FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., Incorporated 
Vol. XXII. ROCHESTER, N. Y., MAY, 1914. No. 5. 
THE HERBACEOUS DEPARTMENT. 
All nurseries earrying a line of ornamental trees, 
slirnhs and evergreens must necessarily add herba¬ 
ceous' perennials to their stock in trade if they wisli 
to till orders comitlete, or cater to the retail trade of 
the private i)laces, or jtarks and cemeteries. 
The iterennial business can nsnally be made pro¬ 
fitable if it is given sufficient attention to i)ro])erly 
develop it, but it has to have a se])arate department 
that must stand entirely on its own feet. 
The nursery that assigns a little ground on which 
to plant a few of the more popular perennials so as 
to have them when needed, with the idea of caring 
for them at odd times is sure to hnd the experiment 
a failure. 
Futher grow them with the idea of carrying a very 
fine collection or not at all. 
In the first place it costs money to list them in the 
catalogue and at least one man to devote his entire 
time to them. 
It is somewhat strange that the average nursery 
hand knows absolutely nothing about them although 
he may be able to tell most of the oaks from tlie bark, 
or the numerous shrubs from the feel of the wood in 
the dark; he does not i)retend to know the first thing 
about the herbaceous ])erennials. 
“I wish I knew more (djout j)erennials” is almost 
a stereotyped statement. A knowledge of peren¬ 
nials is a thing by itself and has to be considered in 
arranging for their production. 
Good herbaceous men are not plentiful but one is 
essential to a successful department. lie must be a 
thorough gardener and horticulturist also have a 
working knowledge of botany, and knoAV their habi¬ 
tats and history. lie does not necessarily have to 
have so much of the latter as to interfere with his 
commercial attitude toward ])lants. It is .not un¬ 
common to meet good botanists entirely without the 
commercial instinct to whom success with a rare 
plant that is difficult to grow looms larger in his 
mind than 10,000 well grown i)lants of a good ]) 0 ])- 
ular seller. This is usually a weak trait in the col¬ 
lege trained men. They don’t think enough in dol¬ 
lars and cents, which are the life of the commerffial 
nursery. 
The handling of these plants from the sowing of 
the seed oi' the making of the cutting to the digging 
and shi})])ing is something (piite aj)art from that of 
all other lines of nursery stock. 
The one general operation, kee])ing the weeds 
down and cultivating in the summer is ])erhaps the 
only one tliat may be lam in with other nnrseiy work 
and even this is better attended to by men ex])er- 
ienced with these plants. 
A greimhouse is not essential to the growing of 
hardy ])erennials but it is of immense value for seed 
sowing in early spring. February and iVIai'ch are 
tlie ideal months for this work. In a greenhouse, 
conditions are absolutely under control juid few fail¬ 
ures need be recorded as compared with frame and 
out door sowings later in tlie season. Then again 
the first six weeks of spring weather are better than 
all the bfdance of the yeai' for establishing small 
stock out of doors. Fo that young i)lants gi-own 
from seed sown under glass in February are just 
ready for the held [it the projiei* time. 
A very big item of exptmse in the Herbaceous De- 
]){irtment is keeiiing the ground clean. It is <i 
siinjile ])ro])Osition in a lilock of Jhieonies tluit may 
be iilanted in rows to allow of horse cultivation, but 
the majority of herlaiceous iierenni.ils do not lend 
themselves to this method of growing <ind luive to be 
grown in beds or close rows where hand weeding lais 
to l)e de])ended u])on. 
Ground that is thoroughly clejin jind free from per¬ 
ennials weeds is [ilisolutely essential. It is :i givjit 
sjiving if the jilants be put on the dump rjither tluui 
])hinte'd in ground infested with Goiu'h Grass, Con- 
ruJruiux^ XaslKrfiiiiii and similar ])ests bec.uise the 
two [ii'e imiiossible. 
Although a collection of iierennijils will cont;iiii 
jihuits tluit spread over the suiface of the ground 
like the riiJoj- .siibiildta, or Fh/cc minor jis well as 
those that Jire deej) rooted lik(‘ Ibi/xirn- oririifolr or 
ri(il!/ro(hm Marirsii or dajianese Anemones, in'jicticuil 
ex])erien(*e ])roves tluit ])hinting Jill in I'ows is the 
most fe.isible [ind economicjil method. It reduces 
the hand weeding to a minumum, permits of better 
cultivation liy lioeing and the use of iilanet junioi* 
cultivators, keeiis the stock true to luime by ])revent- 
