7 o 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
WILSON J. PETERS. 
Herewith is presented a portrait and sketch of the new 
president of the American Association of Nurserymen. Mr. 
Peters has long been one of the most prominent members of 
the Association. He is popular, affable, and thoroughly posted 
as to his business. He has been a member of the executive 
committee of the American Association and he is treasurer and 
a member of the executive committee of the American Nurs¬ 
erymen's Protective Asssociation. 
Wilson J. Peters was born in Adams County, Pennsylvania, 
August 9, 1849. Nineteen years later, with his father, George 
Peters, he moved to Ohio, and they engaged in the nursery 
business at New Carlisle, under the firm name of George 
Peters & Son. About eight years later they removed to Troy, 
Ohio, where they continued in business until the father’s death 
in 1883, since which time the business has been carried on by 
the two sons, Wilson J. and Norris 
B. Peters, under the name of George 
Peters & Co. 
George Peters & Co., in partner¬ 
ship with J. H. Skinner, also have a 
nursery of some three hundred acres 
at Topeka, Kans., known as the 
Capital Nurseries, Peters & Skinner, 
proprietors. The land devoted to 
the business in Ohio amounts to over 
700 acres. 
In 1872 Mr. Peters married Miss 
Jennie Foresman. To them were 
born two children, a daughter, dying 
in infancy, and a son, now a young 
man. 
IN THE SOUTH. 
N. W. Hale, Knoxville, Tenn.. 
entertained the members of the 
American Association at Chicago 
with a description of the advantages 
of the South from a nurseryman’s 
point of view. 
“ There are thirteen states in the 
South,’ said he, “ which may be con¬ 
sidered in connection with the nursery 
business. In this area are 118,150 square miles and a population 
of 25,000,000. We have all kinds of climate and soil, except the 
northern climate, and we got a little of that last winter. We 
grow all kinds of fruits that can be grown in the United States, 
all kinds of vegetables, over one-half the cotton that is pro¬ 
duced on the face of the earth, all the rice grown in the 
United States, all the sugar cane and a large proportion of the 
nuts grown in this country. We have in this territory all 
kinds of natural resources, gold, silver, marble and timber. 
We think we have the best part of the United States. Besides, 
it is a new country. The old dream of the plantation has 
passed away. The old idleness has given place to industry 
upon all sides. This result has been reached out of sheer 
necessity. 1 hose who have hung idly about the green planta¬ 
tions have been forced to go to work. The people as a whole 
are happy. It is true that a little trouble now and then occurs 
between the colored people and the white people. But in 
this not over one to five per cent, of the population is repre¬ 
sented. 
“ I mention all these things to show that the field is open to 
the nursery business. It is a peculiar field. I doubt that a 
northern nursery firm sending solicitors through the South 
would accomplish much, but that firm would do well to start 
a nursery in the South. We are not green with envy. You of 
the North send good men to talk up the business in the South 
and we take the orders. By reason of the climate we can sell 
trees twelve months in the year. We can deliver during six 
months, from October 15th to April 15th. We can grow trees 
as well as in any part of the country. Our season is from two 
to three weeks earlier and lasts some time longer than does 
that in the North. There is a larger period of growth. We 
can do a business of $65,000 to $100,000 without packing 
houses, although of course it is better to have them. I think 
this is a considerable item. 
“ In all this southern area there are 
not as many first class retail nur¬ 
series of standard integrity as there 
are in Rochester, N. Y. Yet we do 
have some. The Chase boys have 
one and Brother Heikes has one. 
They do not effect us much for they 
wholesale mostly. The field is ripe. 
The nursery business in the South is 
in its infancy. All previous preju¬ 
dices and conditions have forever 
passed away. There is no country 
more loyal to the flag than is the 
South, and we have proven it lately. 
[Applause.] There are no people 
more anxious to encourage manu¬ 
facturing, mining, immigration and 
business generally. If all the year 
around you would enjoy magnolia 
blooms and hear the nightingale 
morning and night, instead of going 
West or staying North, come South. 
I speak particularly of the country of 
which Knoxville, Tenn., is the hub. 
“ We need in the South a Southern 
Nursery Association which has just 
Wilson J. Peters. , • , w , 
J been organized. We need more uni¬ 
form methods of doing business. We have unnatural and un¬ 
usual delay in shipment of stock. We have a minimum car 
weight of 24,000 pounds when it ought to be 20,000. We have 
high rates of tariff. The railroads are enterprising. They 
encourage large orchards, manufacturing and agricultural pur¬ 
suits and all that promises freight. I believe that if we were 
properly organized we would get all the concessions we need. 
We need more live men like the Chases and Mr. Heikes. If 
you want health, business, pleasure, Eastern Tennessee is a fine 
field for you. If you want to get a foretaste of Heaven 
come to eastern Tennessee and become acclimatized.” 
EMPLOYEES LIKE TO READ IT. 
Cumberland Nurseries, Henry S Rupp & Sons, Shiremans- 
town, Pa., June 12 , 1899 —"Find enclosed $1 for the National Nur- 
serymai' for one year. We could not very well get along without it. 
Even our employees are wild for the paper, and have it among them¬ 
selves as something of a treat.” 
