NURSERIES 



NURSERIES 



483 



must be supplied in liberal quantities. Moss, excel- 

 sior, straw, and shavings are used for packing. 



The storage and work rooms may be built at a 

 cost of $1,500 and upwards, depending on the 

 volume of business contemplated. Small office room 

 may be secured by cutting off part of the work 

 room, or in a separate building, the expense being 

 governed by circumstances. 



In addition to the above, provision has to be 

 made for the nursery-stock or seed that is to be 

 planted and grown. This will be governed entirely 

 by the nature of the business contemplated, loca- 

 tion and other factors, and must be considered 

 separately for each individual case. One can very 

 soon succeed in investing $5,000 or $10,000 in the 

 nursery business, and then find that he has not 

 very much of a nursery. Yet there are many large 

 nurseries that were started on much less cash capi- 

 tal than this, but which, with good judgment, en- 

 ergy and grit, soon found the capital to enlarge 

 and extend the business as circumstances war- 

 ranted. 



Organization of a Commercial Nursery Business. 



By M. McDonald. 



The purpose of this article is to show the proper 

 distribution of capital to equip, operate and main- 

 tain a nursery to cover 200 acres of land, to be 

 planted complete in three years, starting with a 

 capital of $50,000. In the organization of a com- 

 mercial nursery of such size, sufficient capital 

 should be provided to plant 140 acres and operate 

 the growing department for the first two years, or 

 during its non-productive period, and also to erect 

 suitable packing, storage and office buildings ; and, 

 after the first year, to establish and operate a 

 complete sales department. 



After organization has been eflfected and capital 

 provided, if an incorporated company, the stock- 

 holders meet and elect directors, who in turn elect 

 officers whose business it is, with the advice of the 

 directors, to arrange the permanent plans and 

 business organization of the company. Usually, in 

 case of a corporation, a general manager is ap- 

 pointed, ivho may be one of the officers or directors 

 or may be chosen from outside because of personal 

 fitness for the work in hand. Again, the directors 

 may act as an advisory board or executive com- 

 mittee, resting the responsibility from the differ- 

 ent departments directly on themselves, and direct- 

 ing the affairs of the company without the assist- 

 ance of a general manager ; or, in case of an 

 individual owner, he may himself assume the posi- 

 tion of general manager and direct the work of 

 the different departments, receiving the reports 

 from the heads of each division. 



Whether it be general manager, advisory board, 

 executive committee or individual owner on whom 

 devolves the responsibility of the working organi- 

 zation, such person, or persons, must be thoroughly 

 conversant with the intricacies and have a practi- 

 cal knowledge of all details of the nursery busi- 

 ness in both field and office, so that he may econo- 

 mize time and lessen cost without detracting from 



the efficiency of the forces under him or lower the 

 standard of quality of the article produced. 



The man on whom rests the responsibilty of the 

 management of a commercial nursery should be a 

 general in every sense of the word. It has been 

 well said, " To the active participant, the commer- 

 cial battles on the field of modern business are no 

 less picturesque than the struggles for military 

 supremacy. The powers of command, the routes of 

 authority, the training and distribution of men in 

 the field of action and the regulation of the forces, 

 may not improperly be compared to those of an 

 army." 



The nursery farm now under consideration is 

 presumed to have the entire acreage planted in 

 three years. The seventy acres set aside for the 

 first year's planting should include a complete line 

 of nursery products that will thrive in the section 

 in which the nursery is located, containing fruit 

 trees, seedlings to be budded or grafted later of 

 all the varieties desired to be propagated, together 

 with a full line of ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, 

 roses, and the like. This first planting should be 

 duplicated the second year, leaving sixty acres to 

 be planted the third year to complete the two hun- 

 dred. The reason why it is not necessary to plant 

 so large an acreage the third year as the first and 

 second, is because of the slower-growing kinds, 

 especially in ornamental trees and shrubs, as these 

 classes contain many kinds that are carried in 

 stock for a number of years, while the fruit-tree 

 stock is disposed of in two or three years. The 

 surplus shown in the stock book at the end of the 

 second year will indicate the classes and varieties 

 left over after the first year's sales, and will be 

 the guide for the third year's planting. 



The field men organization. 



Organization of the nursery forces should be 

 effected at the very inception of the business, and 

 a correct system of daily and weekly reports in- 

 stalled, so that the cost of any given class of trees 

 and plants may be arrived at by the management 

 at any time. The highest standard of grade, thrift 

 and health, produced at the least possible cost, 

 should always be aimed at ; this can be accom- 

 plished only by a close check on labor employed at 

 all times. 



Superintendent of nurseries. — Second in authority 

 and reporting directly to the general manager 

 should be the superintendent, who necessarily must 

 have a practical knowledge of all the details con- 

 nected with the growing department of a commer- 

 cial nursery. He should be selected for his wide 

 experience in the business, together with his 

 ability to manage men and direct the forces in the 

 field. 



Division foremen. — Under the superintendent 

 are the field foremen, whose business is to take 

 charge of and direct the men from day to day in 

 the field work. In any well-regulated commercial 

 nursery, there should be at least three foremen 

 who are responsible for the amount and kind of 

 work done in their departments. First would be 

 the foreman in charge of the cultivating depart- 



