Christmas tree cultivation tractors, and shaper sheers. Mechanized planters, at a cost of about US$4,000, are not essential but a work-saving luxury for farmers. Farmers can purchase seedlings, the lifeblood of a Christmas tree farm, from nurseries. One farmer in Oregon purchased seedlings for between US$200–300 per 1,000 plants. The farmer, a wholesaler, sold his final products for about $20 each; after the cost of the trees and other expenses, a profit of $2–3 per tree. The best-selling species in the North American market are Scots pine, Douglas-fir, noble fir, balsam fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, and eastern white pine, although other types
Douglas Fraser to 1984. He had pressed for automobile manufacturers to put UAW members on their boards in 1976. He was the first labor leader to sit on the board of directors of an important American company. Fraser negotiated another round of concessionary contracts in 1982. The early 1980s recession hit the Ford Motor Company particularly hard. To help save the company, Fraser negotiated significant wage and benefit cuts. The same wage concessions were given to General Motors, as Fraser sought to keep wages uniform across the industry to avoid giving one company a cost advantage over another. Some deeply criticized Fraser's