30 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
to fill orders for from lOO to i,ooo well-prepared trees 
for street and avenue planting at three, four and five 
dollars apiece and with satisfaction to the buyer. People 
who do not understand the necessity for growing trees for 
special purposes should be informed of the care and ex¬ 
pense required. Our forests are rapidly being devastated. 
In the great Cumberland mountain region the forest trees 
may be seen at their best. The hardwood forests of the 
valleys and table-lands of the Cumberland mountains 
extend over an area of 4,000 square miles with a stand of 
timber running from 6,000 to 14,000 feet, board measure, 
to the acre. The lumber produced in 1885 from Oak 
and Tulip trees by 805 sawmills was valued at $4,889,- 
196. Nashville is the great hardwood market of the 
state. The Black Walnut, Ash, Tulip, Elm and Maple 
received in that market in 1887 amounted to 300,000,000 
feet, and the amount shipped in that year was valued at 
$80,000,000. 
The magnificent trees on the avenues of the great 
European capitals show what may be accomplished here 
with our own native forest trees in the course of time, if 
proper selections are made at the start. One of the finest 
blocks of young Tulip trees I have ever seen was in the 
nurseries of the Frost Brothers, in this city. These gentle¬ 
men understand their value as an avenue tree. Another 
case in point is that of Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, who 
in 1848 procured seeds of the big trees of California and 
raised a large number of young trees. As they could not 
find a ready market for them here the most of them were 
sent to nurserymen in England and France who sold 
them to owners of fine estates. Those which were re¬ 
tained are growing in the nursery in this city. As fine 
specimens can not be seen outside of California. In 
California the tree was simply called the big tree; in Eng¬ 
land it was called the Wellingtonia Gigantea and in this 
country for a time it was known as the Washingtonia. 
Finally it was named Sequoia Gigantea, after the Chero¬ 
kee chief. Sequoia. In 1853 Mr. Lobb, a British 
collector, sent some specimens from California to England, 
but the Mt. Hope nursery trees in this city antedate them 
by about five years. William Webster, 
Rochester N. Y. Landscape Architect. 
In this country there is no netting manufactured for 
the covering of cherry and like trees as a protection 
against birds and insects. In Europe they manufacture 
a netting for this special • purpose, and manufacture it 
v'er}^ cheaply. The Iowa station the past year imported 
1,500 square yards of this English netting, which cost in 
that country only one cent per square yard. That was 
the factory price, and the cost of transportation was one- 
half cent more per square yard. That netting is very 
durable and will be used at the station grounds over 
grape-vines and many other kinds of fruits. The netting 
is made with different sized meshes. 
THE OUTLOOK IN ILLINOIS. 
Orchard culture must supplant wheat growing in 
MANY SECTIONS—Twice as much fruit should be used 
IN HOME MARKETS AS THEY NOW DEMAND—ADVANTAGES 
OP MODERN CULTURE—A GOOD CROP PROMISED WITH A 
FAVORABLE SPRING. 
Secretary A. C. Hammond of the Illinois Horticultural 
Society in a recent address before the Warsaw Society 
said: “We are often asked by farmers and others inter¬ 
ested in fruit culture: ‘ Is it wise in view of the experience 
of the last decade to plant orchards either for profit or 
family use ’ ‘ Can I not, ’ sometimes asks the discouraged 
farmer, ‘ ‘ supply my family with fruit grown in a 
more favored land cheaper than I can grow it in this 
climate of such extremes of heat and cold.^” “While it is 
true that cold, droughts, insects and fungi sometimes de¬ 
stroy the crop and injure the trees, it is equally true 
that we can grow an ample supply for the family nine 
years out ot ten, and it is none the less true that if it is 
not grown on the farm the family will not have it to use. 
To illustrate this, let me ask how many members of this 
society have used one-tenth as many apples this winter 
as they would have done if they had had the usual supply 
of home grown fruit in their cellars ? It is well to bear 
in mind that these failures are not confined alone to fruit 
growing. Some 30 years ago a drought cut off the hay 
crop and burned up the pastures. A few years later a 
frost about the 20th of August destroyed the corn crop, 
and even if regular crops were assured I think all will agree 
with me when I say that the grower suffers a loss of 20 
cents on every bushel sold at the present prices.” ‘But,’ 
says the farmer, ‘ this depression is only temporary, and 
the usual prices will soon prevail again.’ “ This proposi¬ 
tion may be fairly questioned. The great Northwest, 
with its cheap lands and fields of thousands of acres, 
where the cultivation, harvesting and threshing can be 
done cheaply, is pouring into the markets of the world 
a mighty stream, while the distant Orient, Egypt, India 
and the islands of the sea, with their pauper labor, can 
produce, and by means of the Suez Canal and the im¬ 
proved means of transportation, lay down this staple in 
the markets of Europe cheaper than we can. If it is a 
fact that we are losing our place among the wheat grow¬ 
ing sections of the world, and I think it will scarcely be 
questioned, I know of no industry that will so well take 
its place as growing orchard fruits. 
“At least twice as many apples, pears, peaches and 
plums should be used in the home markets as they now 
demand, and with refrigerator cars, cold storage ships 
and rapid transit these fruits can be shipped to the ends 
of the earth. This, in connection with the various 
methods of evaporating, canning, preserving and the im¬ 
proved methods of manufacturing jellies, fruits, juices, 
cider and vinegar, will always insure a market. The 
young horticulturist of to-day may and should profit 
