THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
97 
NATHAN W. HALE. 
IN EUROPEAN NURSERIES. 
The subject of this sketch is well-known to our readers. 
He is one of the most progressive nurserymen in the country. 
He has risen rapidly in business circles, in politics and in the 
estimation of all who know him. 
Nathan Wesley Hale was born in Scott county, Virginia, 
February ir, i860. He is descended from a soldier of the 
Revolution and his father, Drayton S. Hale, served in the 
Union army during the Civil war. The son’s education con¬ 
sisted of eighteen months’ training in schools. He sold goods 
in Scott county, Va., in 1882—’83; taught school there-in 
1884 and saved some money which was swallowed up in a 
patent right. Leaving Virginia in 1885 he went to Knox 
county, Tenn., and began the sale of nursery stock for Messrs. 
Bird and Dew, of the Knoxville nursery. He worked early 
and late and with such success that he was offered an interest 
in the business. Since then his 
career has been steadily onward. 
He has arisen to the presidency and 
management of the Knoxville Nur¬ 
sery, owning one half of it. He is 
also the president of the Southern 
Nursery at Winchester. He was 
elected to the lower house in the 
Tennessee legislature in 1890, and 
in 1892 was elected to the senate on 
what was considered a difficult part 
of the ticket. While politics is not 
his trade, he has shown himself well 
adapted to the rough-and-tumble of 
a political campaign. He goes in to 
get all the votes he can, and leave 
those who do not vote for him, at 
least friendly toward him personally. 
Consequently, when the time comes 
for him to ask a non-partisan favor of 
a late political antagonist, the favor 
is quickly and graciously granted. In 
1894 many counties in Tennessee in¬ 
structed their delegates to vote for 
Mr. Hale for governor, but he did not 
attend the convention and since then 
he has been devoting all his time to 
business. He represents the company in the wholesale dry 
goods and notion house of Brown, Payne, Deaver & Co., 
Knoxville, and has other business interests. He was re-elected 
president of the Southern Nurserymen’s Association at the 
recent annual meeting. 
Mr. Hale married Laura Sebastian, daughter of a prominent 
lawyer in Kentucky. They have two boys and two girls at 
their home in the suburbs of Knoxville. Mr. Hale is vice- 
president of the American Association of Nurserymen. He is 
a ready speaker and his counsel is sought in the deliberations 
of the national body, as it is in the Southern Association and 
whenever business interests are at stake. He started in life 
with his hands, his integrity and his talent as capital. He has 
bravely won and has demonstrated the possibilities before 
every young man. 
The Minnesota Horticulturist prints letters from Prof. 
Samuel B. Green, of Minnesota, who is traveling in Furope. 
In these letters Prof. Green says : 
As a rule, the nursery work did not impress me as being so skillfully 
done as in our best nurseries. The birds are very fond of the spruce 
seeds, which in one nursery were covered with quite a heavy covering 
of sphagnum moss until they began to break ground, to keep off the 
birds. I think we could, perhaps, use this to good advantage, but 
much care must be taken not to remove the covering too quick in dry 
weather. 
We stopped for nearly two days near Stuttgart, where we visited 
the oldest agricultural school in Europe, at Hohenheim. About 120 
students attend here, and the work seemed to be carried on in a prac¬ 
tical way. It is beautifully located about ten miles from Stuttgart. 
In the city of Stuttgart is located the private school of Mr. Gaucher, 
where the students work in the nursery and learn to train trees as 
espaliers and in various curious forms. Here are currants and goose¬ 
berries growing on the same stem, three to 
six feet from the ground, in tree form. 
When we were there the proprietor was 
away at Paris with an exhibit of his trees. 
The people here seem to take great interest 
in training trees as espaliers and in other 
curious forms and know very little about 
the raising of fruit on a large scale as a 
business. Strawberries and cherries are 
generally so’.d by the pound and are used 
in comparatively small quantities and are 
marketed in a clumsy way, as a rule. 
However, here at Dresden, they are offered 
in boxes in much the same way as with 
us, but this is the first place I have seen 
where the custom is at all general. In 
fact, the agricultural and horticultural 
methods in Saxony are well developed, 
and I am inclined to think from wbat I 
can see and hear that this is the garden 
spot of Germany. 
THE APPLE CROP. 
Nathan 
The sixth annual convention of the 
National Apple Association was held 
at Cleveland, August 13. There 
were present 160 delegates. 
During the three days the con- 
W. Hale. . . , .. , 
vention was m session letters and 
and telegrams were received from every fruit-growing section 
of the country, and from these it is estimated that the apple 
crop this year will be the largest in the history of the United 
States, exceeding that of 1896, when 60,000,000 barrels were 
gathered. The next meeting will be held at Toronto, Ont., 
the first Wednesday of August, 1901. 
The following officers were chosen : President, George T. 
Richardson, of Leavenworth, Kan.; vice-president, C. P. Roth- 
well, of East Palestine, O.; secretary, A. Warren Patch, of 
Boston ; treasurer, W. L. Wagoner, of Chicago. 
A. F. Mosby, Richmond, Va.—“I enclose $1 for renewal of my sub¬ 
scription. Your paper is highly satisfactory.” 
A SUBSCRIBER FROM THE FIRST. 
Stanton B. Cole, Bridgeton, N. J., June 12, 1900 —“ Replying to 
yours of the 8th informing me that my subscription expires with this 
issue, I enclose $1 for the renewal. I think we have been with you 
from the first issue and do not think we can get along without it very 
well now.” 
