THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
145 
WHAT VISITING NURSERYMEN MAY SEE IN 
MONTANA 
To nurserymen from the east, south and middle west who 
attend the Portland meeting and who ean devote some time 
to the pursuit of pleasure or profit before returning to their 
homes, Montana has much to offer. 
Probably no state that plants nursery stock on an exten¬ 
sive scale grows as small a percentage of it as the state of 
Montana. That this is not due to the want of suitable soil or 
favorable climate is simply demonstrated by the quality of 
the stock grown in any of the few nurseries to be found in 
the state. 
Examples of what is being done in the nursery business 
may be seen at Billings, Helena, Missoula, Hamilton, and 
other towns in or near which nurseries are located. 
In area Montana is greater than all New England with 
New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland added. It 
takes a fast railroad train twenty-four hours to cross the 
state. Montana has 40,000,000 acres of grazing lands, 
20,000,000 acres of forest reserve lands, more arable land than 
Illinois, more coal than Pennsylvania, and grander mountain 
scenery than Switzerland. 
The farms of the state produce all the staple crops grown 
in the northern half of the United States, and crop statistics 
bear out the claim of the state to the highest average yield 
per acre in nearly all of them. 
When it is added that the population is less than 400,000, 
it is hardly necessary to say that a rapid and wonderful 
development is inevitable and that excellent opportunities 
abound for business openings and profitable invest¬ 
ments. 
A few points of interest to visitors may be briefly men¬ 
tioned. The Yellowstone Valley which leads in the produc¬ 
tion of alfalfa, sugar beets, and live stock. The Gallatin 
Valley, sixty miles in length and half as wide, walled in by 
snow-capped mountains more beautiful than the Swiss Alps. 
The Bitter Root Valley, a gem of the mountains famous for 
its orchards and farm products. The Flathead Valley, less 
developed, but not excelled in fertility or beauty by any of the 
others. 
In northern, eastern and central Montana the newly 
settled and rapidly developing “Dry Farming” sections 
would interest some visitors, while Butte, “The greatest 
mining camp on earth,” Helena, the capital city, and Great 
Falls with its unrivalled water power, would furnish attrac¬ 
tion and entertainment to others. 
Many visiting nurserymen will be more interested in 
camping, fishing, and sight-seeing than in industrial develop¬ 
ments or business opportunities, and to these Montana can 
especially appeal. Her rivers, lakes and moimtain streams 
are everywhere stocked with gamey fish, while mountain, 
forest and valley offer unlimited opportunity for pleasant 
and healthgiving outdoor recreation. 
Montana’s greatest attractions for visitors and sightseers 
remain to be mentioned, viz., the Yellowstone and the Glacier 
National Parks. The trip to Portland will afford to nursery¬ 
men who return through Montana an opportunity to visit 
one or the other of these great national playgrounds with 
little or no extra cost for railroad fares. 
To many already familiar with the wonders and beauties 
of the Yellowstone, the Glacier National Park with its 1400 
square miles of mountains, glaciers, lakes, rivers and water¬ 
falls will prove unique among the wonderlands and beauty 
.spots of the nation. 
The Yellowstone Park may be reached via the Northern 
Pacific or the C. B. & Q. Railroads, the Glacier Park via the 
Great Northern Railroad. 
VLitors to the national parks should plan their park trips 
to follow the Portland convention, as the park season opens 
June isth, too late to permit a vi.sit before the convention 
dates. 
Billings, Montana. D. J. Tighe. 
Perhaps in no part of America is more attention paid in 
the nursery business, to raising ornamentals, than here in 
Southern California. While deciduous fruiting and orna¬ 
mental shrubs and trees are grown to some extent, the major 
part of all nurseries, is evergreen shrubs and trees. The term 
“evergreen” does not apply here as it usually does in the 
East, where conifers are generally alluded to, but to many 
broad and small leaf plants. The past winter has been a 
severe test on many of them but it has been valuable in 
showing how much freezing some of our choicest plants will 
stand. For instance, Choisya ternata Leptospermum 
laevigata, Laurustinas, Veronicas, Cistus, Gardenias, Nandini 
some Cassias and other fine ornamentals endured a tempera¬ 
ture of 18 deg. without injury. In some sections. Citrus stock 
was badly damaged. 
One of the strictly new plants that some of us are boosting, 
Fetjoa Sellowiana, a plant of so much merit as an ornamental 
and fruiting shrub was untouched by the frost, and in the 
opinion of a great many, is to become one of our great com¬ 
mercial fruits. Our section is finely adapted to rose growing 
and there are many concerns that grow nothing else. 
All of the finest teas and other roses grow to perfection 
here in the open and many varieties make salable plants in 
one year from the cutting. Avocado or Alligator Pear, a 
salad fruit from the tropics, is becoming quite an industry. 
The unparalleled freeze of this winter has shown that certain 
varieties are hardier than any of the citrus family. The 
nursery business in Southern California is fascinating from 
the fact that every day in the year planting of some nature is 
carried on. 
D. W. COOLIDGE, 
President Coolidge Rare Plant Gardens. 
Nurserymen and representatives of nursery houses in 
Southwest Washington are looking forward with great 
interest to the joint convention of the Pacific Coast and the 
American Association of Nurser^Tnen to be held in Portland, 
June 17 th to 20th, and the delegates to the Portland Con¬ 
vention from this section of Washington will see that nothing 
is overlooked for the convenience and entertainment of the 
hundreds who will come to the Rose City for the Convention. 
Members of the Association who live in the East and will 
brave the wilds west of the Mississippi River for the first time 
when they buy their tickets and ask for the usual convention 
rates, have a splendid surprise in store for them, one they will 
