THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
125 
MR. Me HUTCH I SON’S NEW BUSINESS. 
The many friends of J. McHutchison will be gratified to learn 
that he has opened offices at 218 Fulton St., New York, and 
henceforth will conduct an import, custom house and forward¬ 
ing business. He has just returned from a European trip. 
During his absence he secured the agency in the United States 
and Canada for several prominent nursery, seed and bulb 
firms. 
Mr. McHutchison first became known to the trade in this 
country some six years ago as the traveling salesman for 
August Rhotert, of New York. Though then a stranger to the 
trade he soon acquired friends, until now he is probably the 
best known man in that line in this country, and is on intimate 
terms with many of the largest nurserymen. Those who know 
him will predict for him a prosperous future. 
He has associated with him in his new enterprise Daniel W. 
Wittpenn, who has had some experience in the custom house 
business in New York. 
The firms they will regresent are ; Arthur De Meyer, 
Ghent, Belgium, azaleas, palms, ficus, etc.; Ernst Reim- 
schneider, Altona-Hamburg, Germany, lily of the valley pips ; 
H. W. Van Der Bom & Co., Oudenbosch, Holland, evergreens 
and deciduous nursery stock. 
NURSERYMAN AS LANDSCAPE GARDENER. 
The fact is coming to be generally recognized among pro¬ 
gressive nurseryman that to the business of growing and sell¬ 
ing trees should be added the knowledge, to some extent at 
least, of landscape gardening. There are many cases where it 
is not practicable to procure the services of a professional 
landscape gardener, therefore the nurseryman finds it 
necessary, so far as recommendations are concerned, to attach 
that profession to his own. 
A knowledge of the principles of landscape gardening may 
often prevent expensive or irreparable mistakes. After fur¬ 
nishing the best stock and instructions for planting so that it 
will grow, the nurseryman fully to perform his duty, should 
be able to suggest the best arrangement for the grounds in 
question. 
To be sure this has long been done in a very able manner 
by the leading nurserymen and to a certain extent by many 
others. But the tendency of the times is toward a broaden¬ 
ing of the nurseryman’s scope and this is one of the lines sug¬ 
gested. 
On this subject O. F. Brand, Owatonna, recently gave in the 
Minnesota Horticulturalist some practical advice. After 
stating that the nurseryman should urge that the best scenic 
effect is produced by sharp contrast in colors and that large 
growing trees should be planted forty feet apart, Mr. Brand 
says : 
The nurseryman should not recommend the planting of Scotch pine 
and Norway spruce where other evergreens can be successfully grown; 
should not advise planting trees or shrubs so as to obstruct a view of 
the buildings, nor tall growing shrubs anywhere on the lawn nor along 
drives—except in shrubberies ; nor shrubs that bloom all at one season; 
or trees or shrubs liable to become breeding grounds for injurious 
diseases or insects—and except for windbreaks should not recommend 
the white willow or cottonwood where the sugar maple and linden can 
be grown. In fact, the useful only, other things being equal, should 
give way to those which combine beauty and utility. When it is. 
necessary to use tall, growing shrubs for screen he should not recom¬ 
mend lilacs if high bush cranberry can be had. He should not advise 
straight roads, driveways or walks in grounds where curved lines 
would produce a better effect; he should advise the planting of sugar 
maple, soft maple, American linden and, in smaller quantities, cut¬ 
leaved maple, Schwedler’s maple, ash, cut-leaved weeping birch. 
American and European mountain ash, shell bark hickory, black wal¬ 
nut butternut, European larch, white spruce, blue spruce, concolor 
white pine, Austrian pine, balsam fir, dwarf mountain pine, Douglas 
spruce, American arbor vitae and silver cedar He should advise 
groves of deciduous and evergreen trees—where possible with irregu¬ 
lar outlines, with here and there small clumps of deciduous trees, not 
leavingoutoue of the varieties that produce beautiful autumn leaves. He 
should recommend large, well-kept lawns where possible to have them, 
on and around which should be seen all of our hardy flowering shrubs, 
climbing vines, climbing roses and hardy roses. He should recom¬ 
mend large masses of perennial and herbaceous flowers. In fact, in 
floriculture the impress of his work should be decidedly marked. 
For early flowering, beds of white tulip with yellow or scarlet or 
crimson borders, or beds of scarlet and crimson tulips with a single 
row of white for a border, should be seen around a score of homes 
where one is seen now. Moss pinks should greet the passerby. For 
the latter part of May and early June, tree pmonies, with their gorgeous 
colors, and all through June and into July selections from the long 
list of more than 700 distinct varieties of herbaceous pmonies, should 
be made. 
In the first half of the nineteenth century it was true that the rose 
was the queen of flowers. It is no longer true. The new creations in 
pseonies do not hold a second place. It is to day the queen of flowers. 
Large beds of coleus and geraniums should be marked features. A 
large oblong bed of yellow coleus, with a border of single row of 
very dark color, produces a fine effect. In all arrangements of flowers, 
shrubs or trees, sharp contrast of color should be the rule. 
For midsummer and autumn flowers the perennial phlox should be 
used in large numbers. These are also new creations, more than one 
hundred fine varieties having been brought out during the past twenty 
years Their effect on the lawn is pleasing and lasting. During a 
trip east several years ago, of the things seen none made a more lasting 
impression on my mind than the beds of perenial phlox on the grounds 
of Ellwanger and Barry, and a single clump seen on a well kept lawn 
at Burlington, Vt. 
THE WELLHOUSE ORCHARDS. 
Much has been written concerning the YVellhouse apple 
orchards in Kansas. The latest information appears in a recent 
issue of the Tribune Farmer, which says : 
Kansas has within its walls of corn one of the largest, if not the 
largest, apple orchards in the world. It contains 1,500 acres, and is 
owned by Fred Wellhouse president of the Kansas State Horticultural 
society. This orchard is located near Leavenworth. Mr. Wellhouse 
owns 1,686 acres of orchard in Leavenworth, Osage and Miama coun¬ 
ties. He has reduced apple raising to a science. When the apple 
seasons are favorable, as the season has been in 1902, he raises from 
60,000 to 80,000 bushels of apples. During hot and dry seasons his 
yield falls as low as 400 bushels ; indeed, during the season of 1893 he 
did not pick the crop at all, so small was it. However, during his 
twelve years of apple producing on an extensive scale he has been able 
to raise for the market 450,000 bushels of apples. For these he has 
obtained the average price of 28 cents per bushel. According to 
official reports Mr. Wellhouse has the largest apple orchard in the 
world. 
Mr. Wellhouse has found the Ben Davis apples to be the most profit 
able, while Jonathan has yielded more bushejs to the acre. Missouri 
Pippin comes second in yield, and Ben Davis third. But a better 
price and more active and appreciative market is found for the Ben 
Davis. On Fairmount Hill, near Leavenworth, he has erected large 
packing and drying establishments, on direct line of the Santa Fe rail- 
■1 road, and his shipments of fruit are made to Kansas City, Chicago, 
■a New York, Boston and foreign points. He also has a large trade in 
ggdried apples. 
