312 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[ October, 



rather solid kind, on castors, was made for the 

 hall, corridor, or room, where sufficient light 

 could be hiul, with lieut, of course, nothing could 

 be more suitable for their reception. It occurs 

 to me, if the rough outside bark of the cork 

 tree, Quercus suber, such as they are using in 

 Europe for rustic work, could be had, being so 

 light, yet tough and durable, it would be excel- 

 lent material with which to build a light succu- 

 lent mountain, for either plant-house or parlor. 

 And if the i)ots are hidden in dry sphagnum 

 moss, the illusion would be perfect. And what 

 a delightful time there would be if a night- 

 blooming Cereus could be coaxed into bloom, 

 and with social friends awaiting for just the 

 time and "just the hour 



When pleasure, like the midnight flower. 

 That scorns the eye of vulgar light. 

 Begins to bloom fjr sons of night. 

 And maids who love the moon." 



NURSERY CREDITS. 



BY J. M. JORDAN, ST. LOUIS, MO. 



Every one is supposed to understand why we 

 have hard times, and has a remedy for curing 

 them. I may be, therefore, excused if I say 

 that with nurserymen and florists, the trouble is 

 credit. People cannot pay their debts, and yet 

 there would be no debts if no one gave credit. 

 Under this system those who pay, have to be 

 charged for those who do not, and when there 

 is a large portion who do not pay, those who 

 give credit, as well as the borrower, go down. It 

 is seldom of use for the lender to push for his 

 own, as nursery stock does not realize ten cents 

 on the dollar at a forced sale, as I know from 

 personal knowledge. Stop the credit business. 

 Let those do business only, who can pay, then it 

 will make no difference in what shape the bal- 

 ance of trade is settled, or the sort of currency 

 used to accomplish it. 



[Mr. Jordan, of course, refers to the reckless 

 use of credit. Nurserymen and florists often 

 have stock which no one wants in the regular 

 way, and they think it is just as well, at least, to 

 sell it on time to a doubtful customer, as to 

 burn it. The doubtful customer does not pay, 

 but he becomes owner of thousands of trees 

 which, perhaps, cost a dollar to raise, — for noth- 

 ing! 



But he sells them for a quarter or a half 

 dollar, while the original raiser is still 

 selling for a dollar. The one cannot really sell, 

 to make money, for less than a dollar, but 



doubtful customer, getting them for nothing, 

 does well at half the price. So, in order to sell 

 at all, he has to come down to the prices of 

 doubtful customer, and, in the end, he cannot 

 |)ay either. Such, and similar credits, come 

 fairly under Mr. Jordan's denunciations. 



But fair, legitimate credit is a good thing, and 

 there are few nurserymen, or florists, in the trade 

 now, who have not, at some time or another, 

 profited by it.— Ed. G. M.] 



A KANSAS LETTER. 



BY H. E. VAN DEMAN, GENEVA, KAN. 



This State has been called " drouthy Kansas," 

 but it does not seem so to me. Six years expe- 

 rience in the State proves that we have no more 

 drouths here than elsewhere. This present 

 season has, so far, been very rainy. The streams 

 have overflowed their banks, and damage has 

 been done to some farms. However, crops of 

 all kinds promise well. The fruit crop is good. 



On the 5th of May last, a sharp frost thinned 

 the fruit that was set, on the cherry, peach and 

 pear trees, and blasted many of the apple 

 blooms. However, there is an abundance of all 

 kinds left for home use, at least. We did not 

 suffer near so much as the States east of us. 

 One thing I would like explained : The frost 

 caused the peach leaves, that were out on the 

 poorer seedlings at the time of the frost, to curl, 

 and the fruit on these trees to nearly all drop, 

 within a few weeks, while the better kinds, such 

 as were thought good enough to bud, were 

 almost entirely exempt. The leaves did not 

 curl, and tho fruit remains healthy. Why the 

 better kinds, that we generally thought to be 

 tender, escaped injury that the hardier ones did 

 not escape, is a mystery to us. Some one please 

 give scientific reasons, and state whether there 

 are other like examples. We had a like occur- 

 rence here two years ago. 



The horticulturists in this new State are being 

 more and more encouraged as time and experi- 

 ence develope their resources. It has become a 

 settled fact that our apples cannot be excelled. 

 The show of samples at the Centennial from 

 Kansas cannot be gainsayed. We now know 

 what will suoceed here, and if new comers will 

 examine and plant by the recommended lists of 

 our State and Local Horticultural Societies, and 

 throw aside their old Eastern notions, they will 

 save themselves many disappointments. We 



