THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
Uo 
Tin Common Council. 
Editor National Nurseryman : 
I am very pleased to see your brief notice on tree values, 
published in your last issue. I like to see such references, for, 
as a rule, people do not realize the value of a tree. It is true 
that the value is hard to estimate. It may be said, I think, 
that there are two values possessed by a tree. First, the com¬ 
mercial or market value, and the other, the sentimental value 
or value of association. This latter is not to be measured by 
commercial law. Unfortunately, however, the commercial 
rating too often prevails. A note of the nature that I refer to 
is worth a good deal to some people who look at a tree from 
the dollars and cents side. If they cannot be reached from 
the natural or sentimental side, let us reach them from the 
other standpoint. John Craig. 
Ames, la. 
NURSERY SALES IN IOWA. 
Editor National Nurseryman: 
The ubiquitous and persuasive tree agent has been probably 
more numerous in the state this summer and autumn than for 
many years. Secretary Greene of the State Horticultural So¬ 
ciety estimates that the loss of fruit trees in the state, due to 
the severe freezing of last winter, amounts to over 700,000 
trees. The net result of this was a greatly increased activity 
in tree planting lines by amateur as well as commercial grow¬ 
ers. A few would-be tree growers have become discouraged 
and have not replanted. T. is is probably as it should be. 
Unless a man is interested in his business he is not likely to 
make a success of it, and the lukewarm orchardist, the man 
who takes a mild interest in the business, is wasting time for 
himself and injuring the business of others, and he had better 
keep out of it. The planting of this year, then, will be done 
by men best qualified to care for the trees they plant. Alto¬ 
gether the pomological signs of the times are hopeful. 
John Craig. 
Iowa Agricultural College, Ames, la., Nov. 6, 1899. 
ADVOCATES FUMIGATION. 
Editor National Nurseryman: 
We read the article by Orlando Harrison, in the November 
issue of your good journal with much interest, and while there 
seems to be a dislike for the articles by some, and others are 
crying “ enough ! ” we think the San Jose scale is too formid¬ 
able a foe for us to stop and be content with matters where 
they stand now. 
Those who see no dangers in it may not have had enough of 
it, or, they have had too much of it. We do not want any 
of it, and we want to be protected from it, for we have buyers 
who look to us to give them good clean stock, and to protect 
them from the scale. 
We do not know what states have had the “ political inspec¬ 
tors,” and we do not know if our inspectors in this state are 
“political inspectors ” or not; but we do know that they are 
all good, thorough, conscientious scientific men, and we know 
that each man, both of our past and present inspectors, has 
been and is now. able to detect the presence of the San Jose 
scale in any stage of its development. We are satisfied about 
that, even if they haye not written and talked so much about it 
as some others have; but, we believe nursery inspection, as it 
is carried on in the states to-day, is a fraud on its face, whether 
it be done by an entomologist, a “political inspector,” or a pol¬ 
itician. 
Many of our nurseries have from hundreds of thousands to 
millions of trees in them, enough to keep an inspector busy 
at one nursery for an entire year ; but it is done, we know, al¬ 
ways within a week, and, as a rule, in a day. Trees are, con¬ 
sequently, omitted, a great many more than two-thirds of them. 
These omitted trees are surely not inspected, they are not any 
more inspected than the five hundred to a thousand trees of 
my neighbor's, just over the fence, which were not inspected; 
yet I have a certificate stating that my trees have been in¬ 
spected, and, by law, I dare not buy one of my neighbor’s 
trees, which are not inspected and ship it with my uninspected 
trees. It is, furthermore, impossible for the grower to 
know that his trees are all clean; he thinks so, but he does not 
know, nor does the inspector, for, do as they like, under the 
present system, they omit nearly nine-tenths of the trees in a 
whole nursery. It is a chance of hit or miss, and it does seem 
foolish, even for an entomologist. 
Fumigation seems the only remedy, and this will have to be 
done by all of us, or none of us are safe, nor are our planters. 
We should protect the planter as well as the nurseryman, for 
it is on him, ultimately, that we must rely. We must not sell 
him bills on such terms as those given by the firm which sells 
about $20 to $30 worth of trees for $110 on a bogus contract. 
Earl Peters. 
Uriah, Pa., Nov. 15, 1899. 
JAPAN PEAR SEEDLINGS. 
Editor National Nurseryman : 
Some years ago I purchased a few Japan pear seedlings for 
propagating a few trees for home planting, but found such a 
diversity of foliage and habit, that I was foolish enough to let 
some of them come to fruiting. In foliage they, I might 
almost say, ranged from cut-leaved weeping birch to Carolina 
poplar. A number of them fruited this year, and for curiosity, 
I express you a few varieties. Each cluster (except the 
smallest ones, of which I send several) is from a different tree, 
and while there is a strong similarity in some ways, they are 
all different. The one sample in a sack is really edible, but 
there are very few of them so. The smallest ones of which I 
send several clusters are from a tree 2^4 inches in diameter 
where the limbs start out; it had considerable over a bushel 
of pears, hanging firmly to the branches to-day ; might pay to 
grow for seed, to produce stocks for budding, as the Japs are 
wonderfullyvigorous and healthy in foliage. 
I also send you three samples of the Globe pear, a seedling 
of my own, that I think well of. They are not vet ripe, but 
soon will be. 
Camp Hill, Pa., Nov. 7, 1899. David Miller. 
[The samples of Japan pears came four, five and six in a 
bunch, about the size of plums or larger, dark russet in color, 
hard yet with plump jet black seeds. The Globe pear is 
spherical, yellow with red cheek, of coarse grain, sweet and 
very juicy ] 
BEST PAPER IN THE TRADE. 
P. Uuwereekk, Jersey City, N. J., Nov. 15 , 1899 . — “ The National 
Nurseryman is the best paper in the trade. With pleasure I renew 
my subscription,” 
