DEFINITION OF TERMS


 Most of the terms used in the tables are self-explanatory. Those
which may need some explanation are defined below.
 Value of own plants sold--Does not include plants purchased for
immediate resale. Plants purchased and used for growing stock are
included.
 Percent of capital turnover annually--Calculated by dividing the
value of own plants sold by the total capital.
 Labor income--Calculated by subtracting total gross costs from
total gain.
 Nursery "farm income"--Labor income plus interest on investment.
This is the return to the operator for his management and capital.
 Net return--Labor income minus operator's salary.
 Return to capital--Nursery farm income minus operator's salary.
 Percent return to capital--Return to capital divided by total capi-
tal owned.


 DATA PRESENTATION



 The data in Tables 1 through 12 relate to size of business, rates
 of production, labor efficiency, efficiency in the use of capital, effi-
 ciency in the use of space, costs and returns, income, and other factors
 for nurseries classified by size or volume of sales. Various analyses
 relating to profit are shown in Tables 13, 14, and 15.
 Table 16 denotes profit indicators for nurseries which have been
 included in the study since 1968. An almost steady improvement in their
 profit picture can be seen. Most nurseries cooperating in the program
 made modest but constant progress; a few reported losses while still
 others progressed a great deal. It is not claimed that the progress
 made is due to their participation in this business analysis program.
 Actually, more than half of all the nurseries surveyed showed improve-

 ments in earnings. The study does, however, show each cooperating
 nursery how it compares with respect to each factor in the analysis.