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THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
White Imperial, as a white, by reason of their excellent 
quality, should be found in every family garden. 
“In like manner we could go through the whole cata¬ 
logued list of fruits making selections here and there 
which., when compiled into an orchard list, we believe 
would constitute a collection from which the commercial 
orchardist could figure with a tolerable degree of cer¬ 
tainty as to his future possibilities in fruitgrowing. Is 
this not a practical work for a fruit man of Michigan, 
thus to compile a list of valuable orchard sorts that can 
be referred to by future planters as thoroughly adapted 
to the purposes sought ? Sure it is that new interest is 
being awakened on this and kindred subjects connected 
with fruitgrowing, and with a soil, climate, facilities, and 
markets unsurpassed, abundantly accessible, we can but 
feel that a field is open and ready for a rich harvest to all 
whose inclination and taste fit th em to engage in the 
most elevating, ennobling, and healthful occupation in 
which mankind can engage.” 
NURSERY ENTERPRISE IN SOUTHERN TEXAS. 
The nursery business in Southern Texas is pursued 
under conditions common to but a few general regions. 
So entirely is this true that a nurseryman coming here 
with the ideas gained in other localities would soon find 
himself bewildered by the strange combinations besetting 
him at every turn. Our climate is unlike any other and 
must be learned by the operator before he can become 
competent to deal with its peculiar requirements. I 
came here forty-two years ago from near Rochester, 
Monroe County, N. Y. I brought with me the style of 
horticultural thought naturally growing out of the climatic 
conditions of Western New York. I tried to put my 
views into Southern Texas enterprise. I was young and 
ardent, and I thought that what we did not know in the 
Genesee country was hardly worth knowing anywhere. 
But I soon discovered what any one of more forethought 
ought to have seen in the beginning, and yet what so 
many men seem so strangely slow to learn, viz.: That 
climatic conditions must, after all, rule the horticultural 
questions of every general region. 
It would require a volume to detail all that I could 
say on this subject. So I will only say in general 
terms that we have been compelled to study the rare 
distinctions in almost every department of pomology, 
floriculture and landscape work ; also climate has had to 
govern our methods, and has had to be met in so many 
forms that I have concluded that a nurseryman who 
comes here from the north will have to learn quite the 
entire business over again before he seems competent to 
deal successfully with his new surroundings. 
But, at least Southern Texas has a horticulture—one 
peculiarly her own. I am glad to say that it is improving 
every year. We cannot succeed with the varieties or 
even the races of fruits of which northern field culture is 
composed. But we have fruits and flowers, collected 
from every corner of the world, or produced from com¬ 
binations of our own, that are suited to our own sunny 
climate, and when they have become thoroughly dis¬ 
seminated among our people, they will become mighty 
factors in adorning our homes, in multiplying our domestic 
comforts, in elevating our society, in refining our civiliz¬ 
ation, and in qualifying our great commonwealth for the 
high national position suggested by our enormous possi¬ 
bilities. 
Gilbert Onderdonk. 
Nursery, Victoria Co., Texas. 
TREATMENT OF TREES TRANSPLANTED. 
To the Editor o/Thr National Nurseryman : 
Your valued publication finds one lover in this extrenie 
South, in this almost tropical clime of Florida. I note 
Mr. Moon’s article in the March number on “stripping 
leaves.” It is a well-known fact that in the case of any 
tree while in leaf, if out of the ground, the roots must be 
well supplied with water. If they are to be stripped or 
handled in any way, even from the nursery to the pack¬ 
ing grounds, the roots must be kept wet. With our 
orange trees as with deciduous trees, I for best results cut 
off the leaves in sending long distances. In the case of 
the peach trees mentioned by Mr. Moon, where the 
leaves were taken off, they could have been left in the 
open air until the branches were shriveled up badly, and 
then by immersing in water until the sap vessels were 
filled again, the tree would have suffered but little 
if any injury. But a tree in which the sap vessels have 
become shrunken through the evaporation of its sap 
through the leaves, is very different. The vital elements- 
that have been stored up in those sap vessels, the life 
food of the plants, that is to feed it in its transitory stage 
of transplanting, has been thrown out on the air—wasted 
—and the plant, if not dead, must have a sickly life at 
best, according to the injury thus done, as we so often 
see. Even with planters, whom we should think ought to 
know, this question is little understood. 
Here in this land of ours (it can hardly be called soil) 
feeding the tree is as much of a question with us as it is 
to supply the horse that hauls the plow with its daily 
rations ; and I am not only believing that to raise good 
trees we must use all the elements that trees take up 
from the soil—sufficient ammonia makes plenty of 
wood, and large leaves in nursery and pretty trees—but 
I believe it wants the phosphoric acid and potash to make 
it a perfect tree ; one that will transplant well from the 
nursery to the orange grove, and I am practicing that 
plan of a “ complete fertilizer ’ ’ in the nursery as well as 
the grove and peach orchard. 
Orlando, Fla. James Mott. 
