THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
19 
The National Nurseryman 
Established 1893 by C. L. YATES. Incorporated 1902 
Published monthly by 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN PUBUSHING CO., Inc. 
Hatboro, Pa. 
Editor .ERNEST HEMMING, Flourtown, Pa. 
The leading trade journal Issued for Growers and Dealers in 
Nursery Stocks of all kinds. It circulates throughout the 
United States, Canada and Europe. 
AWARDED THE GRAND PRIZE AT PARIS EXPOSITION, 1900 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES 
One Year in Advance .$1.50 
Foreign Subscriptions, in advance .$2.00 
Six Months .$1.00 
Advertising rates will be sent upon application. Advertisements 
should reach this office by the 20th of the month previous to the date 
of issue. 
Payment in advance required for foreign advertisements. Drafts 
on New York or postal orders, instead of checks, are requested by the 
Business Manager, Hatboro, Fa. 
Correspondence from all points and articles of Interest to nursery¬ 
men and horticulturists are cordially solicited. 
Photographs and news notes of interest to nurserymen should be 
addressed, Editor, Flourtown, Pa., and should be mailed to arrive not 
later than the 25th of the month. 
Etitered as second-class matter June 22, 1916, at the post office at 
Hatboro, Pennsi/lvania, under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
Hatboro, Pa., January 1918 
To “cany on” the best lie knows how 
“GARKY ON” is about all the nurseryman can do un¬ 
der present conditions. The temptation 
to “lay down” on the job, if it were possible, is very great 
just at the present lime. No labor, lessened demand for 
nursery products, uncertainty of transportation, and that 
uncertain feeling of not knowing wliat is coming next, 
all have a tendency to make one pessimistic hut in spite 
of all it is up to the nurserymen to carry on. In the 
present upheaval thousands are devoting themselves un¬ 
selfishly to the welfare of their country even to the extent 
of giving their lives. 
The nurseryman know ing how^ indispensible his goods 
are to the future welfare of the country can not and 
must not be a slacker. Munitions have the right of w ay 
during this period of destruction but the building period 
w ill come and it won’t do to be without material. 
It is very necessary for a nur- 
KNOWING PLANTS seryman to look upon a plant 
from a purely commercial point of 
view', because in that direction lies his bread and butter, 
hut there is no reason at all why he should not know' as 
much as possible in a botanical, geographical, and his¬ 
torical way as well. Every hit of knowledge lieljis and 
if he can keep the right balance his pocket-book need not 
suffer by his inclination to go botanizing w hen he should 
he attending to his cultivating. 
He may not have much time or the inclination to go 
very deeply into the biology and physiology of jilants, but 
he certainly ought to he able to tliagnose a plant at a 
glance; if it is annual, bi-annual or perennial; if il is ,i 
plant tliat grows in dry situations in its native habitat or 
if it has water associations; which would likely be the 
most successful method of propagation. 
If th(‘ know ledge is of no use to him, it has at least a 
broadening effect on the mind, and makes him see things 
not visible to the oth(‘r man. Apart from any value 
such know ledge may have, it is at least interesting when 
you see a tree to know whether it is a native or not and if 
it is not native? to w hat part of the world it belongs. 
A good [)lanlsman can almost tell in w hat section of the 
country he is by the trees and plants he sees, even the 
casual observer notes as he travels south w hen the holly. 
Magnolia grandiflora begins to ajepear, or as he goes west 
through the Alleghenies notes the Hemlock, Rhododen¬ 
dron and Mountain Laurel, or north the Paper Rirch and 
Balsam Fir. He w ill also notice when nearer the haunts 
of men, the ever present alien Norway Maple. If he is^ a 
close observer he w ill also note the change in the species 
of oaks from the wdiite, red, scarlet oaks of the north to 
the pin, willow, laurel-leaved and w^ater oaks of the 
south and the change in form and habit of those w idely 
distributed trees, such as the Juniper, Elm. Sugar 
Maples. The above mentioned, of course are very con¬ 
spicuous, but w hen it comes to plants less so, it is only 
those that are really interested who will be attracted to 
them. It is not necessary to know them as individuals, 
to be able to recognize the isothermal groups and those 
that have water associates or claim the desert as their 
native habitat. They have their ear-marks that readily 
tell the interested plantsman much. Take for instance, 
the Cactus and those plants that have thick, fleshy leaves 
aid stems. Nature has built them that way so they can 
economize on their liquids. They don’t grow' in places 
where there is much frost because it would freeze the 
stored moisture, and they do grow^ in places that get 
very hot and dry or they would not have to store it. 
Plants that grow^ in dry and cold places often have 
corky tissue, such as the Euonymus alatas, corky Elm, 
thorns like the hawthorns or a w'ooly covering to the 
leaves like many alpines. These are all means to re¬ 
duce the escape of moisture and lessen the transpiration 
in times of drought and fit the jilant to withstand the 
extremes of drought and cold. 
The one big truth the plantsman must grasp before he 
can get a comprehensive knowledge of plants, is that 
nothing in the plant world, however insignificant, is an 
accident or arbitrary, but all according to a discoverable 
law^ and usually evolves around their existence. 
The old idea that the pulp of the apple was created es¬ 
pecially for man’s benefit is a foolish one. The apple 
tree has an entirely different idea in mind and that is the 
[ireservation of the pips to reprodudee its kind. The 
shape, color and texture, leaf, petal and tw ig is a definite 
result or purpose in connection w ith the plant’s existence 
and the man w ho can read nature’s hook can learn so 
much (juicker how to turn nature’s laws to his own sel¬ 
fish purpose, whether it be in increasing the bushels ])er 
acre, or grow ing XX trees in the shortest possible time. 
The real plantsman can almost tell at a glance to w hat 
section of the world many plants belong by their appear¬ 
ance, although he may never have seen tliern before. 
The Eucalyptus and Acacia of Australia typify the 
flora of that country to his mind equally as much as do 
the oaks, majiles, the Eastern States of .America or the 
Palms and Rainboo the tropics. 
