48 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
NURSERY AND GREENHOUSE PRODUCTS IN THE 
UNITED STATES 
The Department of Commerce, through the Bureau of the 
Census, announces the following figures from the 1920 census of 
agriculture for the United States: 
Nursery and Greenhouse Products in the United States: 1919 
Nurseries : 
Number of farms or establishments reporting. 4,049 
Acreage used for growing nursery products. 51,453 
Average per farm or establishment reporting. 12.7 
Receipts from sale of products .$20,434,389 
Average receipts per farm or establishment report¬ 
ing . $5,047 
Average receipts per acre . ..'. $397 
Greenhouses: 
Number of establishments reporting January 1, 1920 17,199 
Square feet under glass, January 1, 1920.162,368,593 
Receipts from the greenhouse products, 1919.$77,380,230 
Flowers and flowering plants .$61,892,352 
Vegetables and vegetable plants .$15,487,878 
Average receipts per establishment . $4,499 
Average receipts per square foot under glass. $0.48 
NURSERIES 
The amount received from the sale of nursery products in the 
United States during 1919, according to the Fourteenth Census, 
was $20,434,389, an average return of $5,047 for each of the 4,049 
farms or establishments reporting. The number of acres reported 
as used for growing nursery products was 51,453; the average 
acreage per farm or establishment reporting was 12.7; and the 
average amount received per acre for nursery products was $397. 
The total receipts derived from the sale of nursery products 
exceeded $1,000,000 in six States, as follows: California, $2,929,- 
458; New York, $2,310,253; Ohio, $1,286,947; New Jersey, $1,048,- 
919; Missouri, $1,045,697, and Pennsylvania, $1,039,439. These 
States reported almost one-half (47.3 per cent.) of the total re¬ 
ceipts from the sale of nursery products in the United States. 
Five States reported over 3000 acres used for growing nursery 
products in 1919, as follows: New York, 5288 acres; California, 
4080 acres; New Jersey, 3337 acres; Texas, 3032 acres, and 
Maryland, 3015 acres. 
California and New York were the leading States in the num¬ 
ber of farms or establishments reporting sales of nursery pro¬ 
ducts with 540 and 359, respectively. 
GREENHOUSES 
The total receipts derived from the sale of greenhouse products 
during 1919 amounted to $77,380,230, of which amount $61,892,352, 
or 80 per cent., represented the receipts from the sale of flowers 
and flowering plants, and $15,487,878, or 20 per cent., represented 
the receipts from the sale of vegetables and vegetable plants. 
The total area under glass in greenhouses as reported on January 
1, 1920, was 162,368,593 square feet. These figures include the 
area under glass in cold frames, as well as the area in green 
houses or hothouses. The average return per square foot under 
glass was $0.48, and the average return for each of the 17,199 
establishments reporting was $4,499. 
The amount received from the sale of greenhouse products dur¬ 
ing 1919 exceeded $5,000,000 in the following States: Illinois, 
$9,978,606; New York, $8,689,325; Pennsylvania, $8,227,124; Ohio, 
$7,052,560; Massachusetts, $5,536,532, and New Jersey, $5,064,684. 
These six States reported 57.6 per cent, of the total receipts from 
the sale of greenhouse products. 
More than one-half (53.7 per cent.) of the total area under 
glass in greenhouses on January 1, 1920, was reported in five 
States, as follows: Illinois, 19,626,091 square feet; Ohio, 19,397,183 
square feet; New York, 18,289,628 square feet; Pennsylvania, 
16,923,355 square feet and Massachusetts, 12,953,023 square feet. 
No other State reported as much as 10,000,000 square feet under 
glass in 1920. 
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois were the leading 
States in the number of establishments reporting receipts from 
the sale of greenhouse products, with 2508. 2228, 1667 and 1104 
establishments, respectively. 
THE EUTURE OF ORCHARDING 
By C. G. Marshall, Arlington, Neb., Bead Before the 
Western Association of Nurserymen at Kansas 
City, January 26 th 
The word “orcharding” covers a big subject and the title of 
this paper, not limiting the discussion to any particular part of 
the country, allows for a big territory to be covered. What I will 
have to say relative to orcharding, however, will be confined 
mainly to the territory in which members of the Western Asso¬ 
ciation of Nurserymen are most interested, that between the 
Rocky Mounains and the Ohio River, or the Great Central West, 
and will refer to the apple. 
My experience in orcharding has been confined to the Missouri 
River section, and this territory is probably not more favorably 
situated, nor has it more natural advantages for successful or¬ 
charding than has most of the territory covered by the member¬ 
ship of this Association. 
As a general statement, I would say that orcharding has been 
successful and profitable in this territory, and it should be even 
more successful and profitable in the future. Population is grad¬ 
ually increasing, and the demand for orchard fruits is also in¬ 
creasing. Orcharding is also becoming more and more of a spe¬ 
cialized industry, and the specialist in orcharding has less com¬ 
petition from the careless or ignorant grower than he has had 
in the past. Government statistics show that during the period 
between 1910 and 1920, the number of bearing apple trees in the 
territory mentioned, decreased almost one half. It also shows 
that planting during this period was much less than during the 
preceding ten years, so there is now a considerable less number 
of orchard trees, both bearing and non-bearing, than there was 
ten years ago. 
It has been only on the extreme east and west coasts where 
production has held even or made any appreciable increase dur¬ 
ing the past ten years. Authorities seem to agree that the 
Northwest has now reached its zenith of apple production. There 
has been less planting in the Northwest during the past ten 
years than during the previous ten year period, and when the 
trees that are now bearing their maximum crops begin to die off, 
three will be a less number of trees coming on to take their 
places. The same condition holds true to quite an extent over 
the eastern apple growing sections, with one or two exceptions. 
New York, which normally has produced almost one fourth of 
the apple crop of the United States, has not planted as many 
apple trees the past ten or twenty years as during the ten to 
twenty year period just previous. Undoubtedly there will be a 
decline in the commercial output from this source in the near 
future. 
The Shenandoah-Cumberland and Piedmont districts of Penn¬ 
sylvania, Maryland, and the Virginias, have come into promin¬ 
ence in recent years. Considerable planting has been done all 
through this section during the past few years and we may ex¬ 
pect an increase in production from this territory for some years 
to come. 
Orchard sections of the Great Central West, which includes 
the Ozark and Southern Missouri regions, which a few years ago 
had millions of bearing trees, and which are now on the road to 
neglect and decay, are not keeping up their former rate of plant¬ 
ing, and in a few years, unless more planting is done, this sec¬ 
tion will not be producing any appreciable quantity of commer¬ 
cial apples. 
In the Missouri River region, including western Iowa, eastern 
Nebraska, northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas, com¬ 
mercial orchard planting has been almost at a standstill for the 
past ten or fifteen years. In this section there were many or¬ 
chards that were profitable eight to twelve years ago that are 
now entirely dead, and as mentioned, very few young trees are 
coming into bearing in this country. 
Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho and Utah have barely held their 
own in commercial planting in recent years and this territory 
has probably very nearly reached its period of maximum produc¬ 
tion. It may show a decrease in the near future if it is not now 
doing so. 
Statistics show that the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, 
Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky, have a considerable less 
number of apple trees of bearing age and in fact of all ages, 
than they had ten to twenty years ago. This condition is due 
more to the fact that the home or farm orchards have died off 
very rapidly during this period, and have not been replaced on so 
large a scale. In some sections of this territory, there has been 
considerable commercial planting, but this has not been general 
and the total number of trees in this great territory is now only 
slightly more than one half of what it was in 1910. 
