38 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
Th e National Nurseryman. 
C. L. YATES, 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. 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 
One year, in advance, - - - • - $1.00 
Six Months, ______ .75 
Foreign Subscriptions, in advance, - - - 1.50 
Six Months, “ “ uoo 
Advertising rates will be sent upon application. Advertisements 
should reach tliis office hy the 20th of the month previous to the date 
of issue. 
Payment in advance required for foreign advertisements. 
ftSjTM)rafts 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. 
AiTERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 
President, Irving Rouse, Rochester, N. Y. ; vice-president, E. Albert¬ 
son, Bridgeport, Ind. ; secretary-treasurer, George C. Seager, 
Rochester, N. Y. 
Executive Committee—C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, la.; It. C. Berckmans, 
Augusta, Ga.; F. H. Stannard, Ottawa, Kan. 
Committee on Transportation—N. EL Albaugh, Tadmor, O.; Irving Rouse, 
Rochester, N. Y.; A. L. Brooke, North Topeka, Kan.; Silas Wilson, Atlantic, 
la.; N. W. Hale, Knoxville, Tenn. 
Committee on Tariff—W. C. Barry, Rochester, N. Y.; J. J. Harrison, Paines- 
ville, O. 
Committee on Legislation—C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, la.; N. H. Albaugh, 
Tadmor, O,; Silas Wilson, Atlantic, la.; Irving Rouse, Rochester, N. Y. 
Annual convention for 1898—At Omaha, Neb., June 8, 9. 
Entered, in the Post Office at Rochester, as ■ second-tlass matter. 
Rochester, N. Y., April, 1898. 
A COMMON SENSE VIEW. 
The beginning of another packing season is at hand and 
nurserymen find conditions which are the natural result of 
progress in the face of difficulties—a situation which must 
continue to the end of time. Each season brings new phases. 
Last year there was a rift in the dark cloud of financial 
depression, and the good crops, the promises of better times 
on all sides and the clearing up of certain lines of nursery 
stock, followed "by reports of better sales, dispersed most of 
the cloud. But another was forming in the shape of a San 
Jose scale alarm, and during the late summer months and the 
fall and winter, there have been varying changes in its appear¬ 
ance. This journal has presented those changes as they have 
taken place, as ully as possible, with a view of enabling its 
readers to keep in touch with the subject and thereby know 
how to act for their best interests. Being purely a trade 
journal and confined to the nurserymen, the publication of the 
many phases could not increase the alarm which it has been 
feared would unfavorably affect the planters of nursery stock. 
Horticultural and other journals have taken up the subject 
as the result of the investigations of entomologists, and it has- 
been thoroughly discussed. And through it all the nursery¬ 
men, by their frank treatment of the subject, have increased 
confidence among the orchardists. The nurserymen have 
admitted from the outset the statements that the scale is dan¬ 
gerous to the life of trees and shrubs, and that it can be easily 
transmitted if proper precautions are not taken. They have 
urged federal and state legislation for the purpose of estab¬ 
lishing those precautions, and have worked hand in hand with 
the entomologists in endeavoring to rid trees of the pest where 
it has been found. 
It is gratifying to note the general tone of the horticultural 
press upon the attitude of the nurserymen. A fair sample of 
this feature of the question is the editorial expression of the 
Rural New Yorker , one of the leading agricultural and horti¬ 
cultural journals of the country. It says : 
Two or three correspondents this week advise inquirers to buy 
nursery tx-ees instead of raising them. Ordinarily we might consider 
such advice from a nurseryman as prejudiced ; but under existing con¬ 
ditions, it seems to us sound. Never before were first-class fruit trees 
offered at such low prices. Many nurserymen say that they are mak¬ 
ing no money, and we can well believe it. But they have large sums 
of money invested, and must keep the plant in operation to maintain 
their business and get anything at all from it. If they, with their 
long experience, and with every facility for the economical production 
of trees on a large scale, cannot make any profit, how can the beginner 
with no experience and few or no facilities, expect to Compete ? The 
man of experience, too, is likely to produce a much better quality of 
trees. Growing good nursery stock is a science, and the specialist has 
every advantage in his favor. 
The low prices of the past few years have been due to the immense 
production, and the unreasonable San Jose scale scare of the present 
and past years is liable to lessen purchases and depreciate prices still 
further. This scale is a serious pest—there is no use in belittling it— 
but fruit production will continue. Wlien the Colorado beetle first 
made its appearance, many predicted that the business of potato grow¬ 
ing would be ruined ; but never before have so many potatoes been 
produced as during the past few years. We have learned to overcome 
the pest. So shall we learn to overcome the San Jose scale, and while 
some will probably be driven out of the business, the alert, progressive, 
up-to-date growers will reap the reward of diligence. 
Fruit production will continue, and nurserymen will sell 
their stock in spite of obstacles. The San Jose scale will be 
fought as have other insects, and while it may not be extermi¬ 
nated, its spread will be controlled. Already the views of Dr. 
John B. Smith, Professor Mark V. Slingerland, Professor L. 
H. Bailey and others, that the scale may be overcome by due 
diligence, are being accepted generally. 
CANADA’S EXCLUSION ACT. 
In the face of the legislation which Sir Charles Tupper ad¬ 
mitted was drastic, excluding all United States nursery stock 
from Canada, it is difficult for nurserymen in the states to be¬ 
lieve that the San Jose scale was the sole cause for such 
action. 
Hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of stock was about 
to be shipped, to fill Canadian orders, from Western New 
York, where the scale has not yet been found. The Canadian 
minister of agriculture, who claims to have made a thorough 
study of -conditions, must have known this. It would seem, 
therefore, that if such legislation as was proposed and effected 
in four days was deemed necessary, it could have been brought 
