96 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
Millions and millions of trees have been planted annually 
and still the planting- goes on, and there is less fruit go¬ 
ing to waste than -there was twenty years ago, and I 
think to-day we have as honorable, and intelligent and. 
persevering nurserymen on the Pacific coast as can be 
found in the world, and some have large nurseries. But 
like everything else it is being overdone. There are too 
many nurseries on the coast and while we have many 
iiaLLiral advantages, and our trees make a phenomenal 
growth and we have a long planting season and many 
other advantages over our Eastern brethren, yet we have 
disadvantages, perhaps as many as they have. The 
California nurseryman deals almost exclusively in staple 
stock. Orchards on this coast are planted on a large 
scale and for commercial purposes. We have little or¬ 
namentation and absolutely no fancy prices, for none 
are fancy varieties Eastern nurserymen can make 
large profits on new things which will overcome losses 
that they may sustain on staple stock. The competition 
is sharp and the planter is well aware of the fact that 
he buys his stock at the very lowest possible price, often 
leaving the nurseryman a very small, if any margin. 
Again, our expenses are greater than in almost any 
other country; labor is high, and everything that we use 
is much higher than in the East, and we are troubled 
with very many injurious insects and diseases that were 
Unknown ten and twenty years ago. For instance, the 
root knot, especially in the peach, almond, apricot, and 
sometimes on the cherry root, destroys hundreds of 
thousands of trees every year, and it is growing worse 
and worse, and we have been unable to find 
a remedy for it, and in some localities where 
the nursery business was a grand success, the 
nurserymen have in some instances abandoned the 
business on account of the root knot. I know of 
one district where ten years ago it was unknown, and 
now the nurserymen do not pretend to raise anything on 
peach or almond roots any more. I saw one lot of trees 
dug last winter where 75 per cent, had to be rejected on 
account of the root knot, and so far we have been un¬ 
able to determine the cause or find a remedy. Again, 
the large profits made by Eastern nurserymen on flori¬ 
culture we cannot make from the simple fact that our 
climate is so mild, and things grow in the open air so 
easily and so readily that people do not have to depend 
on nurserymen for their shrubbery and flowering plants. 
One neighbor will give slips and plants to another, and 
}.,0U will often see in one housewife’s garden such a grand 
floral display that a casual observer would think it was 
a floral show, and perhaps she has grown all the plants 
in the open air from seeds and slips of her own growing. 
This cuts off a large revenue from the nurserymen on 
this coast. We have got as practical florists here as can 
be found anywhere, but the business does not pay as it 
does in the East, hence it can be readily seen that our 
disadvantages will offset all the natural advantages we 
have, and what the future is to be, I know not, for nur¬ 
series large and small have accumulated to that degree • 
that it seems to me there must be in the near future a 
complete glut in the market. But the old and well es¬ 
tablished and reliable nurseries, having the confidence of 
the public, will of course be the last to succumb. Prices 
have been constantly declining until at present we are 
forced to sell at a very little above the actual cost of the 
product and there still seems to be a downward ten¬ 
dency. 
“The orchard outlook in the state is good ; we have 
less injurious insects preying on our trees and fruit now 
than we had five or six years ago. Parasites have been 
found for several of our most destructive insects. We 
have had a God-send in some localities this year invthe 
shape of a lady-bird which literally destroys the woolly 
aphis on our trees. In our warm climate this has been 
a great pest, though not as destructive to the trees as 
many insects we have had. The codlin moth and what 
we term the ‘ p^^-ch moth,’ is now our worst enemy and 
so far as my observation goes, the codlin moth is not so 
bad this year as it was last, and I am in hopes there is 
some parasite preying on it. 
“ Our people are constantly learning how to plant, 
and what to plant and also what is best adapted to cli¬ 
mate and soil; consequently horticulture is conducted on 
a far more intelligent basis now than in former years. 
Hundreds of thousands of acres have been planted to 
orchards in this country that never should have been 
planted and growers who farm such land must necessar¬ 
ily lose much of its value, and this raises the hue and 
cry of over-production ; but it is my judgment that the 
day never will come when thorough, intelligent orchard¬ 
ing will not pay on the Pacific coast, especially in Cali¬ 
fornia. The day is not far distant, in my judgment 
when the products of the tree and vine will be our 
staple. I think the day is near at hand when more 
money will be realized in this state from the product of 
the tree and vine, than from wheat or any other branch 
of agriculture. Of late public attention has been turned 
largely to the olive and fig which I think in time, when 
properly handled will be an immense source of revenue 
to the state. There appeared to be last year an over¬ 
production of raisins, and prices ruled low. Many grow¬ 
ers suffered heavy loss, but that has been the case in all 
branches of agriculture since the soil has been tilled. 
This year wheat is selling at a loss, other y\ears there 
has been large money in it, and so it will ever be. I do 
not think the world can produce a better raisin than is 
grown here, I do not think the business is overdone as 
many people claim. *«» 
“ The almond and walnut industry is assuming gi¬ 
gantic proportions, and we can supply the world with 
these nuts. The orange industry is making rapid strides; 
