76 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
THE CONVENTION. 
(Continued from page 72.) 
up, hope springs to the rescue; 3-cent apples, 2-cent peaches, and 
5-cent plums cannot continue, and we plant and say we will harvest in 
a few years when these times shall have faded into the past. 
What is the outlet for the product we have and the prospect ? 
Three-quarters of all the trees sold and delivered all over the country 
are used for jockey sticks, for the browsing of the calf, the pasturing 
of sheep, for food for apple-tree borers, and a number of ills to which 
trees are heir ; so of all fruit trees grown, not more than one-quarter 
get to be paying bearing trees. As a large grower of trees I have not 
laid awake on that subject. Someone must have enjoyment. If the 
amateur planter wishes to do it, all right. For about one-quarter of 
what the farmer puts into the ground he expects to get reasonable com¬ 
pensation. It is necessary to have some one to buy trees. What is 
the outlook for the sale of the fruit we are growing for the millions ? 
Ah, some one says, the market is about stocked, and the business must 
soon be closed up. Is it ? We are meeting in this city to-day as horti¬ 
culturists, and I doubt if forty miles around us there is grown fruit 
enough to supply Chicago for a week. Twenty-one years ago this city 
did not have one-half its present population. Twenty years from now 
the population of this city will be 2,500,000. And just above here is 
Milwaukee with 400,000 people. Forty years ago when horti¬ 
culture began in a number of the states, half a carload of fruit would 
glut the market. Now carload after carload, trainload after trainload, 
are poured into the big centres, and they are ready for more. We 
cannot glut the markets, nor fully supply them for a century to come 
if the fruit is distributed. In the Miami valley strawberries are grown 
by the acre, and bought by the bushel. All must have fruit. 
The only question now is whether the farmer and the fruit grower 
can grow produce to secure enough money to buy trees at a reasonable 
rate. I do not believe it is wise for nurserymen or corporations to plant 
millions and millions of trees depending upon others to get rid of them- 
Know what you are going to do with the trees you grow. Don’t 
depend too much on your wholesale trade. The greatest mistake is 
made when the wholesaler attempts to sell at wholesale to the planter. 
He is finding out that it is breaking up the whole plan. 
Shall we plant or not ? I say, plant; but don’t plant extravagantly. 
Cotton planting year before last produced 5 cents per pound. Last 
year, when we did not plant so much, the price ran up to 9^ cents. 
Then all planted'again and the price has dropped to 3 and 4 cents. 
When a man tries to grow standard pears for $100 or less per 1,000 he 
will be left. If there were fewer put out there would be a better price. 
It is the same with apples. Not quite the same with cherries. I do 
not believe any one in the East can afford to grow apples for less than 
$40 per 1,000. Let us be careful to see what we are going to do with 
what we plant. 
DUTY OF THE NURSERYMAN. 
At the morning session on Thursday, June nth, 
Professor H. E. Van Deman read a paper on ’‘The Duty 
of the Nurseryman to the Fruit Grower.” Professor Van 
Deman urged the nurserymen to be honest and particular 
in avoiding dissatisfaction resulting from substitution. 
He said the nurseryman is looked upon as a guide by the 
fruit grower. The nurseryman should be proficient in the 
natural sciences. He should be a botanist. He should 
be familiar with vegetable physiology, pomology, climatic 
changes and their effect, entomology and mycology. 
Professor Van Deman made a strong plea for a uniform 
and correct system of nomenclature, and advocated the 
propagation of choice varieties. He cautioned against 
novelties which have not been proved to have merit, but 
advocated the introduction of new and tried varieties, 
which have proved to be better than existing varieties. 
He believes that much harm is done by exaggeration in 
the catalogue descriptions of varieties, and the untruth¬ 
ful descriptions and promises of nursery agents. He 
referred to the almost irreparable injury which a nursery¬ 
man might cause his customers by the dissemination of 
stock infested with insects or disease. 
NURSERY LANDS OF NEW YORK. 
Professor L. H. Bailey gave a valuable talk on “The 
Nursery Lands of New York State.” Professor 
Bailey spoke entertainingly and instructively of the con¬ 
dition of the soil with reference to nursery stock. He 
referred to his remarks on this subject at the last meeting 
of the association. He emphasized the statement that 
the physical condition of the soil should be looked to 
more than its chemical condition. 
“The chief value of humus in the soil is not to furnish- 
plant food but to make the soil of the right temperature 
and condition for the occupation of the plant. The best 
farm soils are those which are loamy. This condition is 
brought about by the addition of vegetable or animal 
matter. A sandy or clay loam is subjected to this addi¬ 
tion. Most soils are poor because of the loss of humus 
rather than their fertility. The addition of mere plant 
food cannot restore common land. 
“ Commercial fertilizers will not fundamentally correct 
poor land. Tillage and cropping must be resorted to. 
This may be contrary to all your previous instruction. 
But the only proper teaching in the matter of tillage of 
the soil is experience, not science. I shall give more for 
the experience of the last 1,000 years than for all the 
science in the world. The safe man is the one whose 
desire is not to be consistent with himself, but to be con¬ 
sistent with truth Beware of the advocate. He is 
unsafe. 
“ The best lands for nursery purposes in New York as 
elsewhere are those which have a pretty heavy foundation 
of clay. Clay has the least humus and the most native 
plant food So it must be thoroughly tilled. A nursery 
crop is one which remains from 3 to 5 years. During this 
time we are burning up the humus in the soil and are 
adding none, adding no roots, sod or manure. If the 
plant is not happy it cannot grow. I am speaking of 
apple, pear and plum trees, leaving out of consideration 
the bushes. Therefore we must have rotation in the use 
of different kinds of tools and crops. Every famous rota¬ 
tion has had a period of rest, a change of crop. Some 
land is suitable for consecutive crops. 
“ It is commonly believed that nursery land will not 
stand consecutive crops. Yet I know of land upon which 
plums have been raised in consecutive years for three 
years. But plums can thus be grown on the same land in 
consecutive years better than other trees. Now by 
getting fibre into the soil we get rid of long periods of 
rest. Manure has been used for this purpose with great 
success in New York.” 
There were papers by E. H. Pratt, Fredonia, N. Y., on 
“Grapes”; “Social Value of Our Conventions ” by A. 
Willis, Ottawa, Kan.; “All But the Corpse Furnished” 
by J. Jenkins, Winona, O. 
