102 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
NURSERY WAIVES RESPONSIBILITY 
To the Community In Which He Lives—Paper by A. Willis, Ottawa, 
Kan., Before Milwaukee Convbntlon of American Associa¬ 
tion—The Nurseryman’s Work Lives Long After Him, 
a Blessing to His Fellow Men—In Health and in 
Sickness, Youth and Old Age the Products 
of the Nursery Are Sought. 
At the Milwaukee convention of the American Association, 
the following paper was presented by A. Willis, Ottawa, Kan.: 
The responsibility of a man to the community is a subject that has 
been largely considered, and by many answered : Yes. we do owe the 
community in which we live our best thought; we owe it to the com¬ 
munity to live pure, upright lives, and to set an example that others 
may follow. It has been answered by others : In fact and in substance 
we owe no man anything ; and they live thriftless, negligent, useless 
lives, to be forgotten as soon as the changing scenes shall fill the minds 
of those who knew them with other things to take their attention. 
And yet others answer the subject by saying : “ The world owes me a 
living, and I will have it ” ; and so these become the criminal and 
tramp classes so much feared and despised by those who come in their 
way. 
The nurseryman usually belongs to the first of these classes. He 
depends on the community for patronage, and he proclaims the value 
of his wares in every way that is offerod to him, that he may get more 
patronage. He identifies himself with every move to add to the intel¬ 
ligence, comfort, and happiness of the people. He speaks to them of 
the merits of the goods he offers, and he takes his own medicine by 
planting an orchard, and by planting ornamental trees and other things 
fonthe beauty and comfort of his own home ; and so he seeks to fill 
their eyes and minds with the sight and thought of the useful and 
beautiful. He seeks to find out new and better methods for the culti¬ 
vation and care of tender plants; to find new and better methods to 
combat diseases among trees and plants, and to find surer and less ex¬ 
pensive ways to destroy insect foes. He systematizes business and 
labor so as to secure the greatest trade secrets. He has spent valuable 
time freely to find out the means to accomplish this result, and when 
he has done it, with tongue and pen and without price he says to those 
less favored : “ This is the way, walk ye in it.” 
The nurseryman is a farmer. He digs and plows and cultivates, and 
is dependent on the fruits of the soil for his subsistence as much as 
the wheat grower. He deals with a great variety of plants and 
trees, many of them especially tender and susceptible to injury from 
numerous causes ; and so with care he has learned how to nourish and 
protect them. These studies and experiences have made him a useful 
and competent teacher to many about him. The nurseryman is also 
a business man. He buys and sells, and this brings him in contact 
with many people from whom he has valuable opportunities to gain 
knowledge of men and of business. All these things give the nursery¬ 
man exceptional advantages, and I will refer the matter to this people 
now before me as to how he improves them. So much for his oppor¬ 
tunities and acquirements : and now what does he do with them ? 
His industry and enterprise are seen and felt in every neighborhood 
from ocean to ocean. Go where you will, you will see the products 
of his handiwork. He has made the desert to bring forth trees and 
fruits and flowers, and he has filled the land with fruits. He has in¬ 
duced the man who cared little for these things to plant and cultivate 
until his enthusiasm has been aroused. He has supplied trees and 
plants to those who wanted to plant, and he himself has planted and 
cultivated until his neighbors have caught his spirit and they have 
planted, until the prairie has become a timber land and the lands 
cleared of forests have become a landscape filled with orchards and 
gardens, and the cities and towns have shade in their streets, and their 
parks and lawns bring rest and refreshing to the weary and the care¬ 
worn. Because of his good work, where the few enjoyed the most 
common of fruits for a time in their season, the multitude now enjoy 
them for a year ; and new fruits that delight the eye and tickle the 
palate are given to the people who a few years ago were not able to 
enjoy them. The products of the nurseryman are in demand in the 
houses of those who rejoice; the wedding and the dance would look 
poor indeed if nothing of the products of his handiwork was se.en 
there. There is no less demand for them in the sick room ; while the 
demand for them in the dining room is greater in quantity and variety 
than in most other places. They are sought to place on the altar in 
the house of worship. The child revels in the products of the nursery¬ 
man, while the votaries of fashion cannot do without them. When we 
place our loved ones in the narrow house we cover the casket with 
flowers ; and when we carry the remains of the departed to the grave, 
we forget not to place them on the little mound that marks the last 
resting place. 
May I present you two instances, as being not better or greater than 
others, but they are specimens of the nurseryman’s handiwork which 
I think present the matter fairly. The first is taken from the editorial 
columns of the New York Independent, and shows the result of his 
work when the planting is done and cared for by an intelligent, earnest 
worker, and is as follows : 
“ A striking incident occurred out in mid-Nebraska (the other day, 
and one that should be pondered by every dweller in the unforested 
lands, East or West. The funeral services of the late J. Sterling 
Morton was held at the homestead where, in 1855 , Mr. Morton and his 
young wife located their claim. At that time, not a semblance of a 
tree was in sight over the level plain that reached away like the green 
waters of a quiet sea. When the neighbors and friends gathered for 
the sorrowful ceremony, they walked through a forest of tall trees up 
to the beautiful grounds of the Morton home. In front of the house 
were towering trees, many of them pines, interspersed with shrubs. 
On either sides stretched the broad acres of apple orchards in full 
bloom, as fair a sight as one might wish to see, while away toward the 
town was Morton Park, a rich woodland, the pride of the community. 
“ All this was the work of one man, a man who loved trees He 
made the barren prairie a varied landscape. More than that, he showed 
the eager Westerners that there is not only an artistic and an ethical 
meaning in the tree-planter’s mission, but a financial gain as well—a 
lesson that in the West’s present stage of development probably has as 
strong a bearing as any argument that might be presented. The little 
claim that he homesteaded was, in the beginning, like those of hun¬ 
dreds of his neighbors. Because of his efforts in beautifying it and 
covering its acres with trees, it became very valuable, and is to-day 
one of the most attractive pieces of country real essate in the West.” 
The other illustration is the beautiful city of Otawa, Kansas, in 
which I live. This city was begun in 1864 , on the banks of the Marais 
des Cygne river, on a landscape of gently rolling prairie. Soon after 
this Mr. S. T. Kelsey, a lover of trees, planted a nursery near the 
city, in which was a large plantation of elm trees. These came forward 
and were ready to plant at the time the residents needed trees to plant 
for shade and street trees, and the results are tq^day the streets of 
Ottawa are lined with elms instead of something less desirable, or not 
being lined at all, and the city is a gem of beauty among all the cities 
of this broad land. Many years have passed since Mr. Kelsey has 
been in Ottawa, but his good work still remains a comfort and a joy 
to many people. Many of those who planted these trees are not now 
living there ; some there are who have forgotten Mr. Ktdsey, and many 
are living to whom the story of Mr. Kelsey’s good work has never 
been told ; but the work remains a thing of beauty, and Mr. Kelsey’s 
declining years are made happier by the knowledge that he has been 
a blessing to his fellow men. 
Such scenes as the above, and many more that will come to the 
minds of each of you are made possible because the means to bring 
them to pass are provided by the nurseryman. He recognizes the 
. demand on the part of the community, and he puts forth every effort 
to meet it fairly and fully, believing that such demands promote purity 
of thought and of life, and that they are struggles in our nature 
toward a higher manhood and womanhood. His business is no mean 
factor in the commerce of the nation, and his pay-day makes glad the 
hearts of a multitude of people. So he answers the question of what 
he thinks his responsibility to the community in which he lives The 
followers of no other calling have answered it more sincerely or 
earnestly than he. Let us all make our best effort to further the best 
interests of the calling in which we are engaged, and so shall we con¬ 
tinue faithful in the work we have so well begun. 
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