THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
75 
New York ; the prominent types of the Illinois-Missouri 
region are different from the prominent types of New 
York, while many secondary varieties are the same in 
both ; the apples of the Pacific north-west, while trans¬ 
planted from the East, have developed away from their 
parent stems. 
The entire horticultural exhibition seems to force 
conclusions similar to these upon my mind ; and it 
greatly strengthens the conviction which has been strongly 
growing upon me in recent years that the study of the 
adaptation of varieties to geographical and local condi¬ 
tions is a most imperative demand in horticultural oper¬ 
ations. I therefore look with much distrust upon the 
promiscuous distribution of varieties over great areas. 
If I should not plant a Baldwin orchard in Illinois, I 
should hesitate in like manner to plant a Ben Davis 
orchard in New York. I believe that the days of the 
nursery business which aims to feed the whole country 
are numbered. We shall develop more nurseries like 
those in many parts of New York and other eastern 
states, which attempt to supply the stock which is par¬ 
ticularly adapted to their geographical regions and which 
are content to leave other lands for other men. Climate 
and environment must eventually force the nurseries into 
nearly as narrow limits as the adaptability of the stock 
which they grow, although this contraction will follow 
some distance behind the settlement of the limits of 
adaptability of the varieties themselves. The European 
nurseries have had this experience to an important 
extent. 
Right here you may wish to cite me to the excellent 
displays of rhododendrons and azaleas upon these 
grounds, as proofs that nursery,stock can be successfully 
grown far away from the geographical area in which it 
is to mature, for these plants, with unimportant ex¬ 
ceptions, are grown in Europe. But I shall contend 
that the most important reason why these plants do not 
succeed well in America is because they are European 
grown. It is always said that the American climate is 
not adapted to the rhododendron, but with all due re¬ 
spect to those much older than myself, I must still de¬ 
cline to believe the statement. One of the most 
important species of cultivated rhododendron is native 
to our Alleghany region, and evergreen ericaceous plants 
in variety are indigenous over much of our territory. 
The trouble is that we have failed to grow with njuch 
satisfaction the varieties originated in England and on 
the continent, and we have then generalized this failure 
into a maxim that our climate is uncongenial to rhodo¬ 
dendron culture, albeit that the very type from which 
many of these varieties have come grows luxuriantly in 
our woods. There is not the slightest reason to doubt 
that if American nurseryman were to originate varieties 
of rhododendrons we should soon have sufficient adapt¬ 
ive kinds to meet all our needs. Even the cultivation 
of the apple never became an unqualified success in the 
United States until we produced American varieties. 
All success in the cultivation of raspberries and straw¬ 
berries was delayed until we had American species or 
varieties. It was once thought that we could not grow 
our own apple stocks, but we now know that the Amer¬ 
ican stocks are as good as the French and are probably 
superior to them. All the older men in this audience 
can remember when it was thought that the American 
climate would not allow of successful rose growing out 
of doors, but now rose gardens are common and there 
are more prizes for us among American novelties than 
among the European. I have the fullest confidence 
that there is not a more promising field for the faithful 
and patient American nurseryman than in the evolution 
of an American race of rhododendrons and azaleas. 
As I now see it, the greatest ultimate good which 
shall come from this great exhibition is the lesson that 
our country is too large and too varied to allow of ran¬ 
dom and indiscriminate methods and promiscuous dis¬ 
tribution of varieties. With the increasing competitors 
and the refinements of life which are inherent in the 
coming years, we must confine our efforts to increasingly 
narrower areas, and must bring larger rewards from more 
concentrated enterprises. 
MANAGING NURSERY EMPLOYEES. 
J. Jenkins, Winona, O. 
From the fact that efficient and intelligent work is 
required in our business, and that the margin of profit of 
late years is ruinously small, this conundrum -that our 
worthy secretary has propounded is indeed a difficult 
one. No better way for managing nursery help has yet 
been devised than the plan followed by all our large 
commercial nurseries of using the working force in gangs 
under the leadership of efficient foremen. 
Whatever economy we may use in other directions, it 
seems to be a settled fact that we must have efficient 
foremen as leaders in the several departments, profit or 
no profit. The several foremen should be under the 
supervision either of one of the proprietors or of a very 
efficient general manager, capable of keeping in his mind 
from day to day, and from hour to hour indeed, the pro¬ 
gress of the work. Once in the day, either in the morn¬ 
ing before the general force begins work or in the evening 
after hours, all the foremen should report their progress 
to the general manager, making suggestions of their 
requirements and the work of the succeeding day allotted 
to each, as far as possible. An efficient general manager 
of a large force will have time for but little else than a 
constant oversight of all parts of the business. 
Profit-sharing or giving of a percentage to some of 
the leading foremen has been tried to some extent, but 
it is subject to many complications and misunderstand¬ 
ings. Our nursery stock companies by inducing the most 
efficient leaders to take shares in the association will 
