The National Nursery^it|i, 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCKr 
Copyright, 1893, by The National Nurseryman Pubiishing Co. 
VOL. 11 . ROCHESTER, N. Y., OCTOBER, 1894. 
NATIVE AMERICAN ORNAMENTALS FOR 
AMERICANS. 
To be profitable from a wide business point of view, 
an article must be, either through its novelty or rarety 
of such “ quick” value, as to command a high (though 
generally unstable) price—each sale producing very large 
profits, or it must be of a “cosmopolitan” and stable 
nature, the paying qualities arising from a multitude of 
sales, each transaction furnishing its small quota of gain, 
the aggregate profits effecting the profitable business. The 
latter is, I believe, conceded to be practically the best 
and safest way to estimate any trade, and from a sound 
business standpoint it is the only sure way. 
Just so far as an article of commerce becomes the 
“staple” of a widely-extended patronage — be it a 
“luxury” staple or a necessary of life—just so sure, and 
to the same extent, will it contain the element of profit— 
cost of production and handling being considered. 
As with all classes of merchandise, so it is with the 
trees and plants of the nurseryman and florist, and the 
cautious plantsman is very wary of stocking up with 
plants of an unprofitable past record, or of doubtful fu¬ 
ture promise. He must be satisfied with its “ takability”, 
or he is content to let it alone. 
While a nurseryman should be in the truest sense 
an educator of his patrons, he is most decidedly too often 
merely a willing hireling., and therefore an unfaithful ser¬ 
vant, of these same customers, perhaps gaining a little 
in immediate sales thereby, but losing much in the long 
run. He notes with pleasure the insatiable desire and 
persistent call of his patron, the American plant buyer, 
for “horticultural pastry,” and is ever anxious and 
ready to supply this demand with “novelty pies,” as a 
rule of doubtful merit and worth, and often completely 
untried. No sooner does the buyer rally from the indis¬ 
position resulting from a trial of this unwholesome hor¬ 
ticultural dessert (and recuperation is astonishingly rapid) 
than, like Oliver Twist, he calls for “more,” and, un¬ 
deterred by past experience, he is ready to test the next 
expensive novelty offered, by the same dealer perhaps and 
with the identity of the article unchanged by its new and 
startling appellation. Thus proving the well known fact 
that a high price for a high-flown description is willingly 
paid for, rather than a reasonable price for the plant itself. 
What are the effects—who is at fault—where is the 
remedy to be found ? To the first question, I will only 
say here in passing, that the effects are blighting in the 
extreme to the higher development of the testhetic in 
horticulture—both as it effects the plantsman and his 
patron. That they will lower the standard of horticul¬ 
ture as a trade, and in its higher branches, such as land¬ 
scape gardening, as a profession, there is no question. 
Any profits accruing are only temporary, the plant buyer 
becoming eventually thoroughly discouraged and dis¬ 
gusted, and business integrity and bona fide business 
relations between buyer and seller being inevitably jeop¬ 
ardized. 
To the second question I answer emphatically, both 
the nurseryman and his patron are to blame. The work 
and aim of the former seeming to be to cater to the un¬ 
formed tastes of the latter, rather than to assume the 
position of “ educator.” 
But here I am assuming him to be properly qualified 
as such, though only too often he is not. Few have been 
willing to take the initiative, which would inevitably 
necessitate more or less loss to themselves, and so the work 
of raising the standard and bringing about permanent 
salutary changes has been greatly retarded^. 
It has been stated, I think justifiably, and certainly so 
in the past, that the American plant buyer is not, as a 
rule, so horticulturally intelligent as his foreign neighbors, 
but due allowance must be made for the fact that horti¬ 
culturally considered, America is yet comparatively new. 
Note the following facts : In the United States there 
are now open to the people but five public botanic gar¬ 
dens, while the little country of Belgium, less than one- 
fourth the area of North Carolina, can boast as many ; 
Austro-Hungary, smaller than Texas, has fifteen ; France, 
22 ; Germany, 35 ; Great Britain and Ireland, ii ; In¬ 
dian Empire, 9; Italy, 22; Russia, 14; and even the 
comparatively insignificant islands of New Zealand 
have three. 
To these public gardens, the everyday citizens betake 
themselves for recreation, and, unconsciously to them¬ 
selves, are led to study and admire the beauties of their 
native flora, generally disposed in generous unprejudiced 
contrast to the best examples of exotic growth. 
Agitation tending toward a national betterment in 
these lines is now in progress however, and the results 
are apparent everywhere. New public botanic gardens 
are in course of construction, and national and city parks 
are the order of the day. The protection of our forests 
is a movement claiming and receiving much attention, 
though all too inadequate at present, and the planting 
and care of private grounds also is receiving more wide¬ 
spread and intelligent study than ever before. 
