THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
73 
carelessly left out over night, at digging time, and al¬ 
lowed to be thawed out by the next morning’s sunshine, 
generally ruins them. But what protection must trees 
in transit have in the ordinary shipping season of the 
fall and spring, is the question. Trees packed in tight, 
paper-lined boxes with plenty of packing material 
around the roots are generally perfectly safe, even in 
mid-winter, in transit in an ordinary car if allowed to 
thaw out in the boxes, on arriving at destination. A 
cellar is the best place to store such goods awaiting a 
thaw. 
Trees packed in bulk, in a close car, with plenty of 
straw, (half rotten straw, even if mixed lightly with 
fresh stable manure is best) will produce a considerable 
degree of heat, that it will take a very low degree of 
temperature to freeze. The only trouble in bulk goods 
is that the unloading must generally be done at once, 
on arrival, and here the greatest danger exists if the 
weather has continued cold up to the time of arrival. 
Trees packed in bales, as usually put up in straw, moss 
and sacking, are not easily frozen, as there is more or less 
heat generated in such a car by the contents, and 
often when the car is opened at destination the heat 
escaping is quite perceptible. In bulk packing, the 
bottom of the car can be covered with straw or rough 
littering from the stables, several inches deep, and then 
the roots kept eight or ten inches away from the sides— 
filling the intervening space with straw, tightly, keep¬ 
ing the roots of the trees as far as possible away from 
the car doors—and covering all with a good coating of 
straw, and they will be safe in any reasonable fall or 
spring weather, where zero or thereabouts is not reach¬ 
ed, or the cold continues but a few days at a time. 
Too often the consignee asks that sufficient trees to 
make two car loads be crowded and jammed into one 
big car to save freight, thus giving no chance for pro¬ 
per bulk packing, and thereby loses more in the end, 
by the process, than is gained by saving space. 
The hurry and jam of the nursery business, crowd¬ 
ing a whole year’s work into a month or six weeks, each 
spring and fall, also militates against as careful packing 
as should be done. Then, to get and keep just the right 
man—true, tried and trusty—to oversee the packing, is 
no easy matter. Muscle is always on the market ; 
brains less frequently, and such matters of necessity, in 
the rush, can not be attended to by the proprietors, but 
must be delegated to the ordinary laborer, usually. In 
my thirty-five years continued experience in the nursery 
business, I have shipped trees in all directions, in almost 
all sorts of weather, have received trees by car load, in 
bulk and in boxes and in all manner of packing, good, 
bad and indifferent, and very seldom, indeed, have I 
lost trees by frost. 
When there comes a heavy frost, late in spring time, 
and the blossoms are out on the trees, how common a 
thing it is to hear the complaint, “ fruit all killed this 
morning, not a peach, cherry, pear or apple left,” and 
yet a crop of fruit generally comes up smiling after such 
weather. So, too, often consignees are frightened at 
freezing weather, when their goods are in transit and 
are ready to cry out, and do cry out “all is lost ! ” 
when but little, if any, damage has resulted. 
In conclusion, allow me to say, pack all your ship¬ 
ments carefully as possible, be it either in bulk or box. 
Don’t skimp your packing material to economize space, 
and thereby save freight ; let loose a tracer after them, 
in a couple of days after you have bid them good bye, 
and leave the rest to Providence and careful handling 
at destination. If receiving freight during freezing 
weather, be careful to have the goods thaw out in the 
dark ; give them several days if possible to do so. and 
above all don’t fire a red hot letter into the shipper, on 
the instant, before you have had time to properly get in 
and handle the goods, but be a little economical, both 
with heat and cold, in your temper, and remember it 
takes lots of growling, scolding and “ cussin ” to kill a 
nurseryman or a tree dealer. 
Does it pay the nurseryman to make exhibits of fruits 
AT STATE AND LOCAL FAIRS ? 
C. L. Watrots, Des Moines, Iowa. 
By way of reply to the question set me for discus¬ 
sion, I should say, “it all depends.” If the nursery¬ 
man is a competent pomologist, able to correctly select 
and name his varieties, a fine display at a state, or local 
fair will be a valuable object lesson to the public and a 
credit to the exhibitor. If he is incompetent or care¬ 
less, a display by him will harm the public as well as 
himself, and therefore ought not to pay the exhibitor. 
If the nurseryman means to do business long in the 
land, it will assuredly pay him to build, broad and deep, 
a foundation of public confidence in his ability to furnish 
good stock, true to name. It will pay any nurseryman 
whose business is largely with fruit trees and plants, to 
devote his days and nights to such critical study of 
pomological authorities and examples as may make him 
a competent pomologist, for at least his own botanical 
region. Having gained such knowledge, there would 
seem no cheaper or more effectual way of advertising it 
to his customers, than by showing (whenever it can be 
done without unreasonable expense,) large lists of fruits 
carefully named, at state and local fairs. 
Every nurseryman has an opportunity to be, and 
ought to be a leader and guide in all matters pomologi¬ 
cal. He should be the one to stand at the masthead, 
and his eye the first to discern and test all promising 
novelties appearing on the horizon of his sphere. Hav¬ 
ing tested, he will confer a benefit upon the public, and 
increase the confidence of the public in himself and his 
business, by showing at fairs the results of his tests, and 
