The National Nursery 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK. \l 
Copyright, 1893, by The National Nurseryman Publishing Co. 
VOL. I. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y., SEPTEMBER, 1893. 
THE HORTICULTURAL CONGRESS. 
Nurserymen, Seedsmen, Pomologists and Florists Meet 
AT THE World's Columbian Exposition. 
The Horticultural Congress met at the World’s E'air 
on August 16th, 17th and i8th. W. Atlee Burpee, of 
Philadelphia, was chairman of the seedsmen’s section. 
J. Peter-Bjerhaard, of Copenhagen, described seed 
growing in Denmark. C. H. Allen, of Floral Park, 
N. Y., read a thoughtful paper on selection and its rela¬ 
tion to seed growing. E. V. Hallock, of Queens, N. Y., 
impressed upon his hearers the necessity of a thorough 
knowledge in the seed trade of the principles of horti¬ 
culture. The closing paper of the session was read by 
C. C. Morse, of Santa Clara, Cal., on American seed 
growing. Many eminent horticulturists took part in the 
discussion of the papers. 
At the meeting of nurserymen Henry Izawa, of Japan, 
read a paper descriptive of the dwarfing of plants and 
miniature gardening in his native country. Papers were 
read by Edward Willitts, of the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, Washington, on the necessity for interstate laws 
to control the treatment of insects and diseases which 
endanger horticulture, and by Robert Williamson, of 
Sacramento, on the nursery trade on the Pacific coast. 
In connection with the pomological section a meeting 
of the American Pomological Association was held, at 
which it was decided to hold the next meeting of the 
organization in San Francisco in the winter of 1894-95. 
Among the papers presented was one on “ Location and 
Environment as Effecting the Evolution of Fruits,” by 
G. B. Brackett, of Iowa, and one on “Catalogue and 
Nomenclature,” by T. T. Lyon, of South Haven, Mich. 
In the division on floriculture Robert Craig, of Phila¬ 
delphia, spoke on the present, and E. G. Hill, of 
Richmond, Ind., on the future of floriculture. 
At the general session addresses were made and 
papers were read by P. J. Berckmans, C. C. Bonney, 
J. C. Vaughn, Professor Trelease, Superintendent Will¬ 
iam McMillan, Professor L. Wittmack, Charles W. 
Garfield. 
Following is Mr. Williamson’s paper : 
NURSERY BUSINESS ON THE PACIIHC COAST. 
“ Tlie Pacific states are peopled by a cosmojiolitan 
population hailing from all parts of the world and bring¬ 
ing with them their preconceived ideas of everything, 
horticulture among others. The coast, and especially 
California is truly a country of variety ; variety of cli¬ 
mate, variety of soil, variety of products, variety of 
people. As soon as it was discovered that fruit could 
be successfully grown in California this great variety of 
people, hailing from all parts of the world at once sent 
to their former homes to get what they believed to be 
the best fruits of their country ; consetiuently, in a very 
short time there was a greater variety of fruits on the 
Pacific coast, especially California, than any other part 
of the world. E'ruit growing at once became an experi¬ 
ment, with thousands of experimenters, and time proved 
that hundreds of varieties which were very valuable in 
the country from which they came, were worthless here, 
and had to be discarded. Men for a while were' com¬ 
pletely at sea to know what to reject and what to hold 
to. In the midst of this chaos hundreds of men plunged 
into the nursery business, a large portion of them entire¬ 
ly ignorant of the business, mere unscrupulous adventur¬ 
ers. Others who understood their business at home, 
made grave mistakes because they could not get the same 
results here that they got at home and because the know¬ 
ledge they had in their own country availed but little 
here. Hundreds of men have come to this country who 
were practical nurserymen, but owing to our peculiar 
climate and soil, as the common phrase has it, ‘they 
had to learn their trade over again.’ This combination 
of circumstances brought nurserymen and the business 
into disrepute, and for a time nurserymen were looked 
upon, especially in California, as little better than high- 
wavmen. 
“ Some of these charges were just, but in the main 
they were unjust, but the disastrous results were due 
mainly to ignorance of surrounding conditions. The 
great variety of climate and soil, especially in California 
has caused many an innocent nurseryman to suffer ; for 
instance, he might have a fruit that did exceedingly well 
in his own community, he knew it to be a first-class 
fruit and would sell the tree to go to another locality, 
(perhaps not fifty miles distant,) where the climate and 
soil, and perhaps both were so different, that the fruit 
would be practically worthless, and he would be cen¬ 
sured. But in time both the nurserymen and people 
learned all these facts, and then things began to assume 
a different phase. A better and more intelligent class of 
men entered the nursery business and gradually these 
obstacles were overcome and confidence returned in the 
much-abused nurserymen. 
“The horticultural interests of the coast, and espec¬ 
ially of California, have made phenomenal progress. 
