474 STATE HORTICULTURAL. SOCIETY. 



catalogues, and in return receive their orders by mail, when stock is 

 shipped direct to planters by mail, freight, or express. There are other 

 and still larger nurseries that produce stock by the hundreds of acres and 

 cater to the wholesale trade by issuing trade catalogues only to other 

 nurserymen, extensive planters, and to nursery agents and dealers, who 

 are their best customers. Some of these nurseries are upward of 1,000 

 acres in extent, and their products are shipped in car-load lots, and in the 

 busy season almost by train loads. Still another class of nurserymen pro- 

 duce a general assortment of stock and sell direct to planters through the 

 solicitation of traveling salesmen, who canvass from house to house and 

 from farm to farm and succeed in selling millions of trees and plants, 

 mostly to persons who would not take the trouble to visit a nursery or 

 send for a catalogue and order direct from the nursery. Thousands of 

 trees are now growing in what would otherwise have been waste places had 

 it not been for these missionaries of horticulture. 



The table showing the date of establishment and the columns in the 

 various tables of production [omitted here] indicating the per cent of 

 increase clearly prove the steady growth of the nursery industry. While 

 a few eastern states show a slight falling off in the production of some 

 kinds of nursery stock. Vermont is the only state to show a falling off in 

 all lines of production. Maine also shows a considerable decrease in sev- 

 eral lines. Florida shows a decrease in orange tree production, brought 

 about by the discouragement of planters by the hard freeze of 1886; but 

 with these few exceptions the increased production is from 15 to 300 per 

 cent, being greatest in the states of the North Central division and on the 

 Pacific coast. With this greatly increased production has come about a 

 considerable decrease in the selling price, so that while the nurserymen 

 appear to be prosperous financially, greater knowledge in the art of pro- 

 duction and better methods of culture enable them to produce better stock 

 at less cost, conditions all favorable to the planter and not in the least 

 discouraging to the nurseryman who understands his business. 



At first thought it would seem that the annual production of all these 

 millions of trees and plants would soon overstock the country, but it is a 

 sad fact to contemplate that damage in transit and climatic conditions, 

 coupled with the carelessness of many planters, result in killing nearly 

 one half the plants and trees sent out each year, and further neglect 

 results in the loss of one half of those remaining before the end of the 

 third year; and it has been estimated by some horticulturists that of all 

 the trees set out not more than 1 in 20 ever comes to full fruiting. This is 

 not so much on account of soil and climatic conditions as from ign©rance 

 and carelessness of the average planters, for skilled orchardists have little 

 trouble in bringing 90 per cent of all trees planted into full fruitage. 

 This loss of trees, coupled with the steady growth of the country and the 

 increased taste in horticultural matters, must of necessity cause the 

 demand for nursery products to be even greater in the future than in the 

 past. Twenty years ago a fruit orchard 50 acres in extent was considered 

 a wonder; now in nearly every state apple, pear, and peach orchards of 

 100, 200, and 300 acres are being planted, while in Georgia and California 

 there are many peach orchards of 1,000 or more acres each. The greatest 

 and most steady demand, however, will ever continue to be for plants and 

 trees for the home ground and the fruit garden. The latter, a luxury a 

 few years ago, is fast becoming a recognized necessity, and as greater 

 attention is being given it each year it can not fail to help the nursery 

 trade, and so it is expected to grow and prosper even more in the future 

 than in the past. 



