THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
117 
ACKNOWL¬ 
EDGMENT. 
The editor wishes to acknowledge very gratefully, many 
kind expressions of satisfaction volunteered by correspond¬ 
ents of this journal in the United States and Canada, on the 
occasion of the editorial management of the 
National Nurseryman falling into his hands. 
Such expressions are keenly appreciated. They 
also have an important bearling upon the future success 
of the paper. It is needless to say that we earnestly desire 
the personal interest of the nurserymen of the United 
States and of Canada. If the journal does not properly 
represent the great interests of the most progressive class 
of soil tillers in the world,—growers of fruit and ornamental 
trees—then it falls short of its ideal; it must change its 
policy, quicken its pace, catch step, fall into line and head the 
procession. We want our supporters to push it ahead and 
help us to keep it to the front. To that end we seek contri¬ 
butions, suggestions and criticisms in much larger measure 
than have been forthcoming in the past. 
This paper must be the paper most eagerly looked for by 
our patrons. It must be the established medium of exchange 
not only in matters relating to commerce but in matters re¬ 
lating to nursery practice. The field is a magnificent one. 
Help us possess it. 
In this connection we may be permitted to quote a line 
from a pleasant letter just received from our esteemed Cana¬ 
dian friend, an extensive nurseryman, enterprising fruit grower, 
wholesale fruit exporter and finally member of the Cana¬ 
dian House of Commons, Mr. E. D. Smith, proprietor of the 
Helderleigh Fruit Farms and Nurseries at Winona, Ontario. 
Mr. Smith congratulates the editor and says, “I presume 
that with your knowledge of the conditions of the affairs 
in Canada we may expect to receive a little more recogni¬ 
tion in the future than has been offered Canadian nursery¬ 
men in the past. If at any time I can be of any assistance 
to you in furnishing reports on the conditions of trade on 
this side, I should be glad to do so.” This is cordial and 
also characteristic of Mr. Smith and what is true of this 
gentleman is largely true of Canadian nurserymen in general. 
This journal has been called the National Nurseryman and 
the name has taken root in the minds and we hope the hearts 
of our readers. We wish we might enlarge it to the Interna¬ 
tional, in order to express our point of view, namely, that 
political boundaries do not prohibit the free interchange of 
that world wide and particularly human commodity, frater¬ 
nal intercourse. Let the National Nurseryman be the forum 
in which commerce and handicraft may find expression alike 
from the»pen of men of King Edward and of Uncle Sam. 
If our friends of the North do not come to the front, as they 
well can, we pledge ourselves that the fault will not be ours. 
On behalf of the National Nurseryman and its friends in the 
United States, we extend a cordial greeting and express a 
genuine desire to cooperate with our bretheren in the Northern 
field. 
National Box and Box Shook Manufacturers’ Association 
held the annual meeting at Cleveland, Aug. 18-20, 1904. 
Sec. C. T. Williams, Cleveland, Ohio. 
American Cemetery Superintendents’ Association held its 
annual meeting at Chicago, Aug. 23-25. 1904. Sec’y W. N. 
Rudd, Mt. Greenwood, Ill. 
The discussion which began some two or three years ago, 
regarding the identity of Black-Ben-Davis and Gano, waxes 
warm and has reached quite an acute stage. 
black-ben. These varieties according to some authorities, 
davis-gano or this variety according to others, is certainly 
covtro - well advertised. The situation at the present 
VERS Y. time is rather unique. A committee of one State 
society decides that evidence is lacking in the fruit, or the 
records of its parentage fail to show any difference between 
the two so called varieties. Another and as it happens, 
an adjoining reputable State society, reaches by the same 
process of examination exactly the opposite conclusion. 
Here we then have two judgments differing absolutely, 
offered by two apparently well constituted committees 
of recognized horticultural standing. But this is not 
all. The evidence of these committees is then weighed 
by a supposed judicial nonpartisan referee, who decides in 
favor of the dual variety proposition. Thus stood the matter 
until a short time ago, when the firm which was epecially 
instrumental in introducing these two varieties, declared war 
on the supposed promoters of the original investigation and 
the controversy at the present time, has assumed a decidedly 
personal complexion. 
The whole thing is very regrettable. It does not seem to 
us impossible that two individuals, speaking of apples as 
individuals, should originate separately and independently 
and yet be so much alike as to be commercially Sentical. 
The commercial test is after all, the final one in our estima¬ 
tion. Time will settle this, although it does not seem incred¬ 
ible that the problem might be solved much sooner by thor¬ 
ough and careful examination of the two disputed varieties. 
The art of training trees into peculiar forms and fashions 
has been highly developed in the old countries. We see com¬ 
paratively little of it in the United States, except occasional 
trained examples of topiary work. One of the best 
trees at illustrations of the possibilities of the pruners’ 
ST. Louis art available to nurserymen at the present 
exposition. i s k e f oimc i j n the grounds immedi¬ 
ately surrounding the French Building at the World’s Fair, 
St. Louis. 
The boundaries of the square are outlined on three sides by 
trained trees. The outside row is usually trained to repre¬ 
sent the wall system as practiced in Europe. The next row 
represents the espalier style, where trees take the form of 
huge candelabras, having branches carried off on either side 
of the central stem with methodical precision. The inner 
row shows trees trained in cordon fashion two arms leading 
out in opposite directions and trained horizontally on a low 
wire. These trees illustrate several things: First, in a gen¬ 
eral way the possibilities of training. Second, they imply that 
the pruner must have had a very accurate and intimate knowl¬ 
edge of the habits of the trees, of the leaf buds and of the fruit 
buds, so that by suppressing one or encouraging the other 
the final result was obtained. 
In addition to the trained trees there is a fine block of 
standard roses, quite striking and somewhat unique in this 
country. These roses show a single stem at the height of 
three and one-half feet where they and branch and form the 
top. The entire exhibit reflects considerable credit upon a 
