INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 243 



As nurserymen propagate and train their stock in about tlie same man- 

 ner and with the precautions spolieu of before, let me repeat that it is 

 not necessary to worry very much about buying nursery stocli. Only buy 

 of a responsible nurseryman. Plant and cultivate them right. It might 

 be well to see that your stock has not been injured by the winter, which 

 you can tell by the bark, which, if injured, will be dark and discolored. 

 I have trees of bearing age, both budded and grafted. I can see no 

 difference in their fruitfulness and healthfulness. 



In conclusion let me impress on you the necessity of good care and 

 cultivation after planting. 



President Stevens: Mr. Willard Barr is next. 



THE SELECTION AND CARE OF NURSERY STOCK. 



BY WILLARD BARR, LAWRENCEVILLE, ILL. 



The practical orchardist deals largely in futures. In our calling a 

 mistake is not easily corrected, and its consequences are often fatal. 

 When we select the young trees, our selection, for better or for worse, is 

 hnal. 



The traveling fruit tree agent is not a factor in the problem at all. 

 The man who seriously contemplates paying an unnecessary profit to an 

 unreliable party is not adapted to fruit gi'owing. I am a firm friend of the 

 local nurseryman— that is, the nurseryman whom you know or whose re- 

 liability you can ascertain, and whose customers can be easily visited 

 and interviewed. The larger firms whose location is at some distant 

 point and whose allui-ing descriptions and extravagant claims are spread 

 upon the pages of fancy catalogues may ship you fancy trees, but whether 

 they do so or not rests solely in their hands. This should be in your 

 hands, and in youi's alone. The fruit gi-ower should see his trees digged, 

 packed and shipped, and while giving minutes to the contemplation of 

 the price, should give hours to a study of the quality. The so-called "bar- 

 gain list" is deadly. 



The fittest survives. If Ave find a pest, either fungous or insect, at- 

 tacking our orchards, we invariably find its starting point to be the 

 weakest tree or trees. Poor nursery stock means many resets, and resets 

 rarely do well, receiving, as they do, cultivation and treatment adapted 

 to trees one, two or three years older. Good quality is a better guarantee 

 than any State inspection certificate. And in the matter of yield alone, 

 the cent saved in the nursery bill means the dollar lost in the crop re- 

 turns. 



