8 4 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
Horticulture in its variety making and improving is not 
founded on any law which assures improvement in the organic 
world. Nature builds up her types gradually, but all the more 
surely, by the selection in each generation of variations which 
give the survivors some slight advantage over the individuals 
already existing. This process has been called by Darwin, 
“Natural Selection by Spencer, “The Survival of the Fit¬ 
test,” and recently by Prof. Bailey, “ The Survival of the Un¬ 
like,” all of which are synonomous expressions. 
Yet we are constantly endeavoring to build up horticulture 
in the very way that nature condemns, namely, through the 
promiscuous production of new forms or new seedlings. A 
seedling variety is discovered, not produced. It is not founded 
on a law of organic progress. A bushel of seed is sown, but 
the sower can only hope for something good to turn up. He 
never knows that an improved variety will appear, nor has he 
reason to expect it, because the operation rests on the element 
of chance, not on the laws of plant evolution. 
I do not wish to condemn the production of seedlings from 
judicious crosses of selected parents, because in. that process 
are included the intelligence of the operator and a knowledge 
of the laws of plant crossing ; but I do want to emphasize the 
fact that horticulture is old enough now to rest on definite 
laws of its own and that those laws should act in conformity 
with the principles underlying the evolution of the vegetable 
kingdom. 
It seems strange that the slight differences which appear in 
the buds of a tree should not have formed the basis for the 
systematic improvement of orchard varieties. 
THE PRESENT SYSTEM. 
Horticulturists have never made a systematic attempt to 
improve a variety after it once appears, or even to maintain its 
standard of excellence, for improvement has ever been looked 
for through new varieties. The present system of propagating 
fruits in the nursery or on the farm, as followed by most fruit 
growers, tends to deteriorate a variety. Buds are selected 
from bearing trees or non-bearing trees, or from nursery trees. 
The effect in every case is to transmit the tendency already 
existing in the bud to the new tree, and as a result there are 
orchards scattered all over the country in which are many 
trees, that, even with the highest culture, will not pay the in¬ 
terest on the land they occupy. Nine orchards in every ten 
have been propagated with no more care in selecting the buds 
from which the trees came than was exercised in the propaga¬ 
tion of the Fay’s plantation already mentioned. On a large 
fruit farm with which I have been connected, this principle is 
considered so important that every young orchard is top 
worked with buds from trees which have shown a bearing 
habit for years. 
THE APPLE CROP. 
The government apple report, says the outlook is very dis¬ 
couraging; that of the 14 apple growing states 11 report a 
lower average of condition than at a corresponding date last 
year. The yield of winter fruit promises uneven in both 
quantity and quality throughout practically the entire orchard 
belt, west and east. In Michigan there is the best promise of 
a crop. 
THE ENGLISH GARDENER. 
Nursery employees of this country can compare with satis¬ 
faction the requirements they meet, with those .of the English 
gardener. An advertisement for a situation by a gardener in 
England brought the following statement of particulars, says 
Gardener's Chronicle , London : 
Please give following particulars: 1. Name and address of refer¬ 
ences. 2. Length of character. 3. Cause of leaving last two situa¬ 
tions. 4. Did you or your employer give notice ? 5. When disen¬ 
gaged. 6. How long out of situation ? 7. What wages have you been 
receiving ? 8. What position have you held in last two situations ? 
9. Age, height, married or single, and what family ? 10. Have you 
any knowledge of bee-keeping ? 11. Are you strong, healthy, and an 
abstainer ? 12. Have you been accustomed to use a scythe V 13. Can 
you give a good character for qualifications and good temper ? 14. 
Please give ah outline of your carreer, and the work you have been 
accustomed to do since (sic) the last twelve years. 
I require a strong, healthy, active, quick, willing and obliging man, 
who thoroughly understands the routine of a gentleman’s small place ; 
methodical, systematic, and orderly, in his habits, punctual, and an 
abstainer. Must thoroughly understand the cultivation of fruit, vege¬ 
tables, and flowers. The duties I should require outside garden-work 
are—carrying coals, cleaning boots (no knives), cleaning windows out¬ 
side, and making bimself useful when necessity requires. My place is 
small, about f to one acre in all, small conservatory and greenhouse, 
and a few frames. We are three in family. You would have no 
assistance. We take an interest in our garden, and work it ourselves 
sometimes. 
The wages I give to a thoroughly experienced single-handed gar¬ 
dener, who comes with a good character, are from £55 to £65 a year 
(payable monthly, calendar month, not four weekly) with a calendar 
month’s notice on either side from any date, and at the end of the first 
year’s service a rise of £3. There is no cottage, and you would have 
to live off the premises, finding your own lodgings. Your working 
hours would be : From March 15 to November 1, from 6 a. m. to 6 
p. m.; from November 1 to February 15, from 7 a. m. to 5:30 p. in.; 
from February 15 to March 15, from 7 a. m. to 6 p. m., with one hour 
for dinner, half-an-hour for breakfast, and a quarter-of-an-hour for 
tea. which the gardener brought with him. On Sundays your work 
would be the usual necessities only : boots, coals, watering, &c., and 
if on week-days it is necessary to water the garden after 6 o’clock on 
account of the heat, I would require you to do so ; and in winter you 
would have to return at 8 or 8:30 p. m. to attend to the conservatory 
and greenhouse fires. Cottages can be obtained here for about £10 a 
year, and furnished rooms from 2s. 6<L to 4s. 
MR. BROOKE’S RESOLUTIONS. 
Following is the resolution presented by President A. L. 
Brooke at the Omaha convention, but not acted upon : 
Whereas. This convention of nurserymen of America has on differ¬ 
ent occasions in the past declared itself in no uncertain language in 
favor of a protective tariff, and 
Whereas, We, by our means and the earnest work of our commit¬ 
tee, appointed by this body, secured a fair and just law on the impor¬ 
tation of nursery stock, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That we do hereby most earnestly condemn any attempt 
to defraud our government of any duties on nursery stock laid under 
the present law, either by a false ad valorem price, or by short count. 
We condemn any attempt thus to defraud our government as not only 
unpatriotic, but unjust to members of this association who should come 
into competition with this class of trade. 
Resolved, That we hereby instruct our committee on tariff to assist 
the custom house officers in detecting any attempt to pass any stock 
subject to duties by any importer or buyer of foreign stock, and in 
furtherance of this cause we deem it the duty of each and every mem¬ 
ber of this association to report any infringement of the law to the 
tariff committee for their action. 
