THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
123 
HURSERYMA/YS BEST CUSTOMER. 
The Farmer—But He is Often an Unsuccessful Horticulturist 
and Wastes Many Trees—Suggestion that Directions for 
Planting Accompany each Shipment of Stock. 
The farmer is the nurseryman’s best customer, says C. H. 
True, secretary of the Northeastern Iowa Horticultural 
Society in an article in the Minnesota Horticulturist. He 
says that doubtless 90 per cent, of the products of the nur¬ 
series are appropriated by the farming communities, and adds 
that 75 per cent, of this at least is literally wasted. The 
patronage of the farmers is the mainstay of the commercial 
nurseries. Secretary True says : 
For this and other reasons the nurseryman should be especially in¬ 
terested in the farmer’s attempts to make a profitable use of the trees 
and plants that have been placed in 
his care. When we take into account 
the immense amount of trees and 
plants that are annually dealt out to 
the farmers of our country by the 
commercial nurseries of the northwest 
through their agents, and then as we 
pass over and through our great states 
and note the absence of orchards of 
any comparative value, while many 
farms are totally destitute of what 
ought to be considered a necessity in 
the matter of fruit supplies for the 
family, such conditions not only call 
forth astonishment but also excite 
regret and pity in behalf of the planter 
and his family in the loss sustained 
and in the disappointment arising out 
of misdirected effort, as well as from 
the results of wanton negligence. 
The case of a farmer who has 
made up his mind not to invest 
another dollar in nursery stock, 
because of repeated orchard fail¬ 
ures, is cited. The writer con¬ 
tinues : 
The practice of making up losses to 
the customer either free of cost or at 
half price we believe has, all things 
considered, worked to his disadvantage. 
The plan doubtless was first adopted 
by some dealer with the view to secur¬ 
ing future orders, since it affords the seller an opportunity to call 
upon the patron an indefinite number of times. Undersuch a sys¬ 
tem the careless planter is more liable to neglect the performance 
of his duty than would be the case if he were left without recourse 
upon the nurseryman. Not infrequently do disputes arise be¬ 
tween buyer and seller in reference to the conditions upon which 
stock failing to grow should be replaced, and occasionally the law has 
been called upon to settle the differences. I cannot imagine why the 
farmer is not under as much obligation to stand one half of the loss 
that might accrue from the ravages of cholera among a lot of pigs 
purchased of him by a neighbor farmer as the nurseryman is to make 
good the loss of nursery stock during a drouthy summer or frigid 
winter. From my standpoint of reasoning the nurseryman has done 
all that reason and justice requires of him when he has placed in the 
hands of his customer a thrifty and healthy tree or plant, true to name 
and adapted to its environments, and this is where his responsibility 
should cease and that of the purchaser begin. 
The question, how to supply the farmers of our land with a practical 
knowledge of horticulture and with instructions suited to their needs, 
and how to induce them to heed such knowledge and instructions, has 
been one of frequent mention and consideration at the annual meetings 
of our different horticultural societies. We believe that much of this 
information might be furnished direct from the nurseryman to the 
planter by means of a simple circular containing plain and brief direc¬ 
tions for the planting and future care of what has been procured from 
the nursery, said circular to accompany each bill of goods when 
delivered. By increasing knowledge, we stimulate interest, and when 
sufficient knowledge has been gained and interest awakened, more time 
will be devoted to the work of horticulture among our farmer friends, 
and less complaints and failures will be the result. 
ILLINOIS FRUIT CULTURE. 
Illinois has a total land area of 36,000 square miles or 
35,840,000 acres, of which 32,794,728 acres, or 91.5 per cent, 
are included in farms. The total number of orchard trees 
increased from 8,214,726 to 18,047,931 in the decade 1890 to 
1900. The number of apple trees nearly doubled, while all 
other varieties show even larger 
gains. Of the total number of 
trees in 1900, 7.44 per cent, were 
apple trees ; 13.6 per cent..peach 
trees ; 4.4 per cent, pear trees ; 4.0 
per cent, cherry trees; 3.2 per cent, 
plum and prune trees ; and 0.4 
per cent, apricot and unclassified 
trees. 
Apples were grown in all parts 
of the state by 156,709 farmers, 
or 59-3 per cent, of the total 
number in the state Marion, Clay 
Wayne and Jtfferson counties in 
the southern part of the state re¬ 
ported one-fifth of the total num¬ 
ber. Peach growing is confined 
principally to the central and 
southwestern counties, but the 
other fruits are generally dis¬ 
tributed over the state. 
FIRST IN HORTICULTURE. 
The fruit growing and garden¬ 
ing, purely domestic matters a 
hundred years ago, have now 
come to be great business enter¬ 
prises, commanding millions of dollars of capital. Already 
North America is the greatest fruit growing country in the 
world, practicing the most scientific and progressive methods. 
The flower growing interest is itself an important source of 
national wealth. Where once we grew tomatoes in an ama¬ 
teurish way as a garden product, we now grow them in blocks 
of hundreds of acres. So great have become the horticultural 
interests in this country that departments of horticulturr have 
been established even in many small as well as large schools. 
The generation to come will see the different branches of hor¬ 
ticulture each in itself a department of the institution. The 
extent to which these special industries are singled out and 
emphasized measures the increasing importance of agriculture 
as a whole.—Country Life in America. 
It is rumored that Secretary Wilson, of the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, will resign to become president of the Iowa Agricultural 
College. 
