IIS 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
The National N urseryman. 
C. L. YATE5, Proprietor. RALPH T. OLCOTT, Editor. 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., 
% 
305 Cox Building, Rochester, N. Y. 
The only trade journal issued for Growers and Dealers in Nursery Stock of 
all kinds. It circulates throughout the United States and Canada. 
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 
AWARDED THE GRAND PRIZE AT PARIS EXPOSITION, 1900. 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 
One year, in advance, ----- $1.00 
Six Months, .75 
Foreign Subscriptions, in advance, - - - 1.50 
Six Months, “ “ ••oo 
Advertising rates will be sent upon application. Advertisements 
should reach this office by the 20th of the month previous to the date 
of issue. 
Payment in advance required for foreign advertisements. Drafts 
on New York or postal orders, instead of checks, are requested. 
Correspondence from all points and articles of interest to nursery¬ 
men and horticulturists are cordially solicited. 
AHERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 
President, Theodore J. Smith, Geneva, N. Y.; vice-president, N. W. 
Hale, Knoxville, Tenn.; secretary, George C. Seager, Rochester, 
N. Y.; treasurer, C. L. Yates, Rochester, N. Y. 
Executive Committee—Irving Rouse, Rochester, N. Y.; C. L. Watrous, Des 
Moines, la.; E. Albertson, Bridgeport, Ind. 
Committee on Transportation—Theodore J. Smith, ex-officio, chairman ; A. L. 
Brooke, N. Topeka, Kan.; William Pitkin, Rochester, N. Y.; Peter Youngers, 
Geneva, Neb.; N. W. Hale, Knoxville, Tenn. 
Committee on Legislation—C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, la.; N. H. Albaugh, 
Phoneton, O.: Silas Wilson, Atlantic, la.; Charles J. Brown, Rochester, N.Y. 
Robert C. Berckmans, Augusta, Ga. 
Committee on Tariff—Irving Rouse, Rochester, N. Y.; J. J. Harrison, Paines- 
ville, O.; Thomas B. Meehan, Germantown, Pa. 
Annual convention for 1901—At Niagara Falls, N. Y., June 12-13. 
Entered in the Post Office at Rochester , as second-class mail matter. 
Rochester, N. Y., November, 1900. 
STUB-PRUNED ROOTS. 
In our opinion nothing but praise should be accorded H. M. 
Stringfellow, of Lampasas, Texas, for his earnest and persist¬ 
ent efforts to demonstrate the success of his stub-root theory. 
If, as he claims, trees can be brought to the bearing period 
quicker, planting of orchards can be accomplished easier and 
the handling of many roots on trees by nurserymen may be 
avoided, certainly a great advance in methods of tree culture 
will have been made; and the credit assuredly will be Mr. 
Stringfellow’s. 
In the April issue of the National Nurseryman Mr. String- 
fellow described his planting of 3000 apple, pear, plum and 
peach trees in inch holes driven in virgin prairie sod, 12 
inches deep, with a steel rod and a sledge hammer. “ The 
world wants fine fruit and wants it cheap,” said Mr. Stringfel¬ 
low, as he left his newly planted trees practically to take care 
of themselves. “ By my plan it can be grown at a nominal 
cost and give the grower a profit at prices that will bring its 
consumption within reach of all. Look out for prosperous 
times for the nurseryman in the near future.” 
That was six months ago. In a photograph reproduced in 
the Rural New Yorker, Mr. Stringfellow shows pear, apple, 
plum and peach trees taken from this embryo orchard, all 
with a well-developed root system. Writing to that journal 
he says: 
After planting, a circle was chopped just deep enough to kill the 
grass for about 18 inches every way from the trees, and a shovelful of 
manure scattered around each one. About a month later I applied 
1000 pounds of cottonseed meal to the 3000 trees, giving every one a 
large handful, sprinkled thinly over the chopped circle To make the 
test more severe the circles were not hoed again until the trees were 
dug, nor was the orchard mowed but once, on July 10 . I started a 
man to hoeing the circles for the second time August 23 . 
This is a dry country, far less favorable to tree growth than the North 
or East, with an elevation of 1200 feet above sea level, and 250 from 
the Gulf of Mexico. The ground is so hard, and in places rocky, that 
a posthole can nowhere be dug, with anything but a sharpened crow¬ 
bar. Water where these trees were grown is fully 50 feet below the 
surface. The season was good from time of planting to digging, ex¬ 
cept a seven weeks’drought from the last week in May to July 14 , 
when rain fell. 
With this evidence before them, ought not intelligent men to lay 
aside their prejudices in favor of long roots, deeply dug soil and large 
holes, all entailing great expense in planting orchards and recognize the 
great truth so fully demonstrated herein, that a close root-pruned tree 
is practically a seedling, and like all other seedlings in the vast domain 
of nature, finds the most congenial conditions in firm ground with as 
little disturbance of the subsoil as possible ? I omitted to say that the 
apple trees were small seedlings, one-quarter to one inch in diameter, 
and the peach little June-budded trees. 
CANADA’S OPEN DOOR. 
Secretary William Pitkin, of the Eastern Nurserymen’s 
Association, on October 3d received the following notice from 
N. B. Colcock, custom house broker at Niagara Falls, Ont., 
dated October 2d.: 
“I am officially advised by the Department of Agriculture, 
Ottawa, that the fumigating station at Niagara Falls, Ont., 
will be open from 15th October until 15th December.” 
The original plan was to open the station from October 
15th until November 15th. The extension is the result of a 
request by Secretary Pitkin in behalf of the Eastern Asso¬ 
ciation and nurserymen of the states generally. 
SUPERIORITY OF AMERICAN FRUIT. 
The horticultural exhibit was one of the principal features 
of the World’s Fair at Chicago ; it has been one of the main 
features of the Paris Exposition ; it will be very prominent at 
the Pan-American Exposition, beginning next May. The list 
of awards for American fruit at the Paris Exposition is an elo¬ 
quent testimonial to the progress of horticulture in this coun¬ 
try. Never before in the history of this nation has there been 
such a widespread interest in the subject. The prompt, gen¬ 
eral and merited recognition of the value of American exhibits 
in Paris has encouraged fruit growers to make a special effort 
to have a complete display at Buffalo next year. Already 
plans have been made by state associations and by individuals 
to send choice fruit to the great railroad center at the western 
boundary of the Empire State. 
