THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
sell a man one hundred trees at the same prices we 
would sell a dealer one thousand. We think the scheme 
of selling direct to the planter is a failure, we must either 
wholesale or sell through agents, and, in any case, we 
must depend on one another more or less, so that if the 
eastern nurserymen persist in sending out low prices to 
the western planters, the western nurserymen will have 
to quit buying from the East. 
This is an age of improvement, and we believe the 
nursery business can be transacted, as any other business, 
in a businesslike way, and we can make it an honorable 
business. We hope to see the time when any man can 
feel proud of the fact that he is in the nursery business. 
RHODODENDRON AND AZALEA. 
I would like to direct the attention of the Waterers 
or other hybridists to the great value of Rhododendron 
maximum and its congeners—flowering as they do at a 
time when shrub-flowers are uncommon. I saw an old 
English lady in a Trenton market this morning, with a 
select bunch of varieties of R. maximum, from a large 
flowered white-—through two shades of delicately shaded 
pink—to a red as deep as the lighter varieties of R. 
arboreum. If such as these were hybridized with R. 
caucassicum stramineum, (said to be yellow) or if any 
of the hardy kinds could have their pollen saved for five 
or six weeks to work the maximums with, I think a very 
valuable race of late-flowering Rhododendrons would 
result—hardy even beyond the Canadian border. 
And so again with Azalea arborea, and viscosa ; pink 
varieties of the latter have been found, and in habit, 
size and shade of white it varies greatly, and is the best 
keeping and most fragrant Azalea, outside of the Indicas. 
I have no doubt but arborea varies too, and there is a 
pink one called A. optima flowering in July, so there is 
quite a good deal of material for the hybridist. 
Who will go in for a strain of Rhodo-Azaleas for a 
future Fourth of July ? 
Trenton, N. J. James MacPherson. 
AN UNRIVALED PUBLICATION. 
Giuseppe Sada, Via Principe Umberto 18, Milan, Italy. 
“Your very splendid ‘The National Nurseryman’ (June 
number) reach me now—my hearty thanks for it. Such an unri¬ 
valed publication is worthy of the largest favour among horticul¬ 
tural ti-ade. Please write the cost for one year subscription and 
advertisement enclosed.” 
DO NOT WISH TO BE WITHOUT IT. 
Alexander & Hammon, Rio Bonito Nurseries, Biggs, 
Butte Co., Cal. “We hand you herewith $1.00 for one year’s sub¬ 
scription from February, 1893, to The National Nurseryman. 
We have been favored with copies of all the numbers of your jour¬ 
nal, in which we have taken a great deal of interest and do not 
wish to be without it.” 
The subject of this sketch is the senior member of 
the firm of Stark Brothers, Louisiana, Mo., proprietors 
of one of the most extensive nurseries in the country. 
These nurseries were started fifty-seven years ago by the 
late Judge Stark, and are now in the hands of The third 
generation. The original firm of Stark Brothers con¬ 
sisted of the late William Stark and Washington Stark ; 
later, from 1858 to 1865, of William Stark and the late 
Thornton G. Stark, and now of William Stark’s sons. 
These three gentlemen are comparatively young men. 
They have established an extensive trade, and have 
departed largely from accepted methods of conducting 
a nursery business. They have exhibited considerable 
enterprise, and have made use of much printers’ ink in 
advertising their business, A peculiarity of their sys¬ 
tem is the establishment of large orchards. They have 
a test orchard of over 14,000 trees near Denver, Colo. 
They claim a total of 13,000 acres in co-operative 
orchards in various states. The members of the firm 
are ardent advocates of whole-root trees. C. M. Stark 
attends most of the important meetings of nurserymen 
throughout the country, and is well known in the trade. 
Among nurserymen and horticulturists at the World’s 
Fair, are; W. F. Heikes, Huntsville, Ala.; Anthony 
Waterer, Woking, Surrey, England ; T. V. Munson, 
Denison, Texas; C. L. Watrous. Des Moines, la.; 
A. Von Clauson-Kaas, Oschatz, Saxony ; Linus Wool- 
verton, Grimsby, Out. 
