78 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
wasn’t,” said the wag, “ that means he is dead, damned and 
delivered.” We charged up the loss to an excess of climate or 
a lack of moisture, to the inexperience of the planter or the thou¬ 
sand and one excuses for non-thrift of the tree. I now firmly 
believe that in too many instances the vitality of the tree was 
sadly impaired by insect pests, prior to its delivery to the cus¬ 
tomer. A tree is a vital organism and we must recognize it as 
such, and you as tree producers must awake to the fact that 
no tree ever possessed too much of vigor and reserve force, 
that it must be so nurtured and cared for while in the nursery 
that it will be storing up within its body abundant supply of 
those elements which are required to start it out on its new 
cycle of growth, that it’s a science to so develop it that in the 
right season it will be thriving even as the historical green bay 
tree, that in ample time it will be permitted to enter the best 
state, or the accumulation period, that when fully matured and 
not before that it will be so handled that it will reach the 
planter in the best of condition. Too often it is permitted to 
be dug and packed when as a matter of fact, every particle of 
reserve force has been expended in maintaining an existence 
against the ravages of the myriads of pests which have 
infested it. 
The spray pump has come to stay, the agricultural chemists 
are advising of the quality of arsenites to be employed to 
destroy insect life, the entomologists are writing the life his¬ 
tories of the pests which are greatly troubling us and the 
biologists are giving instruction in the best methods of destruc¬ 
tion, but it devolves upon others than these to awaken the pro¬ 
fession to the requirements of the case. That the fruit 
interests of the country are seriously imperiled by the exist¬ 
ence of the most dangerous of foes insiduous, in that their 
damage is done before we are aware almost of their existence 
Eternal vigilance is the price of safety, is a sad fact not only 
in the case of republics but of nurseries as well, and we of the 
trade must take the proper stand in these matters. 
NECESSITY FOR KEEPING POSTED. 
A recent bulletin was issued from a western state. A local 
paper in referring to it, remarked that the wisdom of such pub¬ 
lications was doubted, that it would not prove to be a good 
immigration document. Too many people are proceeding on 
the same lines as to insect and fungus pests, they are afraid of 
injuring their own or others business by referring to the actual 
conditions. The same policy would close every church in the 
land. It’s a drastic theology which states that sinners are born 
to be damned if they do not repent of their sins, and the 
nursery business is doomed to destruction if the men owning 
and operating them persist in closing their eyes and ears to the 
existence of these destructive pests. 
A distinguished naturalist claims that if there were no foes 
devoted to the destruction of the green aphis, a single pair 
of these minute insects would increase at such a rate that in 
a decade they would cover the world with a layer of aphides 
ten feet deep, and it is measurably so with other fruit pests. 
A few years ago, a German entomologist living in Massachu¬ 
setts secured from the old country two specimens of the 
Gypsy moth. They were permitted to escape and to breed 
and that state has paid out more than a million dollars to ex¬ 
terminate the progeny of these destructive insects and the end 
is not yet. Large sums of money must yet be spent before the 
evil is cured. 
The system of specialization is carried to such an extent by 
nurserymen that the product of a single nursery is likely to 
turn up on the packing grounds of 90 per cent, of the nurseries 
of the United States. Canada made you wince by excluding 
bodily all the products of the American nursery, and when I 
hear men in open convention decrying the necessity of legal 
action to control these evils I can but think that Canada did 
only her full duty to her orchards and her nurseries. It may 
be said that any thorough system of treatment would be pro¬ 
hibitive from the expense thereof. Add the cost to the price of 
the tree you sell and give the planter absolute assurance and 
insurance that the stock is clean and free of pests or disease, 
and you will find him perfectly willing to stand the required 
expense if by such expenditure he is safe from infesting and 
in'ecting other trees that may be doing well for him. 
RISE TO THE EMERGENCY. 
Look this difficulty squarely in the eye, rise to the 
emergency, acquaint yourself with the current reliable litera¬ 
ture on the subject of insect pests, study the various classes 
and familiarize yourself with all there is to be learned con¬ 
cerning them, send your boys to agricultural colleges, drill 
them in chemistry, botany and entomology, and thus place 
your business on a sound enduring basis, by fitting them to 
carry on work on scientific lines, instead of the main strength 
and awkwardness theory on which practically every nursery in 
the United States has been developed to date. 
You owe this much to your country and your family. Who 
among you has realized sufficient of this world’s goods from 
the profit of a nursery business to warrant you in exterminat¬ 
ing the work of a life time and to turn your back on the busi- 
n ss forever? If we have no dividends to draw in the future 
from the sincere gratification which insures to every man who 
has created a successful business, small indeed will be the 
reward for exceeding toil. The nurserymen of the United 
States have it in their hands to effectually put a stop to the 
pest destruction of nurseries if they go at it in the proper 
manner and spirit. But a trifle over a century ago the civiliz¬ 
ed world was thrilled by the announcement that Chicago was 
burning up ; the sweep was a clean one, and yet to-day we need 
the printed page of history to tell us that this greatest of all 
modern cities has arisen Phoenix like from the ashes. The fire 
consumed a few hundred blocks of buildings, numerous stocks 
of goods, public and private improvements, but did not 
cremate the business pluck and push of the Chicago business 
man. That was left to him, the best working capital he ever 
enjoyed and with it he has forged to the front and has replaced 
all losses more than a hundred fold, and so with this great 
menace to the future of a business without whose beneficent 
results, life would not be worth the living. The same intelli¬ 
gent industry which created a great business supplemented by 
the aid of science, will stamp out every dangerous insect foe 
and leave clean nurseries, clean orchards and clean homes. 
NO OTHER LIKE IT. 
Clawson Brothers, Windsor, III : “Enclosed find $1 to pay 
for one year’s subscription to the National Nurseryman. The 
journal fills a vacuum in horticultural literature that no other paper 
published can fill.” 
CANNOT AFFORD TO DO WITHOUT IT. 
L. A. Southern & Bro., Washington, W. Va., July 15 , 1899 : 
“ You will please find enclosed $1 to pay for renewal of your valuable 
journal for another year. We cannot afford to do without it. We 
wish you and your valuable paper prosperity.” 
