FIRST FR UITS. 



431 



able to say with any accuracy, which are worthy of being 

 catalogued and disseminated ; while I have attended 

 many exhibitions in different parts of the country, yet I 

 have not seen this apple on exhibit, named or described 

 in any way, and it is one of the objects of my visit to Min- 

 nesota to find out, if possible, which are good. 



" The Duchess is just as valuable in the east as in the 

 west and if we can get one, or more sorts equally or 

 nearly as valuable, wc want to know as quickly as you do, 

 and I can assure any one that has such sorts to offer for 

 sale, that he will find a market in the east as well as in 

 the west." 



On the same topic Mr. Albaugh said that in central and 

 southern Ohio, out of 37 sorts of grafts obtained from 

 Prof. Budd, of Ames, Iowa, only one, the Longfield, made 

 a healthy three-year old tree ; all the others were injured 

 by winter, which did not hurt Ben Davis or the Yellow 

 Belle. He said that the Wealthy, as an August apple, 

 had, for city markets, proven profitable, as has the 

 Maiden Blush, an apple that has greatly benefitted Ohio. 

 Whether it is in the atmosphere or the moisture, the fact 

 is that outside of the Duchess, none of the Russians have 

 been a success in the valleys of southern Ohio. 



Concerning "One Good Way to Sell Nursery Stock," 

 G. L. Grant recommended that more attention be paid 

 by florists to having a fair stock of fruit trees, etc., and 

 that nurserymen should offer special inducements as to 

 rates, etc. to the trade, and thus not be so dependent on 

 their costly agents, and from whose misrepresentations 

 they often severely suffer. 



In the discussion, N. H. Albaugh said that while he 

 believed in the ability of the florists to designate to 

 planters, the best and most successful varieties of orna- 

 mental trees, plants, etc., for their several localities, yet 

 he did not have the same faith in their being able to com- 

 pete in the line of fruit trees, with the men who travel 

 directly for nursery firms, endeavoring to make sales day 

 by day to the people of the whole country, many of whom 

 the florists never come in contact with. 



Again, it is not every person who ought to plant trees 

 that is willing to go the florist and get enough horticul- 

 tural knowledge imbued into his head ; — it is hard to get 

 him to that point where he would be willing to invest in 

 trees that are necessary to protect, embellish and render 

 more valuable his home. He further believed that but few 

 florists could give sufficient attention to a retail tree busi- 

 ness to warrant any nurseryman in giving up to him any 

 county in a good fruit growing state to canvass for orders 

 for his establishment, as one good, enterprising, intelli- 

 gent tree man will sell, by far, many more goods to per- 

 sons who take no interest in the florist business. 



In Ohio, resident agents are not so efficient as are men 

 who devote their whole time to tree selling, being ener- 

 getic, upright, honest business men, who, for a fair com- 

 pensation, can make a legitimate business out of it. 

 When nurserymen have grown their trees their work is 

 not half done, as it is a serious question as to how they 

 shall sell their goods. Mr. Albaugh stated that five or six 

 plans had been tried and abandonded by them, until they 



adopted the method of giving their agents certificates that 

 made the firm legally responsible for all their agents' acts, 

 and the plan, he believes, will be a permanent success. 



Mr. Grant wished to add that he offered his idea not as 

 a substitute for the agency system, but merely as an ac- 

 cessory to it by which, he believed an opening would be 

 made for sales of some magnitude, especially in the larger 

 cities : many people had come to him and inquired where 

 they could get ornamental and other nursery stock, say- 

 ing that they had been stuck so often by agents that they 

 wanted no more to do with them. 



Mr. Harris did not believe that a genuine florist would 

 be worth a red cent to sell fruit trees, as local agents 

 should have ' ' get-up " enough in them to raise object les- 

 sons in the way of bearing trees, for people would much 

 rather see the trees than the pictures carried around by 

 traveling agents. I do not know a nurseryman that grows 

 his own stock that sells worthless trees ; it is the fellows 

 who are not nurserymen and who do not know whether 

 pumpkins grow on trees or not, that sometimes swindle 

 you, but not genuine nurserymen. 



J, H. Hale thought the suggestion a good one, as there are 

 many planters who must have the trees almost forced upon 

 them, and there are also others who have been defrauded, 

 or perhaps who partially deceived themselves by expect- 

 ing stock about twice as good as it could be made ; nur- 

 serymen who are seeking all the markets they can get 

 might make a specialty of this outlet by offering stock on 

 certain conditions. He believed from his work in the 

 canvass department, that the florists are keeping pretty 

 near the head of the procession, in the way of business, 

 it having increased to an enormous extent in the last 20 

 years. The florist has remained right in touch with the 

 people and should be able to sell considerable nursery 

 stock. 



Mr. Hill was of the opinion that a florist might make a 

 good tree salesman if he gave time and attention to the 

 matter, but any florist who has not business enough in 

 his own legitimate line at the tree selling time had better 

 retire from the florist business, as the two trades come 

 right together. 



Horticulturist Keffer, of the South Dakota Station, pre- 

 sented an outline of what was essental to the securing of a 

 field for nursery stock in the vast section of the Dakotas, 

 saying that the cry that comes forth from millions of 

 fertile windswept acres, to which each passing year adds 

 volume, is to the nurseryman, " Come over and help us ; 

 our farms would be profitable if they were tree pro- 

 tected ; our homes would be beautiful if ornamented by 

 your wares ; our lives bearable if sheltered by your coni- 

 fers ; our stomachs would rejoice in the products of your 

 orchards. " 



The Northwest needs the spread of sound horticul- 

 tural gospel and hardy horticultural stock, but before a 

 profitable trade can be had in the prairie region, cli- 

 matic conditions must be modified by universal grove 

 planting. The winds must be conquered before orchard 

 fruits can be, to any extent, grown. Western nursery- 

 men realize this, and the farmers recognize its import- 



