the difler- and on call as remm-pH v , Norman J. Scott was the General Manager and eventually the owner of Brookdale Kings way Nurseries from 1939 to 1959. He "retired" from B- K to become the first horticultural horticultural consultant in North America. He now resides in Stratford, Ontario Ontario and continues to take a keen interest in the happenings within the trade in which he himself vigorously participated participated for 20 years. In a 1952 article he wrote under the pseudo- nym of Frobisner J. Creel, Pierre Burton referred referred to Norm Scott as "The Gardener with the Golden Thumb". In it he said of Norm"...he has all the sales savvy of a Fuller Fuller Brush man. His impact on the trade has been both considerable and controversial. Old time nurserymen are apt to shudder at his medicine show tactics..." This is the "Fuller Brush man's" version of the nursery industry "back then". e»* 1 *; : >s : ■■ 7"" by Norm Scott What was the nursery industry industry like 50 years ago (52 to be exact for me)? The best way to relate, this situation to the reader, is to simply recall recall the happenings, the customs customs and all the aspects as ' we experienced them from 1939-1959. First let me clarify one fundamental point. The nursery nursery industry was not like it is today, especially as the industry industry is now regarded by the public. A "nursery" was a place that grew plants - not a place of buying and selling with no growing, but only straight merchandising as is commonly practiced today today under the caption of "nursery". On the other hand it must be admitted that a very considerable amount of nursery stock was imported from Europe, especially especially from Holland and Belgium. Belgium. Brookdale Kingsway was a large importer of lining lining out stock for growing on in our fields ana some resaleable resaleable stock for the retail trade. Belgium was the chief source for tree whips 5 to 8 feet high when shipped. For example we purchased thousands thousands of Norway maple whips for as low as .16(8 each F.O.B. Belgium. The laid down cost of imported stock was approximately 2- 1/2 times the cost of the original original item including freight, packing and duty. Rose bushes were purchased for as low as .08(8 each from southern Holland. Then, as now, Boskoop was the nursery nursery mecca of Holland. The reason in part for the price being so low was the difference difference in money exchange. We used to watch the money market and pay in guilders as the money market moved. Anything could be brought in earth balled and bur- lapped (B&B). Root washing was not required. The entomological entomological requirements were not what they are today. today. Sales Savvy of A Fuller Brush Man In the rose bush retail trade Woolworth stores always always had the lowest price. A fair dutch #2 hybrid tea or climbing rose bush could be purchased at Woolworth for as low as .39d each. These were strictly bare root. Some bushes lay on the counter for days with little or no protection. Wrapped and potted rose bushes were not on the market until "sales stations" or later called "Garden Centres" became became popular in the built up areas like Toronto. In Toronto, Toronto, two of .the main sales stations stations were Sheridan Nurseries Nurseries and Weall and Cullen (a little building on Sheppard Avenue) - a far cry from today's today's massive undertaking. Each year (about late April or early May) we could expect an influx of Dutch nursery salesmen soliciting orders for the following year. There were at least 15 major Dutch exporters who canvassed canvassed Canada and the U.S.A. each year. They became became a real nuisance to us after the Dutch authorities introduced the minimum price scale which permitted the Dutch nursery to sell at a higher price but not below the fixed government price. A small classified ad in the American Nurseryman magazine put me in touch with J.H.H. Jury-then the owner of "Brookdale - Kingsway". Kingsway". It was on January 2, 1939 that I arrived in Bowmanville, Bowmanville, Ontario from Columbus, Columbus, Ohio with a couple of University degrees and a previous 5 years experience in the landscape trade to take over as manager of what was at that time one of the largest nurseries in Canada. The handsome salary salary offered was $30 per week and half the net profit. What I didn't know was that in 1938 the company had an accumulated loss of $65,000 - a very large sum in those days. So nothing from nothing nothing was still nothing, but I was happy even with $30 per week which, was considered considered good remuneration in those days. Arrived in Bowmanville on January 2,1939 At the nursery office door a sign announced "No Help Wanted". A small group of men stood around hoping that there might be an opening opening because in those days if you did not work you dia not eat. We employed women to do practically all of our retail retail packing for shipping. They did a much better job than men - neater and much more meticulous - but were paid about half what men in the field received. These ladies ladies were mostly housewives and on call as required. In 1939 the going wage for the ordinary laborer was 25 cents per hour but when WWII broke out that figure immediately skyrocketed because because the depression was gone. Anyone who could carry carry a hammer became a carpenter. carpenter. Going out one morning after war was declared I thought chicken pox had hit our time card racks. Over half our staff disappeared in a few days. The nearby Town of Ajax was a farm field one month and the next month it was a very busy war supply manufacturing town. War industry located there and anyone who could even pretend to work got a job. On the other side of the coin there were no more nursery nursery imports and nurseries such as Brookdale Kingsway who had some really good plant propagators found that they could not keep up with the demand. Recognizing Recognizing this, the nursery industry industry increased wages to compete compete with industry -- and we still made a lot of money. We had to get a permit to sell nursery stock classified as "ornamental" - such as shade trees, shrubs, perennials, perennials, etc. - but could produce produce fruit trees - which we did for handsome profits - for the fruit growers in the Niagara peninsula. Horses Used to Prepare Land And Dig Stock During WWII a permit was required for almost everything you did. We had to devote a certain percentage percentage of total land area to the growing of vegetables (farm crops) in order to be able to qualify for permission to hire labor, and to get gasoline gasoline and tires for the nursery nursery in general. Each year we simply gave the vegetables vegetables (turnips and carrots) away in order to obtain labor labor for the nursery. Our previously large market market in the Maritimes dried right up because the fruit growers could no longer ship their products overseas. During_ those times busi- nesses had to make many adjustments - but they were generally profitable ones. The big problem was, and I guess it still is, to get the nursery industry out of the mud. Brookdale watched other industries and adapted adapted wherever they could. We introduced the "motorized valve" for steam and water heating systems to the nursery nursery industry for our propagation propagation greenhouses. To do this we worked with "Minneapolis "Minneapolis Honeywell" in Toronto. Toronto. In 1939 we used horses to prepare the land and dig some of the stock. The digger digger in those days was a large 30 inch blade that was pulled by horses. The blade passed under the tree roots. Horsepower soon • disappeared disappeared when we got our first tractor - a "McCormick Far- mall A". This is a midget of a tractor today but a real blessing for us in 1940 especially especially for the digging of trees shrubs. We could not purchase purchase a dual wheel tractor although we tried directly ough v with the factory in Chicago. We decided to build our own WARNING! If you're not buying from Audio-Vision you're paying too much. Bowmanville Audio-Vision 58 King St. W. Tel. 623-2312 by welding an extension onto the present axle and adding two wheels. Later we rigged up a tractor to work like a caterpillar crawler. It really had traction on or out of the mud. We could dig almost almost anything bare root. Brookdale received national recognition from McCormick for this idea. Our business expanded very quickly. The office became became equally important both for our national mail order business with the famous famous colored "Garden Guide" and our wholesale business which had penetrated penetrated into many parts of the United States - especially especially for dwarf apple trees. At one time we were told that dwarf apple trees from Brookdale comprised practically practically the complete sales of Sears Roebuck stores throughout the U.S.A. We only had Mailing #9 understock understock in those days for budding budding dwarf apple trees. This understock, grown in Washington Washington State, was shipped to Bowmanville for growing and budding and later back to the U.S.A. as saleable stock. It was a wonderful sales outlet while it lasted. When WWII ended so did our sales to the U.S.A. Business Business was a constant juggle of markets and products. Machines are Introduced to The Nursery Our first electric typewriter typewriter was not only a new experience but helped greatly. greatly. Then when we got our first dictating machine with the records that had to be shaved, we really thought we had it made. Industry was doing it - why shouldn't the nurseryman - even if he was classified as a farmer? The new "Pitney Bowes* stamp machine sure helped in the mail order business that grew very rapidly in 20 years. This all may sound archaic archaic to the present day reader but to us 50 years ago, each new labor saving device was a profitable blessing. Back then, there was no restriction restriction on the size or design of a bank cheque. Since we were really into color and since we specialized in the retail sales of rose bushes, we had a special size cheque made. It measured 2 1/2 inches by 7 inches with a huge red rose and our name prominently displayed. These cheques were printed on "chroamcoat" • • • paper which is very shiny, and each cheque during WWII had to bear a three- number excise stamp as a special war tax. Since we wanted this stamp embossed embossed on the pre-printed cheques, we had to get permission permission from Ottawa and pay the excise for all cheques before they could be printed. It created a lot of comments both good and bad but did an advertising job for us. A lot of our colour printing printing was done by "Draeger Freeres" in ' France. They printed - a coloured letterhead letterhead with a climbing rose in full natural colour down one side. This too gave additional additional publicity. When you are in the mail order business you have to take advantage of every opportunity opportunity to advertise. We were the first nursery in Canada to advertise on T.V. We took a spot space announcement announcement on CBC with Larry Henderson immediately immediately before the Don Messer show sponsored by Massey Ferguson. The slot was the Advertised on CBC Radio Nationwide trick. Many viewers thought that we were in part sponsoring sponsoring the Don Messer snow which was one of the top programs at that time. As we visited industries we watched the automatic tying machines and soon had one made to tie fruit trees and shrubs. We also had.an endless belt shrub and tree counter which in turn tied the specified number number of plants and each bun dle was passed on to the automatic automatic machine tier. Continued on Page 10 The Canadian Statesman Complete coverage of all your Community events. SPORTS • LOCAL NEWS PHOTOS-EDITORIALS • FEATURES COMPREHENSIVE CLASSIFIED and REAL ESTATE SECTION "7Vir Statesman - It's Your Comm un ity Nvuspuper" DEL MONTE FANCY VEGETABLES, Selected Varieties, Regular or No Salt Added 12 - 14-oz. tin KING'S CHOICE ORANGE JUICE Frozen, Concentrated 12-oz. tin OCEAN'S RED SOCKEYE SALMON or Solid White Tuna ®S£" IGA PLU 2393 TETLEY VALUE .30 IGA PLU 2624 COKE Ot SPRITE REGULAR OR DIET, CAFFEINE FREE DÉCORE, OR COKE CLASSIC FEATURE PRICE WITHOUT COUPON $6.99 VALUE 1.00 + .07 GST CASE OF 24 x 355 ml TINS IGA PLU 2603 VALUE .30 + .02 GST COTTONELLE BATHROOM FEATURE PRICE WITHOUT COUPON $1.29 4 ROLL PKG. LWT0MK4.H* COW* VALU MOM **, «nient now ui,sn it. mi. At mua. lot loco, n. xx*. M.mtu CHEF DOYARDEE PASTA Assorted Varieties 15-oz. tin CLASSIC ICE CREAM BLADE or Chuck SHORT RID ROASTS Cut From Canada Grade A Beef, Semi Boneless lb. 3.51 kg CHEF STYLE PRIME RID cut ROASTS From Canada Grade A Beef, 1st to 6th Ribs TOWN CLUB WIENERS DELI STYLE COOKED HAM .44 100 g JAA 499 I M M 1 ib. PASTRAMI OR i CORNED BEEF □[99 1 »>. CRUSTY DREAD CHEESE DUNS Jf CANTALOUPES Product of U.S.A., No. 1 Grade GARLIC FLAVOURED MICROWAVEADLE MUSHROOMS NEW Product of Ontario VALENCIA ORANGES Product of Swaziland, Goldland Label 199 dozen size 66's looKFonimsmoi rooos tom row urnmi Ink hr Up « mMDnk PRICES IN EFFECT FROM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 UNTIL CLOSING SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14,1991. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIMIT QUANTITIES. REDUCE ?^- USING WASTE • YOUR SHOPPING DAGS GRAHAM'S IGA MARKET 225 King St. W., Bowmanville, Ontario A À CREDIT FOR I ■IC EACH BAG ■ ■ V RE-USED. ■ STORE HOURS Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday - b a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 5% Senior Civlions' Discount - Wednesday Ctly