130 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
HURSERYMAIS’S PROBLEMS 
Discussed By Charles T. Smith, Concord, Ga., Before Southern 
Association —Planting and Legislation—The Versa¬ 
tility Required — Some Experiences 
— The Bright Side. 
“The Nurseryman’s Problem,” was the subject of a paper 
presented by Charles T. Smith, Concord, Ga., at the annual 
meeting of the Southern Nurserymen’s Association. He said: 
“ It is always timely and important, - however successful 
business may seem to be, to keep an eye on the future and its 
problems. With the nurseryman this is especially true, as 
the transactions of our business are such that we have to pre¬ 
pare and plant years ahead in order to be read}^ for the trade 
that we expect to come to us in the future. Any crop that 
we can grow requires a year, while the bulk of our plantings 
take two seasons to reach a marketable stage. This being 
the case, it is often a problem to know just,what to plant in 
order to be prepared to meet the demand, since it is impossible 
to know so far ahead just what will be necessary to supply 
the wants of our customers. Of course, so far as the general 
run of sales is concerned, we can guess pretty well what will 
be needed, though that gets to be quite a puzzle sometimes. 
Conditions are subject to such variations from year to year, 
on account of good crops, poor crops, or some uncertainty 
of markets, as to form a hedge of difficulties over which it s 
hard for the nurseryman to guess. 
AS TO PEACH PLANTINGS. ^ 
“Some of us here to r day would like mighty well to take a 
peep into the future and try to learn if it were best to increase 
our plantings of Peach seed the coming winter, for next sea¬ 
son’s June-budded stock. With others of us just now the 
problem is to get any seed at all to plant. If we could just 
know how the Peach crop will turn out next year and whether 
the orchardist would get reasonably encouraging returns for 
his labor and investment, it would help us in making a decis¬ 
ion in regard to our plantings for June buds. Then if we 
could look a little further and see what variety would turn 
out best, whether Elberta would continue to reign as queen 
of the Peach orchard, or whether Belle or Carmen would 
# T 
force her to abdicate, we could make out our budding lists 
more intelligently. Then we would like to know if the busi¬ 
ness is about to be overdone, if too many Peach orchards are 
being planted, or if Southern peaches will continue to find a 
market in other parts of the world, finding buyers for all that 
will be produced in years to come. 
“This is a very important problem for the nurseryman, 
as in case of a slump he will be the first man to get hit. Many 
of our foremost orchardists and nurserymen are going ahead 
increasing their plantings annually with an apparent faith in 
the business that is sublime. As the matter now stands all 
we can do is to make a guess, both as to variety and quantity, 
and bud by that, trusting the market to take the stock. 
These problems are inclined to fill the life of the patient 
nurseryman full of trouble. 
THE LEGISLATIVE PROBLEM. 
“ Then there is the legislatiye problem that is causing 
insomnia epidemic among some of us. It has come to the 
point now that every nurseryman must either study law or 
employ a lawyer during the shipping season, that he may 
properly comply with many various laws of the different 
states into which he makes shipments. This is a problem 
that is becoming as serious as some others that I will make 
mention of in this paper. It is very essential that we keep 
an eye on the legislation of certain states where the law seems 
to be framed with the special view of going for the nursery¬ 
man. It is well also to look closely after the cities and villages 
that deem it their inalienable right and privilege to assess 
a license fee of $25, and so on, upon every tree man invading 
their sacred precincts. Of course we know the unconsti¬ 
tutionality of some of these measures, but it may sometimes 
be better to pay out a little money unjustly rather than go to 
the expense of trying to teach some people constitutional 
laws and Supreme court decisions. 
nurseryman’s versatility. 
“Some of our problems are problems of the future all right 
enough; but many of them are problems right now, 365 days 
in the year, and one year after another—problems that no 
man in any other line of business that we know anything 
about has to contend with. To run a nursery successfully for 
any satisfactory term of years, some of the few things required 
are capital, clear grit, energy, tact and business acumen, and in 
addition to these minor details of capacity it is necessary 
that the nurseryman be the master of more ologies and oto- 
mies than are required in any other line of business. He 
must be a farmer with all the varied knowledge of the tiller 
of the soil; a business man with all the keen business ability of 
the most successful merchant; a lawyer with that able insight 
into the legal intricacies of the most learned practitioner; a 
diplomat that he may successfully manage and harmonize 
the many people who work for him in the office, the field or 
on the road. 
MUST BE ENCYCLOPEDIA. 
“In addition to these, he must be an entomologist that he 
may be able to identify the many insects that are prone to 
make the life of the average nurseryman miserable; a biol¬ 
ogist that he may properly classify all the knots and bumps 
on his trees to the satisfaction of his customers; a botanist 
that he may know his young plants more thoroughly and call 
them by their unpronounceable botanical names. Then in 
addition to these minor details, he must be a prophet that 
he may know what sort of Peach trees are going to find sale 
year after next when his stock is to be ready for the market. 
For the information of his customers, as well as the fellow 
who was never known to be a customer of any nurseryman, 
he must be able to diagnose every disease to which trees are 
heir and prescribe and prescribe the proper remedy; to iden¬ 
tify every specimen of the entomological world and give it 
the right sort of medicine. Then he must be able to name 
off hand any chance tree that shows some little merit, its 
immediate locality, and offer a good round sum for the con¬ 
trol of the stock of it; otherwise, he is not considered not 
much nurseryman. To meet these emergencies, every 
nurseryman must be a philosopher and at the same time keep 
a firm grasp on his religion. 
“It would seem that a man of such diversity of talent and 
ability would soon be above ordinary labor, and would rank 
