THE NATIONAL NHJRSERYMAN 
369 
OPINIONS ON THE EFFECT OF THE EUROPEAN WAR ON 
THE NURSERY BUSINESS 
IMPORTS ANT) THE WAR 
September 19, 1914. 
We are always pleased to give any information we 
can to National Nurseryman readers, but in writing 
about \var matters, it should be borne in mind that the 
progress of the war changes conditions and prospects of 
shipments every few days, so that what we write to-day 
might easily lie subject to great changes before this is in 
print or is read by your subscribers. 
Belgium ships immense quantities of Azalea Indica, 
Palms and other plants here each September and October 
and up to ten days ago w e did not expect shipments, yet 
there are now^ hundreds of cases on the way across from 
Botterdam, shipped via canals through Ternuizen. When 
you consider that some of these shipments left Ghent, 
Belgium, September 2nd to 5th—the days wdien German 
forces occupied Ghent after dropping bombs on the city, 
it leaves us not without hope of receiving shipments from 
every European source including Germany and France. 
Of course most nurserymen are interested in French 
shipments, for nearly all of our fruit stocks come from 
France. These are grown principally in the “chateau 
country” which runs along the Valley of the River Loire 
between Angers and Orleans, shipments are usually 
routed via Paris to the northern French and English 
transatlantic ports. When the war broke out, the nur¬ 
series and offices were largely stripped of effective men, 
but most of those have been replaced and work in the 
nurseries continues as in times of peace. The nurseries 
are still intact and are in good shape, the fruit stocks are 
still there, growing fine and are receiving every care and 
as the nurseries are all located in the west of France, 
there is very little chance of any invasion aff ecting them; 
the transportation problem is the only one to solve. 
We expect all shipments to arrive from France in 
proper season, though some orders may be late. If the 
stocks were now ready to ship, w'^e could forward via 
Paris, but if Paris is invested or again threatened by 
shipping time, it is likely that the French Nurserymen 
will show the same resourcefulness as the Belgians and 
ship in barges down the River Loire from Angers and Or¬ 
leans to Nantes, thence by steamer to transatlantic ports. 
The principal Holland nursery centers are Boskoop, 
Oudenbosch and Dedeinsvaait. As Holland is neutral— 
and likely to continue so, there is no doubt at this time 
that shipments wdll continue to come from there. The 
railroads are free again, but the system of canals in Hol¬ 
land makes commerce almost independent of railroad 
transportation. 
English shipments will arrive too. So long as the 
Allies continue to control the water routes, business be¬ 
tween America and all European countries will continue. 
We even expect to receive German shipments, sold to our 
Holland connections and repacked and reshipped from 
there via Rotterdam. Shipments from Madagascar, Aus¬ 
tralia and Japan are on the w ay too, but they will likely 
be much delayed in reaching us. 
The steamship companies have cancelled all freight 
contracts and in most cases refuse to quote rates. None 
of them are taking advantage of the situation and though 
rates will likely be raised in some lines to cover the ad¬ 
ditional risks—they will not in any case be excessive. 
Don’t think that in this article we are trying to look at 
the bright side of the picture only, that we are whistling 
to keep up our courage, what we write here is based on 
bushels of letters and cables from many sources, sup¬ 
plemented by a thorough grasp of the war’s progress and 
by the intimate knowedge of conditions in the several 
European nursery centers, which we have visited many 
times. We take very little stock in what our European 
firms write or cable (though they insist that shipments 
will be made) because w e know that they are fed only on 
the victories of their own forces and the strict censorship 
prevents them getting the general information that we 
get here. 
These are busy days for us. Requests for information 
are reaching us from all sources, including Europe. 
Visitors call who have just escaped from Europe. Our 
European firms send us stories of atrocities, committed 
always by the enemy, but like President Wilson, we sym¬ 
pathize with all of them, they are all our friends—but we 
are neutrals. 
Yours truly, 
MgHutchison & Co. 
Rutherford, N. J., September 2nd, 1914 
We are forever hopeful and look for a larger business 
this year than in previous years. 
We have the stock and w^e believe there are plenty of 
customers for it. We are working to this end and hope 
our expectations will be realized. 
Bobbink & Atkins. 
Augusta, Ga., September 4, 1914. 
In this section the European war is having rather a 
demoralizing effect on trade, especially here in the South, 
wdiere our main staple crop is cotton. 
On account of the low and uncertain price of cotton, 
and all export trade in this line being cut off, there is 
little or no cotton being sold; consequently the farmer is 
holding for a better price, which wdll likely come about 
shortly, but in the meantime he is saving all of his money 
and not spending it except for the necessities of life. 
In our opinion there will be a very large shortage in 
certain lines of stock that the average nurseryman de¬ 
pended on the European grower to furnish. Daily w e are 
receiving inquiries for this line of stock in large quanti¬ 
ties, and, fortunately, we have propagated quite heavily 
on many things that Holland and Belgium nurseries fur¬ 
nish the trade. 
I hope to see things brighten up in the near future, 
from the fact that the South has made one of the largest 
crops in years, not only in cotton but in corn, hay and 
