G50 



HORTICULTURE 



May 19, 1917 



THE NURSERY TRADE AND THE 

 WAR. 



Lloyd C. Stark, vice-president of the 

 American Association of Nurserymen, 

 has been in correspondence with Sec- 

 retary Houston with reference to the 

 American Association of Nurserymen 

 rendering assistance to the government 

 in the war emergency. Secretary 

 Houston in reply urges that the press- 

 ing need at the present time is to in- 

 sure a substantial increase in the pro- 

 duction of staple non-perishable crops 

 during the present season. He says 

 that It has been suggested that many 

 of the nurserymen operate large acre- 

 ages of land on which certain crop ro- 

 tations are used between the crops of 

 nursery stock which are grown on 

 them. To the extent that corn or 

 other staple crops can be planted this 

 year, in particular, on such land in the 

 crop rotation which has for its ulti- 

 mate aim the preparation of the land 

 for a new crop of trees, it will help in 

 the food situation. 



"Those who are growing wheat, corn, 

 cotton, and other staple crops as their 

 main farm enterprise may not be able 

 to increase their usual acreage of these 

 crops to any great extent so that much 

 of the needed increase in the produc- 

 tion of these crops will doubtless be 

 realized by the smaller growers devot- 

 ing more land to them, and by farmers 

 and others who are operating land, 

 putting in substantial acreages of them 

 where they have not heretofore grown 

 these crops. In this latter connection 

 the members of the American Associa- 

 tion of Nurserymen can doubtless aid. 

 Even if they grow no more than 

 enough corn, for instance, to supply 

 their own needs where in previous 

 years they have purchased the corn 



and other grain they have fed their 

 horses, it will amount to considerable 

 in the aggregate and to that extent re- 

 lieve the draft on the general supply." 



Regarding the present conditions in 

 the nursery trade Mr. Lloyd writes to 

 HoRTicuLTUEE as follows: 



"I don't know how the conditions in 

 the East have been this year, but our 

 large orchard plantings through the 

 Central-West were better this season 

 than for a number of years. Orna- 

 mental business also good, but we don't 

 know how the war will affect that. 

 The catalog business will probably be 

 hit some. The agency or salesmen's 

 business will suffer perhaps where the 

 salesmen or agents cannot be found in 

 sufficient quantities, but where sales- 

 men are working believe they will be 

 able to do a good business. 



The labor situation, of course, is one 

 of the nurserymen's big problems. The 

 freight situation is also another prob- 

 lem, however, these like all other prob- 

 lems will be solved somehow. 



I note a tendency towards pessimism 

 in some quarters. This to my mind is 

 all dead wrong. Now is the time to be 

 conservative, of course, but pessimism 

 won't help and it will hurt a lot. There 

 are, on the contrary, many causes for 

 optimism in nursery circles. 



First and foremost the farmer who 

 buys most of the nursery products is 

 a favored son as never before; both 

 the government and the banks are 

 backing him up and the government 

 will undoubtedly supply him with 

 labor. On the other hand, the man 

 who plants ornamentals in a large way, 

 in many cases has more money than 

 ever before, and he will probably con- 

 tinue to buy. The first year will prob- 

 ably be worse than the succeeding ones 

 if Canada furnishes us a fair example. 

 In the meantime, we nurserymen must 

 do what we can to line up the agricul- 

 tural colleges, the agricultural publica- 

 tions, the Department of Agriculture, 

 etc., and get them to urge production 

 and conservation of fruit food products 

 and incidentally this will help the 

 planting if orchards." 



Visitors' Register 



Boston — Winfried Rolker, New York 

 City. Sam. Woodrow, New York City. 



Pittsburgh — E. J. Fancourt and H. 

 S. Price, repr. Pennock-Meehan Co., 

 Phila. 



Rochester, N. Y. — R. Blackshaw of 

 Randall Co., Chicago; L. D. McNeff of 

 St. Paul, Minn. 



New York — L. J. Renter, Westerly. 

 R. I.; W. R. Pierson, Cromwell, Conn.; 

 A. M. Campbell, Philadelphia. 



Philadelphia — Charles L. Schmidt, 

 Harrisburg, Pa.; C. B. Knickman, repr. 

 McHutchison & Co., N. Y. City; Alex- 

 ander Forbes. J. F. Noll Co., Newark, 

 N. J. 



Cincinnati — Mrs. G. W. Firsch, Day- 

 ton, Ohio; Fred Rupp, Laurenceberg, 

 Ind.; Jos. Hill, Richmond, Ind.; E. B. 

 Current, Lexington, Ky.; Karl Heiser, 

 Hamilton, Ohio; Julius Dilloff, New 

 York; I. Bayersdorfer, repr. H. Bayers- 

 dorfer & Co., Phila. 



Chicago — Otto Ackerman, Columbus, 

 O.; Ed. Gullett. Lincoln, 111.; David 

 Geddis, St. Louis, Mo.; A. B. Barber. 

 Cleveland, O.; V. Jensen, Lincoln, 111.; 

 J. S. Wilson, Des Moines, la.; Wm. 

 Swinbank. Sycamore, 111.; P. Hal- 

 brooke, Newark, O.; H. E. Atlas, Atlas 

 Floral Co.. Detroit. Mich. 



NIEREMBERGIAS. 



A favorite of our childhood widely 

 used in those long bygone days in vases 

 and garden and cemetery borders the 

 nierembergias after many years of ob- 

 scurity are coming back once more to 

 their own. Mixed with the common, 

 old fashioned petunia, which is also 

 worthy of being resurrected, and need- 

 ing no special advantage except plenty 

 of sun the nierembergias can be de- 

 pended upon to "make good" wherever 

 given a chance in the summer window 

 box or lawn vase. 



Memorial Day 



There is every reason to expect an unprecedented call this year for flowers for this 

 time-honored occasion, sacred to the memory of the patriots of over half a century 

 ago. Whatever you have to offer in flowers, bedding plants, greens and special 

 supplies for that date 



CAN BE WELL SOLD 



through an advertisement in this paper which has its largest circulation among 

 the trade of that section of the country where Memorial Day has its most general 

 and earnest observance. 



You'll Need All the Business You Can Get This Year, So Take Ad- 

 vantage OF THE Opportunity. 



SEND COPY FOR ISSUE OF MAY 26th 



