146 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
The National N urseryman. 
C L. YATES, Proprietor. RALPH T. OLCOTT. Editor 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., 
305 Cox Building, Rochester, N. Y. 
The only trade journal issued for Growers and Dealers in Nursery Stock of 
all kinds. It circulates throughout the United States and Canada 
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSER'iMEN. 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 
One Year, in advance, _____ $1.00 
Six Months, _______ .75 
Foreign Subscriptions, in advance, - - - 1.50 
Six Months, “ “ _ . _ j.oo 
Advertising rales will be sent upon application. Advertisemeuf.o 
should reach this office by the 20th of the month previous to the date of 
issue. 
Pavnient in advance required for foreign advertisemi-nis 
([[^“Drafts on New York or postal orders, instead of checks, are 
requested. 
Correspondence from all points and articles of interest to nursery 
men and horticulturists are cordially solicited. 
Entered in the Post Office at Rochester, N, Y., as second-class nnatter. 
Rochester, N. Y., December, 1895. 
A GREAT COMMERCIAL INDUSTRY. 
A most encouraging sign for the nurseryman is the rapid 
extension of commercial orcharding. It is becoming more 
and more evident to farmers that those sections of the 
country which have failed to produce remunerative crops 
of grain are well suited to the culture of fruit. And the 
lesson too, has bee learned that even where a good crop 
of grain is secured prices are so low as to leave little profit. 
Therefore especial attention has been called lately to the 
growth of large orchards. Apple culture has become a 
great commercial industry. Not only are the old apple 
belts of Michigan, New York and New England holding 
their own, but new sections have been developed with 
surprising rapidity. Immense orchards are in bearing in 
Iowa, Kansas, Southern Illinois and the Ozark mountain 
country where a few years ago nothing of the kind was 
thought of. 
The prune industry in the far West, the peach industry 
in the South and in Delaware and Michigan, the grape 
industry in New York, Ohio and New England are in¬ 
creasing in no uncertain manner. 
And with progress in fruit culture has come a discrim¬ 
ination upon the part of the orchardist which is well for 
the nurseryman who produces and sends out only a first 
class stock of trees. Merit will tell in all things and much 
more so in nursery stock, under present conditions, than 
in many other things. The indications are that the 
spring of 1836 will find the nursery industry in a greatly 
improved condition. It has been the contention of lead¬ 
ing men in the trade that matters will shape themselves, 
that the great body of conscientious nurserymen through¬ 
out the country would pull away from the annoying con¬ 
ditions resulting from a surplus of stock and much of it 
poor stock, and the cutting of prices, and would establish 
a standard which would be impossible for those whose 
methods are questionable to attain ; and it looks as 
though these men had prophesied well. Reports in the 
November issue of the National Nurseryman indicated 
general confidence in an improved order of things. 
SECRETARY MORTON’S REPORT. 
The country will long have occasion to commend the 
work of Secretary J. Sterling Morton of the U. S. Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture. Thoroughly equipped for the im¬ 
portant work which his duties entail, he has performed 
those duties conscientously and with great interest, and 
has instituted reforms which have saved the country hun¬ 
dreds of thousands of dollars. His annual report, just re¬ 
ceived, outlines the wmrk of the year in a clear and at¬ 
tractive manner. In the comprehensive plan of improve¬ 
ment and extension of the agricultural interests of the 
country, he has given due attention to the interests of the 
horticulturist, as the portion of the report referring to 
pomology, quoted in another column, will show. 
A valuable feature of Secretary Morton’s report is the 
review of the conditions of the farms of the United 
States, a subject which he is especially qualified to dis¬ 
cuss. Of the future of farms and farming in the United 
States he says : 
The farms of the United States, averaging 137 acres each are valued 
at more than $13,000,000,000. Those farms number 4,564,641, and 
their average value in the census of 1890 is $2,909. 
The farm family, including hired help, averages six persons. By 
their own labor, with an additional investment upon each farm of about 
$200 in implements and $800 more in domestic animals and sundries 
(making a total farm plant of $4,000), those families made for them¬ 
selves during the year, out of the products of the earth, a wholesome 
and comfortable living. 
The same farmers have with part of their surplus pi’oducts also fed 
all the urban population of the United States, poor and rich alike. 
Cereals, meats, vegetables, fruits, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and poul¬ 
try have been supplied the village and city markets of the United 
States in abundance. It is probably safe to say that more than 
40,000,000 of American citizens not living on farms have been so fur¬ 
nished with all the necessities and Ivrxuries known as products of the 
varied soil and climates of the states and territories of the Union. 
During the fiscal year 1895 the United States exported to foreign coun¬ 
tries domestic commodities, merchandise, and i)roducts aggregating 
in vahie $793,000,000. The aggregate value of the agricultural products 
included in that sum was $553,215,317. Of the total exports Europe 
received a valuation of $628,000,000. or 79 per cent of the whole. 
Thus American agriculture, after feeding itself and all the towns, 
villages and cities of the United States, has also sold in the outside 
world’s markets more than $500,000,000 worth of products. So the 
farmers of the United States have furnished 69.68 per cent of the value 
of all the exports from their country during the year 1895. 
In the presence of these facts, in the front of these figures demon¬ 
strating that agriculture in this Republic has during the year fed 
itself, supplied all citizens of the Union engaged in other vocations, 
and then shipped abroad a surplus of over $500,000,000 worth of its 
products, how can anyone dare to assert that farming is generally unre- 
munerative and unsatisfactory to those who intelligently follow it ? 
