616 



HORTICULTUBE 



October 31, 1914 



WHY NOT GROW SEEDLING STOCK ON THE 



PACIFIC COAST 



A paper read by E. Benard before the California Association of Nurserymen at San Diego, October 16, 1914. 



I had the privilege to be born at Or- 

 leans, France. Angers and Orleans are 

 the centers of production of the larg- 

 est quantities of seedling stock that is 

 distributed throughout the whole 

 world. 



First of all, is the selection of the 

 land well adapted and suited for the 

 propagation of such stock. The fol- 

 lowing are the conditions where the 

 many nurseries of Orleans are located: 

 a fine deep, well drained sandy loam 

 or light clay soil, friable, retaining 

 the moisture and free from alkali. 

 They are situated along the former 

 stream bottoms of the Loire River, 

 which has a moist atmosphere most 

 of the year, and the thermometer does 

 not raise above 90 degrees in the sum- 

 mer months, nor fall below 20 degrees 

 Farh't during the winter. Such a spot 

 could be easily selected in California 

 or in some parts of Oregon. 



Many of the tree seeds and ornament- 

 al shrubs, native of the United States, 

 and principally from California, are 

 gathered and forwarded every year to 

 Europe to be propagated according to 

 the species, and later distributed as 

 staple nursery stock, from there to all 

 the world. 



Second, The Seeds: As to pears and 

 apples — they are a by-product of the 

 cider press. They are selected from 

 districts where the pears are hardy 

 and exclusively free from blight. Many 

 of these trees have been producing 

 seeds of high germinating quality for a 

 half a century or more. The apple 

 seeds being also a by-product of the 

 cider press, are taken from very old 

 trees, which have been free from 

 woolly aphis and curculio. The plum, 

 "Prunus sativa" and Mazzard cherry 

 seeds are gathered from trees gener- 

 ally growing along the draining 

 ditches. After becoming separated 

 from the pulp, the seeds are dried and 

 sold fresh, to the nurserymen. The 

 Mahaleb and Myrobolan seeds are har- 

 vested from the woods and sold fresh 

 to the grower. As soon as these seeds 

 are received they are mixed with 

 coarse moist sand, put into protected 

 cellars, free from frost, to remain 

 there to stratify; about in the same 

 manner as we do with the peach, apri- 

 cot, almond, walnut and others in this 

 country. 



I will try to explain to you how the 

 pear stock of superior quality, called 

 French pear, are treated. After the 

 late frosts are over, the seeds are 

 sown in specially prepared beds, made 

 of very friable soil mixed with sand. 

 When sprouted and as soon as the first 



leaves appear, they are transplanted as 

 cotyledons, about 2 inches apart, in 

 rows 6 to 8 inches apart. This oper- 

 ation insures three or four small root- 

 lets a few inches under the collar. 

 This transplanting is performed by 

 men who are paid by piece price, many 

 handling six to eight thousand, good 

 stand, per day. These seedlings are 

 kept clean from weeds during the 

 whole season and watered quite freely 

 during their growing stage. Many 

 other seedling stocks are treated in 

 the same manner. By this method, 

 stock of superior quality are produced. 



After the seeds of the plum, cherry, 

 Maraleb and Myrobolan have been suf- 

 ficiently stratified or sprouted, they 

 are planted in small trenches, 2 

 or 3 inches deep (mostly done by 

 hand), about 10 inches to 1 foot apart, 

 covered over and mulched. They are 

 to be kept well cultivated by hoe or. 

 better still, by some Planet Jr. hand 

 cultivator. Other seeds are treated ac- 

 cording to their habits. 



As to Manetti stock, which are pro- 

 pagated in large quantities every year, 

 are made into cuttings of uniform cali- 

 ber, about 6 inches long. All tlie eyes 

 are cut out except the two or three to 

 be left above the ground; this is done 

 to avoid suckering. They are put into 

 small bundles, heeled in coarse sand, 

 and left there until they are calloused. 

 .•\fter being calloused they are planted 

 in about the same manner as that of 

 the pear stock. The Angers quince 

 stock. Paradise and Doucin Apple are 

 propagated from mother roots, which 

 have been previously planted 4 feet 

 apart each way. in nursery rows. 

 When old enough, say 3 or 4 years, 

 they can produce young shoots of new 

 wood of caliber size. They are in- 

 duced to make new rootlets at the 

 base by the manipulation of the soil 

 during the fall, as we do with potatoes 

 in this country. What has been said 

 about the fruit tree seedlings could be 

 applied to all the coniferous and or- 

 namental nursery stock needed by the 

 trade in this country, which at present 

 are imported exclusively from Europe. 



The workingraen of these nurseries 

 are generally divided into crews, which 

 work in their respective departments, 

 such as seedling conifers, forest trees, 

 cuttings, grafting, transplanting, orna- 

 mental, roses, etc. Each man gener- 

 ally remains in the same department 

 several years until he is an efficient 

 workman. 



When the shipping season is close 

 at hand and the first frost has re- 

 moved the leaves, each special variety 

 of stock is dug separately and graded 

 according to caliber, tied in uniform 

 packages of one hundred and put in 

 protected sheds or cellars to pass a 

 sort of sweating process before they 

 are ready to be packed for shipment. 

 The motto of Orleans is. "Full count 

 and uniform caliber." 



Xow. that is the way in which the 

 many millions of seedling nursery 

 stock are produced in that district and 

 sold by the exporting firms, who are 

 producers, jobbers and distributing 



agents of such stock, and why they are 

 financially successful. The firm or 

 "Etablissement" gives the opportunity 

 to their employees to co-operate in the 

 welfare of the firm on the following 

 principles: Every year the master 

 gives his employees the opportunity to 

 raise some stock and many times fur- 

 nishes the seed or stock at cost price, 

 and then buys from them all they can 

 produce of a standard quality and uni- 

 form size, at a stated price correspond- 

 ing with the selling quotations. In 

 this way they retain in their service 

 many efficient workmen, who produce 

 at home in their spare hours an 

 amount of stock which equals their 

 wages and often times over. As you 

 can readily see. they encourage their 

 employees to make good wages, by 

 buying every season all they can pro- 

 duce of a standard variety of trees, of 

 whif h they are experts. Many of these 

 men remain ten, fifteen and often 

 twenty years with the same firm. The 

 distributing firms of Orleans have be- 

 tween themselves a sort of "clearing 

 house" co-operating so as not to over- 

 produce certain stock staples and to 

 maintain a remunerative selling price 

 for the same. 



I have here given you some points 

 as to how it is done in France, and I 

 do not see why we could not duplicate 

 this important industry on the Pacific 

 coast and by our improved methods of 

 cultivation and irrigation, produce an 

 equally good quality of all the seed- 

 lings, cuttings, young grafts of seed- 

 ling stock mostly demanded on this 

 continent, which are imported every 

 year from Europe, and that could be 

 sold at a living selling price here. 

 With this inducement all the nursery- 

 men of the Atlantic coast, as well as 

 those of the Pacific shores, could co- 

 operate and buy their needs on this 

 coast. By doing this, we could retain 

 in the United States, millions of dol- 

 lars which are sent abroad every year 

 to purchase seedling nursery stock. 

 Therefore, we could create an industry 

 which would prove a bonanza for this 

 coast. 



The Panama canal being open to 

 commerce, our facilities for transpor- 

 tation put us as close to our Eastern 

 states as the producing centers of 

 Europe where we are at present com- 

 pelled to purchase. To make this 

 business a financial success we must 

 follow their principle and. as stated be- 

 fore, avoid over-production, as the 

 stock unsold costs as much to produce 

 as that which is disposed of. I hone 

 that in the very near future the Pacific 

 coast states will be made the "Mecca" 

 of the seedling nursery stock pro- 

 ducers and distributors of the United 

 States. 



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