THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
Galveston wharf, where as the two sat dangling their legs over 
the bay and waited for the fish to bite, the old fisherman told 
how, many years before, on the classic banks of the Rhine he 
had helped to terrace the rocky hillsides for the vines that pro¬ 
duced the wines that have made that section famous ; how he 
was about to make a fortune from his extensive vineyard at 
Bolivar Point on Galveston Bay when the civil war drove him 
away, and how fortunes could yet be made in grape growing. 
And thus while fishing for trout with shrimps, I was caught myself, 
with a bait of grapes. Well, the time had passed quickly, though fish¬ 
ing was bad. and after thanking the old man for his pleasant chat, I 
bade him good-bye, and never saw him again. In our journey from tlia 
cradle to the grave, our paths crossed but a single time, and yet in 
those few hours he had completely changed the whole course of my 
life. On my way home I stopped in the different book stores to hunt 
for lore on the grape, and bought the only two books they had. These 
were soon at my fingers’ ends, and not satisfied with learning something 
about grapes, a desire sprang up to know something about all other 
fruits and flowers as well, and everything I could find was read. 
While now completely infatuated with horticulture (and it is wonder¬ 
ful how completely it does capture some people) it is doubtful whether 
I would ever have made it a business, unless unfortunate speculations 
in cotton and real estate, just prior to the storm and yellow fever 
epidemic of ’ 67 , had decided the question for me. Those events left 
me with no bank account against which to draw, sol concluded at once 
to follow my inclinations, and draw on the sand banks of Galveston 
Island. Just how those banks will honor a draft if properly endorsed 
with manure and industry, I leave the old vegetable dealers and resi¬ 
dents of the city, who used to visit my home in the West End, to say. 
In the succeeding chapters of Part I, Mr. Stringfellow de¬ 
scribes in detail what have proved to be exceedingly successful 
methods of market gardening. In his preface he says that 
while directly applicable, in some of the details and varieties, 
to the far South only, many of the suggestions are of general 
interest all over the country. 
In Part II, Mr. Stringfellow states that he presents it with a 
feeling of confidence that the time is ripe for a new dispensa¬ 
tion of horticultural truths, and while they may, with their 
novelty, startle from their sleepy routine many of the high 
priests who minister around the altars throughout the country, 
the kindly reception awarded them in the vicinity of his own 
home is an earnest of their general adoption in the near future. 
The public now demand the best of fruit and they want it cheap. 
The day of high prices has probably gone forever ; and it is a doubtful 
question whether fruit-growing, with the short-lived, unproductive, 
diseased and insect-ridden trees of to-day, and their uncertain crops, 
now pays. To practice the most advanced methods (taught by Mr. 
Hale, for instance, on peaches, and by others on apples, pears, etc.) 
requires an expenditure that is often not even covered by the receipts. 
The amount of nurturing, or “doping ” as the tuifmen call it on their 
horses, in the way of cultivation, pruning, thinning, fertilizing and 
spraying, to make pay an orchard grown from three or four-year old, 
long, fibrous-rooted trees, is appalling ; and when we contrast it with 
the certain, cheap, easy-going style in which the twenty-year-old 
Rambo apple tree, mentioned in the last chapter of this volume, brings 
in the dollars, we may well say, “ Hasten the good time wheD all fruits 
can thus be grown.” That is the mission of this gospel of “ The New 
Horticulture” I now advocate, which, though nominally new, is really 
as old as the morn in spring in the long, long ago, ages before Eve 
plucked and Adam ate the apple, when the warm sunbeams kissed the 
dew from the first modestly opening fruit blooms, whenever that was. 
There follow in rapid succession chapters discussing the 
reasons why it is impossible with generally accepted modern 
methods to grow as healthy, long-lived and productive fruit 
trees as our forefathers ; plain talks with nurserymen upon 
old and new methods, backed up by citations of cases in actual 
11 5 
experience ; and the author’s presentation of his root pruning 
theory. For all of this we refer the reader to the book. Space 
here permits only this cursory glance of the subject which in 
this age of progress would seem to be well worth investigation. 
“ My object ” says Mr. Stringfellow, “ has been to show that 
some of the principles of horticulture to-day are wrong, and 
also to suggest a more natural, cheaper and better way to grow 
good fruit than the laborious and expensive methods now in 
use. While in the analysis of manures and destruction of in¬ 
sects we have made good progress, horticulture has not kept 
up in the procession with the other arts and sciences, and a 
little radical shaking up will at least start a spirit of inquiry 
and experiment.” 
And su we submit that no nurseryman’s library is complete 
without a copy of this volume by a fellow member of the craft, 
which we have here referred to purely by reason of its import¬ 
ance in the series of advancing steps which mark the modern 
days. Certainly the opinions of a man who has the foresight 
to secure five tons of gunpowder which had been damaged by 
water, and which the owners were about to throw into the 
gulf, and to sow it upon four acres of “played-out ” ground, 
because he knew that 75 per cent, of the powder was pure 
nitrate of potash, the great plant food, reaping wonderful 
rewards—certainly his opinions are worthy of consideration. 
His methods may not be adopted at once, but they should be 
known. 
POLITICS AND BUSINESS. 
We present in this issue the result of an inquiry conducted 
by one of the largest nursery firms in the United States regard¬ 
ing the political situation. It is the intention of this journal 
to keep strictly within the lines which define its character as a 
trade journal. Such a course precludes the discussion of 
politics ; but it includes reference to fundamental forces which 
affect the nursery business and it cannot be denied that the 
questions of the present presidential campaign are of such a 
nature. The inquiry conducted by Chase Brothers Co. is 
something with which we have had nothing to do, and we 
simply record the results as a matter of news of interest to the 
trade. 
PEACH GROWING IN VERMONT. 
Grand Isle county is naturally the fruit-growing section of 
Vermont. Composed wholly of islands and peninsulas in 
Lake Champlain, it has an atmosphere especially suited to 
growing fruits of the choicest quality, says a writer in the 
Rural New Yorker. • 
This is the home of the Vermont Beauty pear, one of the 
choicest new varieties, and while on my rounds I met J. T. 
Macomber, in whose orchard now stands the parent tree Mr. 
Macomber is one of the leading pomologists of New England, 
having originated many new and valuable varieties of fruits. 
Many years ago he tried to raise peaches, but the severity of 
the winters in this latitude so interfered with the growth of 
the trees that he never was able to mature good, sound fruit. 
Some ten or twelve years ago, however, he tried an experiment 
in training the trunk of the tree to trail along the ground, so 
as to be able to give it a winter protection. 
