62 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
which the government says will be disastrous. In the 
accoin])lishm(Mit of all this, I believe a way is provided in 
lh(‘ resolution now before the American Association. If 
that resolution and the accompanying amendment to the 
constitution had been adopted at Philadelphia last June, 
there are many things your officers could now" be doing 
that they are powerless to do because of a lack of funds. 
After speaking on this subject before the Southern As¬ 
sociation of Nurserymen last August, a resolution was 
pass(‘d hy this hunch of live nurserymen unanimously en- 
doi-sing the plans now before the National Association, 
and urging the Chicago convention to take favorable ac¬ 
tion thereon. 1 believe, Mr. President, that the adoption 
of proposed resolution and amendments by the American 
Association w"ill not only make the Association a more 
efficient trade organization, but will make it one of the 
strongest trade organizations in the United States, and I 
am contident this w ill be accomplished at Chicago next 
J une. 
RKMINISCENCES OF A PIONEER NURSERYMAN 
B orn in humble surroundings of honest parents, in 
the village of Sutton, Isle of Ely, Cambridge 
County, England. I came to Illinois in Feb¬ 
ruary, 1859, started my life-chosen business on seven 
acres of land in Rrookside, Downs-Clinton Co., adjoining 
the young city of Centralia South on the county line of 
Marion and Clinton. 
Having some know ledge of budding, grafting and pro¬ 
pagating w hich I had picked up from a neighbor prac¬ 
tical gardener in my native village, when I landed in 
Ill inois, w ith a young ambitious w ife, I aimed to get a 
j)iece of land of my own and try to make an honest living 
for us, either truck gardening or nursery. I started in 
hy ])urchasing seven acres and in a little three room cot¬ 
tage went to work and expanded as I w"as able, being 
blessed w ith good health and a strong body. We added 
to our seven acres lying east of our little home and ad¬ 
joining Ill. C. R. R. We wmrked long hours budding 
sixty-live thousand peach trees the first year, 1866, wdien 
jx'ach trees w ere in great demand at $75.00 per 1000. 
In 1867 we issued our first little catalogue. We had 
strawberry plants, the old Wilson Abby for sale and 
Osage Orange hedge plants w hen they were in great de^ 
mand at $2.50 per M. 
With land on both sides of Ill. C. R. R. and in 1871 we 
juit u}) a large elaborate sign board that could be seen 
from the passing trains. 
Needing more room as the business expanded, we got 
liermission to grow' rhubarb and hedge plants on the Ill. 
C. R. R. right of way. This when cleared of its wild 
growth, gave us at least three more acres of land. La¬ 
ter we bought another 40 acres on the east side of the 
railroad, and then 16 acres upon which we grew soy 
bi'ans and cow" peas and rye to plow" under to make up 
for th< lack of stable manure we could not get. 
Pie plant was one of our staple crops and this w"e grew 
hy the acre. In 1884 we carried a great variety of 
shade, eveigri'.cns and deciduous flow"ering shrubbery. 
We employed lots of labor and worked 14 to 15 hours a 
day, did oiir own root grafting in the winter months. 
Built an up-ground hollow wall tree cellar that would 
store several carloads of trees. One w"inter we lost 
thii'ty-five thousand peach trees we had grown. A 
severe spell of weather, 22 degree's helow' zero killed 
them. Another winter rabbits ruined a fine block of 
ai)ple trees. 
My brother William with his little son had come from 
England after losing his wife. My brother, a strong, 
healthy man in the prime of life succumbed to typhoid 
fever. I had his boy to raise and educate. He is today 
living in Centralia with his w ife and one grow n son. 
The proprietors of Webster’s Greenhouses on South Lo¬ 
cust street, and the owner of tw o or three small farms. 
I always loved trees and admired the beautiful things in 
nature. 
I raised asparagus and strawberries in large quantities. 
Seven or eight acres of small fruits as we had to grow 
those crops w hich we could dispose of readily, although 
W"e had a greater variety of trees, shrubbery and ever¬ 
greens than any other man had attempted to grow in 
Southern Illinois up to that time. 
I sold out to my son, G. H. Webster, who later disposed 
of the property to a real estate man and today the Illin- 
• Jabez Webster 
A pioneer nurseryman of Southern Illinois 
ois Central Railroad sho[)S and yards occupy the most of 
Webster’s Nursery. There is now' nothing to show of my 
years of labor except the old house and trees I planted by 
moonlight in 1865. 
The same amount of laboi-. energy and brains applied 
along other lines, than the nursery business, would have 
been more likely to have amassed a fortune. As it is I have 
a fairly good home, a modest income, which perhaps is 
all a man needs in his old age, and for w"hich I am duly 
thankful. 
