THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
35 
SEVENTEEN-YEAR LOCUSTS. 
The editor of Meehan’s Monthly says of the note of alarm 
sounded with regard to the seventeen-year locusts : 
This year, it is said, we may expect a visitation from destructive 
locusts, classed as the seventeen-year breed. Prof. J. B. Smith, of the 
New Jersey Experiment Station, issued an alarm to tree-planters, 
warning them not to plant this coming spring, but if so to avoid prun¬ 
ing very severely, if at all. 
At the commencement of the great San Jose scale scare, Prof. Smith 
took what many considered to be a well-judged stand in relation to the 
laws and methods that should be observed in dealing with it; but now 
many will also deplore that the same judgment was not exercised to 
moderate the alarm over the locusts. 
No one, apparently, denies that these locusts will cause some destru- 
tion ; but it is also understood that the ravages are almost within cer¬ 
tain confines and not widespread. The borders of woods and old 
thickets are said to be the chief breeding and feeding places, and it is 
safe to say that but little planting is likely to occur very near the 
places of real danger. Certainly, within the writer’s district, no 
serious harm was felt at the time of the last visit of the locusts, seven¬ 
teen years ago ; or if it did it was so extremely insignificant as to have 
left no impression on any one’s memory. 
A correspondent of the Rural New Yorker says: “We think the 
Hope Farm man gave bad advice when he recommended to abstain 
from planting fruit trees in the large territory that will be visited the 
coming year by seventeen-year locusts. To abstain from planting will 
work loss to the nurserymen who at great expense have raised a good 
stock of trees, and will cause delay to the man who has a new home 
and is anxious to raise his own fruit.” 
BUSINESS END OF HORTICULTURE. 
In his address to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 
Boston, January 25th, Patrick O’Mara, of New York, said • 
The lithographer and the tree agent are powerful agents to the 
nurseryman. The latter, armed with his book of plates, wends his 
way over the face of the land, in many cases reviled and thrust out, 
treated little better than the hobo. His book is sneered at, and, while 
it may be a trifle highly colored, and the size of the pictured # flowers 
and fruits may be a little exaggerated, yet a long experience has shown 
that such are the best fitted to tempt the wavering into purchasing 
something which will really be a benefit to them. It is a case where 
the end justifies the means, if there ever was one. Many a garden 
would be given over to weeds which now supports a few fruit trees 
and small fruits ; many a porch and dooryard would be as bare of 
living ornament as the proverbial “Job’s turkey” was of flesh and 
feather, were it not for the tree agent and his book. That business end 
of horticulture is not “ one grand sweet song ” for the men engaged in 
it; the emoluments arising from it will not make them plutocrats. 
Be patient with them, then, if not for themselves, at least for the good 
they accomplish. The good they do lives after them ; the evil is cut 
down and cast into exterior darkness. 
The grower for the catalogue firms is another of the business ends of 
horticulture; that is, the man who grows plants in quantity on con¬ 
tract, or who grows them on speculation to sell in large quantities. 
His field embraces greenhouse plants, fruit plants, hardy out door 
plants, shrubs, roots and bulbs. It is a safe business on the whole, but 
is not capable of great development, like the catalogue trade. It is 
generally followed and taken up by men who have some land, but 
little working capital, and the profits are as a rule very meager. Be¬ 
cause of the limited capital with which it can be entered, provided the 
land is already secured, a great many of the smaller nurserymen, flor¬ 
ists, and even farmers, have entered it of late years, and it may be 
safely said to be a well-plowed field at the present time. 
In horticulture, as in everything else, the men who originate either 
methods or varieties are the men who shape the business, ends and all. 
The men who hybridize, the men who investigate, the men who do the 
thinking, are the mep who supply the motive power for the whole. 
The originators of the new varieties of fruits, flowers and vegetables 
have not only conferred a benefit on the people at large but have made 
it possible for the grower to continue in a profitable business. The 
man who first propagated roses in summer and began a special business 
of mailing them showed the way to dozens of successful imitators. 
The man who developed the idea of the shallow bench and annual 
planting of roses for cut flowers was, in his way, a Columbus. The 
man who first used large glass and light frames in greenhouses made 
it possible to produce the quality of flowers in evidence to day. The 
man who built big greenhouses to grow lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, 
etc., made a great forward stride. The men who started the first trade 
journal made an important innovation. 
Apple trees may be had in all grades of Welch Bros., Shenandoah 
Iowa. 
Thomas W. Bowman &Son, Rochester, N. Y., have a fine assortment 
of fruit trees, plants and ornamental shrubs. 
The Rossney pear and a full line of nursery stock can be had of the 
Pioneer Nursery Co., Salt Lake City, Utah, and Phoenix Nursery, 
Bloomington, Ill. 
■ ■ Th6 a m 
FINEST OF ALL. 
Our New Catalog tells all 
about it. Send for it. Sen¬ 
ator Dunlap, Rough Rider 
and 75 other Strawberries. 
Bargains in New Varieties. 
SEED POTATOES. 
Flansburgh & Peirson 
Leslie, Mich. 
Strong field grown 
plants on own roots 
18 to 24, 
24 to 36, 36 to 48 inches. 
Plants have good tops and are well rooted 
All my surplus stock from South Carolina will be put in 
cold storage at Hartford, Conn., where all orders should be 
addressed. Write for prices. 
VA/. E. IA/ALLACE, 
P. O. BOX 378 HARTFORD. CONN. 
fine 2 year. Five varieties Crim¬ 
son Rambler and H. P. Roses. 
Hardy flowering Shrubs—general 
assortment grown at Geneva, N.Y. 
Low prices. Whiting Nursery Co., 457 Bluehill Ave., Boston, Mass. 
PLACE LABEL ORDERS 
ABOUT THIS Time 
w /e exr& still doing business ext the old stand 
BENJAMIN CHASE, DERRY, N. H 
When writing to adveitisers mention The Nutional Nurseryman 
