THE STORKS HARRISON NURSERIES. 



37 



past service, they are spirited away by those who have 

 the care of such things, where the women I am clerking 

 for rule the roost. 



" Road-making," said Lady Schnipticket, " is the es- 

 sential part of the world's gardening now, and every time 

 I see a pair of Christian horses whipped to start a load 



of sinners on little car-wheels over a greasy track, I 

 wonder our pulpits don't preach how we have fallen 

 from the garden, and that our schools don't teach how 

 we fail in road-making for the next ten years." At this 

 sentiment Parson Camperdown raised his eyebrows a 

 trifle, but said " Amen !" 



"Y 



THE STORES & HARRISON NURSERIES. 



E MAY be aye stickiii' in a tree, 

 Jock ; it will be growin' when ye're 

 sleepin," was the excellent counsel 

 of the old Laird of Dumbiedikes. 

 To the fact that this admonition 

 has been so universally heeded, and that men are 

 everywhere engaged in ' ' stickin' in trees, " is due the 

 other fact that great establishments have been built 

 up for the purpose of supplying the trees which are 

 to be "stuck in." I had nearly said that these 

 establishments have sprung up, but that would 

 convey a false impression, as a nursery is not a 

 mushroom growth. It is a work of time and of 

 evolution through the successive stages of experi- 

 ment and experience. But when success is 



trees, fruit trees and plants which long experience has 

 taught may be called for by patrons. Besides provid- 

 ing for this varied demand, the nurseryman must be an 

 educator of the public, continually on the alert to dis- 

 cover and bring to notice valuable nov- 

 elties in the various branches of horti- 

 culture. He must also be ready to 

 humor the constant and rapid changes 

 in sentiment which make one plant the 

 fashion to-day and another to-morrow. 

 These changes are often the source of 

 considerable loss, as when the nursery 

 is just ready to fully meet a 

 certain demand the demand fe^T;;~^ j'^r, 

 may suddenly cease. In 

 driving about the grounds 

 of the Painesville nurseries. 



reached, it should compensate for all failures and 

 discouragements, not only from a financial point of 

 view, but from the knowledge as well that the en- 

 terprise is one which is far reaching in its conse- 

 quences for good to mankind. 



The nurseries which we have taken for the subject of 

 this sketch have been built up by thirty-five years of un- 

 ceasing care and labor on the part of the senior mem- 

 bers — Messrs. Storrs and Harrison — of the corporation 

 which bears their name, at Painesville, Ohio. 



From a very modest beginning, the establishment has 

 grown to the extent that it requires now some seven 

 hundred acres of land to accommodate its various 

 branches. Most of this is closely covered with great 

 " blocks " of trees, shrubs, fruit, plants, etc. , embrac- 

 ing almost every variety of shade and ornamental 



Fig. I. Greenhouses, Packing Grounds, Etc. 



my attention was called to an instance of this kind of 

 popularity. To meet a sudden demand, a block of 

 25,000 Carolina poplars is being grown. These are 

 rapidly taking a leading place as shade trees, fully 

 usurping the place of the Lombardy poplar and taking 

 close rank after the Norway and silver maples, which 

 in turn have taken precedence of our common native 

 varieties. The Norway maple probably leads all others 

 now as a popular shade tree, and the nurseries count 

 upon a regular and constant demand for it, and prepare 

 accordingly. With its broad, dark green foliage and 

 dense, compact habit of growth, it certainly merits all 

 its popularity ; only in the autumn I am inclined to 

 think it does not lend quite so much brilliancy to our 

 streets and grounds as we have been accustomed to with 

 the other varieties. The growing demand for dwarf 

 instead of standard pears affords another instance of 



