THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
133 
NURSERY EXHIBITS AT THE FAIR. 
Concerning the nursery exhibit which was presented 
at the World’s Fair, Professor L. H. Bailey says : 
“ The fruit-tree nurserymen of America are wholly 
unrepresented. In fact, the only really worthy American 
effort at nursery display is made by Ellwanger & Barry 
upon the wooded island, and this exhibition is confined 
to ornamental plants. Once it was proposed to have 
American nurseries in actual operation, from the raising 
of the seedlings to the budding and grafting and the 
handling of marketable trees ; but the time was too 
short for accomplishing so much, and the nurserymen 
were not inclined to respond quickly. As it is, the 
nursery grounds in the Plaisance are occupied chiefly 
by California with a citrous orchard and various speci¬ 
men plants, by a mixed collection from Mexico, three 
exhibits of evergreens by Illinois and Wisconsin nursery¬ 
men, and displays by five French firms. 
“California fills about half the entire area. This 
display makes little attempt to show nursery stocks or 
methods. The greater portion is an orchard of oranges, 
lemons and other citrous fruits, and is really a mate to 
the small orchard in the north court of the Horticultural 
Building. Many of these trees now bear nearly full- 
grown fruits, the product of flowers which appeared 
before the trees were set in their present quarters. 
Mediterranean sweet oranges. Villa Franca lemons 
and some others are set fairly well with new fruits from 
the flowers which appeared in June. 
“The chief attraction in nursery displays, is in 
the French section, where displays of fruit trees and a 
very few ornamentals are shown b}^ Pinguet-Guindon, of 
Tours ; Ausseur-Sertier, of Liensaint ; L. Paillet, of 
Vallee de Cbatenay, near Paris ; Honore Defresne et 
Fils, of Vitry ; and Croux et Fils, of Sceaux. Most of 
the fruit stock in these displays is trained in various 
fashions to fit it for growing upon walls or espaliers, or 
as globe-headed tall trees to stand in the centre areas 
of small gardens. The method of training apples, pears, 
and other fruit-trees on wires, much after the manner of 
training grapes, is rarely seen in America, but in the 
confined areas of European countries it is common. 
The fruits which are obtained from these little trees are 
large and excellent, and usually sell for fancy prices. 
An apple-tree which is trained to a one-arm cordon, the 
arm being eight or ten feet long, may be expected to 
mature from six to a dozen fruits. Of the better variet¬ 
ies, these fruits sell from one to three francs apiece in 
midwinter. This is especially true of Colville Blanc, 
which is one of the best varieties and a long keeper. A 
French gardener informs me that he sold a basket of 
these apples, containing twelve fruits, for forty-five 
francs last February. It is interesting to note how dif¬ 
ferent the varieties of these French trees are from our 
own fruits. Among apples one notices the varieties of 
high quality and difficult culture. It must be a matter 
of chagrin to Americans to know that the only impor¬ 
tant exhibits of fruit tree stocks are from France ; and 
that there are no exhibits whatever from any source of 
small fruit plants.” 
AMPELOPSIS VEITCHH. 
Attracted by the note in this column last week on 
Boston, or Japanese Ivy, George S. Conover, a prom¬ 
inent florist and historian of Geneva, sends us a very 
interesting account of how the plant was introduced in 
this country, says the Rochester Post-Express : It 
seems that the Flower City deserves even more credit 
for it than does Boston. In November, 1891, a note in 
Meehans Monthly, written by Thomas Meehan, the 
veteran Philadelphia horticulturist, said: “Probably 
the earliest plant of Anipelopsis Veitchii, or Japan Ivy, 
which is now so well known over the Union, had its 
merits first made known by the covering of Mr. Conover’s 
house. Views and photographs of this early plant 
helped to make it known throughout the country.” In 
detailed explanation of this Mr. Conover says: “My 
oldest plant was procured in the winter of 1868-9 from 
John Charlton, florist and nurseryman. University Avenue 
and Culver street, Rochester, N. Y. He had just im¬ 
ported the plant and was trying to introduce it, but 
after worth of advertising succeeded in selling only 
$3 worth of plants. It was a small, tiny affair at first 
and we thought it would make a fine basket plant; we 
did not know whether it was hardy or not, and had no 
idea it would become such a big plant. The experiment 
was watched with great interest by horticulturists, and 
when my plant was found to be perfectly hardy, and a 
strong grower, clinging tightly as no other plant did, it 
began to be popular, and at Mr. Vick’s request I had it 
photographed. Mr. Vick published a cut of it in the 
magazine he was then publishing, and electros were 
freely furnished to all the horticultural papers in the 
United States, that wanted it. This gave the plant a 
big start, and now the demand almost exceeds the supply.” 
George Nicholson, curator of the Royal Gardens at 
Kew, England, said of his recent visit to this country : 
The use of Anipelopsis Vcitchii in such abundance as I 
saw it covering the walls of buildings in Boston was 
novel to me and struck me as being exceedingly beauti¬ 
ful. I do not wonder that the plant has the name of 
the Boston Ivy here, for the climate evidently well 
agrees with it. I did not see the striking autumnal tints 
that are produced later, but the plants seem to flourish 
on a larger scale than I ever saw them in Europe.” 
California horticulturists are striving to produce a seed¬ 
less grape which will excel the Sultana and Thompson. 
