CHAPTER XII 



THE NURSERY AN EXAMPLE OF INTENSIVE 

 CROP PRODUCTION 



THE nursery business like the seed busi- 

 ness has become commercialized. It is 

 now carried on on a large scale by com- 

 petent business managers and has very largely 

 been reduced to a process of plant manufactur- 

 ing. Because fruit and ornamental plants lend 

 themselves to rapid multiplication on an exten- 

 sive scale the intensive industry now recognized 

 has been made possible. 



Peach pits planted in the autumn will have 

 by the following July produced plants large 

 enough to bud with the desired sorts. The 

 work of budding can be done rapidly and still 

 secure a large percentage of successes. This 

 makes it possible to produce plants true to va- 

 riety in immense numbers. Hundreds of thou- 

 sands are annually grown by some of the large 

 nursery firms. These small plants do not de- 

 mand a great deal of space. They are usually 

 planted in rows three and one-half to four feet 

 no 



