THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
135 
place. Since, there have been many clamps to close with. 
The first, we used for many years, were screw clamps, and 
thought there could be no improvement ; and the next we 
thought was the best was a heavy lever clamp, made by the 
Hoover-Gaines Nursery Co. Now, the one we think is the 
best we got from L. Green & Co., of Perry, Ohio, which is 
small and light, and we do not think can be improved on. 
DIGGING THE STOCK. 
“ If we sell through agents, or sell wholesale to those that 
sell through agents, we have to dig trees very often in the fall 
before we should. Take the mountains of Virginia, and 
northern territory, a season like the past—we have some very 
cold weather in November-— and we want to get our trees off 
in October, and if we have many trees to dig it takes some 
time to get ready to pack them, and we have to dig trees very 
often that are not in condition to dig ; also, with our Southern 
sales, it has been the habit of nurseries that sell by agents in 
making their deliveries earlier than 
they should be ; also, have to allow 
so much time for the railroads to 
carry the trees to their destination 
that there has to be great care in 
digging and packing many varieties, 
such as the Japan Plum. In dig¬ 
ging such trees there should be 
great care in having the leaves taken 
off clean, and then get them to the 
shade as soon after digging as pos¬ 
sible, and then have them puddled 
and packed in .tight boxes. Very 
often nurserymen that do an agency 
business will run short of some 
things they think they have plenty 
of, or some stock that is not in a 
condition to dig up until late, and 
he will put off ordering them shipped 
until the last moment, and then he 
will order them shipped by express ; 
and if any of you should get such 
orders you should try to get them off 
promptly, for if he does not get 
them in time he would have to let 
the orders go short, which is a loss^ 
or would have to ship after by ex- G. A. GAMBLE, 
press. Orders shipped by express should be shipped in very 
lightboxes, or in bales, and yourself or foreman should be pai- 
ticular to personally look after the packing and see that there 
is not unnecessary packing used; and if the trees are puddled, 
it should be done with very thin mud, and use as little clean, 
light packing material as possible, as they will not likely be 
more than 36 to 48 hours on the road. 
UNNECESSARY EXPRESS CHARGES. 
“ A nurseryman is very often out of humor if, on receiving a 
lot of stuff by express, he finds that it has come in a very 
heavy box, and a large lot of packing material, such as old 
rotten moss or straw as gathered up from the packing yard, is 
used in the packing, which he has to pay a heavy express bill 
on ; or some stock that was received by freight that was green 
when it was dug and packed up dry in a box that was not 
close, and when he received it it all shriveled up you 
cannot blame him if he goes somewhere else next time, and 
in his report says “you grade and pack poorly,” which not 
only, makes you lose his trade but possibly someone else’s 
trade. We have some as good nurseries in the South as are 
anywhere in the United States, and they have made their repu¬ 
tation by growing good stock, grading and packing in the best 
possible manner, filling orders promptly with stock true to 
name, and getting the highest market price for it. Nine-tenths 
of my nursery business is done through agents, and it has to 
be done at higher prices, and to compete with low-priced local 
nurseries. Some of them, one thousand or more miles from 
my place of business, and we have men in the same territory 
for years. We have one man in West Tennessee who does 
nothing but sell trees, and who has been selling in that territory 
for fourteen years—West Tennessee and Kentucky and South¬ 
ern Illinois—and our trees have to be packed up about fifteen 
days before the day of delivery, and our trade is increasing in 
that territory along the side of cheap competitors ; and it nas 
only been done by growing the best 
stock I can, by sending it out true 
to name, packed in the best possi¬ 
ble manner. I am like all nursery¬ 
men that sell through agents : while 
I grow largely, I will run short of 
some varieties; also, some things 
we sell we cannot grow, and these 
we have to buy ; and I make it a 
rule to buy only the best grades of 
stock, and buy from those that I 
think will give me stock that is true 
to name, as there are some things* 
such as peach, cherry, and grape 
vines, that we cannot tell when we 
receive them. 
“ All trees and vines that we sell 
through agents we put a label on 
each. The label we put on in the 
nursery row before we dig ; and if 
there should be a mistake—though 
we use every care possible to pre* 
vent mistakes—it will be by the 
one who fills the order by pick¬ 
ing up the wrong variety, which 
will be true to name ; and if the 
Fort Smith, Ark. purchaser does not get what he 
orders he will know it, and we can correct the error, which \ve 
seldom have to do now, although we have to handle nearly 
all our trees in a very short time and have to use a good deal 
of green help during the time. All of our small stock, such 
as grape vines, raspberry, strawberry, esculent roots, evergreens, 
shrubs and roses we heel in under a shed, and they are packed 
separately, and wrapping the roots and most of the top with thin 
cotton cloth, which costs us from 3 to 3/4 cents per yard. All 
small stock is well mossed, and goes in on the top of the boxes. 
OCTOBER CROP REPORT. 
The U. S. crop bulletin for October states : “As to the con¬ 
dition of apples, North Carolina reports 8 points, Illinois 9 , 
Missouri 10 , Pennsylvania 11 , Maine 12 , New \ ork 15 , Iowa 16 , 
and Michigan 27 points above, and Ohio 2 , Indiana 3 , Virginia 
9 , Tennessee 11 , Kentucky 19 and Kansas 21 points below 
the mean of their October averages for the last seven years. 
