THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
59 
GEORGE L. TABER. 
George L. Taber, the well-known nurseryman and horti¬ 
culturist of Florida, is a native of Maine, having been 
born in the town of Vassalboro, in 1854. As a young 
man he went to Chicago, where he remained for a num¬ 
ber of years. He went from Chicago to Florida in 1882, 
and has since been a resident of the latter state, fie 
located at Glen St. Mary, in Baker county, in the north, 
ern part of the state, a little north of the latitude of New 
Orleans, finding there, in the valley of the Little St. 
Mary’s river, local conditions of soil and climate peculiarly 
favorable to the growth and propagation of varieties of 
fruits adapted to a wide range of territory embracing the 
Lower South, as well as more distant portions of the 
country. 
At the time Mr. Taber settled in 
Florida, the vast region, beginning 
with Southern Georgia and that 
portion of Florida lying north of 
the orange belt, and extending 
westward along the gulf and includ¬ 
ing Coastwise Texas, was a new 
horticultural field. In the develop¬ 
ment of the horticulture of this 
gulf region, which has now attained 
commercial importance in the pro¬ 
duction of pears, peaches, and other 
fruits, Mr. Taber took a leading 
part. In connection with the plant¬ 
ing of orchards and nurseries, he 
began at once, upon locating in his 
new home, extensive comparative 
tests with varieties of fruits new 
and old, a line of experiment which 
he has since continued and which 
now forms a prominent feature of 
his business; as a result, a number 
of new varieties of special merit 
have been originated or introduced 
by him, and he has determined the 
value for this region of many vari¬ 
eties well known in other parts of the country. 
Mr. Taber is vice-president of the Florida State Horti¬ 
cultural Society, which he helped to organize in 1888, and 
which has now become one of the largest and most influ¬ 
ential bodies of the kind in the country. He also repre¬ 
sents Florida on the general fruit committee of the 
American Bornological Society, and is vice-president for 
Florida of the American Association of Nurserymen. 
During the past fifteen years Mr. Taber’s nursery busi¬ 
ness has grown to be one of the most extensive in the 
South. He ships large quanties of stock annually, not 
only to Texas, Florida, and intervening states, but to all 
parts of the country. Hislast annual catalogue would be 
a credit to any state. It represents the standard of 
new and old varieties which are now most in de 
mand. 
AT GENEVA, NEB. 
Geneva, Neb., May 1.—Youngers & Co., Geneva 
Nurseries: “Trade, with us, has been very good the 
present spring. At the present time we are unable to 
give an estimate of the amount, but believe it to be equal 
to that of last year. About the 10th of April it com¬ 
menced raining all over Nebraska and from that time on 
trade picked up very fast. 
“ The demand this year has been principally for the 
better grade of goods, although there has been a fair sale 
on off grades. The large planting has been in cherries, 
apples and plums. Sales in small fruits of all sorts have 
been slower than ordinary, particularly so in grapes. 
There has also been a heavy falling off in the planting of 
pear trees. Ornamentals of all sorts have sold slowly, 
excepting the large size of shade 
trees ; these have been in good de¬ 
mand and prices have ruled fair. 
“We are certain of one thiner: 
the quantity of goods handled has 
been in excess of last year, but the 
prices have ruled considerably 
lower, consequently the amount in 
dollars and cents will not very 
much exceed that of last year. 
“There is at the present time a 
large quantity of stock in the hands 
of nurserymen in the West to go 
to the brush pile. This consists 
very largely of pear and cherry 
trees, the better grades of apple 
trees being very well sold out. 
“The outlook for the future is 
better than it has been for the past 
five years. Everything in the 
nursery is growing very rapidly and 
the ground is thoroughly saturated 
with water. Western nurserymen 
will take new courage.” 
Several peach growers in the 
Michigan fruit belt report a decided decrease of the yel¬ 
lows in orchards that have been sprayed thoroughly with 
copper sulphate during the past two years. 
A California exchange, referring to the fact that the 
Michigan fruit growers have established a telephone line 
among themselves, says that Californians should remem¬ 
ber that while they progress, the rest of the fruit growing 
world is not necessarily asleep. 
Californians who so complacently allege that our 
Eastern friends would always go fruit-hungry were it not 
for our prolific orchards, may be interested in the state¬ 
ment of the Fruit Growers’Association of Grand Rapids, 
Mich., that last year the fruit shipments from Western 
Michigan were 4,575 carloads of 400 bushels each.— Cali¬ 
fornia Fruit Grower. 
GEORGE L. TABER. 
