THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
95 
Hn.fUirsen* IRows. 
It was suggested at the Milwaukee Convention that answers 
to the questions there proposed be published in the National 
Nurseryman. Such answers as have been received are given 
herewith. Others will appear in a succeeding issue. 
Should nurserymen buy of nurserymen who send their wholesale 
lists to planters ? 
Decidedly, no. Such nurserymen injure the business and should 
not be encouraged. They mate trouble for their competitors and sel¬ 
dom make money for themselves. The policy is very short-sighted, 
tending to such low prices that all profit is eliminated; but, fortu¬ 
nately, we believe the practice is comiug to be confined to a compxra - 
tively small number of small-guage men who are doing a small business 
and who will, if they follow the above course, in a short time be out 
of the race altogether. 
Rochester, N Y. Brown Brothers Company. 
Has not the wholesale advertising of the San Jose scale by professors 
and institute talkers been an injury to the fruit interests ? 
Yes, in a degree. 
Phoneton, Ohio. A. H. Albaugh. 
Name the best one-horse plow for nursery business. 
Girl Champion is the best one-horse plow. Can be bought at Nor¬ 
folk, Ya. 
How do you treat raffia to make it work well ? Apt to losen in hot 
wind. 
Some nurserymen dampen raffia before tying the bud or graft, but 
by so doing it will frequently loosen in hot, dry weather, as it will dry 
out and swell. When it is wet it shrinks, and if put on in that con¬ 
dition it dries out very easily and will loosen quickly. To have the 
best success, raffia should be used entirely dry, just as it is taken from 
the bales. 
Dreshertown, Pa. Thomas B. Meehan. 
What is the best way for packing strawberries, and the best means 
for shipping same to distant points ? 
Shipping strawberry plants is one of the worst things in the nursery 
business. The packers have to use more judgment than in packing 
any other article. In the fall and late spring shipment one-half of the 
leaves should be cut off so as not to have too much foliage to heat. 
Strawberry plants are packed in crates, baskets and burlap. We con¬ 
sider crates that hold 1,000 to 1,500 plants are the best for long ship¬ 
ments. Pack light so they will not shake after the cover is nailed on 
the crate. Put a thin layer of moss over the roots, Jbut be sure not to 
put moss over the foliage. 
We have shipped strawberry plants this way 1,500 miles by fast 
freight early in the season, while the weather is cool, but the safest 
way is to ship by express. 
Strawberry plants packed in baskets carry very well short distances, 
but not so well as in crates. 
Rochester, N. Y. Allen L. Wood. 
What is a good apple scion? We received the past season from one- 
eighth inch caliper and seven inches long, to one-half inch caliper and 
five feet long. 
We prefer apple scions to be about one-fourth inch at the butt and 
from twelve to fifteen inches long, but in many cases it is impossible to 
get scions exactly that size. It is often necessary to use scions that 
are small as one-eiglith inch in order to get sufficient of a certain 
variety. We do not consider a scion half-inch in caliper, however, as a 
first class scion, as it is too large to graft on an ordinary apple seedling. 
Louisiana, Mo. Stark Bros. Nurseries & Orchards Co. 
Cannot a better, cheaper and quicker means of transportation be pro¬ 
vided as offered by the parcels post system of Germany and othei 
European countries, and would not the same be of utmost value in 
bringing producer and consumer together? 
We would give a most emphatic yes, as an answer to all the above 
questions. The present parcel post system laws that they have in 
Germany, Great Britain and a number of other foreign countries, would 
be of the utmost value to this country ; but there seems to be no possi¬ 
ble way of obtaining them, as long as the express companies have 
their say as to what laws shall be best. 
Painesville, O. The Storks & Harrison Co. 
Do you consider pear of Kieffer and Japan a success? 
We doubt very much that the Kieffer pear does better on the Japan 
pear seedling than it does on French seedling stocks.- The root action 
of the Japan seedling is not as satisfactory after working as is the 
French seedling, and we not think any advantage accrues to any 
variety by being worked on said stock. It has been very extensively 
tried by some practical men and no advantage (in fact, not equally 
satisfactory), to the French stock, aud has consequently been entirely 
discarded for the latter by them. The Mariana stock was going to do 
wonders for plum growing. This also has had its day and has been 
found wanting for successful plum tree growing. We cannot find any 
pear stock to supersede the well tried French stocks for our purpose. 
Rochester, N. Y. John Charlton & Sons. 
TRADE GOOD ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 
Salem, Ore. —The Oregon Nursery Company: “Our trade 
this season has been the best that we have ever had, our sales 
increasing perhaps twenty-five per cent, over a year ago. All 
varieties of trees were sold very closely here this season, and 
cherries were especially short on the Pacific Coast. The 
prospects for sales during the coming season is exceedingly 
good, our men sending in larger reports than we have had in 
previous years at this time, and we believe that there will not 
be near enough trees to go around for the coming season, if 
we have no financial disturbance, and crops do not fail in our 
section. The amount of planting for the past season averages 
about the same as for the past two or three years, with the 
difference that all old stocks have been entirely worked off 
and there will be very little left excepting the one year old 
trees to put on the market this season.” 
4 
THE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATIONS. 
The Nurserymen’s Mutual Protective Association met in 
Milwaukee and elected N. H. Albaugh, Ohio, president ; 
W. C. Barry, New York, vice-president ; George C. Seager, 
New York, secretary ; executive committee, E. Albertson, 
Indiana ; Irving Rouse, New York ; F. H. Stannard, Ransas. 
The American Nurserymen’s Protective Association met in 
Milwaukee and elected : President, William Pitkin, New York; 
vice-president, A. L. Brooke, Ransas ; secretary, 1 homas B. 
Meehan, Pennsylvania ; treasurer, Peter Youngers, Nebraska ; 
executive committee : William Pitkin, New \ ork; Charles 
J. Brown, New York ; J. H. Dayton, Ohio. The president 
will appoint four more members of the executive committee, 
it having been decided to increase the number of committee 
members to seven. 
The American Retail Nurserymen’s Protective Association 
elected : President, Charles J. Brown, New York ; vice-presi¬ 
dent, F. H. Stannard, Kansas ; secretary, L. R. Bryant, 
Princeton, Ill. 
