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THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
The National N urseryman. 
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, ______ .■7^ 
Foreign Subscriptions, in advance, - - - 1.50 
Six Months, “ “ - - - i.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. 
l[t^*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. 
Entered in the Post Office at Rochester, as second-class matter. 
Rochester, N. Y., December, 1897. 
COMMERCIAL FRUIT GROWING. 
The close of the nineteenth century discloses conditions a 
study of which should be of special interest to the nurseryman. 
Never has there been a time when there was greater activity 
in the direction of meeting intelligent inquiry on the part of 
planters of trees. The old manner of doing business is rapidly 
running its course. The dissemination of knowledge is 
producing results in the nursery business as surely as in other 
branches of trade. It is an era of information ; and the more 
the public receives, the more it seeks. Nurserymen have not 
been slow to adopt most modern means for the extension of 
business along such lines as would honestly meet the demands 
of the planters. Less and less is it becoming possible to prac¬ 
tice substitution in an unfair manner ; only rarely can the 
“ model orchard ” man deceive the people; planters are de¬ 
manding that novelties shall bear a certificate of good char¬ 
acter ; catalogues of the present day contain photo-engravings 
giving actual representations of varieties, instead of highly 
colored lithographs. Competition and an educated public, 
combined with the wonderful spirit of progress of the present 
day is placing the nursery business, like other businesses, upon 
a very practical basis ; and such a basis is always a sound 
basis. Theory is a good thing in its way, often ; but practice is 
essential. Tales of the glittering promises of the impossible told 
by tree agents to prospective customers will do very well 
as stories of the past ; but those who have started in the 
nursery business at a comparatively recent date have found that 
the sound business methods which have proved successful all 
along with the most substantial concerns are the only methods 
by which present conditions can safely be encountered. 
What, then, is the future of commercial fruit growing and 
the part the successful nurseryman is to play in its develop¬ 
ment ? It seems to us that the excellent advice given by Pro¬ 
fessor H. E. Van Deman before the Michigan Horticultural 
Society last summer applies equally as well to the nurseryman 
as to the fruit grower. Professor Van Deman said : “ It is in 
following just one line that it may be said there is a bright 
future for the commercial fruit grower; and that is in doing 
it most thoroughly and in raising a high grade of fruit. If we 
will do as some are doing, after having made a good selection 
of locality and soil and all that sort of thing, and then do as 
Mr. Hale and Mr. Morrill are doing, for instance, cultivate 
thoroughly and thin severely and fertilize abundantly, there is 
no doubt that we will come out in the right place.” Thorough 
work and a high grade will command the highest market price 
even in times of depression, and is that really not the only sure 
way of raising prices. There will always be choicer stock as 
compared with other stock, and the price of such stock may be 
raised in accordance with the demand, provided always that 
the purchaser knows and appreciates the difference in quality 
And we have argued that the tendency of the times is strongly 
in the direction of such knowledge and appreciation on the 
part of the purchaser. 
The market is seldom, if ever, glutted with exceptionally 
fine stock. Upon this very subject two prominent nurserymen 
who attended theJMichigan meeting at which Professor Van 
Deman spoke, bear witness. J. Van Lindley, Pomona, N. C., 
said regarding his manner of packing peaches: “I suppose it 
didn’t cost us ten cents more per crate, and it paid us fifty 
to seventy-five cents extra. We have a big reputation on our 
package and the manner in which we put it up, and I don’t 
believe in the future we will have any trouble in finding 
a market for our fruit. Of course, the object is to have only 
fine peaches, and we expect to continue receiving fancy prices.” 
A. L. Brooke, N. Topeka, Kan. said: “In Denver a man 
went into a packing-house and asked for Wild Goose plums. 
The packer didn’t have any, but had some Oregon and Sand 
Hill plums. He asked the price. The Sand Hill plums were 
priced twenty cents per basket more than the Oregon plums. 
He took the Sand Hill plums. They were what he wanted, 
and though the Oregon plums were fine they were not worth 
anything except to look at.” 
If attention to details pays in fruit growing, certainly it will 
in tree growing, for the public is rapidly learning to discrimi¬ 
nate. There is much more money in an earnest exposition of 
the value of a valuable tree than in the elaboration of a 
promise which it is known cannot be fulfilled. 
The success of fruit growing in recent years by reason of 
advanced methods will surely create an increasing demand 
for choice nursery stock, and there are many reasons for be¬ 
lieving that there is a prospect of increased activity in the 
nursery trade. 
- - —, f 
A TREE’S CONSTITUTION. 
In another column reference is made to the constitutionality 
of trees to which a prominent New York state firm has given 
special attention. No doubt all nurserymen claim to give 
special attention to this subject ; but it may be of interest to 
know just what this firm has to say on the question. Follow¬ 
ing is the basis upon which they claim to have secured a 
national reputation for the production of superior stock : 
” Trees, as well as men, have constitutions. Some men are 
