8 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
some commission merchant store the produce on his own ac¬ 
count. Local storage plants cost considerable money and to 
justify this expenditure a sufficient quantity of fruits and pro¬ 
duce must be produced in a limited territory so that the structure 
might be built and maintained on a sound business basis. * * * 
By traveling over the Middle Atlantic States this summer, I 
was* particularly impressed by the fact that so many orchardists 
have neglected to prune, cultivate and spray their orchards this 
year. Some of these people have not touched their orchards at 
all, while others have only given them a small portion of the 
work they usually do. Early in the spring when their fruit 
crop was lost they took this view of the matter—What is the 
need of caring for these trees this year when we do not have 
any crop? Some orchardists might figure that by not caring for 
their orchard this year they were practicing economy but as a 
matter of fact they were encouraging extravagance, because they 
will lose more money by not caring for the orchard than by 
spending a nominal amount in the proper care. 
The future of the orchardist is bright and really it looks much 
better for him than it does for the average trucker and general 
farmer. 
No doubt all of you people have heard on numerous occasions 
that if all of the trees that are planted ever come into bearing 
there will be so much fruit that the market will not be able to 
consume it. Such is not the case for by consulting statistics 
they will find that in 1920 there were 23.8% less bearing apple 
trees in the United States than there were in 1910, and at the 
same time there were 45 % less trees on non-bearing age than 
there were in the past decade. This also holds true of peaches. 
In 1920 there were 30.5% less bearing peach trees in the United 
States than there were in 1910 and also 48.8% less peach trees 
of non-bearing age than there were in 1910. At the same time 
with this great decrease in the number of trees in bearing and 
non-bearing trees, there was an increase in the population of the 
United States of 5 %. It can be readily seen that by having so 
many bearing trees in 1910 with a smaller population who con¬ 
sumed the fruit at that time, that it certainly looks reasonable 
that with a decreased number of trees and an increased popula¬ 
tion there should not be any trouble to sell good fruit at fair 
prices during the coming years. 
The man who has a peach orchard during the next few years 
will find that he will do better with his peaches during that 
period than he has ever done during the past. The prospect 
for both peaches and apples looks encouraging. 
THU PURCHASER S VIEW 
He also stated that a somewhat similar lack of stand¬ 
ardization existed in the digging, packing and shipping. 
The fact he would get one shipment arrive that had been 
handled efficiently, was no surety that the next one per¬ 
haps from the same source, would be in the same condi¬ 
tion. Care was too often evidently lacking in the dig¬ 
ging. Roots were cut and split, showing unskilled or 
careless workmen. 
In fact, the plants in the car would show a lack of 
interest, as to the condition in which the plants would 
arrive. Fine packing material would be used without 
thought that in the jarring motion of the car that il 
would sift down to the bottom, leaving the sides and top 
layers exposed. 
He mentioned herbaceous plants especially as being 
entirely without a standard to guide the purchaser in 
knowing what to expect. A grade specified as clumps 
from one place would mean ordinary plants from anoth¬ 
er and vice versa. He specially mentioned a comparison 
of peonys received from two well-known firms. While 
they were supposed to be of the same grade, namely 3 
to 5 eyes, in the one shipment the plants were so poor 
and anemic that it was foolish to expect to give flowers 
even with the best of cultivation under three years, while 
the other shipment had strong and vigorous roots that 
one could expect to bloom the first year. 
Standardization so as to give the purchaser some idea 
what to expect should be one of the principal aims of 
the nursery trade. 
There was unmistakable evidence of every effort being 
used by the nurserymen in their catalogues and other 
literature they send out to give information as to the uses 
and care of their products so as to give the best results. 
This may be of value to the purchaser, but it rather be¬ 
longed to the province of the horticultural press and 
books on the subject of gardening. 
The superintendent of a large estate who purchased 
much nursery stock, receiving it from various nurseries 
in different parts of the country, both in carload lots and 
small shipments, was asked to express himself as to how 
the nursery trade generally met the needs of the purchas¬ 
ing planter. He gave as his opinion the most conspicu¬ 
ous failing was lack of standards. While the name of 
the plant was fairly dependable, it being rather rare 
that a plant came wrongly named or unwarranted sub¬ 
stitutions made. From the purchaser’s point of view 
nursery stock was entirely lacking in standard in spite 
of the height and caliper quoted in the catalog. Descrip¬ 
tions invariably told what the plant was like grown 
under the most favorable conditions, and often described 
the plants at maturity rather than the condition of-the 
stock at the time it was being offered for sale. Making 
full allowance for the fact that catalogs were made per¬ 
haps, months if not years in advance of the time the stoek 
was expected to be sold and the condition of it was much 
i 
' 
What the purchaser wanted to know was primarily: 
What am I going to get for the price quoted in the cata¬ 
logue? 
Many purchasers knew as much about treatment of 
the particular kind of plants they were ordering as the 
nurseryman himself, but would highly value an order 
taken in the shape of a catalogue that gave information 
about the size, condition and history of the particular 
plants the nursery was offering for sale. 
/ * _ 
THE McHUTCHISON & GO. RAFFIA CASE 
After ten months of litigation the prosecution by the 
Fire Protection Bureau of New York City of McIIutchi- 
son & Co. has been decided in favor of the defendant and 
the McHutchison & Go. may continue to store baled 
raffia in their own building without further molestation 
from the city authorities. 
affected by weather conditions and many influences al¬ 
most beyond the control of the grower; there still lacked 
evidence of material effort being made by the nursery¬ 
man, to inform buyers of the particular quality or stand¬ 
ard of the stock that was being offered. It made pur¬ 
chasing a very uncertain proposition unless he could 
visit the nursery and actually see the plants he was to 
receive. 
The Fire Protection Bureau claimed that raffia was a 
combustible fibre and that it was against the law to 
store it in quantity in the city limits. 
The McHutchison Company took a bale to a vacant lot, 
poured kereosene over it and placed wood around it, set¬ 
ting it on fire, proving to the satisfaction of the Court it 
would not burn under the most favorable conditions of 
combustion, so that the judges dismissed the case. 
