THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
147 
How can the 42 per cent, of the poi)ulatiou of the United States which 
feeds the other 58 per cent, and then furnishes more than 69 per cent of 
all the exports of the whole people, be making less profits in their 
vocation than those whom they feed when the latter supply less than 
31 per cent of the exports of the country ? 
But the declaimers of calamity declare that the farms of the United 
States are sadly burdened with nnwtgages. The census of 1890, how¬ 
ever, develops the fact that on the entire valuation returned for farms 
there is only a mortgage of 16 per cent. It will be borne in mind, too, 
that many thousands of acres of mortgaged lands of great value which 
are returned as farms were such only before they were mortgaged. 
They were purchased to plat as additions to cities like Chicago, Brook- 
Ijii, Kansas City, and Omaha, and ceased to be farm lands as soon as 
mortgages representing part of the purchase price were recorded. Such 
lauds are, therefore, wrongfully included and returned as farms. They 
show an aggregate of many millions of liabilities. 
On each $10,000 of rural real estate there is, then, an average incum¬ 
brance of $1,600. And when the fact is recalled to mind that a large 
part of all farm mortgages is for deferred payments on the land itself, 
or for improvements thereon, what other real or personal property in 
the United States can show lesser liabilities, fewer liens in proportion 
to its real cash producing value ? Certainly the manufacturing plants 
of this country, neither smelting works, mills, iron and steel furnaces 
and foundries, nor any other line of industry can show less incum¬ 
brance on the capital invested. 
Railroad mortgages represent 46 per cent, of the entire estimated 
value of the lines in this country. On June 30, 1894, 192 railroads were 
in the hands of receivers ; they represent $2,500,000,000 eapital—nearly 
one-fourth of the total railway capitalization of the United States. 
On that date how relatively small was the amount of money in farm 
mortgages compared to the value of the lands securing them ? 
Each season teaches anew the imperative necessity of more and more 
scientific knowledge for those who are to plow and plant profitably. 
The markets of the world will be finally invaded, captured and held 
by those who produce cereals and meats, vegetables and fruits at the 
least cost, and can therefore most cheaply sell. Competition is fiercer 
every year. American inventions, improved implements and machinery 
for saving labor on the farm and for saving the fruits of that labor are 
exported to Africa, Europe, and South and Central America. He who 
brings the best and cheapest will find approval in welcoming purchasers 
and remunerative prices. The success of the farmer of the future 
therefore depends more upon mental than upon manual effort. 
NOVEMBER CROP REPORT. 
The November crop report of the United States De¬ 
partment of Agriculture says: 
Fruit returns for November give comparative product, i. e., yield 
this year compared with a full crop. The average for the country is 
shown for apples only, and stands at 71.1. This is about 30 points above 
the figure for last year. Crops ranging from one-fourth to a little over 
one-half the normal product in ten important states, viz, the New Eng¬ 
land States (with the exception of Connecticut), New York, Pennsyl¬ 
vania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa, have reduced the general aver¬ 
age to the present figure. Had conditions in these states been as favor¬ 
able as in other important sections the crop would have been phenome¬ 
nal. As it is, there is general abundance of this fruit in the South and 
West, and prices are extremely low in many sections. jMuch of the 
crop is reported as of inferior quality, however, owing to the severe 
drought, and a greater proportion than usual has been consumed in the 
manufacture of cider. It would seem from this and the fact of short¬ 
age in the East that prices for really first-grade fruit should improve. 
Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, had a collection of 70 
kinds of pears at the annual fall exhibition of the Penn¬ 
sylvania Horticultural Society in Philadelphia. 
The Framingham Nursery Co., with offices in Boston, 
made a general assignment on November 6th. Francis 
M. Edwards, Exchange Building, Boston, is assignee. 
Htnong (Srowers anb dealers. 
George Ruedy, of the Colfax Nursery, exhibited a 
variety of nuts at the Spokane fruit fair. 
Charles S. Simpson and J. D. Medill, North Yakima, 
had fine exhibits of nursery stock at the Yakima, Wash., 
fair. 
John Wragg, Waukee, la., on November 4th packed an 
order for 2,200 plum and cherry and smaller orders for 
1,600 of the same. 
Prof. Frederick W. Mally, Hulen. Tex., is conducting a 
departme it of entomology and fungus diseases in Texas 
Farm and Ranch, the official journal of the State Horti¬ 
cultural and other Texas societies. 
The Northwest Fruit Growers’ Association will hold 
its third annual meeting at Walla Walla, Wash., Decem¬ 
ber loth. The Washington State Horticultural Society, 
will meet during the same time at that place. 
S. M. Emery, long connected with the Jewell Nursery 
Co., Lake City, Minn., now director of the experiment 
station at Bozeman, Montana, is a prime mover in the 
organization of the Montana State Horticultural Society. 
H. M. Simpson & Sons, Vincennes, Ind.; “ Fall trade was 
very good considering the hard times and severe drought. 
The present outlook for spring is better than it has been 
for several years. Apple, with a few cherry and small 
peach is all we have in surplus. Our stock made a fine 
growth last season and it was never finer.” 
The secretary of the Washington State Board of 
Horticulture says: “Many eastern visitors have ex¬ 
pressed their views that the fruit interests in the state, 
protected and developed as has begun, will result in the 
near future to attract wide attention throughout Eastern 
United States. We are beginning to be known as a fruit 
growing state, producing fruit of very superior quality, 
and eastern purchasers are now in the market arranging 
for future supplies.” 
G. L. Taber, Glen St. Mary, P'la., writes : “ All vari¬ 
eties of oranges in nursery at Glen St. Mary that were 
unprotected were killed below the bud, but at the time of 
the freeze we had heeled-in and partially protected several 
car-loads of orange trees, of different varieties, on sweet, 
sour and trifoliata stocks. Outside the cold was too 
severe for trees of this size, in any variety or on any stock, 
but here we had the different varieties and stocks under 
precisely similar conditions, and a degree of cold which 
drew sharply the line of relative hardiness. After a few 
warm days had rendered the results perceptible, the rela¬ 
tive effect on these trees, heeled-in in blocks, stood out 
as plainly as if marked on a map—Satsurna on trifoliata 
apparently uninjured ; Satsurna on sweet stock, touched 
at the tips only ; other varieties on trifoliata, cut back 
considerably; other varieties on sweet and sour stock, 
killed.” 
