The National Nurseryman. 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK. 
• Copyright, 1898, by the National Nurseryman Publishing Co. 
VOL. VI. ROCHESTER, N. Y., OCTOBER, 1898. No. 9. 
UNDER SOUTHERN SKIES . 
Wonderful Results Produced by Intelligent Cultivation In the 
Mild Climate of Northern Alabama —What Ample Capital, 
Wide Experience and Untiring Effort Have Accomplished 
for the Alabama Nursery Company— Interesting Details. 
In the northern part of Alabama, in the beautiful valley of 
the Tennessee River, surrounded by the low dark mountains 
of the Blue Ridge with many a bubbling brook, and tree-clad 
slope lies the City of Huntsville. 
A mild and equable climate, abundant coal, iron and timber, 
cheap labor, and transportation facilities reaching to the mar¬ 
kets of the world have marked Huntsville as an important 
manufacturing centre, and large amounts of capital have been 
invested there. 
Lovely resorts are scattered over the hills near the city, and 
Monte Sano, beautiful and enchanting is known far and wide. 
Here come the people of the South looking for a rest from the 
heat of summer, and to escape the malaria-laden vapors of the 
coast. Here, too, flock the Northerners leaving behind the 
rigors of the wintry blast. And here in the balmy air, amid 
trees and flowers, and gushing springs, people from whatso¬ 
ever part find an earthly paradise, peaceful, quiet, restful. 
While visiting this part of Alabama some nine or ten years 
ago, Messrs. Chase Brothers of Rochester, New York, men of 
some forty years experience in the nursery business, were im- 
pressed with the limitless possibilities of the soil, and its adap¬ 
tability especially for the growth of nursery stock. The smil¬ 
ing earth produced bountifully under a cultivation that was 
not worthy of the name ; crops appeared as if by magic, and 
: *the thought came to them : What could not be done if 
■ method and system were infused into the work, and labor were 
intelligently directed under the eye of experts? 
A beginning was made in the fall of 1889 by the purchase of 
a four hundred acre tract, one of the fine old plantations of 
former years. Ground was broken and planted, houses were 
erected, an office built, and the Alabama Nursery Company, 
with Lewis Chase, E. A. Chase, and William Pitkin of Roch¬ 
ester, N. Y., H. S. Chase, C. F. Chase, and H. B. Chase of 
Hickory, N. C., as directors was incorporated under the laws 
of Alabama. 
The wisdom of the establishment of a great nursery here 
has been fully demonstrated. Location, soil, climatic condi¬ 
tions, and shipping facilities have all combined to work for its 
enduring success. And success has attended it from the very 
start. Ample capital, unsurpassed energy, wide experience, 
an untiring effort to hold, please and increase a large and 
growing list of customers could but have a successful issue. 
The original four hundred acres have been put entirely into 
nursery, and large tracts of adjacent land have been taken up, 
improved and planted. 
The first houses have been replaced by modern dwellings, 
and a new office has been built with every convenience, and 
arranged with special reference to the prompt and accurate 
handling of a fine business. 
Large packing sheds have been erected under which all 
stock is handled and packed, and a fine cold storage house is 
one of the noteworthy features. Cold storage in the nursery 
business is one of the recent growths and in everything of this 
nature, pertaining to the satisfactory handling of stock under 
any and all conditions, the Alabama Nursery Company is well 
in the lead. 
A blacksmithing and general repair shop has been added, 
and a general store, containing everything from a long distance 
telephone to a bottle of delicious red strawberry soda water 
has become an indispensable adjunct. 
From seventy-five to one hundred men and boys are con¬ 
stantly employed, and twenty as fine mules as one would wish 
to see “keep everlastingly at it ” in the nursery. 
Shipments are made in the late winter in car lots (annually 
amounting to some two hundred cars) to cold storage in 
St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Rochester, and 
nursery stock can thus be delivered to any part of the country, 
in the best condition, at the proper time, whether for the early 
spring of the southern states or the later and more backward 
spring, but spring nevertheless of the far North and great 
Northwest. Stock is shipped in this manner to every state and 
territory in the Union, with the possible exception of Alaska 
and Hawaii. Nor is Canada overlooked, or Mexico forgotten, 
as a goodly amount of annual sales will show. 
The Alabama Nursery Company devotes its energies to the 
wholesale nursery business, growing a complete stock of 
deciduous fruit trees, figs, nuts, berries and ornamental plants. 
Its aim is to excel in quality, grading and packing, and 
“ Chase’s Alabama Grown ” has come to be synonymous with 
“Standard Goods” in the nursery trade of the United States. 
The present officers are : Mr. E. A. Chase.of Riverside, 
California, president ; Mr. H. S. Chase of Huntsville, Ala¬ 
bama, treasurer, and Mr. H. B. Chase of Huntsville, Alabama, 
secretary. Mr. Robert C. Chase is superintendent of the 
nurseries, and has charge of the propagating, growing and 
budding. 
CEMETERY SUPERINTENDENTS. 
The twelfth annual meeting of the American Association of 
Cemetery Superintendents was held in Omaha, Sept. 13th to 
15th. Many eastern members did not attend because of the 
distance. Among the papers read were : “What Trees and 
Shrubs are Suitable for Cemetery Embellishment,” B. Lawson, 
Wilkesbarre, Pa. “ Why New Cemeteries Should Adopt the 
Lawn System,” A. W. Hobert, Minneapolis. 
The following officers were elected : President Aithur W. 
Hobert, Minneapolis ; vice-president, William Stone, Lynn, 
Mass.; secretary and treasurer, Frank Eurich, Detroit. 
