THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
97 
Drought has seriously affected the fruit crop in Eng¬ 
land and other countries of Europe. During the six 
months ended June 30th, the total rainfall in London 
was only 5.26 inches. 
SUPPLY AND DEMAND. 
It is probable that the supply of nursery stock in the 
country is much less than at any time for many years. 
This is with reference to fruit rather than ornamental 
stock which has not been very materially decreased. The 
demand, however, is evidently much lighter on orna¬ 
mentals than on fruits. Just what the demand for stock 
in general will be is yet uncertain. It will not require 
a heavy trade to consume the supply. 
It is believed that the present inactivity in the whole¬ 
sale business will be followed by an active trade when the 
shipping season arrives, and will leave for spring a small 
surplus of most kinds of stock. 
In Canada it is estimated that the supply will exceed 
the demand, which has been seriously affected by the 
severe drought in the province of Ontario, where most of 
the nursery stock is sold. Times in general have improved 
in Canada, as in the United States, and the outlook at the 
beginning of the season was bright. But the weather 
has seriously affected the nursery business and the 
prospect is that the sale of nursery stock in the provinces 
will be less than during the last three or four years. 
J. J. Harrison, Painesville, O., when asked to name the 
best six pears, said: “Bartlett, Angouleme, Kieffer, 
Howell, Lawrence and Clairgeau.” N. H. Albaugh 
would plant Tyson and Clapp’s Favorite ; he would also 
plant largely of Bartlett. He had sufficient faith in 
the Kieffer to plant 10,000 trees in one orchard in 
Georgia, and some neighbors of his had faith to believe 
that a single crop from these 10,000 trees would sell for 
$25,000. George W. Campbell would plant Angouleme, 
Lawrence, Bartlett, Tyson, Howell and Anjou. 
Secretary of Agriculture Morton, having secured an 
opinion from the attorney general that the law provides 
only for the free distribution of rare seeds for scientific 
purposes, will make no general distribution of common 
seed next year. Intelligence in seed growing would be 
rewarded if the government would buy a really good 
variety when introduced, and distribute it the first year. 
The originator would thus obtain something of what is 
due him. 
/ 
Albert Brownell, of the Albany Nurseries, Albany, 
Ore., says that the season has been unusually favorable 
for the growth of nursery stock, and with the extra care 
they have given they are certain of the finest stock they 
have grown for years. 
The state and local horticultural societies of Missouri 
will make a display of fruit at the St. Louis Exposition, 
September 3d to October 19th. 
COMPETITION IN NURSERY BUSINESS. 
The following paper was prepared for the Indianopolis 
convention by Charles A. Green, Rochester, N. Y.: 
The loss of business arising from competition is more 
often imaginary than real. Take for instance the worst 
case that can be imagined, that of a small village nursery, 
the trade of which consists almost entirely of the local 
sales to the villagers and near-by community. The 
establishment of a rival nursery on this limited field 
would at first seem to mean annihilation to one or the 
other of the enterprises. However, we can imagine the 
older firm on finding that it is losing its local trade, 
branching out into a wider territory through agents or 
otherwise, until ultimately they shall cover every state in 
the Union. Thus comes the old saying, “ Competition is 
the life of trade,” 
If one firm could purchase of the government the 
monopoly of the nursery trade, both wholesale and retail 
of the entire country, allowing no foreign importation, 
this firm might become prosperous, but the chances are 
that it would abuse the privilege, charging such extrava¬ 
gant prices as to restrict its trade and reduce profits. 
Since we can not monopolize business, the next best 
thing is legitimate competition. 
Traveling through the country we are surprised con¬ 
tinually at the small number of orchards and berry fields 
which we see in those states where fruit growing is most 
successful. The traveler is impressed with the thought 
that not one tree or plant is sold where hundreds should 
be planted. It is evident that our people need education 
continually on the subject of fruit growing and the neces¬ 
sity of a family supply. Every catalogue which is sent 
out by the 10, or 20, or 30 thousand, every newspaper 
which contains a department of horticulture, and every 
good nursery agent is a missionary in the field of horti¬ 
culture. The more of these the better, providing they 
are of the right sort. People need stirring up on the sub¬ 
ject of planting and these messengers accomplish that 
important object. 
When E. P. Roe died and his plant business was dis¬ 
continued, rival nurseries may have felicitated themselves 
with the thought that they would secure a portion of E. P. 
Roe’s business, and that much as they deplored the death 
of so accomplished a horticulturist, their private interests’ 
must be profited thereby. I do not share this opinion. 
The death of E, P. Roe, and the discontinuance of his 
plant business, was a direct loss to every nurseryman, re¬ 
tail or wholesale, local or continental. A large portion 
of the patrons of E, P. Roe may have purchased no plants 
since Mr. Roe’s death. The work Mr. Roe accomplished 
through his catalogue and literary work created an inter¬ 
est in the business, which has not been obliterated to the 
present hour. 
But what shall we do with the “Cheap Johns” in the 
trade? Will they not depress prices, and is not their 
competition to be feared? No. No man can sell nur¬ 
sery stock who has not a reputation for fair dealing, and 
