THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
107 
STATISTICS OF HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 
The twelfth census of the United States shows the following 
facts : 
VEGETABLE CULTURE—In 1899 there were planted to vegetables 
5.753,191 acres, or two per cent, of the total area of the country devoted 
to crops. The vegetables grown had a total value of $238,846,908. The 
potato was the most important vegetable grown. The production was 
273,328,207 bushels, an increase of 25 per cent, over the preceding 
decade. Commercial gardening, that is, truck and market gardening, 
increased about 100 per cent, at the North and fully 200 per cent, at 
the South during the decade. 
CANNING INDUSTRY—The canning industry is about double that 
of a decade ago. The pickles, preserves and sauces put up in 1900 were 
valued at $21,507,046, and the canned fruits and vegetables at $56,668,- 
313, of which the vegetables approximated but did not exceed one- 
half the total value. 
FRUIT CULTURE—The total value of all fruits produced in the Uni¬ 
ted States in 1899 was $131,423,517. Orchard fruits alone were valued 
at $83,751,840; grapes, $14,090,937; small fruits, $25,030,877, and sub¬ 
tropical fruits, $8,549,863. During the last decade orchard fruit pro¬ 
duction as a whole increased 15.4 per cent. 
Apples alone constituted 55 per cent, of all 
orchard trees, peaches and nectarines 27.2 per 
cent., and plums and prunes 8.4 per cent. The 
total acreage of small fruits was 304,029, and 
the value of the product per acre $82 33. Straw¬ 
berries constituted about 50 per cent, of the 
total acreage of small fruits Raspberries stood 
next in importance. The total value of all culti¬ 
vated nuts was $1,950,161. California alone 
reported 73.9 of this total. That state leads in 
the production of almonds and English walnuts. 
Texas leads in the production of pecans. 
FLORICULTURE—In 1899 there were 30,417 
farms reporting land under glass, representing 
a total of 96,230,420 sq. ft., or over 2,200 acres. 
Of this number 6,159 were commercial florists’ 
establishments, having about 51,023,000 sq. ft. 
of land under glass. The total wholesale value 
of floricultural products was $18,759,464, of 
which $17,377,860 was for florists’ products. 
The retail value, it is thought, could not have 
been less than $30,000,000. The annual income 
from cut flowers alone is estimated at $12 000,- 
000 to $14,000,000. The sale of cut roses is estimated at $6,000,000, 
carnations $4,000,000, violets—which stood third in importance— 
$750,000, and chrysanthemums $500,000. The annual production of 
roses and carnations is 100,000,000 each, violets 75,000,000. The 
average prices for roses and carnations is 20 to 25 per cent higher than 
10 years previous, while violets, lilies of the valley, and tulips have 
considerably decreased in price. 
NURSERY INDUSTRY—Relative to the nursery business the 
twelfth census showed a total of 2,029 establishments, with 137,459 acres 
devoted to the growing of young trees. The value of the products 
from this area was $9,231,503. New York leads in the production of 
nursery stock with a total of 237 establishments, yielding products 
valued at $1,703,354. Other leading states in value of product are 
Iowa, $636,543 ; Illinois, $610,971 ; California, $533,038 ; Ohio, $538,534, 
and Pennsylvania, $515,010. 
John S. Kerr. 
one year in the Southern army at the age of seventeen years, 
he entered actively during the famous reconstruction days 
into stock farming and used well all means at command in 
those early days for a good academic education. He was a 
constant reader of the American Agriculturist, Purdy’s Fruit 
Recorder, the New York Observer, and other like substantial 
literature. 
Early possessed with a love for horticulture, despite the 
then prevalent idea that Texas could grow neither fruit, 
flowers nor vegetables, but only long-horned cattle and Span¬ 
ish bronchos, the open range of the great Texas black land 
belt being curtailed by the stock farms, running land up from 
one to twenty-five dollars per acre, he abandoned stock farm¬ 
ing and entered with his brother, A. W. Kerr, into nursery 
and fruit growing, early in the seventies. In 1890 he bought 
out his brother and has since been sole proprietor of the Sher¬ 
man Commercial Nurseries and Orchards. From a few acres 
in nurseries and orchards, this business has steadily and rapidly 
grown commensurate with the wonderful growth and develop¬ 
ment of the great state of Texas, which 
growth is not more marked in any other 
line than in her amazing horticultural and 
truck farming interests. 
John S. Kerr has always enjoyed the 
esteem and confidence of a large, sub¬ 
stantial and growing trade, both retail and 
wholesale, throughout Texas and the south¬ 
west. He is a charter member and ex¬ 
president of the Texas State Horticultural 
Society, secretary of the Texas Nursery¬ 
men’s association, member of the executive 
committee of the American Nurserymen’s 
Association, vice-president for Texas of 
the American Apple Growers’ Congress, 
active worker in other leading horticultural 
associations, and always ready for every 
good work in horticultural progress. 
The Commercial Nurseries and Orchards 
now comprise twenty acres of valuable 
lands in North Sherman devoted to 
ornamentals, with perhaps one of the best equipments of any 
nursery in the Southwest in barns, packing sheds, water works, 
etc., all being within one-half to three-quarters mile of the 
depots of Sherman’s seven lines of railroads, with switch of 
M. K. & T. Ry. on the grounds. Besides this, there are 425 
acres of fine alluvial sandy land owned in the Red River 
apple belt near Pottsboro, a station on the M. K. & T., where 
most of the nursery stock and complete test orchards are 
grown. Also stock is owned in large peach orchard enter¬ 
prises in East Texas. A pecan orchard of large proportion is 
projected on fine bottom land in East Texas, where the finest 
nuts only will be grown on grafted and budded trees. 
JOHN S. KERR. 
NEW PARK PROJECTS. 
John S, Kerr, proprietor of the Sherman Commercial Nur¬ 
series and Orchards, the subject of our sketch, is a pioneer in 
the horticulture of the Southwest. Of Scotch-Irish extrac¬ 
tion, born in Maury county, Tennessee, in 1847, he moved 
with his father and mother, five brothers and three sisters to 
North Texas in 1859. After the Civil war, in which he served 
Montpelier, Vt.; Youngstown, O., $4,000; Plainwell, Mich., 
$2,000; Clayton, N. Y. Mrs. Charles G. Emery; Alleghany, Pa., River¬ 
side park improvemeut, $100,000; South Bend, Ind.; Muncie, Ind., new 
McCullock park; St. Louis, Forest park improvement, $10,000; Amster¬ 
dam, N. Y., ‘-5 acres; Urbana, Ill.; Washington, Pa., $5,000; Leaven¬ 
worth, Kan.; Brookline, Mass.; Springfield, Ill., $75,000; Kansas City, 
Kan., 100 acres. 
