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THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
The National N urseryman. 
C L. YATES, Proprietor. RALPH T. OLCOTT. Editor. 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., 
305 Cox Building, Rochester, N. Y. 
The only trade journal issued for Growers and Dealers in Nursery Stock of 
all kinds. It circulates throughout the United States and Canada. 
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 
One Year, in advance, _____ $1,00 
Six Months, _______ .75 
Foreign Subscriptions, in advance, ' - - - 1.50 
Six Months, “ “ _ _ _ 1.00 
Advertising rates will be sent upon application. Advertisements 
should reach this office by the 20th of the month previous to the date of 
issue. 
Payment in advance required for foreign advertisements. 
Correspondence from all points and articles of interest to nursery¬ 
men and horticulturists are cordially solicited. 
Entered in the Post-Office at Rochester, N. Y., as second-class matter. 
Rochester, N. Y., January, 1895. 
TWO YEYRS OLD. 
With this issue The National Nurseryman com¬ 
pletes the second year of its existence. Like all things 
which are appreciated, it has had to make its own way in 
the face of difficulties. Two years ago the nurserymen 
of the country were without a trade journal devoted ex¬ 
clusively to their interests. They were beginning to feel 
the need of one, and when The NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
appeared, it was warmly welcomed by the more progres¬ 
sive members of the trade. But to many the idea of a 
representative trade paper published in the interests of 
all nurserymen and not for the furtherance of one man or 
one firm, was so new, so at variance with what had been 
attempted now and then by an over-zealous advertiser of 
a special line, that they refused for a time to believe that 
this was not a repetition of such a scheme. But those 
very persons have been forced to admit that no trade has 
a better exponent than their own. There are still in cir¬ 
culation one or more publications purporting to be jour¬ 
nals, but if the most casual reader did not discern the 
difference at a glance, the postage stamps required to 
carry them would show that the government refuses to 
transmit them in the mails, unless fully prepaid in the 
manner prescribed for all private advertising devices. 
The National Nurseryman has ever been modest 
in advancing its claims to recognition. Its publishers have 
preferred to let the journal speak for itself, and that it has 
done so in no uncertain tone is evidenced by its advertis¬ 
ing columns, which have contained from the start the an¬ 
nouncements of nearly all the leading firms in the country. 
Hundreds of letters attest the popularity and value of its 
news columns. It has the confidence and the endorse¬ 
ment of the men who are the acknowledged leaders in the 
trade as well as those who have but recently entered it. 
The opening of a new year and the anniversary of the 
journal are perhaps sufficient excuse for this reference. 
It is with confidence in the benefits to be derived that we 
urge all who have not subscribed or who have not re¬ 
newed their subscriptions, to lose no time in securing for 
the coming year a journal which the publishers promise 
to increase in value, and which will prove not merely a 
means of entertainment, but a sound business help. 
NATIONAL IRRIGATION MOVEMENT. 
One of the most important movements of the time 
from a nurseryman’s standpoint as well as from that of 
many others, is the undertaking of the National Irriga¬ 
tion Congress. The irrigation movement in the United 
States has attained the dignity of a national question. 
Fred. L. Alles, secretary of the National Irrigation Con¬ 
gress in a recent address said : “ The public lands of the 
United States, fit for cultivation under ordinary condi¬ 
tions, have been exhausted. In their eagerness to obtain 
homes upon government lands thousands of men have 
taken up homestead claims upon the semi-arid acres of. 
Western Kansas and Nebraska, and in portions of the 
Dakotas, and for many years have been waging a steady 
fight with droughts and hot winds, always with the result 
that in the end they are driven from these lands, often 
penniless, and turned out with their families to attempt 
to seek new homes further west. In the United States 
there are to-day about 1,200,000,000 acres of arid and 
semi-arid lands, of which about 500,000,000 acres remain 
in the hands of the general government, the balance be¬ 
ing the property of corporations, railroads, private indi¬ 
viduals and the several states. Of this 500,000,000 acres 
it is estimated that about 20 per cent.—or 100,000,000 
acres—can be reclaimed and made fit for human habita¬ 
tion and the support of many millions of people. How 
best to reclaim these now worthless lands by placing upon 
them the now wasting waters of the mountains of the 
West, and, after reclamation, to place upon them the 
thousands upon thousands of homeless families now liv¬ 
ing in the congested population centers of the East, is 
the problem with which the National Irrigation Congress 
is attempting to deal.” 
When the results of the efforts of the congress shall 
have been felt, one of the first subjects to which those 
who shall occupy reclaimed lands will turn their atten¬ 
tion, will be the purchase of large quantities of nursery 
stock. Therefore the operations of the irrigation con¬ 
gress will be watched with a friendly interest by nursery, 
men generally. 
The first National Irrigation Congress met in Salt Lake 
City in September, 1891, and considered only one side of 
the question ; the cession of the arid land to the states 
with the idea that if that were done the various legis¬ 
latures would provide for the necessary irrigation. Be¬ 
yond the agitation of the question little resulted from the 
