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THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
The National N urseryman. 
C. L. YATES, Proprietor. RALPH T. OLCOTT, Editor. 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., 
305 Cox Building, Rochester, N. Y. 
The only trade journal issued for Growers and Dealers in Nursery Stock of 
all kinds. It circulates throughout the United States and Canada. 
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 
AWARDED THE GRAND PRIZE AT PARIS EXPOSITION, 1900. 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 
One year, in advance, _____ $1.00 
Six Months, ______ .75 
Foreign Subscriptions, in advance, - - - 1.50 
Six Months, “ “ 1.00 
* Advertising rates will be sent upon application. Advertisements 
should reach this office by the 20th of the month previous to the date 
of issue. 
Payment in advance required for foreign advertisements. Drafts 
on New York or postal orders, instead of checks, are requested. 
Correspondence from all points and articles of interest to nursery¬ 
men and horticulturists are cordially solicited. 
AflERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 
President, Theodore J. Smith, Geneva, N. Y.; vice president, N. W. 
Hale, Knoxville, Tenn.; secretary, George C. Seager, Rochester, 
N. Y.; treasurer, C. L. Yates, Rochester, N. Y. 
Executive Committee—Irving Rouse, Rochester, N. Y.; C. L. Watrous, Des 
Moines, la.; E. Albertson, Bridgeport, Ind. 
Committee on Transportation—TheoJore J. Smith, ex-officio, chairman ; A. L. 
Brooke, N. Topeka, Kan.; William Pitkin, Rochester, N. Y.; Peter Youngers, 
Geneva, Neb.; N. W. Hale, Knoxville, Tenn. 
Committee on Legislation—C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, la.; N. H. Albaugh, 
Phoneton, O.: Silas Wilson, Atlantic, la.; Charles J. Brown, Rochester, N.Y. 
Robert C. Berckmans, Augusta, Ga. 
Committee on Tariff—Irving Rouse, Rochester, N. Y.; J. J. Harrison, Paines- 
ville, O.; Thomas B. Meehan, Germantown, Pa. 
Annual convention for 1901—At Niagara Falls, N. Y., June 12-13. 
Entered in the Post Office at Rochester, as second-class mail matter. 
Rochester, N. Y., February, 1901. 
AMERICAN FRUIT INDUSTRY. 
It is well known among progressive nurserymen that the 
fruit industry, which made rapid strides during the closing year 
of the nineteenth century, has become one of the greatest in 
the country. A writer in Harper’s Monthly estimates the fruit 
industry of the United States as amounting to at least a billion 
dollars annually. The grape growing industry, which has now 
reached such enormous dimensions in many states, is princi¬ 
pally an event of the last quarter of a century. Within twenty 
years the strawberry producing area supplying the larger 
markets has increased to comprise eleven states, including 
Mississippi and Arkansas. In 1890 nearly 41 , 817,016 pounds 
of raisins were imported. Now California has reduced the 
imports to one-fourth of that amount. Twenty years ago 
there were not a dozen large prune orchards in this country, 
and ten years ago we imported nearly 60 , 000,000 pounds of 
prunes. To-day our prune orchards can produce 100 , 000,000 
pounds, and importations have practically ceased. One county 
in New Jersey markets half a million baskets of peaches, and 
peach growing has recently become so extensive in Georgia 
that fruit is disputing the kingship in that state with cotton. 
The apple crop of four years ago was estimated to have been 
worth $ 150 , 000,000 to the growers. It is thought that the 
orange crop of California—estimated at from 15,000 to 18,000 
carloads this year—will two years hence be sufficient to sup¬ 
ply every market in this country and will need no tariff pro¬ 
tection. The West is in many sections going largely into the 
fruit business and adding an area not thought of twenty years 
ago. 
THE FOREST NURSERY. 
One of the most valuable of recent bulletins of the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture is that on the forest nursery, by 
George B. Sudworth, Dendrologist, Division of Forestry, to 
which we have briefly referred heretofore. The bulletin 
opens with the statement, “The art of raising forest-tree seed¬ 
lings and planting trees is but little known among farmers, for 
whom it has a very great economic interest.” At the same 
time it is likely that nurserymen will find within the sixty-three 
pages of the bulletin information valuable because of its pre¬ 
sentation by an expert. 
There is little evidence that forests once existed to any extent 
on the western plains, but it is believed that trees can be made 
to grow in that region. “ The thousands of bushels of black 
walnuts planted in the plains region of the West did not fail to 
germinate,” says Mr. Sudworth; “but many of them failed to 
produce trees, for the very good reason that the seedlings 
lacked a continued supply of soil moisture. The thin foliage 
could not produce enough shade to prevent the rapid evapo¬ 
ration of melted snows and spring rains. Without shade to 
conserve these waters to the soil, and with few or no summer 
rains and no irrigation, it was natural that so many walnut 
plantations should have failed in the drier plains regions. 
“ In attempting now to establish forest trees in such dry tree¬ 
less regions, the chief problem is to overcome these unfavor¬ 
able conditions. This can be accomplished best by first start¬ 
ing the young seedling in the seed bed and growing it in the 
nursery until it is strong enough to maintain itself in the forest 
plantation. If the special needs of seedlings and young trees 
pointed out in this bulletin are supplied, the Western farmer 
may as successfully grow trees from the seed to maturity as 
he can farm crops. The eastern farmer has still better chances 
of success.” 
Space does not permit detailed reference to the many divi¬ 
sions of the subject as treated in the bulletin. The author 
writes entertainingly and instructively under the headings: 
“Collecting tree seeds and care before planting ; ” “ Propaga¬ 
tion of trees from seeds and cuttings; ” “Wintering and trans¬ 
planting seedlings; ” “ Use of wild seedlings; ” “ List of useful 
timber trees to plant.” 
A PLANT CENSUS. 
In the century just closed, according to Prof. S. H. Vines, 
F. R. S., the number of recognized living species of plants has 
increased from 10,000 of Linnaeus to 175 , 596 , made up of 
105,231 flowering plants, 3,352 ferns and fern allies, 7,650 
